Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Two-for-one! Kirekegaard & James - Sec14Grp2

It didn't take much to realize that Kierkegaard (That last part is pronounced "Gourd") was not a happy man. He called off an engagement with the love of his life because he believed it was "the morally right thing to do," and spent most of his life living in regret of it.

Or, he might not have - That's the problem with his writings, they were all so very cryptic that almost all of them are open to interpretation. What we've gathered, however, is that he was a deeply religious man and that the "moral" choice is not always the easy one, or the one we would enjoy the most. Rather, the morally right choice was always inalienably what God deemed right, such as with Abraham's Son as mentioned in the book.

I personally disagree with his view, especially since for a select few people, "God" is their voices echoing off the inside of their own head. Actually, I disagree with almost all of his views, as interesting as they may be.

Factual Question: Who was the ultimate Authority according to Kierkegaard's Philosophy? God.
Discussion Question: Do you think Kierkegaard would have been happier if he had married Regine against his moral objections?

Now, onto James!

From the first glimpse of him, I could tell I was going to like him. The pragmatist asking "Why does it matter?" grounds philosophy in my opinion, keeping it from spiraling too out of control with "what-ifs" that will never occur, or, frankly, matter.

His pragmatic views are, while clear, some of the most sideways I have come across - Things are only worth the effort of believing in if they're useful. When posed the question "Does God exist?" He said "Yes," not because he had a firm belief in it, but because to those who believe in god, the belief had a pragmatic use and was therefore useful, or worth believing in.

However, what happens when we apply the same logic to Santa Claus, only to wake up and find conclusive evidence that he has, in fact, not visited your house and in fact was never real in the first. This question remains an unanswered conflict, and brings up a more distressing question: Is truth subjective? If there was a single philosopher I would love to talk with, it would have to be this man. James I mean, not Santa Claus.

Factual question: James argued that what separated truths from non-truths was: A) Ability to be proven, B) Moral rightness, C)))) Usefulness, D) Nothing
Discussion Question: How do you think James would have reacted if given the Santa Claus counter-point mentioned above?

1 comment:

  1. Stacie Culver (Section 14, group 2)5:43 PM CDT

    Kierkegaard is a very interesting man. Like Jon said, he called off his engagement to the woman he loved just because he felt like it was not right, yet he never did marry or move on from her love. I found this very strange. I think his deep religious values may have hindered his way of thinking.

    As for James, I found it interesting that he said, "If there is no practical difference, there is no truth to the matter." I found this as such an odd, yet refreshing way to view the world. Everything must have a purpose, so if someones statement makes no sense or makes no difference, then there is no truth behind it.

    I believe that we are a bit behind on questions, so I am going to re-post my questions here.

    Schopenhauer
    (F)- Which section of the arts did Schopenhauer find most important?
    (D)- Do you think that you can view the true nature of reality?

    Kierkegaard
    (F)- What caused Kierkegaard to call off his engagement?
    (D)- Do you think Kierkegaard's religion played too much of a part in his life? Too little? Just enough?

    James
    (F)-How did James describe truth?
    (D)-What do you think of the statement "God Exists"? Would James agree or disagree?

    Russell
    (F)- Why did Russell spend six months in prison?
    (D)- Can you think of any way for Russell's paradox about the barber to make sense?

    And for our next class,

    De Beauvoir
    (F)- Who was De Beauvoir's long term companion?
    (D)- Do you agree or disagree that women are not born but morph into the stereotypical male viewpoint of women?

    ReplyDelete

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