Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Highlanders (Honors)

We talked about the extremes and were we stand on free will and predestination.  The idea of God's Will, and if that gives us an option in our path or if it is just an illusion of free will.  We also went into cause and effect, choice and consequences.  We also went into the Butterfly effect briefly, saying that every single action has ramifications no matter how small or seemingly meaningless.  We also talked about uncertainty in differing fields, from philosophy to chemistry.

8 comments:

  1. Factual Question: Which philosopher believed that anything that ceases being observed ceases to exist? (Answer: George Berkely)

    Discussion Question: When a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

    I really enjoyed our discussion today. We started talking about free will, and it kind of melded into a discussion of certainty, and I really liked the transition. There are a lot of different viewpoints present in our group, and it's cool to see some of them compared and contrasted as we discuss different philosophies and concepts.

    Link: Berkely's philosophy reminds me of the mentality of the antagonist in the movie "A Perfect Getaway" with Timothy Olyphant. He talks about everything just stopping when he looks away, and now I can't help wondering if there was some influence there from Berkely.

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  2. Factual Question: George Berkley was seen as a idealist and an _____because he denied that physical things exist. (immaterialist)

    Discussion question: How do we perceive color?

    Link:http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-9273183/George-Berkeley
    A concise summary of George Berkley.

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  3. Wow, you guys covered a lot. It sounds like an interesting discussion.

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  4. Olivia (The Highlanders)4:44 PM CDT

    Factual question: What philosopher thought that the notion of an outside world made no sense at all? A: Berkeley

    Discussion question: How do you feel about Voltaire's ideas about suffering being a part of God's bigger plan?

    comment: I really enjoyed our discussion as well! I always find it interesting how our discussions lead to so many different things!

    link:Here is some more information on John Locke
    http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/

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  5. I've always found the butterfly effect very interesting.

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  6. Factual Question: Voltaire's famous book was? Candide

    Discussion Question: With all of this talk about an all knowing god and a god that uses Evil for good how could the world not be predestined? What is your position on this.

    Free will has always been a very interesting subject to me. I think I have free will. My actions are perceived to be by my own free will, but the idea that it is all pre determined is a frightening thought. With all of this though, I still believe that God gave us a choice of free will, however I am not sure as to how that would cancel out predestiny.

    For a musical reference, here is Leonard Bernstein conducting his own composition of Candide, based off of the same.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZPF5mPIpXU

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  7. The butterfly effect is a scary thought and kinda hard to grasp that simple choices can affect so much.

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  8. Factual Question: What philosopher believed that reality consists only in minds and ideas, not in objects and things? A: Berkeley

    Discussion Question: How much do you think revolutions in science affect the philosophical views of the general public?

    Comment: I really enjoyed talking about how scientific ideas such as the butterfly effect tie in to philosophical ideas.

    Link:Here's some more information on Berkeley:
    http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berkeley/

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