Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Philosoraptors



I most be very Illiterate to this blogging stuff because it took me forever to figure out how to get started. I could just slap myself.
Today we really didn't get much discussing done, but manage to ask Dr. Phil on his opinion how he feel about after death.
Kathryn Fenton will be responsible for the podcast and I will be posting the quiz questions.

 
The reading assignments for today is:
LH - Anselm & Aquinas p 46-50
PB - Kenny p 29-36
AP - Nozick and Rawls p 97-107
A week from this Wednesday which is the 26th we will be having our first exam and our report is due. It's crunch time Philosoraptors. We can do this! 


Here are the FQ that everyone in the group posted so far. Answers are highlighted and those that are long has red within the highlight for the important part of the answers.





FQ: In the 1980s, which University disbanded its entire philosophy program as soon as a cost crunch hit? (Rockefeller)

FQ: Who was the author of Democracy in America and thought that no country paid "less attention" to philosophy than the United States?

FQ: Because Socrates did not believe in writing down the things he said. Who wrote and recorded most of what is known about Socrates today?

FQ: Who was the ancient Greek philosopher that believed the best way to gain wisdom was through conversation, as opposed to inward reflection? (Socrates)

FQ: According to Socrates, what are men unwilling to lose? The simple pleasures in life.

FQ: Socrates did not write anything down. Who wrote down and kept record of Socrates conversations and ideas, as well as his own? Plato

FQ: What theory of Plato's describes thinking about things in an abstract way, not through examples and sensual perceptions? Theory of Forms

FQ - Wisdom for Socrates was not knowing lots of facts, or knowing how to do something, but meant understanding what? The true nature of our existence, including the limits of what we can know.

FQ: What can we do to increase our chance of eudaimonia? Aristotle's answer 'Develop the right kind of character.'

FQ: Aristotle was not just a philosopher but also fascinated by what? Zoology, astronomy, history, politics, and drama.

FQ: Who pioneered philosophical counseling? Gerd Achenbach

FQ: Professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University who authored On Race and Philosophy.  Lucius Outlaw

FQ: What was the name of the school set up by Aristotle in Athens?  The Lyceum

FQ: What is 'truth by authority' and which philosopher was associated with the term?

FQ: What is the Doctrine of Mean? The harmony, or balance between non-rational and rational impulses under the guidance of reason

FQ: Who were two major philosophers from the 19th Century that were strongly influenced by Aristotle? Hegel and Marx

FQ: Who developed and taught Aristotle? Plato

FQ: In which famous Renaissance painting by Raphael is there a depiction of Plato pointing upwards to the world of the Forms and Aristotle reaching out for the world in front of him? - "The School of Athens"

FQ: What does the word ethika literally mean? - The study of character

FQ: Who wrote Treatise on the Art of Philosophizing Soberly and Accurately as well as Inaugural Dissertation on the Rights of Blacks in Europe? - Anton Wilhelm Amo

FQ: which philosopher, in the eyes of his peers, took the practice of skepticism too far? Pyrrho

FQ: What was the name of the school that Epicurus started?  Epicurean School of Thought

FQ: Which Roman philosopher-poet wrote On the Nature of Things? Lucretius

FQ: What did Epicurus say in his epitaph? "I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind"

FQ: A large source of information on Epicurus' teachings came from the long poem On the Nature of Things written by Lucretius.

FQ: What kind of need did Epicurus teach? Moderate

FQ: Epicurus' view was that we consist of Atoms (though what he meant by this term was a bit different from what modern scientists mean by it).

FQ: Pyrrho visited place that with great spiritual te3achers putting themselves through unbelievable physical deprivation and it was probably what inspired him, what place was it? India

FQ: What was the "official" date that Stoicism was founded? -313 BC

FQ: According to Chapter 5, what does it mean to "be philosophical?" Accepting what you can't change

FQ: The name 'Stoic' came from what word? (Hint: it is also the name for the porch in Athens where the philosophers used to meet.)  Stoa

FQ: Which of the philosophers from the readings started out as a slave?  Epictetus

FQ: What other group of philosophers are the Stoics similar to in the sense that they practiced maintaining a calm state of mind? Sceptics

FQ: Which philosopher from the readings wrote the book On Old Age?  Cicero

FQ: What Ancient Greek said, "Life is short, art is long"?  Hippocrates

FQ: True or False: Was Cicero's attitude regarding death a pessimistic one?

FQ: On pg. 69 of America the Philosophical, Robert D. Richardson wrote, "Emerson dealt with trouble by turning to life"

FQ: Which Stoic to his own life at the demands of Nero?

FQ: What was the name of the painted porch in Athens where philosophers used to meet? Stoic

FQ: According to the Manichaeans, where did good and evil come from? Good came from the soul and evil came from the body.

FQ: The Manichaeans believed that goodness came from the soul and evil came from the body.

FQ: John Dewey being a "non-social individual what was his warning? "is an abstraction arrived at by imagining what man would be if all his human qualities were taken away.

FQ: McCormick acknowledged that Santayana "refuse to argue, and argument is the staff of life of academic philosophy."

FQ: Why did Santayana say he was never really comfortable at Harvard? The atmosphere was "an unintelligible, sanctimonious and often disingenuous Protestantism." Meaning they were impossible to understand acting morally superior to others and not being sincere forms of Christian

FQ: "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect.

FQ: Who said American life "Seems to neutralize every intellectual element?" Santayana

FQ: What did the Manichaeans believe about God? That he wasn’t supremely powerful

FQ: What did Augustine believe that every child bear traces of from birth? Original Sin

FQ: Who was the woman that Boethius saw in his jail cell while awaiting his death? Why was she angry with him? Philosophy or “Philosophia”

FQ: Who wrote the first biography of Santayana in several decades, promising to "restore its subject to his rightful place in the intellectual history of our times"? John McCormick

FQ: Who, according to America the Philosophical, "wed philosophical pragmatism to social and political activism" and "approached philosophy with the common man's touch"? John Dewey

FQ: What is a Manichaean? A religion that originally came from Persia believing that God wasn’t supremely powerful

14 comments:

  1. I'll make my actual post later today, but I want to give everyone a heads up that due to some recent medical complications I've been dealing with, I will NOT be able to present for our group project. I'm more than willing to do whatever as far as research, but presenting is just not an option for me.

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  2. ryan cox5:13 PM CST

    Alright I did a bit of research. I haven't read through this entire thing but i skimmed it and it looks like this would be very useful for possible sources. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-social-networking/

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  3. A post for Philosophy Bites Back:
    Anthony Kenny on Thomas Aquinas' Ethics

    Thomas Aquinas is a religious man from the "highest point of the high middle ages", and is credited with reconciling Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology.
    Before he wrote about the values of Aristotle's views on virtues and the Doctrine of Mean, most of Aristotle's work was forbidden text.

    There were several points of Aristotle's that helped Aquinas formulate his views on ethics.
    - Taking Eudaimonia into account, he also believed happiness was not just an emotion, but that it is the persuit of doing what you enjoy and are good at.
    - He felt that the Doctrine of Mean meshed well with the 10 Commandments, because Aristotle said that some things, like murder, never had the right amount and couldn't be balanced.
    - He also emphasized the importance of Virtues as opposed to Laws in terms of ethics and happiness.
    - Aquinas was very respectful towards other view points, and always balanced both sides of his arguments. He also thought that you should follow your conscience, but not blindly.

    Kenny also describes an opposite view, Bentham's Utilitarianism where anything can be right or wrong, depending on the consequences. - to me this sounds like the basis to Machiavellian ethics (end justifies the means)

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    Replies
    1. Good summary of Kenny! But I'll defend Bentham, he was no Machiavellian and wouldn't have said the end always justifies the means. Nor would he flatly say that anything can be right or wrong. Bentham was a reformer in 19th century Britain, trying to come up with a philosophy that would effectively oppose things like abusive child labor and inhumane working conditions. He wanted everyone to be "happy." And yet, you're right: his critics charge that his version of utilitarianism does sometimes seems to endorse practices we should find objectionable (like sacrificing the few for the many). More on him when we get to the 19th century.

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  4. FQ: What did Aquinas say about God is everything that is? LH p50 The uncaused cause.

    DQ: What do you think about Anselm thought about if you can imagine or have an idea about existence that it can or cannot exist just from imaging.

    After reading Kenny interview in PB I sum up that he was mostly saying that certain sins can be greater or less than others. He talked about how most people would say some sins or crimes can't be justified, but a through utilitarian (a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes) would say it can be. I'm not agreeing with that at all!

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  5. America The Philosophical highlighted two writers this week (Quine and Nozick) who were both famous Harvard philosophers and the book began an explanation into the career of the great John Rawls author of The Theory of Justice.

    FQ: Who was known as the "Poster Boy" for American Philosophy? AtP 107

    FQ: What famous American Philosopher died at 63 of stomach cancer? AtP 105

    FQ: The American Philosopher Robert Nozick payed homage to what great Philosopher in his writings? AtP 103

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  6. Zachary VanDusen9:42 AM CST

    I enjoyed this portion of AtP more than any other. Robert Nozick was a man who seemed to have a change of heart. In his younger days he was very opionionful when he wrote his National Book Award for Anarchy, State and Utopia. When he wrote this book he was young and recognized his mistakes and corrected them in The Examined Life. One of the biggest changes in the two books is that he made the book less about his opinion and more about the reader's whole being, while writing from his own. Also he focused more on ethical and aesthetic themes in The Examined Life.
    I was also intrigued by Thomas Aquinas. The medieval philosopher that combined Aristotelian philosophy with christian theology. Aquinas was never really known for his ethics but I believe that he should be. He has ethics that rival that of Aristotle. Although the two have similar ethics, Aquinas utilizes the christian religion in the triad of faith, hope, and charity.
    The third philosopher in the readings, Anselm, had very interesting points about the existence of God. He felt that the fact that we have an idea of who God is, that there must certainly be a God. This is interesting and controversial. Anselm was a priest and very religious so he believed in a God. He also said that God is the greatest imaginable being and that there couldn't be nothing greater, and if there was than that being/object would be God.In other words, God is the greatest thing, whether he fits the image given to him by humans or not. He is all-mighty and all-powerful.

    FQ: Which philosopher believed that the fact that we have an idea of God proves that God exists? Anselm

    FQ: Who argued that Anselm's view about God is incorrect? Guanilo of Marmoutiers

    FQ:Who believed God was the "uncaused cause" of everything? Thomas Aquinas

    FQ: Aristotle and __________ believed that animals weren't part of the moral community and that you can mistreat animals? Aquinas

    FQ: According to utilitarianism, the________ are the test of whether something is right or not? consequences

    FQ;Which philosopher stated that a "philosopher's seriousness is judged by the quality of his arguements?" Robert Nozick

    FQ: Who announced later in their career that they sought to "explain" rather than solve traditional philosophical conundrums? Robert Nozick

    DQ: What do you guys think about Anselm's reasonings for there being a God simply because we have a thought of his existence?

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  7. Zachary VanDusen9:44 AM CST

    Forgot a couple questions.

    FQ: Aquinas believed that___ was above the moral community and ______ were below it. God; animals

    FQ: Aquinas believed that your ______ can be ill-informed and you have a duty to better inform it. conscience

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  8. Aaron Caveny11:07 AM CST

    Colt, here are a couple links for Instagram. They are basically other people's perspective on their philosophy and how Instagram helped or shaped it.

    http://shinn-anigans.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-philosophy-of-instagram.html

    http://anthonypalmer.net/2013/07/21/the-philosophy-of-instagram/

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  9. FQ: What book is Nozick best known for (whether he wants it to be or not)?
    answer: Anarchy, State and Utopia

    DQ: We heard some differing viewpoints on ethics. Aquinas placed value on virtues to carry out ethics while Rawls focused more on laws. Which do you think works better, or a combination of both?

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  10. In the spirit of getting all sides in philosophy, here is a link that talks about the good that Bentham's work brought about (and some background on him). Kenny was pretty critical of Bentham's work, so here is some counter information:
    http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who

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  11. FQ: Which Philosopher wrote Proslogion? - Anselm (LH, 46)

    DQ: What are your thoughts concerning the notion of infinite regress?

    LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mMY0oQl7Ck

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    Replies
    1. In response to your discussion question:
      I don't think infinite regress makes a lot of sense. I'm sure if we regress far enough back, there would be a point in which nothing exists, and things can't suddenly appear from nothing. At least, science wouldn't have us believing such. I feel like at some point we would have to come across a first something, and then of course we'd have to track where that first something came from. I don't necessarily think that this process could be infinite. That may be simply because I can't wrap my mind around infinity as it isn't concrete, so I'll digress on that. I don't necessarily think that my line of reasoning ultimately leads to the conclusion that there has to be God, in the sense of the word, that started everything. Just because I believe that there had to be some sort of starting point doesn't necessarily mean I advocate the starting point being God as defined most commonly in our society. It could be, as the text suggested, some sort of energy or something along those lines. But once again, where would that energy have come from? If only I could take the difficult concept of infinity and make it less abstract and hard to verbalize, I might be able to delve deeper into this topic.

      Delete
  12. Haven't had a chance to post until now, sorry guys.

    I found the reading in Little History to be kind of disappointing. Anselm and Aquinas just don't strike up as much interest with me as some of the other philosophers we've looked at. Anselm's argument for the existence of God was amusing at best. I would hate to get into any sort of debate with that guy if that's how he forms his cases. As for Aquinas, he seemed to come closer to logical sense when posing his philosophy, though I'm still not sure how I feel exactly as far as his idea of an uncaused cause being God.

    FQ:In a short section of a book called _____ _____, Italian saint, Thomas Aquinas, outlined five arguments called the ____ _____ that were supposed to demonstrate the existence of God. (Summa Theologica, Five Ways)

    FQ: Aquinas agrees with Aristotle that happiness is "an activity, not a feeling" and that for intellectual beings, supreme happiness is "an intellectual activity". However, ____ _____ viewed happiness as the same as sensation; this philosopher "draws no distinction between pleasure and happiness". (Jeremy Bentham)

    DQ: Do you think you should always obey your conscience, or can your conscience steer you in the wrong direction?

    Links:
    I got a kick out of this.
    http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Philosophy/axioms/axioms/node46.html

    http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~stanlick/justice.html

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