Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, March 31, 2014

Philosoraptors

Today, on our Peripatetic Philosophy Walk

We went over to see the "sky bridge."  <- also, btw, I think this is very strange punctuation.  Why is the period suppose to be inside the quotation marks (in this country)?  SEE parenthesis don't follow this strange rule!

Anyway,
Colt, Zack, Aaron, Shante', myself, Sam, and Jon were along on this walk

We asked certain questions and discussed our answers, like:

"Would you hook yourself up to a machine where you could have anything you want virtually?"
My answer would be no.  I think you would only say yes if you think life has no meaning, and that you don't care about other people.  Well it's true, why bother living?

"Would you want a perfect world?"
I think everyone has a different idea of "perfect." (I really hate that punctuation)
To me, who thinks this life is the only one I will at least remember, perfect would be the highest level something could obtain.  Some people think perfect would be the highest level something could be imagined to have (or possibly greater, thinking of God).  So in that case, yes I would want a perfect world, which would be the greatest possibly state this world could obtain.  It has a long way to go!

It reminds me of when we talked about whether we thought this world was perfect or not.
I think everyone said no, of course not!

Group 2 Section 12 Walk-about

Our topics of discussion today included political correctness, proving god, and free will

1. political correctness at Peck Hall. We stuck around home base for this one. Some questions and observations that came up:

1. Are there times that we're being overly sensitive?
2. Is there, or should there be different considerations for different races/ethnicities?
3. Where do you draw the line? how do you define offensive? can you use a term that is offensive on a level of 3, and not offensive on a level of 7? how do you define how offensive a term is and whether it is or is not offensive in the first place??
4. Who makes these decisions?

2. Proving God at the KOM

1. There truly is evidence that supports information in the bible, such as historical landmarks, specific tombs, etc...but does that prove that God exists? or does that simply prove that the Bible is an accurate historical artifact, aside from the supernatural?
2. we revisited Hume's opinions on miracles. Specifically, if a cancer patient is diagnosed, then "miraculously" cured at a later date, against all reason, is that a case of misdiagnosis, or a miracle?
3. To say that is clearly a mistaken diagnosis, we've lost faith in both miracles and science. is there anything we can truly have faith in, when science (based on reason, true experiments, empirical evidence...) fails us? that being said, could we not argue against faith in science just as we could argue faith in God?

3. Free Will at TODD.

1. Should a murderer be punished if he/she is completely delusional, and has no control over their actions?
2. does a person being "out of their mind" make an act any less gruesome than one who is "in their mind" committing the same act?

Great conversation today!
Summary of Topics Discussed

Our group went on a walk today and discussed several things.


First, we contemplated whether or not we have souls.  We had some conflicting opinions.  Some believed that we do have soul, but they are easily lost or damaged.  Someone else suggested that souls are completely separate from the body.

At our next stop we talked about virtual reality.  We are intrigued by the idea.  We discussed if we were emerged in a virtual realty, would we want to be aware that it is fake?  Yes.  We would like to take advantage of the virtual aspect so we could do whatever we wanted.

At out last stop we discussed Kant's view on pleasure.  I think we all agreed that there are higher forms of pleasure than others.

James McVey

Study Guide exam #2

Authors, paste your group's questions directly into this document if you can.

Why Not Study Guide for Exam #2

  1. What does 'Esse est percipi' mean?(Answer- to be is to be perceived)
  2. Who wrote in his Social Contract that "man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains,'" but also said people must sometimes be "forced to be free"? -Rousseau
  3. (T/F) John Locke believed that someone could be the same "man" but not the same person as time goes on. (ANS: True)
  4.  (T/F) Voltaire was strongly opposed to the separation of church and state. (F)
  5. What is amour-propre? pg.118 Is myself-esteem, my vanity, my sense of how others see me.
  6.  Rorty believed pragmatist could not sensibly attempt to specify the what __________? (nature of truth) 
  7. Who helped spark the collapse of high/low distinctions with his commentary on the arts and supported vaudeville, comics, TV, radio, movies, and jazz? (Gilbert Seldes, AP pg. 175)
  8.  According to___________ in the Weekly Standard, Rorty predicted in Achieving Our Country that, "we were about to become a________? (David Brooks, dictatorship) AP 147
  9. What economist taught philosophy at glasgow university and was a close friend to David Hume?Adam Smith
  10.  In 1839, lowbrow ___________ _________, performing in 'As You Like It' at Philadelphia's American Theater, shared the bill with a "magnificent display" of gymnastic position. (William Burton, pg. 172)

Philosoraptors STUDY GUIDE


Study time Raptors! 

FQ: In Rene Descartes’s 'Trademark Argument', it states that_____ exists because he left an idea_____ in our minds. God; implanted

FQ: Jansenists believed in ______. Predestination.

FQ: T/F. All philosophers agreed with Locke emphasis on self-conscious memory as the basis of personal identity. False

FQ: According to ______, being the same 'man' is very different from being the same 'person'. John Locke

FQ: ______ believed that the world and all that exist in it, exist only in the mind of the people. George Berkeley

FQ: Voltaire's real name was ________? Francois-Marie Arouet

FQ: Which philosopher stated ' I hate what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it’?Voltaire

FQ: T/F Hume was an Empiricist? –True

FQ: On his death bed, David Hume said that he should not worry about his afterlife because he didn't worry about the time before his life, which is an answer that an earlier philosopher ________ would have said. Epicurus.

FQ: Who stated ' Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains’? Jean-Jacques Rousseau

FQ: Rousseau felt that _______ were naturally good, and were corrupted by civilization. Humans.

FQ: What is General Will and which philosopher built the ground work for his philosophy on thisThe general will is to do whatever is best for the whole community in order to live freely within a society. Famed by Rousseau

FQ: Hume states different ways the eye could have been created; what are they? An old god who has died, a young god still learning, a single living God with power, or a team of lesser gods working together.

FQ: What philosopher claimed that lying under any circumstance was immoral? Kant

FQ: If it isn't right for everyone, it can't be right for _____?

Thunder Dragons Study Guide for Exam #2

1. FQ: Did Hume believe desire or reason governed human behavior? (Reason)

2. FQ: Who was Francois-Marie Arouet better known as? (Voltaire)

3. FQ: What book did Rorty believe knocked out the enterprise of epistemology itself? (Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature)

4. FQ: What position did Rorty believe in? (Middle-of-the-road)

5. FQ: Who was Pascal first educated by? (His Father, Étienne Pascal)

6. FQ: Who created the Cartesian co-ordinates? (René Descartes)

7. FQ: Did Pascal believe we should be closer to beasts or angels? (Beasts)

8. FQ: What branch of mathematics did Spinoza use to explain philosophy? (Geometry)

9. FQ- What did Pascal invent in 1642? (A mechanical calculating machine called the Pascaline)


10. FQ: Whose method is, "don't accept anything as true if there is the slightest possibility that it isn't"? (Descartes)

Oliver's Favs Study Guide Sec. 12

1. What's the all-time Philosophy best-seller (excluding the Bible)? Durant's Story of Philosophy, AP 170
2. What did Hume relate the basis of scientific reasoning to? (Animal Instinct, PB pg. 103)
3. What distinction of John Locke's did Berkeley reject? Primary/Secondary qualities
4. What does 'Esse est percipi' mean? To be is to be perceived
5. What does cogito ergo sum mean? I think therefore I am

6. What 18th century skeptical Scottish Empiricist rejected the Design Argument (aka Teleological Argument) for the existence of God? David Hume

7. Why did Hume say we tend to expect the future to resemble the past? Instinct

8. What did Richard Rorty think we understand better when we abandon notions such as "the intrinsic nature of reality" and "correspondence to reality"? Truth

9. Who invented Cartesian coordinates and invented the Cartesian method of doubt? (How many syllables in his name? What's it rhyme with?) Descartes


10. What English philosopher said the mind of a newborn is a blank slate? John Locke

Daily Quiz

March 31
(Happy Opening Day!)

1. Who said experience and knowledge are created by (metaphorical) filters or spectacles we can never remove, but that provide an answer to David Hume and the skeptics?

2. What's another name for phenomena and noumena? OR, What's the difference for Kant between "analytic" and "synthetic" knowledge? (Which gives us new information?)

3. How did Kant feel about feelings? OR, What would Kant say about helping a homeless person because just because you feel sorrow and compassion for him?

4. What was Kant's view of lying? OR, What (in your own words) is the categorical imperative? OR, How did Kant differ from Aristotle's view of virtue?

5. What was Jeremy Bentham's main utilitarian principle? OR, What did he call his method for calculating happiness?

6. Did Bentham think some pleasures (such as that derived from poetry) are inherently superior (to, say, that derived from baseball, or walking)? OR, What did Robert Nozick's thought experiment seem to show about Bentham's view of pleasure?

7. What Irish conservative supported the American colonies' revolt against King George?

8. What critic hastened the collapse of high/low distinctions and "genteel" culture, and the democratization of culture in America?

1. Kant. 2. appearance, reality-111-12; synthetic-113.  3. irrelevant to moral action-115-16. 4. Irrational, thus always wrong; [universalizable]; Aristotle said virtue includes appropriate feelings-117-18; 120. 5. Greatest Happiness-122; Felicific Calculus-123. 6. No-123; not all are equal-125. 7. Edmund Burke-PB 125. 8. Gilbert Seldes-175-6.

ALSO OF NOTE:

DQ: Did Kant think free will, immortality, and God could be proved? Did he think believe in them was irrational? PB 142

  1. FQ: Who thought synthetic a priori knowledge, knowledge that reveals truth about the world yet is arrived at independant of experience, was possible? -Immanuel Kant LH 113

    DQ: Do emotions and intentions play a part in whether or not a person is considered to be acting morally, or is morality a strictly reason-based claim?

    Link: Here is a link to a three minute philosophy video all about Immanuel Kant. It's a bit vulgar at places, but I thought it was funny and rather informative. =]
    http://youtu.be/xwOCmJevigw
    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephanie Byars4:06 PM CDT
    Study Guide Question: (T/F) John Locke believed that someone could be the same "man" but not the same person as time goes on. (ANS: True)

    FQ: Who helped spark the collapse of high/low distinctions with his commentary on the arts and supported vaudeville, comics, TV, radio, movies, and jazz? (Gilbert Seldes, AP pg. 175)

    DQ: Does a work being crude or "lowbrow" devalue its importance?

    DQ2: What are examples of "lowbrow" art/media today?

    Link: Here's a short video about Aesthetics which is a a branch of philosophy that's about the nature of art, beauty, and taste. . .
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pZe20gfFN8
    ReplyDelete
  3. Study guide question: (T/F) Voltaire was strongly opposed to the separation of church and state. (F)

    FQ: In 1839, lowbrow ___________ _________, performing in 'As You Like It' at Philadelphia's American Theater, shared the bill with a "magnificent display" of gymnastic position. (William Burton, pg. 172)

    FQ: Who was counted as popular entertainment in nineteenth-century America? (Shakespeare, pg. 173)

    DQ: D.W. Griffith's "middlebrow" piece, "The Birth of a Nation," was aimed at the masses, and was met with great success. Seeing how this is a tremendously racist film, despite its production scale, what are the implications of this for american society.?

    DQ: How would you define something (if anything) as a type of brow? (low, middle, or high). Is this an arbitrary value? Is it Subjective?
  1. Study Guide Questions
    1. Machiavelli said a prince needs ______, the Italian word for manliness. (Virtu)
    2. What 18th century skeptical Scottish Empiricist rejected the Design Argument (aka Teleological Argument) for the existence of God? (David Hume)
    3. What does cogito ergo sum mean? (“I Think, Therefore I Am”)
    4. Which French philosopher wrote a play parodying the idea that everything (including devastating earthquakes, disease, rape, murder, torture,...) always works out for the best in our "best of all possible worlds," and said we must each "cultivate our garden"? (Voltaire)
    5. What recently-deceased legal scholar rejected the separation of law and morality, and said only conscious beings have "interests"? (Ronald Dworkin)
    6. What's the all-time Philosophy best-seller (excluding the Bible). (Durant’s Story of Philosophy)
    7. What 18th century Irish philosopher/bishop denied the existence of matter and said that, in a world consisting of nothing but ideas, "to be is to be perceived"? (George Berkeley)
    8. Was Hume unworried about dying because he'd publicly declared himself an atheist? (No-He never publicly declared it)
    9. What did Richard Rorty think we understand better when we abandon notions such as "the intrinsic nature of reality" and "correspondence to reality"? (Truth)
    10. Who invented Cartesian coordinates and invented the Cartesian method of doubt? (How many syllables in his name? What's it rhyme with?) (Descartes)
    ReplyDelete
  2. (PB) Bourke (p. 124-131)

    FQ: What was the major issue of the day when Burke entered Parliament in 1766?
    FQ: In regards to the breakaway of the colonies, Burke was opposed to this person: _____ ______ __
    FQ: Because of his reaction to the Revolution of France, Burke was regarded as _______.
    FQ: Who does Richard Bourke say Burke had a lot in common with?

    DQ: What kind of political system of organization do you think is necessary for a society to be stable?

    LINK: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edmund_burke.html
    This is just a link to some awesome quotes from Edmund Burke.
  1. #FirstPost

    Apparently we are looking at the world through a pair of pink sunglasses? According to Kant everything we see is just through our own prospective. Immanuel Kant was a strategical person who always had a schedule. I believe that his works of philosophy show his lifestyle of what I believe was probably early ADHD. (even though thats not real). Kant saw the world in two different ways, noumenal, which lies behind natural appearance and the phenomenal world, which we can observe. This weeks reading including a two part on Kant. The second part included his idea on what was moral and what wasn't. He states that the moral is always the truth, never any lies and includes the down right most kind way of life. His idea of immoral was similar to how most people see it now. I believe all in all Kant had this world figured out to a certain extent. No wonder he is on most of the top philosophers charts.

    DQ: Do Kant's ideas of how we see the world interest you?

    FQ: What philosopher claimed that lying under any circumstance was immoral?

    FQ: If it isn't right for everyone, it can't be right for _____?
    ReplyDelete
  2. LH- Jeremy Bentham:

    Bentham focus was on Happiness. Most happiness come from pleasure, but there are few people who can gain happiness from pain; I don't see how that is, but they do. Bentham idea of happy is whatever will produce the most happiness to a person. it's about a person feelings. Happiness is more pleasure and less pain. Everyone tries to seek it, which I believe they should. Who wants pain or to be unhappy. The more pleasure you see the more happier you will probably be. Bentham said measure your happiness by thinking on what you did to feel good. P123 explains in details how to measure that happiness. Bentham also think you should lie, not like Kant in always telling the truth, he believe that it is not always wrong. If it is the morally right thing to do then it is okay. If further believe that animal fit his standard of happiness they may not be able to speak, but that they are capable of pain and pleasure. Yet not everyone wish to maximize their pleasure or minimize their pain.

    FQ: What is the name of the method that Bentham had for calculating happiness? Felicific Calculus, LH p123

    FQ: Did Bentham agree with Kant on being truthful no matter what? NO, LH p124

    DQ: How do you go about having more happiness in your life?

    Here is a calculation on how happy you are with your life in TIME. My results was that I am slightly happy with my life. Try it!
    http://content.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2028999,00.html
jason dziadosz5:02 PM CDT
hey all! sorry I wasn't in class Wednesday, been out of town. am back and will see you tomorrow. for now though, some thoughts on bentham!

FQ: University College London has Jeremy Bentham's ______ on display? it's quite creepy....(121).

FQ: what name did Bentham give to his method of calculating happiness? (123).

FQ: Bentham believed that the rightness or wrongness of what we do comes down to what? (124).

DQ: IS it ok to tell a little white lie, if it results in someone's happiness. we all do it all the time, but where do you draw the line??

LINK: http://ethicsforteachers.pbworks.com/f/calvin_happy2.jpg

welcome back Calvin and Hobbes!

  1. I was floating Wed and ended up in group 2. We got to talking about miracles also there was slight confusion on my part on the miracle understand, but Prof. Oliver cleared that up for me. We discussed a lot about "one's self". We talked about the the buddhist view and perspective on it along with Hume's view. I can see how there is question that if we take all the parts that make up a self there must not be anything there. I believe this is what lead many people to believe Hume was an Atheist although he never claimed to be. Overall great discussion.

    1. What's the all-time Philosophy best-seller (excluding the Bible) Durant's Story of Philosophy, AP 170
    2. What did Hume relate the basis of scientific reasoning to? (Animal Instinct, PB pg. 103)
    3. What distinction of John Locke's did Berkeley reject? primary/secondary qualities
    4. What does 'Esse est percipi' mean? to be is to be perceived
    5. What does cogito ergo sum mean? I think therefore I am
    ReplyDelete
  2. FQ: According to ________ it was possible by a pure excerise of reason to arrive at substantive conclusions about nature of reality.
    DQ: Without having analytic truth, could we still have synthetic truth?
    Link: http://eng7001.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/groundwork-for-critical-theory/

Why Not Study Guide for Exam #2

  1. What does 'Esse est percipi' mean?(Answer- to be is to be perceived)
  2. Who wrote in his Social Contract that "man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains,'" but also said people must sometimes be "forced to be free"? -Rousseau
  3. (T/F) John Locke believed that someone could be the same "man" but not the same person as time goes on. (ANS: True)
  4.  (T/F) Voltaire was strongly opposed to the separation of church and state. (F)
  5. What is amour-propre? pg.118 Is myself-esteem, my vanity, my sense of how others see me.
  6.  Rorty believed pragmatist could not sensibly attempt to specify the what __________? (nature of truth) 
  7. Who helped spark the collapse of high/low distinctions with his commentary on the arts and supported vaudeville, comics, TV, radio, movies, and jazz? (Gilbert Seldes, AP pg. 175)
  8.  According to___________ in the Weekly Standard, Rorty predicted in Achieving Our Country that, "we were about to become a________? (David Brooks, dictatorship) AP 147
  9. What economist taught philosophy at glasgow university and was a close friend to David Hume?Adam Smith
  10.  In 1839, lowbrow ___________ _________, performing in 'As You Like It' at Philadelphia's American Theater, shared the bill with a "magnificent display" of gymnastic position. (William Burton, pg. 172)

Thunder Dragons Study Guide for Exam #2

1. FQ: Did Hume believe desire or reason governed human behavior? (Reason)

2. FQ: Who was Francois-Marie Arouet better known as? (Voltaire)

3. FQ: What book did Rorty believe knocked out the enterprise of epistemology itself? (Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature)

4. FQ: What position did Rorty believe in? (Middle-of-the-road)

5. FQ: Who was Pascal first educated by? (His Father, Étienne Pascal)

6. FQ: Who created the Cartesian co-ordinates? (René Descartes)

7. FQ: Did Pascal believe we should be closer to beasts or angels? (Beasts)

8. FQ: What branch of mathematics did Spinoza use to explain philosophy? (Geometry)

9. FQ- What did Pascal invent in 1642? (A mechanical calculating machine called the Pascaline)


10. FQ: Whose method is, "don't accept anything as true if there is the slightest possibility that it isn't"? (Descartes)

An interview with Nigel Warburton

(Looking for everybody's 10 questions for the Study Guide...)

Nigel Warburton, ‘freelance philosopher’ is a man on a mission to bring philosophy to the masses. And he has a lot to show for it.

After writing eight books on the subject, co-editing another six and creating the hugely successful Philosophy Bites podcast with friend and producer David Edmonds, it is fair to say he must be doing something right. The podcast, in particular, has now been downloaded more than 20 million times across the globe and he has sold more than 150,000 English-language copies of his books.

But until recent years these were not things he would ever have seen himself doing, he said. Mr Warburton, now 52, grew up in Kent, and went to Bristol University as an undergraduate in psychology, before a switch to philosophy... (continues)
Free thinking and populist - interview with Nigel Warburton (From The Oxford Times)

Friday, March 28, 2014

Philosoraptors STUDY GUIDE


Study time Raptors! 

FQ: In Rene Descartes’s 'Trademark Argument', it states that_____ exists because he left an idea_____ in our minds. God; implanted

FQ: Jansenists believed in ______. Predestination.

FQ: T/F. All philosophers agreed with Locke emphasis on self-conscious memory as the basis of personal identity. False

FQ: According to ______, being the same 'man' is very different from being the same 'person'. John Locke

FQ: ______ believed that the world and all that exist in it, exist only in the mind of the people. George Berkeley

FQ: Voltaire's real name was ________? Francois-Marie Arouet

FQ: Which philosopher stated ' I hate what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it’? Voltaire

FQ: T/F Hume was an Empiricist? –True

FQ: On his death bed, David Hume said that he should not worry about his afterlife because he didn't worry about the time before his life, which is an answer that an earlier philosopher ________ would have said. Epicurus.

FQ: Who stated ' Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains’? Jean-Jacques Rousseau

FQ: Rousseau felt that _______ were naturally good, and were corrupted by civilization. Humans.

FQ: What is General Will and which philosopher built the ground work for his philosophy on this? The general will is to do whatever is best for the whole community in order to live freely within a society. Famed by Rousseau

FQ: Hume states different ways the eye could have been created; what are they? An old god who has died, a young god still learning, a single living God with power, or a team of lesser gods working together.

FQ: What philosopher claimed that lying under any circumstance was immoral? Kant

FQ: If it isn't right for everyone, it can't be right for _____?

Cody Behel, Group 2, Section 2 Floater

What up my fellow purveyors of wisdom! We had a good day of spirited discussion at the end of class on Wednesday. I was on floatation duty, and this is what had happened:

My Group

 Before floating, I discussed within my own group.  A floater from Group 3 joined us as we discussed the difficulty of being able to grasp George Berkeley's philosophy of "immaterialism" or "subjective idealism." How could one deny the existence of matter? How could one truly believe that there was no material substance, and what we perceive as matter is only an idea in our minds? It just don't make no dang sense!

Dr. Oliver joined our discussion mid-way through, and we eventually shifted our topic to the philosophy of David Hume,  particularly as it relates to the concept of miracles.  According to Dr. Phil, Hume would always state that there must be a rational explanation for an assumed miracle.

We posed the question: "What if someone was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and it just disappeared without any treatment or other means to heal it?" The Big O said that Hume would more readily believe that it was a misdiagnosis of the cancer. Hume appears to be what some refer to as a "stick in the mud" or a "wet blanket."

Group 3

I floated on out of Group 2 over to Group 3, where they were talking about freedom.  What is freedom?  Are we generally free?  Is anyone free?  Are people born free?

Freedom is red, white and blue. Freedom is the stars and bars, baby! Freedom is liberty, justice and the American Way!!

But seriously, I would have to say that we aren't free, even from birth.  Here in the U.S., we are given a social security number, birth certificate and medical record from the moment we enter this world.  Privacy is limited, and it is becoming more so faster and faster. I personally believe that we have many freedoms, more than most, but one cannot say that we are free.

After our discussion on freedom, the group asked me what we had talked about earlier in my group. I told them about our discussion on Hume and miracles, and I was surprised by the first response.

One of the members of Group 3 had an experience almost identical to the one we had discussed in Group 2.  His father had gone to the doctor, and a tumor the size of a grapefruit was found in his gut.  He returned shortly after, and the tumor had completely disappeared. I couln't believe that our hypothetical scenario from Group 2 had actually happened before to someone in Group 3! Dr. Oliver again stated that Hume would not believe that it was a miracle, but that there must be a logical explanation.

Group 1

By the time I got to Group 1, they had drifted away from their philosophical discussions, and were instead discussing more business of the class.  They had assigned readings, and they were helping a member catch up on the class after missing a couple sessions. We discussed the upcoming test as well as the final project. The end of the period came quickly, and we parted ways for the weekend.

I had a good experience as a floater, and it was fun to mix it up.  My only question: Does the floater post count as a base, a run, or what? Thank you!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Philosopher In Office? #Final2


                      Barack-Bertrand
In 2008 when Obama first ran for president he was one of the most fascinating speakers to watch. I am sure that anyone who remembers watching him, also remembers his claims to end the war over seas. Obama is an open pacifist to a certain extent. The war over seas is still not 100% over, but it is much closer now than it was. Let us not forget that he, also had a hand in the mission to kill America's biggest enemy Osama Bin Laden. Our president is a pacifist when he needs to be, yet he knows when to get business done. These characteristics are similar to a very famous philosopher who can found in one of our readings in "The little history of Philosophy" on page 183. Bertrand Russell is the philosopher that I am referring to. Bertrand Russell had a reputation has a strong pacifist who was anti war, but he knew what was worth fighting for and did whatever it took to achieve greatness. Both of these men are heavily decorated with educational achievements and both of them seem to be misunderstood by their society for the most part. Both Obama and Russell have numerous critics, yet they are the not type of person to give up on their goals. The anti-war characteristic of Obama is another attribute of his that is philosophical. Still not convinced our president is a philosopher? Keep following my #final and you'll see more comparisons every week!

Oliver's Favs

Hey guys,

Yesterday we discussed the philosophy of miracles.  Jessie told us about his dad, who was diagnosed with a large cancerous tumor.  He had a biopsy performed and the next day the tumor was completely gone. Thoughts on this?
We also talked about the question of whether or not we are born free, which steered the conversation towards defining "free."
We need to start working on a study guide, so everyone post a couple potential exam questions.  I'll fill in the rest.

James McVey

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Group 2 Section 12

We had a very small group attendance today, but once we were joined by Dr. Oliver and a couple floaters, the conversation begin rolling. The major topic we discussed today was on Hume and his thoughts of miracles. Our floater posed the question to the group, and a group member suggested a miracle is something that defies a law of nature. Hume believed, according to Dr.Oliver, that there is always a natural law explanation (or another reason) for what people believed to be miracles. Elizabeth posed the scenario that what if a person with terminal cancer (who's doctor said there was nothing that can be done) miraculously healed. Apparently, Hume would assume that the person was more likely misdiagnosed rather than magically healed. However, I think its nice to believe in miracles; it gives us hope sometimes when we need it most.      

Anyways, see you guys Monday! Have a good rest of the week!

Philosoraptors

Once again we went on a Philosophy walk. Gotha Love It!
We discussed Hume's idea of how objects have to have creators and that they aren't in existence by chance. We talked about an iPhone as an example. Questioning if it has an creator or did it just appear. The answer was it did not make itself it has a creator. We also chattered about how can a world so complex start from nothing, but we concluded that it couldn't.


Guys please if you can post more expanded details on our Philosophy walk discussion.




Toronto Raptors Historic Blast iPhone 4 Skin


The readings are:
LH:
Kant: p 110 - Colt
Bentham - p121 - Shante'


PB:
Bourke - p124 -
Moore - p132 -


AP:
Skinner, Maslow, & Coles - p185 - 197 - 


I didn't catch the assigned readings for everyone. Fill in your name by your reading


I will get the study guide question posted the by Friday or Saturday.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Philosophers

Let me just start us off by bringing our group back to its former glory by starting with an amazing picture.



Reflection on the Lecture

During class today, Dr. Oliver lectured us on a number of philosophers: David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Adam Smith. The lecture consisted primarily of answering quiz questions and elaborating on them. To continue on with the topics covered in class, I wanted to talk about the daily post. One of the statements that I want to take note of from the post is from Jennifer Michael Hecht that Dr. Oliver relates to Hume:

Everyday morality is based on the simple fact that doing good brings you peace of mind and praise from others and doing evil brings rejection and sorrow. We don’t need religion for morality… religion itself got its morality from everyday morality in the first place”

The idea that morality would exist without religion is interesting. Older civilizations based their legal systems upon religious principles (theocracies such as the Massachusetts Bay colony in the Colonial Era). Laws are usually put in place to prevent extremely immoral acts from being committed. Laws based on religious principles, such as laws relating to the biblical commandment “Thou shalt not kill”, are moral because they intend to prevent an evil consequence. However, in both modern times and theocratic civilizations in the past, a law is not necessary to deem killing someone immoral. In no sane society would the intentional killing of another human be deemed moral. This is why we can agree that morality does not have to come from religion, and it can instead be derived from everyday life.

Dr. Oliver elaborated on Hume, saying it was a common belief between Hume and his friends that “morality was available to anyone through reason.” This means that a person who is capable of intelligent thought has an idea of morality. This idea may vary among individuals and societies depending upon cultural traditions and beliefs. However, certain beliefs, such as the belief that murder is immoral, is extremely common. It is not necessarily true for all societies, because some include extremists (typically in the past) that may believe in killing individuals as sacrificial offerings. However, these societies may not be capable of critical thinking and reasoning to allow for their understanding of morality, because primitive notions cloud the reality that is modern society.

Of the philosophers covered today, Hume was personally the most interesting to me.

Group Discussion

Though given the opportunity to walk again, we did not decide to go today. We did, however, have a very interesting discussion about various individuals' personal religious beliefs. We all discusses the differing beliefs of heaven and hell, and if they were realistic.


More Walks Please?

I really hope we go on more peripatetic walks. They are very thought-provoking, especially when we are given specific topics we can focus on. That allows us to have a basis for a conversation and build off of it. The walk on Monday had the perfect weather: sunny and cool. I’m not sure how fun the walks would be when it warms up more (which it will eventually if Tennessee’s weather decides it wants to actually be Spring), but they are still an enjoyable experience. It definitely provides a change of environment to promote a much more diversified style of learning and philosophizing.




The Reading

Read By: Monday, March 31, 2014

Readings:
          
  -A Little History of Philosophy (LH)
                        +Kant Part 1 (p. 110-114)
                        +Kant Part 2 (p. 115-120)
                        +Bentham (p. 121-126)
          
  -Philosophy Bites Back (PB)
                        +Bourke (p. 124-131)
                        +Moore (p. 132-142)
          
  -America the Philosophical (AP)
                        +”Brows”/Durant (p. 161-172)

So yeah, here's my first author post guys. Hope you like it.