Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Quiz April 14


1. John Stuart Mill criticized his father's friend _____'s version of Utilitarianism, saying it failed to distinguish higher and lower _____ of pleasure. (quantities, qualities) LH 139-40

2. What was the title of Mill's 1859 defense of "giving each person space to develop as they saw fit" so long as they do no harm in the process? 141

3. What did Mill think happens to views and opinions that go unchallenged? What do they turn into? 143


4. (T/F) Charles Darwin defended evolution by natural selection in a debate at the Oxford Museum of Natural History in 1860. 145

5. (T/F) Darwin called evolution by natural selection "the single best idea anyone has ever had." 146

6. What do we know that Darwin didn't, that makes evolution more than "just a hypothesis"? 151

BONUS: Who said "What do I care about J.S. Mill? I only want to lead a quiet life." PB 160

DQ
1. Is it better to be a contented "piggish" person, or a discontented intellectual? Better Socrates dissatisfied or a pig satisfied? Are some pleasures inherently higher in quality than others? Which ones?

2. Mill would say we don't have a right to interfere with others' preferred pleasures, though we may have a duty to criticize them. Might such criticism encroach on someone's "space," should they "see fit" to live a life of slovenly pleasure?

3. Do you ever conclude a statement of belief with the caveat that it's "just my opinion"? What do you think Mill would say about that?

4. How do you respond to the idea that our humanity is demeaned by biological association with other species? What do you think of Bishop Wilberforce's rhetorical debate question? What's your answer to those who ask "why are there still monkeys"?

5. What do you think is the best idea of all time?

6. "The whole subject of God is too profound for the human intellect." Agree or disagree? Should everybody just stop talking about it?
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*Mill & Darwin quotes

Mill and Darwin, both on Team Aristotle, look more on the bright side of life than old Schopenhauer. (But you'd be surprised how sunny Schopenhauer sounds in his "Wisdom of Life" essay.)


“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.” 

“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” 

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to beSocrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.” 

“In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service... That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.” 

“The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.” 


“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.” 

“...But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidæ with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice... I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind ofNewtonLet each man hope and believe what he can.” 

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” 


“The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” 

“Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities connected with the social instincts which in us would be called moral.” 

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” 

The vigorous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply.
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Also: check out today's dawn post, with several informative and entertaining videos (including two from the Pythons).

8 comments:

  1. Group 1-H01

    FQ: Mill was brought up as a utilitarian, with major influence from ________. (LH 139)

    FQ: (T/F) While Darwin was working on his theory of evolution, he became a world expert on barnacles. (LH 148)

    FQ: Mill's intellectual journey resulted from the fact that he felt he needed to prove that he was ____-_____. (PB 157)

    FQ: (T/F) On Liberty was Mill's literary memorial for Harriet Taylor. (PB 162)

    ReplyDelete
  2. H01- Group 1

    FQ: As did _____ _____, James Mill held the view that a child's mind was a tabula rosa. (LH 138)
    FQ: (T/F) Due to his father's intense focus on education, John Stuart Mill became a prodigy at an early age. (LH 139)
    FQ: Mill said that it would be better to be a dissatisfied _______ than a satisfied fool. (LH 140)
    FQ: (T/F) According to Mill, paternalism should always be directed towards adults in a civilized society. (LH 141)
    FQ: Mill had the radical idea that the sexes should be treated _______. (LH 144)
    FQ: Darwin gathered much of his observations from the ________ Islands. (LH 148).
    DQ: Is it possible to believe in the ability of species to evolve and believe in Creation?

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. (T/F) Darwin originally started his intellectual career as a philosopher. (LH 146)
    2. Mill was radical for his time because he believed in the equality of _____. (LH 139)

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. (T/F) Darwin originally started his intellectual career as a philosopher. (LH 146)
    2. Mill was radical for his time because he believed in the equality of _____. (LH 139)

    ReplyDelete
  5. FQ: Darwin got his "survival of the fittest" idea by a trip to what famous island? (LH 148)
    DQ: Do you believe that it benefits children when their parents are "overprotective" even if it's for their own good? Or should they be left alone more to learn who they are at the risk of them developing strange/bad habits?

    ReplyDelete
  6. FQ: Darwin got his "survival of the fittest" idea by a trip to what famous island? (LH 148)
    DQ: Do you believe that it benefits children when their parents are "overprotective" even if it's for their own good? Or should they be left alone more to learn who they are at the risk of them developing strange/bad habits?

    ReplyDelete
  7. “If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.” This quote highlights that we listen to music so much more easily ( and therefore often) than they did in this time. Do you think that is the type of consumption he was talking about or do you think he was talking about intentional choices to review art?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jeffrey LaPorte3:00 PM CDT

    FQ: Darwin developed his Ideas on voyage aboard what ship?
    DQ: Why do you think the theory of natural selection, a simple supportable theory, still faces opposition today?

    ReplyDelete

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