Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy PDF - Section #9
[Olivia, Reagan, and Heather]
The quiz is separated into three sections
Chapter 2: Read Pg. 19-26
Chapter 10: Read Pg. 140-145
Chapter 13: Read Pg. 184-188

Quiz Questions:

Chapter 2
1) What is a "jam-yesterday-jam-tomorrow" good?
2) Explain G.E. Moore's idea of organic unity.
 
Chapter 10
3) What two philosophers take on the problem of perception in an Alice-like fashion? 
4) What gave Aldous Huxley a way to know things more objectively, apart from his normal and limited perspective?
 
Chapter 13
5) Which of the early Greco-Roman philosophers built his reputation largely upon exposing what he thought was the nonsense of tyranny?
6) Carroll is thought to be using nonsense in his book to teach us what?
 
Discussion Questions:
  • Have you ever went on a trip that consisted of plenty of bad experiences, but you still consider the trip a good experience overall? If so, explain. If not, do you believe that is a possibility?
  • Do you think that changing into different personalities to fit in with others causes oneself to lose who they truly are?  
  • Do you believe that only the sane can enjoy even the wildest poetry of insanity? If so, do you think it relates to the values of nonsense and curiosity being taught by Carroll in Alice in Wonderland.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Philosophy & Feminism -#9






Quiz Questions
  1. What two ways do black women see themselves?
  2. Who did the most elegant and passionate defenses of dual consciousness as a source of power came from?
  3. What did Plato attribute to Socrates?
  4. What does Davidson call his thesis on the mind and agency?
  5. What does Davidson do unlike like female philosophers?

DQ
  • Do women act or fail to act out their beliefs and desires?
  • How can an oppressed woman keep her self-respect?






Essay for Quiz on February 16th

Latham Crihfield
Dr. Phil Oliver
Intro to Philosophy (PHIL 1030-008)
February 23, 2017

                                    Date Missed: Quiz for Thursday, February 16th
         This essay is to make up for the quiz on the missed day of February 16th, 2017. Life has delivered us many idioms of the course of several hundred years. There is one famous idiom that we all may or may not have heard: “One swallow does not make a summer.” The legendary Greek philosopher Aristotle first coined this idiom. Like all idioms, this particular one has a unique meaning behind it. Now what Aristotle meant by his idiom of “one swallow doesn’t make a summer” was that just because you say something good has happened does not mean that one or more good things will happen afterwards to improve on whatever situation you are in. In this case, if you happen to see a swallow, it does not mean that the summer season will happen right after or later on. Another example might be if you see a four-leaf clover, it does not mean that you will become rich. With that in mind, let us now focus on the lesson of virtues and self-happiness. Now, the Greek term “eudaimonoia” often means happiness or welfare, particularly over personal agendas or calmness in oneself. In order to increase our chances of improving our personal welfare, or eudaimonia, we must practice self-control, create motivation for ourselves, and focus on our own well-being and personal agendas. We cannot achieve eudaimonia however, without first having a set of virtues. Virtues are our own versions of having high moral standards that are specific characteristics to be valued; it is a vital trait or quality of an individual that is deemed morally good. Virtues are considered a foundation of higher principles of good moral beings. “Truth by authority” is knowledge based on authority. This kind of “truth”, however, may depend on the reputation of the individual or upon the institution of authority, like a well-known university or the government of Greece. If the truth comes from a person of high standards, such as a king or a governor of a city or town, their truth is considered of higher value than that of a show polisher or carpenter or even a homeless person who has been living in the dirt and mud for many years now. This kind of authority can be harmful to people’s philosophies or philosophy in general. It can forcefully obtain or censor knowledge, or perhaps it can intervene on an individual’s free will and moral standards. Even worse, authoritative truth can often be imposed onto the people as the actual truth and that nothing else can challenge it. In other words, it can be considered to be the “real truth” (or “alternative truth” in today’s society, as Miss Conway so infamously coined the term “alternative facts”). Philosophy is the study of how a person seeks knowledge about the world, its environment, and its existence, and the authority of truth based on a person who’s status was higher than that of Aristotle’s status greatly affects the terms of philosophy as a result.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Game of Thrones and Philosophy- Logic Cuts Deeper than Swords 

Olivia, Tristan, Clifton 










Quiz  Questions 
1. What do we consider when we think about whether or not a person is good or bad?

2. What does Tyrion's act of leading a small group of men against a much larger group say about him?

3. What can play a substantial role in molding our moral characters?

4. What do we think we should praise or blame people for?

5. What is circumstantial luck?

6. According to Immanuel Kant, how should moral praise and blame be determined?

7. What's the problem with moral luck? 


Discussion Questions
1. Do you believe that circumstance can play a role in shaping morals?

2. Do you think people should be praised or blamed for things they have no control over?

3. Have you ever been blamed or praised for something that was out of your control?

4. Have you ever found out about a moral or characteristic you had when a situation presented itself for that moral/characteristic to be used?

5. How important are morals to you? 

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Philosophy Student Quizzes Study Guide

Kianna Cooper
Alexus Uqdah
Philosophy Student Quizzes
February 14
1. What is altruism contrasted with? How does effective altruism relate to self-sacrifice?
-Egoism
2. What have Psychologists noticed in studying giving behavior?
-Some people give large amounts to one or two charities and some people give little amounts to a lot of charities.
3. In what class did Singer have the idea of donating a kidney?
-Ethics
4. When did altruistic kidney donation become legal in the United Kingdom?
-2006
5. What is the main concern for effective altruists? What do they do in their lives to live up to the true definition of effective altruism? What motivates effective altruists? (75-76)
-Worrying about the welfare of other to make life meaningful. They limit spending, choose different career paths, and donate empathy.
6. What are the four distinct components of empathy, as founded by the Interpersonal Reactivity Inventory? (70)
-Empathetic concerns, personal distress, perspective taking, and fantasy
7. What moral judgements do effective altruists share with utilitarians?(78)
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February 16

1. Walking is a sport.         A) True       B) False
2. Walking brings suspensive freedom      A) True      B) False
3. Whatever Liberates you from time and space DOES NOT alienate you from speed.   A) True      B) False  
4. By walking, you escape from the idea of identity      A) True       B) False
5. Walking manages to free us from our illusions about the essential.     A) True      B) False
6. The Walking body has no history      A) True     B) False

February 21
1.) What book has the greatest impact on American political Philosophy?
-John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government (1690)
2.) What do many rappers see Hip Hop as?
-An oppositional culture
3.) What is one of the basic reasons for joining the state?
-Physical Protection or economic security
4.) What will the government have to do to be viewed as legitimate?
-They will have to place equal importance on citizens lives as members of the state.
5.) Chuck D and other fans viewed Hip Hop/ Rap music as?
-Black CNN
6.) Where did the roots of Hip Hop music come from?
-Black Poets, Watts Prophets, and Gil Scott
February 23
Section I:
1.) What is a pleasure?
-To Burn
2.) What does Montag think that Clarisse smells on him initially?
-Carasine
3.) What does Clarisse's uncle tell her to say when anyone asks for your age?
-Your 17 and your crazy
4.) What is the question that Clarisse asks Montag before she goes back into her walk?
-Are you happy?
Section II:
1.) What does book burning signify?
-Censorship
2.) Why do the firemen burn books?
-For the good of the people
3.) If Beatty has this vast knowledge about books, why does he work to burn them?
-He believes people are doing better by focusing on their own lives
4.) Why does Beatty believe that books divide people?
-They give everyone their own opinions and opinions clash.
5.) Are there forms of censorship occurring today like in Farenheit 451?
-Yes
Section III:
1.)What is the inherent meaning of "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" ("Who watches the Watchmen?")?
-
2.) What is the definition of a distopia?

-

Philosophy Mid-Term Study Guide

Kianna Cooper
Alexus Uqdah
Philosophy Midterm Study Guide

January 19

1. What approach to the story of philosophy does Anthony Gottlieb say he aims to take in The Dream of Reason?
-As a journalist relying only on primary sources, questioning everything that had become conventional wisdom, and above all, trying to explain it as clearly as he could.

2. When was western science created?
-
3. How did William James define philosophy?
-He defined it as peculiarly stubborn efforts to think clearly.

4. What's distinctive about philosophical thinking?
-It is unwilling to accept conventional answers.

5. What is the sequel to The Dream of Reason?
-The Dream of Enlightenment

January 24

1. What were Aristotle's followers called?
-Peripatetic

2. Who said his mind only worked with his legs?
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

3. Whose mentor called walking "gymnastics for the mind"?
-Henry David Thoreau

4. Who had a "Sand-walk"?
-Charles Darwin

5. How much does the average American walk?
-350 yards a day

6. Name a city with a "Philosophers' Walk".
-Toronto

January 26

1. Who labelled the early 6th & 5th century philosophers "PreSocratics," and what did they invent?
-Historians

2. Aristotle said the Milesians were the first what?
-The first physici

3. Why does Gottlieb say Thales was not simply silly to suggest that H2O is the origin and essence of everything? OR, What must we do in order to refute him?
-He said he is not silly because he drew the connection between water and life. And, we have to reason with him in order to refute him.

4. What essential facet of scientific thinking did Anaximander's work exemplify?
- It exemplified that science says there is more to the world than meets the eye.

5. What famous poetic image do we associate with Pythagoras?
-Music of the Spheres’

6. What was a good Pythagorean supposed to study?
-Numbers, geometry, astronomy, and music

7. What did Bertrand Russell, echoing Pythagoras and Plato, consider the mind's "highest good"?
-The greatness of the universe, which philosophy contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of the union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.

8. How does Gottlieb think Aristotle was unfair to the Pythagoreans in his interpretation of their claim that numbers are the principles of all things?
-He was being too literal minded.
January 31

1. How does Gottlieb think Heraclitus would reply to Aristotle's complaint about his ambiguous syntax?
-He might have responded by saying it was the world itself that was ambiguous.

2. Why did Heraclitus compare us all to beasts, drunkards, sleepers, and children? What did he say we fail to grasp?
-Because men are deceived in the recognition of what is obvious; men fail to grasp the true logos.

3. What did fire symbolize, for Heraclitus?
-It symbolizes perpetual change and relation to the universe.

4. Who were Parmenides' famous teacher and student?
-Famous Teacher: Xenophanes
-Famous Student: Zeno

5. What was Parmenides' surprising claim (aside from the idea that everything is eternal)?
-That we cannot speak of change.

6. How did Parmenides say language and thought connect to the world?
-It is in direct contact with each other; the mind must somehow literally touch the world almost.

7. What was Zeno trying to discredit, with his famous paradoxes of motion?
-He was trying to discredit common sense views by demonstrating that they led to unacceptable consequences.

8. What did Aristotle say Zeno invented, and how did his aim differ from Socrates'?
-He said he was the inventor of dialectic, but Zeno only did so to defend his mentor. This is different from Socrates, who had constructive intentions.

9. How does Gottlieb solve the Achilles paradox?
- He says Achilles doesn’t have to cross those distances one at a time. Just like eating an egg, you don’t eat every little, fractional piece at a time. Instead, you simply just eat the egg. Basically, he’s saying he can cover more than one infinity/fraction at a time.

February 2

1. What was Empedocles' legendary "Faustian end"?
-Knowledge he had acquired made him God-like and enable him to perform magic. He is said to have jumped into the flames of Ethel and disappeared.

2. What did Empedocles identify as the universal elements whose interplay accounts for all phenomena including sexual attraction?  And, which of "our" elements does Gottlieb compare them to?
-Gravity and electromagnetism, and he compares them to the forces of love.

3. What fundamental principles of modern biology did Empedocles anticipate?
-Ideas about substances and forces

4. What was Empedocles' favorite scientific interest?
-Natural selection

5. What did Anaxagoras bring to Athens, and what was his nickname?
-Brought Ionian naturalism westward to Athens

6. Of what charge was Anaxagoras accused, like Socrates thirty years later?
- Offering scientific explanation for religion

7. How was Anaxagoras less extreme than Parmenides, with respect to reason and perception?
-For Anaxagous, judging by reason in not a matter of ignoring the evidence completely, but of trying to make better sense of it.

8. Was Anaxagoras a mind-matter dualist?
-No

February 7

1. How was Democritus remembered after his death, and why?
-As a laughing philosopher because he scoffed the folly of mankind.

2. Why did early Christians oppose atomism?
-It tried to explain everything in terms of mechanics
-It held no life after death

3. Name two other early atomists.
-Epicurus
-Lucretius

4. What idea did Democritus take over from Leucippus?
-That numerable tiny atoms career around in empty space until they collide and adhere to one another creating objects in the world; living and inanimate.

5. When did ancient atomism become a mature scientific view?
-When chemist and physicists developed sophisticated ways to measure material phenomena

6. What ability was most valued in Periclean Athens?
-The ability to speak and debate persuasively before the political assembly or the juries

7. For whom was the term sophistes, Sophists, reserved in the time of Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, et al, and what subjects did they teach?
-It was reserved for people who taught for money. They taught rhetoric, political skills, and how to excel in legal and moral discourse.

8. What were Plato's & Aristotle's stated objections to the Sophists?
-They said that sophists’ art was the semblance of wisdom without the reality.
-The sophist is one who makes money from an apparent, but unreal wisdom.
-They were unprincipled and worthless men.

9. What playwright satirized Socrates and the Sophists indiscriminately?
-Aristophanes

10. Which Sophist embraced subjectivity and said "Man is the measure of all things"?
-Protagoras

February 9

1. What was Socrates' "faith"?
-Devotion to argumentative reason

2. How does Gottlieb account for Socrates' appeal to the "high society" of Athens, given his humble background and poverty?
-Through his remarkable power of conversation

3. What did Alcibiades see in Socrates?
-He seen his inner beauty

4. with what request did Socrates typically commence a philosophical conversation? What was his method called?
-He started by requesting an enlightening definition of whatever was being discussed and that method was called ‘Dialectic’

5. Why were the defenders of Athenian democracy uneasy about Socrates?
-Because they didn’t have a strong democracy since they had been overthrown by the Thirty Tyrants.
-Socrates the legitimacy of the democratic state by making his own Gods.
-

6. In what way did the Oracle mean that Socrates was wise? Did Socrates accept the Oracle's authority at face value?
-He was wise in the way that he alone is aware to how little he knows and isn’t afraid to admit what he doesn’t know. And n, he didn’t accept the Oracle’s authority at face value, he continued to search for the answers himself.


7. What was Socrates' basic motive for philosophizing?
-That is seemed to him the right thing to do.

8. Why did Socrates say it's unwise to fear death?
-Because man doesn’t know what comes after death and by fearing it we are assuming what comes after death is bad. We can’t fear what we don’t know.

9. In what different ways were Socrates and Plato "unworldly"?
- Socrates was unworldly because he kept a sharper focus on the duties and blessings of the world. Plato was unworldly because he thought philosophy was this ladder to this elevated world of the forms.

10. What form of life did Socrates say is not worth living? OR, Do the "authentically Socratic" dialogues usually settle on a final conclusion?
- An unexamined life

February 14

LH
1. What kind of conversation did Socrates consider a success?
-A conversation that ended in everyone realizing how little they knew

2. What was wisdom, for Socrates?
-It was understanding the true nature of our existence, including the limits of what we could know.

3. With what Platonic theory does the parable of the cave connect?
-The perfect circle platonic theory

DR
4. In Plato's Symposium, what does Socrates say Diotima taught him about love?
-everything he knows about love

5. What nagged Plato about the academic way of life?
-He was nagged by a doubt about the academic way of life: “ I fear to see myself at last altogether nothing but words, so to speak a man who will never willingly lay hand to any concrete task.”

6. What analogy does Socrates/Plato drawn between the parts of the city and the parts of the soul?
- They draw an analogy saying that a just city should mimic the imperative, spirited, and rational parts of the soul.

February 16

1. What did Aristotle mean by "one swallow doesn't make a summer"?
-The point he was making was that just as t takes more than the arrival of one swallow to prove that summer has come, and more than a single warm day, so a few moments of pleasure don’t add up to true happiness.

2. What does eudaimonia mean?
-Happiness, but is most often referred to as flourishing or success.

3. How can we increase our chance of eudaimonia?
-By developing the right kind of character.

4. Eudaimonia can only be achieved in relation to what?
-In relation to life in a society.

5. What is "truth by authority"?
-I t is believing something must be true because an important ‘authority’ figure has said it is.

6. How is authority hostile to the spirit of philosophy?
-Because philosophy challenges conventional thinking and you’re relying on someone else’s authority is conventional.

February 21

1. What did Aristotle set up in 335 BC?
-A research institute known as Lyceum. It was in Athens.

2. What was dearer to Aristotle than Plato?
-The Truth

3. What was the fundamental difference between Aristotle and Plato, and how was it reflected in his attitude towards the "cave"?
- Plato was more pessimistic and Aristotle was more optimistic in comparison. While Plato wanted to leave the dark cave of physical reality and find something better, Aristotle said that the cave wasn’t so bad once you turned on the lights.


4. What three things did Aristotle say are always involved in change?
- Something which changes, a state to which it changes, and a state from which it changes.

5. What was Aristotle's name for God, and what did he say He thinks about?
-Unmoved Mover, and he thinks about himself.

6. How does Aristotle's view of the fundamental type of existence contrast with Plato's theory of Forms?
-The fundamental type of existence for Aristotle is not to be found in Plato's self-subsisting world of eternal Ideas or Forms, it's just ordinary things - trees, rocks, plants, animals.

February 23

1. According to Epicurus, fear of death is based on what, and the best way to live is what?
-The Fear of death is based on bad logic and the best way to live is have a very simple lifestyle, be kind to those around you, and surround yourself with friends.

2. How is the modern meaning of "epicurean" different from Epicurus's?
-Epicureans prefer eating fine foods and indulging in luxury, and sensual pleasure. Whereas Epicurus prefer much simpler things.

3. What famous 20th century philosopher echoed Epicurus's attitude towards death?
-Ludwig Wittgenstein

4. What was the Stoics' basic idea, and what was their aim?
-We should only worry about things we can change and they aimed for a calm state of mind

5. Why did Cicero think we shouldn't worry about dying?
-He believed that the soul lived forever and so old people shouldn’t worry about dying

6. Why didn't Seneca consider life too short?

-Life is usually long enough to get enough done if we make the right choices.

Alix and Taylor Philosophy Quiz and Discussion Questions

Click on this link to read the passage for "Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just A Dream." Click on the option to read online. The required reading is chapter 1, pages 17-30.

Inception and Philosophy Quiz

1. How many plot theories does the book mention the movie possibly having?
2. What does the text say that the definition of intentionalism is?
3. Does the author feel like the creator of an artwork should decide it's meaning?
4. How many issues does the author discuss towards the director deciding what the meaning of the movies is?
5. What does the text say that the definition of multiplism is?
6. What other films has Christopher Nolan directed?

Inception and Philosophy Discussion Questions

1. Do you think that the creator of an artwork decides what the definitive meaning of an artwork is?
2. Which theory about the movie do you agree with and why?

A Philosophy of Walking Chapters 4, 5, 6. Section 9

https://books.google.com/books?id=NchNBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=a+philosophy+of+walking&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiHheyXvqXSAhWG5CYKHSlcCc4Q6AEIJTAA#v=onepage&q=a%20philosophy%20of%20walking&f=false
A Philosophy of Walking Chapters Chapters 4, 5, 6. Section 9.

Quiz questions:

1. What does Gros mean by outside being a transition?

2. How does the definition of outside change in long walks?

3. Where was Gros when he learned how to walk?

4. What lesson did Mateo teach Gros about walking?

5. What does Gros compare one of the secrets of walking to?

6. Why was Rimbaud arrested?

Discussion questions:

1. Do people still walk for leisure and to enjoy nature or is it more for exercise these days?

2. Would you consider yourself a good walker or a bad walker based on Gros's definitions?

3. Do you think that moving quickly through life shortens your day overall?

Section 8-A Man Without A Country reading and quiz questions










A Man Without A Country Quiz Questions

1. What two people did the author give as examples as being guessers?
2. What was likely to happen to the Russians who didn’t think much of the guesses of Ivan the          Terrible?
3. What has been at the core of leadership for so long?
4. What kind of people will not be welcomed in Washington D.C.?
5. How does the author say we now present ourselves to the rest of the world?
6. What did the New York Times guarantee was in Iraq before we attacked?
7. When and where was Ignaz Semmelweis born?
8. What thanks did Semmelweis get from leaders of his profession in Viennese society?

                                                           Discussion Questions

On pages 81-89, Vonnegut writes about the “proudest, most ignorant guessing in the world” happening in Washington, DC. Would you describe what is happening in Washington now in a similar way? Do you think Washington pushes out truly educated people? Why do you think they do this? (Vonnegut refers to the establishment as “the haters of information.”)
            
When you read through pages 86-89, did it sound pretty familiar? What are the similarities between when Vonnegut was writing this (2004/05) and today’s circumstances in America?
           
  On page 88, Vonnegut claims he has given up on people. He doesn’t show much optimism here. Based on what you’ve read, why do you think that is? Did Vonnegut really have any reason to be optimistic about the human race? Are you optimistic about the human race, or do you feel you’ve given up as Vonnegut had?


           
 Pages 90-93 detail the career of Ignaz Semmelweis. Think about how his career ended. Do you think this contributed to destroying Vonnegut’s optimistic outlook?