Quizzes Feb 27, Mar 1

This isn't on Exam #1, but we'll begin discussing it Tuesday if time permits.

LH 4-5 [Note: we're skipping LH 3, on skepticism, for now. We'll come back to it next class.]

1. According to Epicurus, fear of death is based on what, and the best way to live is what?

2. How is the modern meaning of "epicurean" different from Epicurus's?

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

4. What was the Stoics' basic idea, and what was their aim?

5. Why did Cicero think we shouldn't worry about dying?

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

FL 21

7. By the end of the '50s how much TV did the average American watch?

8. Who was the Steve Jobs of his era?

9. Of what was Disneyland "more or less a replica"?

10. What fantasy did Hugh Hefner promote?

11. Who was our "ad hoc national Pastor-in-Chief"?

DQ:

• Are you afraid of death, of dying, or of any other aspect of human mortality? Why or why not? What's the best way to counter such fear?
• Are you epicurean in any sense of the word?
• Have you experienced the death of someone close to you? How did you handle it?
• Do you believe in the possibility of a punitive and painful afterlife? Do you care about the lives of those who will survive you? Which do you consider more important? Why?
• Do you consider Epicurus's disbelief in immortal souls a solution to the problem of dying, or an evasion of it? Do you find the thought of ultimate mortality consoling or mortifying?
• How do you know, or decide, which things you can change and which you can't? 
• Were the Stoics right to say we can always control our attitude towards events, even if we can't control events themselves?
• Is it easier for you not to get "worked up" about small things you can't change (like the weather, or bad drivers) or large things (like presidential malfeasance and terrorist atrocites)?  Should you be equally calm in the face of both?
• Who had the better idea about why we shouldn't be afraid to die, Epicurus or Cicero?
• Do you waste too much time? How do you think you can make the most of the time you have?
• Is it possible to live like a Stoic without becoming cold, heartless, and inhumane?
• 
  

Quiz March 1

DR 13

1. In the Hellenistic period Western philosophy came to be seen as what? What did the Hellenistic philosophies all praise, and what did they all see as the key to wisdom?

2. Of what later philosophy was Epicureanism the main ancestor?

3. What central problem of philosophy was Epicurus apparently the first to state?

4. From what did the Stoics take their name?

5. What was the one thing the Stoics thought the Epicureans were right about?

6. How does Gottlieb say the Stoics were inconsistent?

FL 22

7. Where was the New Age philosophy/lifestyle invented?

8. What central New Age tenet did Jane Roberts "channel," and from whom?

9. What "sudden and enthusiastic embrace" helped turn America into fantasyland?

10. What bestseller whose popularity announced the mainstreaming of fantastical beliefs did Andersen's mother read?

The Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was born in 341 BC, on the island of Samos, a few miles off the coast of modern Turkey. He had an unusually long beard, wrote over three hundred books and was one of the most famous philosophers of his age.

What made him famous was his skilful and relentless focus on one particular subject: happiness. Previously, philosophers had wanted to know how to be good; Epicurus insisted he wanted to focus on how to be happy.

Few philosophers had ever made such a frank, down-to-earth admission of their interests before. It shocked many, especially when they heard that Epicurus had started a School for Happiness. The idea of what was going on inside was both entirely shocking and deeply titillating. A few disgruntled Epicureans made some damaging leaks about what was going on in the school. Timocrates said that Epicurus had to vomit twice a day because he spent all his time on a sofa being fed luxurious meats and fish by a team of slaves. And Diotimus the Stoic published fifty lewd letters which he said had been written by Epicurus to some young students when he’d been drunk and sexually obsessed. It’s because of such gossip that we still sometimes now use the adjective ‘Epicurean’ to describe luxury and decadence... SoL

What is the best life we can live? How can we cope with whatever the universe throws at us and keep thriving nonetheless? The ancient Greco-Roman philosophy of Stoicism explains that while we may not always have control over the events affecting us, we can have control over how we approach things. Massimo Pigliucci describes the philosophy of Stoicism...Ed.ted

‘Stoicism’ was a philosophy that flourished for some 400 years in Ancient Greece and Rome, gaining widespread support among all classes of society. It had one overwhelming and highly practical ambition: to teach people how to be calm and brave in the face of overwhelming anxiety and pain.

We still honour this school whenever we call someone ‘stoic’ or plain ‘philosophical’ when fate turns against them: when they lose their keys, are humiliated at work, rejected in love or disgraced in society. Of all philosophies, Stoicism remains perhaps the most immediately relevant and useful for our uncertain and panicky times... SoL
DQ

• What do you think of when you hear the word "therapy"? Do you think philosophers can be good therapists?
•  Do you think "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" is an appropriate goal in life? Can it be effectively pursued by those who shun "any direct involvement in public life"?
• If the motion of atoms explains everything, can we be free?
• Is it true that your private thoughts can never be enslaved?
• Do you agree with the Stoic critique of Plato's Forms? (321)
• How do you distinguish things that are and are not subject to your control?

Book of Life: Epicurus

==

Old posts-

Pyrrho, Epicurus (LH); WATCH:Epicurus (SoL); Epicurus on HappinessLISTEN: Epicureanism(IOT); Epicurus the greatest philosopher? (IOT). Podcast
Quiz Sep16

  

1. (T/F) Extreme sceptics (skeptics, in the USA) like Pyrrho thought it best to avoid holding firm opinions on anything.

2. The point of moderate skepticism (unlike Pyrrho's extreme version) is to get closer to what? 

3. (T/F) Epicurus said it's reasonable to fear death. 

4. (T/F) "Epicurean" originally meant someone who indulges in luxury and sensual pleasure. 

5. What 20th century philosopher had a view of death similar to Epicurus's?

6. Epicurus's attitude will be unlikely to work for you if you believe what?

DQs:

1. Do you find it comforting or troubling to assert and identify with strong opinions?

2. "Don't believe everything you think." Good advice? What should you believe? How should you decide what to believe?

3. Do you fear death, or dying, or oblivion? Why or why not? OR, Do you agree that death is not an event to be experienced in life?

4. Do you have any expensive tastes? If so, how do you satisfy them? If not, is that because your time is worth more to you than anything else?

5. Nigel says it's a mistake to think there will be something of us left to feel whatever happens to our dead bodies. Agree or disagree? Why?

6. Can you really imagine what it would be like to continue existing after your heart stops? Can you describe what you imagine? What's your basis for that description? Are you threatened by the fact that not everyone believes in a supernatural afterlife? What about a natural afterlife?

==

Pyrrho reminds me of the Ruler of the Universe

...who is really more Pyrrhonist Skeptic than solipsist, I think.

RULER OF THE UNIVERSE AS SOLIPSIST:
Excerpts from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Radio Scripts

MAN:   Pussy pussy pussy . . . coochicoochicoochi . . . pussy want his fish? Nice piece of fish . . . pussy want it? Pussy not eat his fish, pussy get thin and waste away, I think. I imagine this is what will happen, but how can I tell? I think it's better if I don't get involved. I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet so who am I to judge? Ah, you're eating it.

I like it when I see you eat the fish, because in my mind you will waste away if you don't.

Fish come from far away, or so I'm told. Or so I imagine I'm told. When the men come, or when in my mind the men come in their six black shiny ships do they come in your mind too? What do you see, pussy? And when I hear their questions, all their many questions do you hear questions? Perhaps you just think they're singing songs to you. Perhaps they are singing songs to you and I just think they're asking me questions. Do you think they came today? I do. There's mud on the floor, cigarettes and whisky on my table, fish in your plate and a memory of them in my mind. And look what else they've left me. Crosswords, dictionaries and a calculator. I think I must be right in thinking they ask me questions. To come all that way and leave all these things just for the privilege of singing songs to you would be very strange behaviour. Or so it seems to me. Who can tell, who can tell.

. . . .

MAN:   I think I saw another ship in the sky today. A big white one. I've never seen a big white one. Only six small black ones. Perhaps six small black ones can look like one big white one. Perhaps I would like a glass of whisky. Yes, that seems more likely.

. . . .

Perhaps some different people are coming to see me.

. . . .

MAN:     Hello?

FORD PREFECT:    Er, excuse me, do you rule the Universe?

MAN:     I try not to. Are you wet?

FORD:    Wet! Well, doesn't it look as if we're wet?

MAN:    That's how it looks to me, but how you feel about it might be a different matter. If you find warmth makes you feel dry you'd better come in.

. . . .

ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX:  Er, man, like what's your name?

MAN:       I don't know. Why, do you think I ought to have one? It seems odd to give a bundle of vague sensory perceptions a name.

ZARNIWOOP:  Listen. We must ask you some questions.

MAN:    All right. You can sing to my cat if you like.

ARTHUR DENT:  Would he like that?

MAN:   You'd better ask him that.

ZARNIWOOP:  How long have you been ruling the Universe?

MAN:   Ah, this is a question about the past is it?

ZARNIWOOP:  Yes.

MAN:    How can I tell that the past isn't a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?

ZARNIWOOP:  Do you answer all questions like this?

MAN:    I say what it occurs to me to say when I think I hear people say things. More I cannot say.

. . . .

ZARNIWOOP:     No. Listen. People come to you, yes?

MAN:  I think so.

ZARNIWOOP:    And they ask you to take decisions—about wars, about economies, about people, about everything going on out there in the Universe?

MAN:    I only decide about my Universe. My Universe is what happens to my eyes and ears. Anything else is surmise and hearsay. For all I know, these people may not exist. You may not exist. I say what it occurs to me to say.

ZARNIWOOP:  But don't you see? What you decide affects the fate of millions of people.

MAN:    I don't know them, I've never met them. They only exist in words I think I hear. The men who come say to me, say, so and so wants to declare what we call a war. These are the facts, what do you think? And I say. Sometimes it's a smaller thing. . . .

. . . .

MAN:    But it's folly to say you know what is happening to other people. Only they know. If they exist.

ZARNIWOOP:  Do you think they do?

MAN:    I have no opinion. How can I have?

ZARNIWOOP:  I have.

MAN:   So you say—or so I hear you say.

. . . .

ZARNIWOOP:  But don't you see that people live or die on your word?

MAN:    It's nothing to do with me, I am not involved with people. The Lord knows I am not a cruel man.

ZARNIWOOP:    Ah! You say . . . the Lord! You believe in . . .

MAN:    My cat. I call him the Lord. I am kind to him.

ZARNIWOOP:  All right. How do you know he exists? How do you know he knows you to be kind, or enjoys what you think of as your kindness?

MAN:    I don't. I have no idea. It merely pleases me to behave in a certain way to what appears to be a cat. What else do you do? Please I am tired.

. . . .

---

Note: This philosophical dialogue is excerpted from the final scene of the original radio series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  This sequence can also be found in chapter 29 of the novel The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, with more narrative description and slightly expanded dialogue.

==

Here's something completely different: a cartoon view of Aristophanes' fable in Plato's Symposium: