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Review. Grades & what they mean. Plan. ‘Multiple Personality Disorder’ (or, ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder’) Module review Essay review Exam preview. What makes you you ?. TIME. “Dissociative Identity disorder”. Psychiatry meets Philosophy. B IV. Sally. B I. B IVa. B Ia. B II.
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Plan • ‘Multiple Personality Disorder’ (or, ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder’) • Module review • Essay review • Exam preview
What makes you you? TIME
“Dissociative Identity disorder” Psychiatry meets Philosophy
B IV Sally B I B IVa B Ia B II 1893- Sober, responsible, well-balanced • Claims to be both BI & BIV • Has virtues of both, but not their vices 1904
‘Multiple Persons’ • No continuity of consciousness • Radically different personality, each complex & consistent internally • Each is an intentional system • 1st person perspective shows self-understanding as person • Alternate & Simultaneous existence
‘1 Person’ 2 senses of person/personality Reality meaning Appearance meaning • Persona, mask • How you present yourself to others • Person in the numerical sense • The true self
Natural kinds • There is a distinction between the natural & artificial • We are familiar with natural persons and can refer to them to discern the unnatural • Natural persons are not like BI, BIV, Sally
Christine Beauchamp is 1 person “Miss Beauchamp's personalities suffer from severe mental and physical defects: aboulia, impulsions, neurasthenia, amnesia of actions and thoughts, violent mood and character changes, abnormal suggestibility, and severe limitations in their ability to adapt to their environment. Normal, real persons do not suffer from these defects, or at least not all of them.”
Real or natural? • Conflation of ‘real’, ‘normal’, ‘natural’ • Are they the same? • Must all real persons be ‘normal/natural’ persons? • Why must the real self be what’s best adapted to the environment?
Lizza’s argument ??? Complex & distinct personalities, intentional systems, 1st person understanding What’s normalor natural Reality meaning Appearance meaning • Persona, mask • How you present yourself to others • Person in the numerical sense • The true self Aren’t the normal & natural also appearances?
How should we treat Christine Beauchamp? • A matter of psychiatry/psychology • But how you treat her depends on a philosophical judgment • 1 body, multiple persons? • 1 person, multiple personas?
Introduction to Philosophy Through Process Through Issues
Tuesdays with Morrie “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” - Morrie Schwartz
To think or not to think? Not to think! To think!
What’s the point of it all? Studies & career Friends & foes Pleasure & suffering Malice & kindness Life & death
Big Questions • What am I? • How should I live? • Am I free?
Values, Self & Knowledge Am I free? How should I live? What am I? Making sense of it all
Worldviews Comprehensive explanation of everything • All that is • All that has been • All that will be
Worldviews Religion Science
Science • Observable evidence • Rigorous method • Great discoveries • Demystifying effect Science can’t explain everything yet, but there is good reason to think it will.
Problems with the Science wordview • What can Science do? • Explain observable phenomena via laws of physics/chemistry/biology • Too BIGfor Science?
? ? Others B A C X Y Z
The puzzle Physical entities & biological organisms ??? Fundamental features of the universe Laws of nature
What happened? Possible explanations • Robbery • Hurricane • Don’t know • It simply happened and there’s no explanation for it
Too BIG for Science? That there are things • Fundamental features of the universe • Laws, constants How things are • Life-giving universe • Highly improbable ‘fine-tuning’ of the universe allows for intelligent life to exist
Too ODD for Science? Libertarian Freedom • Power to choose • Independence from natural laws The mind • The nature of the mental Objective moral truths • Moral truths cannot be reduced to scientific truths
God of the gaps • Argument based on what we don’t understand • Just because we don’t understand it doesn’t make it more likely that God is the best explanation • We need arguments based on what we understand
The puzzle Physical entities & biological organisms ??? Fundamental features of the universe Laws of nature
The God hypothesis ?? Physical entities & biological organisms God Fundamental features of the universe Laws of nature
Objective moral truths Physical Reality Science God Moral Reality
Can God create morality? “Torturing innocent people for fun is morally wrong.” Is that morally wrong because God says it is? Did God say it is morally wrong because it really is? OR Morality is arbitrary Morality is not created by God
Worldviews Comprehensive explanation of everything • All that is • All that has been • All that will be
Introduction to Philosophy Through Process Through Issues
Philosophy through puzzles Theory A, Strengths & Weaknesses Theory B, Strengths & Weaknesses … Puzzle – Proposed Solution – Objection – Revised Solution – Objection… System of arriving at solutions
Easily transferable skills • Conceptual powers • Ability to spot abstract patterns • Link the superficially different • Separate the superficially similar
Testing a philosophical view Philosophical View Observation/Reflection Hypothesis/Prediction Compare
Overview of process Starting point Abstraction Distinction Thought experiments
The Detective Story • Agent Black is always one step behind his colleague Mrs Holmes • They often work together, but she keeps solving the cases • But each time, he looks back on the case and believes he could have solved it too
Problem-solving • Better to be structured rather than random • Better to have a cumulative method rather than always starting anew
Progress • Incremental & Systemic • Not merely about diligence and interest • Higher-order skills • Not just solving more problems • Analysing and improving your problem-solving approach • Criteria, Review, Deliberate observation