Time, Self and Mind (ATS1835) Introduction to Philosophy B Semester 2, 2016

1. Time, Self and Mind (ATS1835)Introduction to Philosophy BSemester 2, 2016 Dr Ron Gallagher ron.gallagher@monash.edu Week 2: Time Travel; Freedom, Determinism, and Indeterminism AT1.1 Due Monday August 8 at 10am (@600 words 10%) Extension of 48 hours available if you email Ron and request.

2. Hi everyone, The deadline for AT1.1 is coming up: please submit your answers by August 8th, 10 am at the latest! Here are a few tips for this assignment:  The main purpose of the assignment is to ensure that you have understood the key claims and arguments behind the theories you are discussing. Write as though your reader were a student who had not taken this unit. This is a bit artificial -  but it's a good way to demonstrate your understanding. At this point, you don't need to provide critical evaluation. This is something we only expect you to do later, in the essay. Engage with all parts of the question - and make sure to explain all of the key positions and technical terms mentioned in the question.  Use your own words. For these expository tasks, we ask you to avoid direct quotations (this includes not just the primary readings, but also the summaries in the study guide and on the lecture slides). That said, we do need you to include references with page numbers for any indirect quotations and paraphrases; and if you are using additional sources, you need to reference those as well. Careful: It can be tempting to use wording found on the internet - but don't do it. The university has a strict policy about plagiarism and we take any suspected instances very seriously. 

3. Try to use your own examples rather than just reusing the ones given in the study guide and on the lecture slides. Coming up with your own examples is an excellent way to improve your understanding, and it can be quite fun. It is also something that will be rewarded extra points. And finally: plan enough time to REVISE your answers. Avoid typos and grammatical mistakes - such as incomplete sentences - and try to write as clearly and succinctly as you can. This is essential in all academic writing, but it is especially important in philosophy. So don't expect your first draft to be the one you submit - revising can take as long as writing. And don't start at the last minute. Check the unit guide for further details on marking criteria! Some technical details: This AT is worth 10% of your mark. To access the quiz, click on the link on the moodle page. Scroll to the bottom and click on the link you see there to enter the AT. Ignore the information on the opening and closing dates of the quiz - the closing date is NOT the deadline! You can revisit the AT several times and save your answers - but don't click submit until you are really ready to hand in your work. You have only one attempt. We do recommend saving your answers separately in Word - just in case something doesn't work with Moodle. All best, and good luck with the assignment! Jennifer

5. Assessment Hurdle Requirements to Pass this Unit Your overall grade for the unit must be at least 50% You must achieve a grade of 40% or more on the final exam You must submit all assessment tasks (not including Reading Quizzes) You must not fail more than one assessment task (not including Reading Quizzes) You cannot miss more than 3 tutorials

6. Lectures and Tutorials

9. Late Penalties • 5% of the maximum possible mark for the assessment item, per calendar day overdue: max 10 days. • For example: A student who receives a 75 D for an assessment item incurs the following penalty: one day late, 70D; two days late, 65 C; three days late, 60 C; etc. • No submission after 10 days. Except for students who have been granted SPECIAL CONSIDERATION

15. AT1 Due Monday August 8th at 10am (@600 words 10%) Q1:What is the grandfather paradox, and how does it pose a problem for the possibility of time travel? Lewis believes his four-dimensionalist theory can address this problem. How does Lewis explain this, especially given his discussion of the senses in which Tim ‘can’ kill his grandfather? Q2: How does the compatibilist that Taylor discusses seek to reconcile free will with the existence of a unique determinate future? And what briefly is Taylor’s ‘manipulation objection’ to this form of compatiblism? Thoroughly explain your answers in your own words, and be sure to define any key terms and positions. 300 words max each question..

16. Q1:What is the grandfather paradox, and how does it pose a problem for the possibility of time travel? Lewis believes his four-dimensionalist theory can address this problem. How does Lewis explain this, especially given his discussion of the senses in which Tim ‘can’ kill his grandfather? [Hint: Remember that in four-dimensional space-time there is only one dimension of time. Does Lewis think that backwards time-travel is always paradoxical?]

19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6RjjaEy59I

22. Lewis - TSM Reader p.29 I have argued so far that what goes on in a time travel story may be a possible pattern of events in four-dimensional space-time with no extra time dimension;… Some might concede all this, but protest that the impossibility of time travel is revealed after all when we ask not what the time traveler does, but what he could do. Could a time traveler change the past? It seems not: the events of a past moment could no more change than numbers could. Yet it seems that he would be as able as anyone to do things that would change the past if he did them. If a time traveler visiting the past both could and couldn’t do something that would change it, then there cannot possibly be such a time traveler.

24. Lewis page 30 - TSM Reader We have this seeming contradiction: “Tim doesn’t, but can, because he has what it takes”versus “Tim doesn’t, and can’t, because it’s logically impossible to change the past.”I reply that there is no contradiction. Both conclusions are true, and for the reasons given. They are compatible because “can” is equivocal.

26. Different Kinds of (Im)Possibility • (Current) Psychological impossibility ≈ what’s impossible given one’s current psychological abilities • Speaking fluent Turkish • Designing a microwave • Believing that there’s a giant pink elephant in the room • Technological impossibility ≈ what’s impossible given our current level of technology • Curing cancer • Humans travelling faster then the speed of sound with a non-jet or rocket propelled engine

27. Different Kinds of Possibility • Physical impossibility ≈ what’s impossible given the laws of nature • Turning lead into gold; freezing water at room temperature • The destruction of energy (would violate the law of the conservation of energy) • Travelling faster than the speed of light (maybe) • Logical impossibility ≈ what’s impossible given the laws of logic • Non-contradiction: there are no true contradictions. • Excluded Middle: every statement is either true or false. • Leibniz's Law: two objects are identical if and only if everything true of one is true of the other.

29. Which is logically possible? Faster than light travel Time Travel ESP That we are all on a beach now! 2 + 2 = 5 This sentence is false if true

30. Q2: How does the compatibilist that Taylor discusses seek to reconcile free will with the existence of a unique determinate future? And what briefly is Taylor’s ‘manipulation objection’ to this form of compatiblism? [Hint: define determinism, free will and compatibilism] [Hint: what are Taylor’s three conditions on freedom?] [Hint: this question has nothing to do with Taylor’s Osmo story]

32. Compatibilism holds that there is no deep conflict between freedom of the will and causal determination. ..the compatibilist holds that not every causal influence on our behaviour leaves us unfree. For example, one simple compatibilist theory is: if the way my actions are caused leaves me able to act as I want, then I act freely. To say that I have acted freely is to say something like this: If Ihad wanted to do something other than what I did do, then I would have done somethingelse. (This is the classical ‘conditional analysis’ of free will.) Where this is not the case ...... an agent is not free. Where it isthe case, an agent is free. This is a version of the view Taylor calls soft determinism, which states that determinism is true but it is compatible with free will. (TSM Reader p18) Tip: If you think that two things can exist at once you are a compatibilist about those two things.

33. Incompatibilism comes in two flavours The first form of incompatibalism holds that freedom of the will requires that an agent who acts freely must be able to act differently—in a very strong sense, one that requires multiple futures. If I do something freely (e.g., scratch my head)..... it means that I could have chosen differently—there was genuinely more than one option available. If we adopt this incompatibilist view, then there are two ways we might complete our position. We might defend the view that humans do sometimes act freely in this very strong sense; we might argue that free will does exist. This is the libertarian view; it is the conjunction of incompatibilism and the view that free actions do sometimes occur (and thus it rejects determinism). The second form of incompatibalism holds that if we are convinced of the truth of determinism, then we will conclude that humans never act freely. Freedom of the will is an illusion. This is often called hard determinism. (TSM Reader p18)

34. Fatalism is the view that ‘whatever happens is unavoidable’. A compatibilist would emphasize that determinism doesn’t necessarily yield what fatalism must—namely, that events will happen no matter whatyou want, believe, choose, decide, etc. A determinist who is not a fatalist would emphasize that our futures are not inevitable - they depend on what we do as agents. (TSM Reader p18)

35. Compatibilism Determinism and free will are true. (Soft Determinism) Incompatibilism Position 1. Free will is true determinism is false. (Libertarianism) Position 2. Determinism is true free will is false. (Hard Determinism) See TSM Reader P. 18

38. This argument is also referred to as ‘the manipulation objection’. Taylor imagines that he is manipulated by an ‘ingenious physiologist’ P41

39. For Dennett, free will consists in the ability of a person to control her conduct on the basis of rational considerations through means that arise from, or are subject to, critical self-evaluation, self-adjusting and self-monitoring. That is, free will involves responsiveness to reasons. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/compatibilism/

41. TIPS & HINTS Answer the question. Don’t just quote from the lecture slides. Demonstrate that you have read and understood the essays by Lewis and Taylor. (Not just read the notes by Aubrey Townsend in the TSM Reader or looked at the lecture slides.) Show that you understand their arguments. Make your summary of their arguments clear. DO NOT USE LONG QUOTATIONS Use your own words. Don’t rely on Wikipedia.

42. Directions: AT1 covers: Study Guide Part 1 (Time Travel & Free Will)  Prior to the submission deadline, you can revisit the AT. Just don't hit "Submit" before you're done. It's wise to prepare your answers in a word processor and then copy and paste into Moodle when you are satisfied with your answer. Citation: On these shorter assessment tasks (not the essay), there is no need to use outside sources (that is, texts not in the Study Guide/Reader). In fact, we discourage it at this stage; just focus on the required readings. However, if you do consult outside sources, you of course must provide adequate citation information, regardless of whether you use direct quotes or are merely paraphrasing. (Use whatever citation style you want, so long as it provides the bibliographic details and where you pulled the information from.) If you directly quote or paraphrase from inside sources (the required readings for this unit), you still need to cite, but you can just provide a page number in the Study Guide/Reader and make clear who you're citing---e.g. "Descartes argues that such-and-such (p. 67)."

43. CITATION FOR AT1.1 You must cite the page numbers of the course text where you are getting your answers from. E.g., "The grandfather paradox is... (Study Guide pp.1-2)." or "Lewis responds by... (Lewis, p.3)." Or (TSM Lecture Week 2). FULL REFERENCE EXAMPLES Shoemaker, David. “Personal Identity and Ethics.” (Stanford University) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-ethics/. Silva, Paul. “Week 2: Free Will & Its Problems” Lecture, Time, Self & Mind, Monash University, Caulfield. August 1, 2016 Taylor, Richard. ”Freedom, Determinism and Fate” reprinted in Townsend et al (eds). Time, Self and Mind (Intro. to Philosophy B) Reader, pp40-47. Monash University, 2014. Townsend, Aubrey. "The Self." In Townsend et al (eds). Time, Self and Mind (Intro. to Philosophy B) Reader, pp165-7. Monash University, 2014.

44. What does the word ‘free’ in free will mean? Are you free to leave this class? Are you free to punch the person next to you? Are you free to not submit your first assignment?

45. Answers to FAQ for ‘expository’ assignments (AT1s) No need to submit hard copy. No need to supply full citations and references for quotes and paraphrases from TSM Reader, but need to supply full citation for ‘outside’ references (eg Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) References and citations do not count towards the word count.

46. The term ‘snake’ is equivocal in the argument below. P1. All politicians are snakes. P2. No snake has legs. C. No politician has legs. From http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/vocab/goodbad.html#equivocation