Philosophy 1010 Class #2

1. Philosophy 1010 Class #2 • Title: Introduction to Philosophy • Instructor: Paul Dickey • E-mail Address: pdickey2@mccneb.edu • A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. ….. Ralph Waldo Emerson • Assignment – Due Next Week: • Logic Appendix 1.8 (Text, 9th edition. Please see class website -- www.quia.com.) • Complete the logic Homework Assignment also found on the Quia site. • Recommended: Watch one of the movies discussed in Chapter One.

2. Philosophy Begins with Wonder! Wonder is an emotion comparable to surprise and awe that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected. It is the emotion or passion leading to philosophy and science. Video The feeling of wonder is the mark of the philosopher, for all philosophy has its origins in wonder. …. Plato

3. Some Shots at Defining Philosophy . . . • Do these definitions give YOU a satisfactory understanding of what the lady on the beach is doing? • Philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. …www.fsu.edu (Florida State University) • Philosophy studies the fundamental nature of existence, of man, and of man's relationship to existence. … In the realm of cognition, the special sciences are the trees, but philosophy is the soil which makes the forest possible.…Ayn Rand, Philosophy, Who Needs It (p. 2)

4. What is Philosophy? • Well, maybe…. • Philosophy is the “audacity of hope” for obtaining knowledge and wisdom about the world and about ourselves. – Yes, we can! (Thanks, Barack.) • Philosophy is the application of critical reasoning to our wonder about the world and ourselves. • Philosophy is the willingness to ask questions about what we have assumed we already know. • Philosophy is each individual person’s opportunity and responsibility to live their own life, to be who they are, to become autonomous.

5. What is Philosophy? • “We can help one another to find out the meaning of life. But in the last analysis , the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for ‘finding himself.’ Others can give you a name or a number, but they can never tell you who you really are. That is something you yourself can only discover from within.” ….Thomas Merton • “The unexamined life is not worth living.” • “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.” • ….Socrates

6. Is Philosophy Important to Living a Good Life? Some claims for Studying Philosophy – Do you agree? Why or why not? • Philosophy enlarges our understanding of the world and expands freedom of thought. Philosophy can release us from the "prejudices derived from common sense", from the "habitual belief of an age or nation", and from convictions that have grown up "without the cooperation or consent of (our) deliberate reason". (Russell) • Philosophy may help develop the capacity to look at the world from the perspective of other individuals and cultures. It develops tolerance and critical sense. • By discussing political and social issues, philosophy raises public awareness and helps in forming engaged and responsible citizens.

7. Is Philosophy Unavoidable? Philosophy is not a bauble of the intellect, but a power from which no man can abstain. Anyone can say that he dispenses with a view of reality, knowledge, the good, but no one can implement this credo. The reason is that man, by his nature as a conceptual being, cannot function at all without some form of philosophy to serve as his guide. …Leonard Peikoff

8. What is Philosophy? • (15 minutes) • Graham Priest, • Professor of Philosophy • University of Queensland Video

9. Writing Assignment Worth 5 points in Participation Category. Pose a philosophical question that is important to you and attempt to answer it in 250 words or less.  Please do not use any sources. Just use your own reflection.

10. Ten Minute Break!

11. Plato & the Allegory of the Cave • Plato was a student of Socrates. To better understand what philosophy is, he describes the nature of philosophy in the Allegory of the Cave. • Plato compares the state of man’s ignorance to living at the bottom of an underground cave chained so that such men cannot move. All they see are shadows created by a fire behind them. • Through this symbolism, he then describes the act of philosophy which he likens to the prisoners being freed from their chains. • Plato is suggesting to us that this process is the “ascent of the mind into the domain of true knowledge.” Plato suggests that the aim of philosophy is freedom from unwarranted belief.

12. The Allegory of the Cave Video

13. The Matrix / The Allegory of the Cave Video The Matrix Trailer

14. What Is Philosophy? Disk 1 from “The Examined Life” Video Series (Hand out guide sheet)

15. What is a Philosophical Question?

16. What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy? • WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! • (or rather, in contrast to other areas of study such as biology where biology studies a particular domain, Philosophy does not necessarily have agreed upon assumptions that it can rely on to define any domain of study. Thus, metaphysics is more accurately “a collection of questions that seem to group together about what is real and what reality is like.” • NOTE: Biology is the study of life or living matter in all its forms and phenomena. To do biology, scientists thus must work with an agreed upon view of what is life.

17. What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy? • 1. Metaphysics is “the study of reality or existence.” • Does God Exist? • Does man have a soul? If so, is it immortal? • Are humans free to choose for themselves, or are all human acts determined?

18. Monism Monism is the view that all of reality is one kind of thing. If, for example, you believe that all of reality is matter, or that God is the only reality, then you are a monist. The first philosophers (Pre-Socratics) like Thales (c. 600 BCE) Pythagoras (c. 550 BCE) and Heraclitus (c. 500 BCE), were monists. Thales' belief that "All is Water" is considered the first philosophical statement because it explains reality, "All", in non-religious terms. Every previous description of all of existence relied upon stories rooted in religious traditions. Typically, most monists are materialists. In other words, they believe that the single unifying feature of reality is matter. Holding this view, materialistic monists argue that there is no God, Heaven, Hell, soul, or any other "spiritual" part of reality.

19. Dualism Dualism is the view that all of reality is divided into two kinds of things. Thus, if you believe that all of reality is divided between the realm of God and the physical universe, or that there is a "higher world" and a "lower world", or that reality is composed of spirit and matter, you are a dualist. In general, most Christians are dualists. They hold that reality is divided into two parts. Our souls are eternal and non-material; our bodies, like the physical universe, are temporal and material. Plato's view of reality is often termed dualistic, that is, he saw reality "dual", divided into two parts. The higher part of reality consisted of perfect and eternal truths which he called Forms. Plato held that all physical things are imperfect copies of Forms. Thus, all physical triangles are imperfect copies of the Form of Triangle.

20. What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy? • 2. Epistemology is “the study of knowledge.” • (or rather….) • What is the structure, reliability and kinds of knowledge we have? • What is the meaning of truth? • Is scientific knowledge different than other forms of knowledge? • Is the nature of knowledge different based on gender?

21. In general, philosophers have explained knowledge in two ways. • Empiricists argue that all knowledge begins with the senses. • Rationalists argue that is possible for the mind, independently of the senses, to gain knowledge.

22. If you believe that everything you know can be traced back to information that you saw, heard, touched, smelled or tasted, then you are an empiricist. If you believe that you have knowledge of God, heaven, hell, spiritual aspects of reality, or anything else that didn't come to you through your senses, then you are a rationalist. Some rationalists like Plato (427-348 BCE) hold that we are born with knowledge; other rationalists like St. Augustine (354-430) believe that God, during our lives, makes it possible for our minds to know truths that could not be gained through our senses. If you don't know for certain that the material world exists, or that the principles of science qualify as genuine knowledge or that God exists (or doesn't exist) then, on each of those issues, you are a skeptic.

23. What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy? 3. Ethics is “the study of values and morality and how they relate to conduct.” (or rather….) What is the nature of man’s obligation to other men? How should we live to be good? What responsibilities do governments have to their citizens? Is man essentially selfish? Or can he be motivated by principles beyond his own self-interest?

24. Ethics comes from the Greek word ethos for character. Ethics is the study of the nature of morality and immorality, of how humans should, and should not, act. A central ethical question is, what is the source of moral values? Here are three of several possible answers: • 1. Moral values come from God. If you hold this position, then odds are that you believe that genuine moral values are unchanging and universal. What is right, has always been right; what is wrong, has always been wrong. God's laws apply to everyone, in all cultures. This position would make you a moral absolutist.

25. Moral values come from societies. If you hold this view, then you probably believe that moral values can legitimately vary from culture to culture. Each society can have its own standards of ethical behavior. What is right for the Chinese, may be wrong for Brazilians, and vice versa. This position would make you a moral relativist. • Moral values are determined by the utility or usefulness of an action to promote everyone’s best interest. If you hold this view, then you are a utilitarian. Utilitarianism was argued by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).

26. So How Should We DOPhilosophy? • Not “just anything goes!” Philosophy is guided by the commitment to careful reasoning which is “playing by the rules.” Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop ...

27. Ten Minute Break!

28. The Father of Western Philosophy • Socrates, 460-399 B. C. • Socrates' deserves credit for rigorous, ethical investigation. His conversations with his fellow Athenians are the first records we have of an individual, by careful reasoning, trying to discover the guiding principles of moral choices. • But be careful. There were many Greek thinkers (actually known as “The Pre-Socratics”) prior to Socrates who developed profound insights into the nature of the universe and man’s place in it. • Socrates built a reputation on questioning conventional beliefs, thus embodying the nature of philosophy itself.

29. What is the Socratic method? • “Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling” • Socrates engaged himself in questioning students in an unending search for truth. He sought to get to the foundations of his students' and colleagues' views by asking continual questions until a contradiction was exposed, thus proving the fallacy of the initial assumption. • This became known as the Socratic Method, and may be Socrates' most enduring contribution to philosophy. • Socrates was both a real philosopher and the major character in Plato’s (his student’s) dialogues. Thus, it is not clear to what degree Socrates was a precursor to Plato’s ideas or was a mouthpiece for Plato to put forward his own views. Video

30. Writing Assignment Worth 5 points in Participation Category. In response to what we have discussed tonight, now pose a different philosophical question than you did previously. Rather than trying to answer the question though, list and discuss what other relevant questions might need to be answered or at least clarified in order that you may even have a chance to answer this one. Does your question seem to you to be a metaphysical, ethical, or an epistemological question? Or maybe some other type? Like last time, please do not use any sources. Just use your own reflection.

31. Plato c. 427-347 B. C. Plato is history's first great philosopher because, among other reasons, he provided the first set of answers to some of the largest and most difficult questions: What is the structure of reality? What can be known for certain? What is moral virtue? What is the nature of the ideal state? No philosopher before Plato had ever attempted such a wide and deep exploration of philosophical problems.

32. Plato’s Dialogues & the Socratic Method • Plato’s dialogues demonstrate the Socratic Method. • In The Euthyphro, Plato shows Socrates questioning traditional religious beliefs and the nature of religious duty. He asks “what is it to be holy” and Euthyphro says that being holy is “doing what the gods love.” • Class, has Euthyphro given a good answer to the question? Does he really understand or is he just assuming that he knows? • Socrates probes further: what makes a thing holy? Is an act holy because it is loved by the godsor do the gods love what is holy because it is holy? • If the first, are the gods capricious and random and be able to select anything to be holy? If the latter, then we have not answer the original question at all.

33. Plato’s Dialogues & the Socratic Method • In Plato’s The Republic, Socrates questions Thrasymachus who states that justice is whatever is to the advantage of the strong, that “might makes right.” • Socrates asks what if the powerful pass laws that in error do not benefit themselves. Would not justice then be following laws that do not benefit the strong? Then justice would be in following laws that do not benefit them. • Thus, Socrates has pointed out to Thrasymachus that his commonly held view is quite likely inconsistent, or at least needs to be qualified and made clearer.

34. Plato’s Dialogues & the Socratic Search for How to Live • Plato’s dialogues demonstrate that Socrates was not just trying to be “smart” but was in the profound pursuit of how one should live. • In The Apology, Socrates defends his way of life. He proclaims that his mission came from a divine commandment to seek wisdom. Thus, he questioned everyone he professed knowledge to find wisdom, only to find that the wisest man is he who knows he does not know. • Even in the face of death, Socrates proclaims he can act no differently. It is better to obey the gods than man. The unexamined life is not worth living. His pursuit of philosophy is following the instruction of the gods. Video

35. Plato’s Dialogues & the Socratic Search for How to Live • In the Crito, Socrates is awaiting execution in his prison. Crito suggests that for the benefit of his friends and family, Socrates should escape. “It is the opinion of all of your friends, Socrates.” • Socrates replies that in order to act on reason alone, Socrates asks Crito what is right and wrong and we must not follow the “morality of the many” but follow what is truly right. • Socrates further argues that what is the right way to live consists in obeying the state in which we have contracted to live. Thus, we must obey the laws of the society in which we live, even when those laws and actions are unjust.