Philosophy 1010

Hand in Class Syllabus Quiz.

Reading Assignment for Class #3:

Read Velasquez, Philosophy: A Text With Readings, Chapter 2, pp. 50-71 (12e) or 48-66 (11e)

Assign Discussion Leaders

Writing Assignment

Worth 10 points in Participation Category

1) Compose a definition of “Philosophy” that will work for you in this class.  2) 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.

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.

The feeling of wonder is the mark of the philosopher, for all philosophy has its origins in wonder. …. Plato

What is a Philosophical Question?

What is true love? – Is beauty a matter of fact or a matter of taste? – Is there a God? – What do I want to do with my life? – What is the purpose of art? – Is there a difference between health and beauty? – Do I want to be beautiful? – Is everything I think I know true? -- Is lying always wrong? -- Does every question have an answer? – Do I have to accept reality or can I determine my own reality? -- Why can’t people just get along together? – Who should take care of the environment? -- What would happen if there were no government? – Why do bad things happen to people? -- What is the meaning of my life? – Will getting married make me more or less free? Is love more important than freedom? …. What is true love? …..

Why are these questions philosophical questions?

What the characteristics of these questions so that we say they are philosophical?

Is there a difference between philosophical questions and scientific questions?

Is there a difference between philosophical questions and speculation?

Questions, So Many Questions …What Kind of Questions are These Anyway?

• May be deeply personal

• Answers cannot be “proven” but some opinions make more sense than others and generally arguments can be given for our views (thus, they are not entirely subjective)

• Necessary to ask for our world to “make sense”

• Often confuse us

• We have to answer for ourselves.

• We cannot expect everyone to agree with us and they may also have good arguments for their views

• Throughout our life we may have to reconsider our answers

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)

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.

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

What is Philosophy?

Is Philosophy Important to Living a Good Life?

• 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.

Some claims for Studying Philosophy –

Do you agree? Why or why not?

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

Is Philosophy Unavoidable?

Video

Oh what the heck, philosophy is fun!!!

Graham Priest,Professor of PhilosophyUniversity of Queensland

Video

What is Philosophy? (15 minutes)

So How Should We DO Philosophy?

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 ...

Ten Minute Break!

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.

What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy?

1. 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?

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.

What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy?

2. Metaphysics is “the study of reality or existence.”

Does God Exist? What is the nature of the universe?

Does man have a soul? If so, is it immortal?

Are humans free to choose for themselves, or are all human acts determined?

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.

Typically, most monists are materialists. (But not all!) 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.

Monism

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.

Dualism

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?

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.

2. 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.

3. 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).