Philosophy Final Exam

RICHARD RORTY • Rorty's main thesis in "Philosophy as a Transitional Genre" •Rorty's conception of Religious, Philosophical, and Literary cultures and the different ways in which they conceive the notion of 'redemptive truth'

Rorty's thesis is that 'Philosophy'or 'Philosophical culture' was a transitional phase of culture in the development from an earlier'religious' phase of culture to a later 'literary' phase of culture. These three phases of culture aredifferentiated by the different ways intellectuals within these cultures have of pursuing'redemption' or 'redemptive truth'. Redemptive Truth—Rorty defines the idea of redemptive truth as "a set of beliefs that wouldend once and for all the process of reflection on what to do with ourselves" (p.90), and thatwould satisfy the need to fit everything into a single context, which would be the only contextthat would matter for the purpose of shaping life. In one version, the version in 'literary culture','redemptive truth' can mean 'authenticity'—living one's own unique life, rather than conformingto the crowd. For this version, "it is essential to have glimpsed one or more alternatives to thepurposes most people take for granted, and to have chosen among these alternatives, --thereby, insome measure, creating yourself" (p.90) Religion or Religious Culture (According to Rorty)—The form of high culture that links'redemptive truth' to entering into a relation to God (i.e., to the belief in or experience of God)—'God' being a "supremely powerful non-human person" that provides the ultimate relevant'Truth', purpose, and meaning. Rorty thinks that before this form of culture is 'contaminated' byphilosophy, its version of 'redemptive truth' does not depend as much on 'belief' or'propositional truth', i.e., creeds, etc., and is more a matter of a non-cognitive (i.e. emotional orvolitional) relation to the supremely powerful being. (Of course, Rorty is implying or admittingthat after religious culture is influenced by philosophy, it may very well come to emphasizecreeds, dogmas, or faiths—i.e., having the right 'belief', not just the right feelings and deeds). Philosophical Culture (According to Rorty)— The form of high culture that links 'redemptivetruth' to having a set of beliefs that is supposed to capture "the way things really are". In thisversion of redemptive truth, arguments and reasoning become important as attempts to defendone's theories and explanations of the 'Truth'. The intellectuals pursuing this form of highculture believe that one has to successfully argue in order to have a life worth living, and that"persistent argument will lead all inquirers to the same set of beliefs." According to Rorty,"Religion and literature, insofar as they are uncontaminated by philosophy, share neither ofthese convictions."(p.92) Literary Culture (According to Rorty)--The form of high culture that is "culture which hassubstituted literature for both religion and philosophy"; it finds redemptive truth "neither in anon-cognitive relation to a non-human person nor in a cognitive relation to propositions".1Literary Culture links 'redemptive truth' to making acquaintance with a great variety of humanbeings through reading their books, or experiencing the art works, and/or other cultural products.(One can see how this would fit with the earlier 'authenticity' concept mentioned above under'Redemptive Truth'). Another way to say it is that 'redemptive truth' in Literary Culture is notfinding the 'one true answer', but rather a matter of "expanding imagination", i.e., cultivatingone's growing awareness of "alternative ways of being human"[pp.92-93], thereby expandingone's own possibilities for 'self-creation', for what Rorty elsewhere calls "reweaving the web ofbelief and desire" Looking back at the earlier stages of "Religion" and "Philosophy", Literary Culture sees themas also being "literary", i.e. matters of self-expression, imagination, redescription of theworld through unique vocabularies, historically- and culturally-conditioned "perspectives". Inother words, looked at from the point of view of literary culture, philosophy and religionappear as though they were literary genres.Rorty notes that in the case of Literature or Literary Culture, in its 'pure form' (as in the case ofReligion or Religious Culture in its pure form), i.e. 'uncontaminated' by philosophy, having "theright belief "may be of little importance". Certainly, in Literary Culture whatever 'truth' onefinds could be a 'personal truth' that requires no one else to share it with one. In such a culture,there need be no idea of a 'final story' or 'single answer' that everyone ought to share. But thisidea that one's ways of viewing the world are more a matter of one's personal quest for meaningand one's personal perspective in literary culture makes such a culture seem more 'perspectivist'than either a 'religious' or a 'philosophical' culture. Religion and philosophy can still exist in a literary culture, but literary culture treats both religion and philosophy as 'optional', i.e., asmatters of personal choice or private conscience, i.e., questions of individual right governed by anorm of 'autonomy' or 'freedom'. In other words, Rorty thinks 'literary culture' best fits with apluralistic democratic world in which each person has a right to have his or her own personalpoint of view. [Of course, it is still possible to believe in an absolutely true single God or asingle ultimate philosophical truth, even while still recognizing the value of freedom of opinionand freedom of religion in a democracy, and Rorty's pluralistic philosophy would seem todepend on that point—since otherwise everyone in a literary culture would have to believe in a'single truth', that 'truth' represented by literary culture. But it still does seem that Rorty fearsthat individuals who choose to believe in either a true God or a single ultimate philosophicaltruth may be more likely to be tempted to want to get everyone else to agree with them. Onecould perhaps see one of the points of Rorty's philosophy as being an effort to encourage peopleto let go of the need to make everyone else agree with them. One could perhaps raise thequestion of whether such an effort is in some way paradoxical.]

PLATO—(See the Plato Supplemental Notes Handout; see also the illustrations of the Sun and the Divided Line; as well as your notes) • The Theory of Forms (including how it relates to metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics); • the images of the Sun, Divided Line, and Cave;

-Plato's theory of forms is the theory that intangible ideas like beauty, moral goodness, and justice don't exist in the physical world, and instead exist in the "world of ideas." These FORMS are FORMAL (rationalizations, ideas, not physical things). The Metaphor of the Sun 1. Just as it is by the light of the sun that the visible is made apparent to the eye, so it is by the light of truth and being - in contrast to the twilight of becoming and perishing - that the nature of reality is made apprehensible to the soul. 2. Just as light and sight may be said to be like the sun, and yet not to be the sun, so science and truth may be said to be like the Good, and yet not to be the Good; it is by the sun that there is light and sight, and it is by the Good that there is science and truth. 3. Just as the sun is the author of nourishment and generation, so the Good is the author of being and essence. Thus, the Good is beyond being, and the cause of all existence. 2. The Metaphor of the Line A line is cut into two unequal parts, and each of them is divided again in the same proportion. The two main divisions correspond to the intelligible world and to the visible world. One section in the visible division consists of images, that is,shadows and reflections, and is accessed through imagination. The other, higher section in the visible division consists of sensible particulars and is accessed through belief. One section in the intelligible division consists of Forms and is accessed through thought, but via sensible particulars and hypotheses, as when geometers use a picture of a triangle to help reason about triangularity, or make appeal to axioms to prove theorems. The other, higher section in the intelligible division also consists of Forms but is accessed by understanding, a purely abstract science which requires neither sensible particulars nor hypotheses, but only an unhypothetical first principle, namely, the Form of the Good. The purpose of education is to move the philosopher through the various sections of the line until he reaches the Form of the Good. 3. The Metaphor or Allegory of the Cave Human beings have spent all their lives in an underground cave or den which has a mouth open towards the light. They have their legs and their necks chained so that they cannot move, and can see only in front of them, towards the back of the cave. Above and behind them a fire is blazing, and between them and the fire there is a raised way along which there is a low wall. Men pass along the wall carrying all sorts of statues, and the fire throws the shadows of these statues onto the back of the cave. All the prisoners ever see are the shadows, and so they suppose that the shadows are the objects themselves.

PYRRHONEAN SKEPTICISM - Epoche and Ataraxia - Skeptical modes and their use (ten modes of Aenesidemus; Five Modes of Agrippa) - The Practical Criterion

-Pyrrhonism is an Ancient Greek school of philosophical skepticism which rejects dogma and advocates the suspension of judgement over the truth of all beliefs. It was founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE, and said to have been inspired by the teachings of Pyrrho and Timon of Phlius in the fourth century BCE -Epoché plays an important role in Pyrrhonism, the skeptical philosophy named after Pyrrho. The Pyrrhonists developed the concept of "epoché" to describe the state where all judgments about non-evident matters are suspended to induce a state of ataraxia (freedom from worry and anxiety, a lucid state of robust equanimity characterized by ongoing freedom from distress). The Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus gives this definition: "Epoché is a state of the intellect on account of which we neither deny nor affirm anything." This concept is similarly employed in Academic Skepticism but without the objective of ataraxia. -The Modes are standardized forms of argument employed by the Pyrrhonian skeptics to induce suspension of judgment. The ten modes of Aenesidemus The reasons for doubt are given in the form of the ten "tropes" (also known as ten modes of Aenesidemus or ten tropes of Aenesidemus) that represent reasons for epoché (suspension of judgment). (1) different animals manifest different impressions; (2) similar differences are seen among individual people; (3) even for the same person, sense-given data are self-contradictory, (4) sense data vary from time to time with physical changes, and (5) sense-data vary according to local relations; (6) and (7) objects are known only indirectly through the medium of air, moisture, &c., and are in a condition of perpetual change in colour, temperature, size and motion; (8) all perceptions are relative and interact one upon another; (9) Our impressions become less deep by repetition and custom; and (10) all people are brought up with different beliefs, under different laws and social conditions. Aenesidemus argues that truth varies infinitely under circumstances whose relative weight cannot be accurately gauged. There is, therefore, no absolute knowledge, for everyone has different perceptions, and, further, arranges and groups data in methods peculiar to themselves; so that the sum total is a quantity with a purely subjective validity. The five modes of Agrippa (also known as the five tropes of Agrippa) are: Dissent - The uncertainty demonstrated by the differences of opinions among philosophers and people in general. Progress ad infinitum - All proof rests on matters themselves in need of proof, and so on to infinity, i.e, the regress argument. Relation - All things are changed as their relations become changed, or, as we look upon them from different points of view. Assumption - The truth asserted is based on an unsupported assumption. Circularity - The truth asserted involves a circularity of proofs. Practical Criterion The biggest obstacle to the dialectical interpretation is Arcesilaus' practical criterion, to eulogon. Arcesilaus presented this criterion in response to the Stoic objection that if we were to suspend judgment regarding everything, then we would not be able to continue to engage in day to day activities. For, the Stoics thought, any deliberate action presupposes some assent, which is to say that belief is necessary for action. Thus if we eliminate belief we will eliminate action - a standard against which a judgment, evaluation, or comparison can be made.

Socrates (from the Apology) 1: The image of the gadfly 2: the ideal of the examined life

1: Gadfly; Plato in his Apology for the life of Socrates reminds us that all societies need a "gadfly" to sting the "steed" of state into acknowledging its proper duties and obligations: "I am the gadfly of the Athenian people, given to them by God, and they will never have another, if they kill me." 2: ideal of examined life; Socrates opined that the greatest good a man could engage in, is continual discussion about virtue and examination of its presence in self and others. Socrates felt that Athenians, like a purebred horse that is well fed but seldom exercised, had become lazy, sluggish and underperforming. Hence its need for the gadfly.

"Letter from Birmingham City Jail" 1: Three principles by which we can distinguish just from unjust laws; 2: nonviolent direct action compared to Socrates as gadfly; 3: MLK's critique of "the myth of time";

1: The key difference between just law and unjust law is that just law is in accordance with justice, while unjust law is not. Just law is fair and equitable, while unjust law is unfair and inequitable. Just law protects the rights and interests of all individuals, while unjust law does not. 2: "But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood." 3: "we have lived with the myth of time. The only answer that I can give to that myth is that time is neutral. It can be used either constructively or destructively. And I must honestly say to you that I'm convinced that the forces of ill will have often used time much more effectively than the forces of goodwill. And we may have to repent in this generation, not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around saying, 'Wait on time.'"

"The World House" MLK 1: The idea of "the world house"; 2: the gap between scientific and moral progress; the contrast between the internal and external realms; 3: the three major problems he describes in the "World House" essay; 4: "reality hinges on moral foundations"; "the first law of life"; interdependence;

1: World house idea: our one common planet, the only place people of all races can either learn to live together or "perish as fools." 2:"Man has produced machines that think and instruments that peer into the unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. ...Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers" "Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live....If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual 'lag' must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul." 3: Three major evils —the evil of racism, the evil of poverty, and the evil of war. 4: "The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws." - "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - "All life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. Did you ever stop to think that you can't leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that's handed to you by a Pacific Islander..." (gives etc examples in his speech)

RENE DESCARTES • The Method of Doubt; • the three skeptical arguments from Meditation One; • Descartes's indubitable first principle (and why it is supposed to be indubitable); • Cartesian Dualism • The Cartesian Circle • Princess Elisabeth's question about Descartes's dualism

Cartesian doubt is a systematic process of being skeptical about (or doubting) the truth of one's beliefs, which has become a characteristic method in philosophy. Additionally, Descartes' method has been seen by many as the root of the modern scientific method. This method of doubt was largely popularized in Western philosophy by René Descartes, who sought to doubt the truth of all beliefs in order to determine which he could be certain were true. It is the basis for Descartes' statement, "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am). A fuller version of his phrase: "dubito ergo cogito, cogito ergo sum" translates to "I doubt therefore I think, I think therefore I exist." Sum translated as "I exist" (per various Latin to English dictionaries) presents a much larger and clearer meaning to the phrase. In Descartes' First Meditation, Descartes' overall intention is to present the idea that our perceptions and sensations are flawed and should not be trusted entirely. His purpose is to create the greatest possible doubt of our senses. To convey this thought, Descartes has three main arguments in the First Meditation: The dream argument, the deceiving God argument, and the evil demon "or evil genius". - Descartes' dream argument argues that there is no definite transition from a dream to reality, and since dreams are so close to reality, one can never really determine whether they are dreaming or not. - To reinforce that argument, Descartes presents the deceiving God argument. He says that since God is all powerful, then he has the power to deceive us about reality or our dreams. But again, Descartes feels this argument is missing something, which is why he concludes with the evil genius argument. The evil genius argument's purpose is to tie all these arguments together and strengthen Descartes' entire argument. - The evil genius argument goes like this: God is omnipotent and supremely good, which means God cannot be the one who deceives humans, rather, a separate entity — an "evil genius, [who is] supremely powerful and clever, who has directed his entire effort at deceiving me" (Descartes 492). By deceiving, I mean tricking humans that their sensations and perceptions are real, when they are indeed not real. To overcome this evil genius, Descartes says he will regard all external things as "hoaxes of my dreams, with which he (the evil genius) lays snares for my credulity" (Descartes 492). So, Descartes establishes his base, his solid foundation for certain, indubitable knowledge: a thinking mind must exist. From this point on in his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes attempts to rebuild all human knowledge and establish proofs for the existence of, among other things, God. Cartesian dualism is a belief that there are two fundamentally different kinds of substance in the world: matter and spirit, also known as body and mind. Each one has its unique properties, functions, and capacities. This separation between body and mind enables self-improvement through introspection and logical thinking. Cartesian circle, Allegedly circular reasoning used by René Descartes in his Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) to show that whatever he perceives "clearly and distinctly" is true. Descartes argues that clear and distinct perception is a guarantor of truth because God, who is not a deceiver, would not allow Descartes to be mistaken about that which he clearly and distinctly perceives. The argument relies on Descartes's earlier proof of the existence of God. But Descartes cannot know that this proof does not contain an error unless he assumes that his clear and distinct perception of the steps of his reasoning guarantees that the proof is correct. Thus the criterion of clear and distinct perception depends on the assumption that God exists, which in turn depends on the criterion of clear and distinct perception. Elisabeth, Princess Palatine of Bohemia (1618-1680) is most well-known for her extended correspondence with René Descartes, and indeed these letters constitute what we currently know of her extant philosophical writings. In that correspondence, Elisabeth presses Descartes on the relation between the two really distinct substances of mind and body, and in particular the possibility of their causal interaction and the nature of their union. They also correspond on Descartes's physics, on the passions and their regulation, on the nature of virtue and the greatest good, on the nature of human freedom of the will and its compatibility with divine causal determination, and on political philosophy. Descartes dedicated his Principles of Philosophy to Elisabeth, and wrote his Passions of the Soul at her request. As Elisabeth frames the issues, existing accounts tie causal efficacy to extension, and in this regard it is significant that she poses her question about the mind's ability to act on the body, and not the body's ability to affect the mind. To account for the causal efficacy of an immaterial mind, Elisabeth suggests that Descartes can articulate either the account of causation proper to mind-body interaction or the substantial nature of the mind such that existing accounts could explain its actions. Descartes's response is not only evasive but opens up further issues, in particular about whether the mind-body union is a third substance

VIOLA F. CORDOVA • her concept of a 'matrix', and its three components; • a list of the main features of any matrix; • why cross-cultural understanding is difficult; • why subjugated groups have an advantage when it comes to cross-cultural understanding. • According to Cordova, the contrasting conceptions of what it is to be human from the Native American and from the Euro-American perspectives.

MATRIX: A CONTEXT FOR THOUGHT All peoples have a worldview, a description of the world. It has three items :1) what the world is 2) what it is to be human in that world and 3) the role of humans in that world. CHARACTERISTICS OF A MATRIX While the description may have imaginary elements, it must be somewhat based on observation and experience of the particular group of people in their specific location orenvironment• All three descriptions will be coordinated and have a high degree of consistency• These worldviews are shared; at this level of description, there are no individualistic worldviews—[these are things you would be counted 'crazy' for not agreeing with other people on]. The matrix is the foundation; the user of it is usually unaware of it; it is, as Wittgenstein says "the inherited background against which I determine the true and the false".• The "world picture" underlying inquiry - it gets taken for granted, not questioned -it is the set of assumptions in terms of which other things are questioned, explored or tested, but the matrix itself is not usually questioned or even recognized, just assumed; i.e. people take it for their 'reality'. Difficulties of Cross-Cultural Understanding • A matrix can be exposed when two people from different cultures, with different matrices, meet; they find it hard to communicate because they don't share a matrix;• If we really want to understand the other, we have to recognize how different they are from us—otherwise we are distorting them by reimagining them in our own image—which might make us comfortable, but won't lead to real understanding or real tolerance.• "We try to fit the strange ideas of a strange people into our own frame of reference without realizing that no such fit exists"; or else we bring our own concepts and try to fit them into the other's matrix; by emphasizing similarity over actual dissimilarities, we end up ensuring continued lack of communication • A society that has power over another cannot understand the matrix of the subjugated group; but the less powerful group, constantly under attack, must learn both its own matrix and that of the dominant group• But "the existence of differing matrices among unalike people need not be a source of conflict";• Some cultures (such as the Native American cultures) assume there will be different matrices—and they don't have an idea of a single 'absolute truth; they support a more relativistic conception of truth, according to which it is okay if different people describe the world in different ways.• But if a culture only has a matrix that allows for absolute truth, it will treat whatever is unlike it as wrong and as lesser Cross-Cultural Understanding Laden with Historical Importance for Native Americans f you don't have an awareness of competing matrices, you don't have a sense of different but equally valid ways of being• Even if her classmates think her weird for her Native American ways, she has a refuge at home• Which is why in the past Native American children were often made to stay in boarding rooms so that they could be removed from their families in order to force them to fully assimilate [and prevent Native American culture from being passed on]• They weren't allowed to room with children of their own kind; to force assimilation into the 'mainstream' but really to 'eradicate' a way of life;• 'Rapid assimilation' did not always result—there were lots of suicides and sometimes you get an individual not well acclimated to either culture - differences (cultural); The Native American culture emphasizes the individual is part of a whole • The Euro-American culture emphasizes the (isolated) individual; her cousins would have preferred to work on tasks together -the teacher requires each work separately (enforcing the Euro-American world view); • The Euro-American teacher is 'authoritarian': tells you what to do • Her Native American home emphasized self-directed behavior: her father explained to her the consequences of possible actions and let her decide what to do Contrasting Stereotypes • Stereotypes of the Euro-American: self-centered, greedy, acquisitive, unaware of the needs of others, unaware of sharing the earth with other things, unaware of the living Earth; he gives orders and expects others to follow them; he asks for favors. He announces his feelings • The Native child is stereotyped by the following: more group-oriented, doesn't take care of his things (i.e., lets others play with his toys), he is 'sneaky'—always seems to be watching everybody else; he never asks for anything; he won't do what I say, I never know what he is thinking.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE • Perspectivism (Nietzsche's ideas about truth, knowledge, etc.) ; • intellectual conscience; • the will to power; self-overcoming; • the Death of God and Nihilism; • the three transformations of the spirit (the images: camel, lion, child, and dragon and what they mean); • the Superman; • the Eternal Recurrence of the Same

Perspectivism Friedrich Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher whose theories attempted to understand truth. His philosophy of perspectivism argues that there is no essential, universal truth because all truth comes from one's perception and interpretation. He argued that truth is impossible—there can only be perspective and interpretation, driven by a person's interests or 'will to power'. Intellectual conscience is a process associated with developing awareness that one's orientation bears the imprint of some deeper motivation: "your judgment 'that is right' has a prehistory in your drives" Nietzsche describes conscience as awareness of one's ability to promise, either to oneself or to others, which is most important in regards to the promises made to culture. Nietzsche's account of self-overcoming has a healthy dose of struggle with oneself and with others. It entails struggle with oneself insofar as one seeks to transcend one's limitations (physical and mental) and move toward ever more sophisticated, expressive, beautiful, and potent modes of action and expression. In his own theory, Nietzsche advanced a notion of the will to power, rather than the will to live that Schopenhauer used. What is the will to power? In brief, the will to power is the continual effort to overcome, which means overcoming obstacles that get in one's way and overcoming oneself. Friedrich Nietzsches most infamous quote was that, "God is dead, and we have killed him." Nietzsche concluded that with science we disproved the existence of God and eliminated the very possibility of God's existence. Death of God theology refers to a range of ideas by various theologians and philosophers that try to account for the rise of secularity and abandonment of traditional beliefs in God. They posit that God has either ceased to exist or in some way accounted for such a belief. God is supposed to be eternal, and thus cannot die. Nietzsche's claim, however, is that "God" is a fiction created by human beings. Thus, God "dies" when there is no good reason to believe that God exists Nihilism; the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless. the images: camel, lion, child, and dragon and what they mean - The camel is the weight-bearing spirit. It can carry great weight and survive in the desert. "To the spirit there is much that is heavy; to the strong, carrying spirit imbued with reverence. Its strength demands what is heavy and heaviest." I have found myself wearing the camel Talisman a lot lately. - The lion is the "king of the beasts." The lion spirit says "I will" - and that is the whole of the law. The camel becomes a lion when the subject of spiritual transformation, having ventured into the desert of human expectation, discovers that "God is dead" and surmises that everything is permitted. a symbol of a soul that embraces its freedom from society's conventional values, retreating into the desert to fight against (the dragon) and ultimately destroy these so that new values are able to be created. - As Nietzsche says, "The child is innocence and forgetfulness, a new beginning, a game, a self- propelling wheel, a first motion, a sacred Yes." What he means, is that the child has a new, fresh beginning, an opportunity to create his own purpose in life. Nietzsche's Superman is a mythological creature that overcomes all obstacles to achieve its goals. In essence, it is a symbol of "strength." It is a person who has transcended or gone beyond good and evil by perfecting oneself by going through the amor fati — loving one's fate and destiny with a will strong enough to embrace everything one encounters in life, including suffering pain and sorrow. In addition, Nietzsche's Superman also embodies the concept of self-creation by going beyond traditional Christian morality and creating a new set of rules. Nietzsche believed that "God is dead" because he felt it was an old-fashioned idea from a less civilized society. In his mind, this meant there were no universal morals or values to abide by, which led to moral relativism. This type of thinking can be applied in religion and other areas, such as politics and economics. Thus, "the superman rejects all conventional human practices and values and invents his own value, which in relation to the existing values, will be new ones" Eternal return (or eternal recurrence) is a philosophical concept which states that time repeats itself in an infinite loop, and that exactly the same events will continue to occur in exactly the same way, over and over again, for eternity.

PLATO • the Tripartite Psyche; • the image of the soul (or psyche) as a Chimera and how it is used to argue that the life of virtue and justice is the happiest life

Plato's theory of soul, which was inspired by the teachings of Socrates, considered the psyche to be the essence of a person, being that which decides how people behave. Plato considered this essence to be an incorporeal, eternal occupant of a person's being. Plato said that even after death, the soul exists and is able to think. He believed that as bodies die, the soul is continually reborn (metempsychosis) in subsequent bodies. Plato divided the soul into three parts: the logistikon (reason), the thymoeides (spirit), and the epithymetikon (appetite). the logos (λογιστικόν), or logistikon, located in the head, is related to reason and regulates the other parts (reason) the thymos (θυμοειδές), or thumoeides, located near the chest region, is related to spirit (pride, fear) the eros (ἐπιθυμητικόν), or epithumetikon, located in the stomach, is related to one's desires (food, sex, money) Plato's Chimera And now, to him who maintains that it is profitable for the human creature to be unjust, and unprofitable to be just, let us reply that, if he be right, it is profitable for this creature to feast the multitudinous monster and strengthen the lion and the lion-like qualities, but to starve and weaken the man, who is consequently liable to be dragged about at the mercy of either of the other two; and he is not to attempt to familiarize or harmonize them with one another—he ought rather to suffer them to fight and bite and devour one another. Certainly, he said; that is what the approver of injustice says. To him the supporter of justice makes answer that he should ever so speak and act as to give the man within him in some way or other the most complete mastery over the entire human creature. He should watch over the many-headed monster like a good husbandman, fostering and cultivating the gentle qualities, and preventing the wild ones from growing; he should be making the lion-heart his ally, and in common care of them all should be uniting the several parts with one another and with himself. Yes, he said, that is quite what the maintainer of justice say. And so from every point of view, whether of pleasure, honour, or advantage, the approver of justice is right and speaks the truth, and the disapprover is wrong and false and ignorant? Yes, from every point of view.

BUDDHISM • Four Noble Truths; • Eightfold Path; • The Middle Way; • Interdependent Arising (pratitya samutpada); • the Anatman doctrine

The Four Noble Truths (Buddhism)—the four fundamental ideas behind all Buddhism, the essence of the Buddha's teaching. They can be seen as the diagnosis of the problem of human life and the Buddha's prescription to solve the problem. 1) Life is Suffering 2) The cause of suffering (usually said to be craving or attachment based on a delusion about the self) 3) The suffering can be eliminated by eliminating its cause 4) The eightfold path is the way of life that leads to the elimination of suffering The Eightfold Path (Buddhism)—The Buddha's recommend path, prescribed in the Fourth Noble Truth, for leading to the end of suffering. It consists of the following eight elements (which can be subdivided into three groups as follows): 1) Right Understanding (or Right View) 2) Right Intention (or Right Thought) [ 1 and 2 fall under 'wisdom'] 3) Right Speech 4) Right Action 5) Right Livelihood [3-5 fall under 'ethical conduct'] 6) Right Effort 7) Right Mindfulness 8) Right Concentration [6-8 fall under 'mental cultivation In Chan Buddhism, the Middle Way describes the realization of being free of the one-sidedness of perspective that takes the extremes of any polarity as objective reality. Interdependent Arising (or Dependent Co-Origination) [Pratitya Samutpada] the idea that everything is profoundly interconnected so that nothing can exist in isolation from other things. Nothing has independent, isolated 'own-being', but rather everything has 'inter-being'1, it exists only in its relations to other things. For example, we could not exist without plants, which cannot exist without sunlight, which cannot exist without gravity causing the thermonuclear reactions on the sun, and gravity could not exist without mass, etc. But do not think merely in terms of a causal chain, but rather a causal web; just as we could not exist without plants, we could not exist as we are without air, food, gravity, other people, temperature, the environment, our experiences, etc. That is, each link in a causal chain is a node in a causal web, and each node 2in a causal web is connected to countless things simultaneously on which its existence depends. This idea is supposed to indicate that our sense of having a separate, isolated, independent self, distinct from other things, is an illusion; we are part of the larger reality of the world and the world is part of us as well. The Anatman Doctrine (or the 'no Atman' doctrine) he 'Atman' was a Hindu concept of a higher Self or Soul. The Anatman or 'no Atman' doctrine is the view that there is no independent, stable 'ego' or 'soul' that is the 'real and permanent nature' of a person. 'Who we really are' is not an atomistic, independent, stable 'self', but is instead an ever-changing, interactive process that exists in interdependence with all things—a 'Buddha nature' the true nature of which cannot really be captured even by this description, since any verbal description makes it sound like an 'it' separable from other things

The Oracle Story - Socrates

The Oracle of Delphi pronounced Socrates the wisest of Greeks; and Socrates took this as approval of his agnosticism which was the starting point of his philosophy: 'One thing only I know', he said, 'and that is that I know nothing'. Philosophy begins when one begins to doubt — when one begins to question the accepted wisdom of tradition. Particularly the one's cherished beliefs, values, and perceptions of life / what they believe to know or be true. Puzzled by the oracle of Delphi's statement, Socrates felt obliged to seek the meaning of her remark. By questioning others who had a reputation for wisdom, he came to see that he was wiser than they, because unlike them he did not claim to know what he did not know.

CHARLES SANDERS PERICE Methods of Establishing Beliefs: • Method of Tenacity • Method of Authority • The A priori Method • The Scientific Method

The method of tenacity (policy of sticking to initial belief) - which brings comforts and decisiveness but leads to trying to ignore contrary information and others' views as if truth were intrinsically private, not public. The method goes against the social impulse and easily falters since one may well notice when another's opinion seems as good as one's own initial opinion. Its successes can be brilliant but tend to be transitory. The method of authority - which overcomes disagreements but sometimes brutally. Its successes can be majestic and long-lasting, but it cannot regulate people thoroughly enough to withstand doubts indefinitely, especially when people learn about other societies present and past. The method of the a priori - which promotes conformity less brutally but fosters opinions as something like tastes, arising in conversation and comparisons of perspectives in terms of "what is agreeable to reason". Thereby it depends on fashion in paradigms and goes in circles over time. It is more intellectual and respectable but, like the first two methods, sustains accidental and capricious beliefs, destining some minds to doubt it. The method of science - wherein inquiry supposes that the real is discoverable but independent of particular opinion, such that, unlike in the other methods, inquiry can, by its own account, go wrong (fallibilism), not only right, and thus purposely tests itself and criticizes, corrects, and improves itself. Peirce held that, in practical affairs, slow and stumbling ratiocination is often dangerously inferior to instinct and traditional sentiment, and that the scientific method is best suited to theoretical research, which in turn should not be trammeled by the other methods and practical ends; reason's "first rule" is that, in order to learn, one must desire to learn and, as a corollary, must not block the way of inquiry. Scientific method excels over the others finally by being deliberately designed to arrive—eventually—at the most secure beliefs, upon which the most successful practices can be based.

BELL HOOKS • The need for a clear definition of love; M. Scott Peck's definition of love; • her analysis of love (the components it involves beyond care and affection); • love in relation to religion and spirituality

The need for a definition Our confusion about what we mean by love is the source of our difficulty loving Dictionary definition of love emphasizes romantic love and affection But sexual feeling and affection are not all there is to love. Love as a Verb (Not Just a Noun) it would be easier to learn how to love if we had a shared definition, she suggests; love is usually used as a noun, but the theorists all think it would be better to emphasize its use as a verb (i.e., "to love")• To think of love as a verb first would mean to emphasize that loving is something that we have to do—something that we choose and must take responsibility for, something that implies action—not just a passive state that we involuntarily 'fall into' against our will. Definitions are vital starting points for imagination, and what we cannot imagine cannot come into being;• She thinks a good definition "marks our starting point and lets us know where we want to end up" [i.e. it becomes a standard, clarifies the goal we use to measure our progress toward what wewant]• You have to have a clear sense of the target before you can aim at it—i.e., to know where the destination is before you can go there. hooks favors the definition of love found in M. Scott Peck's self-help classic The Road Less Traveled - (1978); (which was influenced by Erich Fromm's earlier book, The Art of Loving)• M. Scott Peck defines love as "the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth" hook's Further Analysis of Love• to truly love we have to mix a variety of elements:• Care• Affection• Recognition• Respect• Commitment• Trust• Honest and Open Communication (Note that in this view, love is not just 'affection' or 'care' or 'feeling' alone; those are just necessary conditions, but not sufficient conditions for love) Religion; religious ideology is often used to support an unjust status quo (i.e.the prevailing power structure)• hooks thinks this is problematic, for instance, when religious ideology is used to support imperialism, militarism, sexism, racism, and homophobia• hooks thinks such interpretations of religion "deny the unifying message of love" at the heart of "every religious tradition"• but at the same time she sees some genuine reawakening of sincere religious feeling in society today Spirituality; inspirations of bell hooks come from: Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving; Martin Luther King's The Strength to Love; Thomas Merton's essay "Love and Need"• King saw love as "the key which unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality";• Hooks turned to MLK and Thomas Merton as spiritual seekers whoa dvocated the practice of love as a means to "spiritual fulfillment"• Merton: love is the intensification of life and the point of life—in which we become fully human; it involves the creativity and transcendence that makes us human. On this view, our very human nature and human flourishing and well-being is all about love She gets some value from New Age spirituality, but also finds a dangerous narcissism in it because it focuses so much on personal self-transformation and not very much on practicing "love in the context of community" i.e. actually getting involved with other people to put love inaction to effect political changes needed to bring more love into the world For hooks, spirituality should not be just about lifting your mood or refreshing your spirit (not that there is anything wrong with that) but also with putting food in people's bellies, stopping people being killed,giving people more of a say, speaking out against corrupt power, etc. She began to speak more openly about spirituality when witnessing her students despair and fear that life was meaningless; they wouldcome to her office and confess these feelings; she would feel calledupon to share how she had dealt with these feelings; she had to bewilling to talk openly about her spiritual life and her choices in away that would not imply they were right for other people.• She believes God is love, and that love is everything, our truedestiny; she affirms these beliefs through meditation and prayer,contemplation and service, worship, and loving kindness. Political dimension: On this view, love is an active force -that leads to change—to communion with the world;• It is not just about individual self-fulfillment, but aimed at ending domination and oppression• In this connection she talks about 'politicization of love' as a good thing; i.e. love with real practical consequences, and therefore political implications• But if love is not to be a mere name or a mere lie or distraction, it has got to aim at political change in the direction of eliminating domination and oppression

JOANNA MACY AND CHRIS JOHNSTONE • The "Three Stories of our Time"; • the three dimensions of the third story

Three stories of our time; talks about a press briefing (May 7, 2001) at the White House with Ari Fleischer, press secretary under G. W. Bush• A journalist asks: given the great amount of energy the US consumes per capita do we need to change our lifestyles to deal with the energy crisis? AF said "NO!" Our energy consumption is part of our 'American way of life' and our goal should be to protect that way of life• 'No' to the question is part of a 'story' we tell ourselves; 'story' not in the sense of 'fiction' per se, but in the sense of a way we have of making sense of the world, of interpreting the world 1) Business as Usual: This story says that society is on the right track and we should carry on with business as usual 2)The Great Unraveling: a story talks about the destructive consequences of business as usual -biologically, ecologically and socially. 3)The Great Turning: a story about the response to the danger and the transition to a life-sustaining civilization They will argue we can choose which story to 'live by', so to speak. A good story can give us as sense of purpose and be liberating. The Three Dimensions of the Great Turning • FIRST DIMENSION: HOLDING ACTIONS • SECOND DIMENSION: LIFE-SUSTAINING SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES • THIRD DIMENSION: SHIFT IN CONSCIOUSNESS Holding actions: aim to slow the damage; includes:• Raising awareness• Gathering evidence, documenting the environmental, social and health impacts of industrial growth• Uses the work of scientists, campaigners, journalists—to reveal links between pollution and cancers, eg., or between fossil fuel consumption and climate disturbance; the availability of cheap products and sweatshop working conditions• We raise our awareness, seek to learn more and alert others. we can remove our support for behaviors and products part of theproblem• join with others to add to the strength of campaigns, boycotts, petitions, rallies, legal proceedings, direct actions, and other forms ofprotest• such holding actions can be frustrating, but sometimes lead to important victories• For example, some old growth forests that have been saved in various parts of the world only through "determined and sustained activism SECOND DIMENSION: LIFE-SUSTAINING SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES •Holding actions alone are not enough; we need also to replace or transform the systems that cause harm•To rethink and creatively redesign the way we do things. The development of ethical financial systems• E.g., new types of banks, like Triodos Bank -rewrites the rules by operating on the model of 'triple return or 'the triple bottom line'• in this model, investments not only bring financial returns but environmental and social benefits [i.e.goods other than money are considered ]. swing to environmental and socially responsible agricultural and economic practices• large numbers have switched to growing and buying organic produce• fair-trade initiatives improve the working conditions of the producers while community-supported agriculture(CSA) and farmer markets improve the availability of local produce• new initiatives in green building THIRD DIMENSION: SHIFT IN CONSCIOUSNESS • "Revolution in values"• "At the core of our consciousness is a wellspring of caring and compassion" -• What Macy and Johnstone call "our 'connected self'"• Such a sense of self "can be nurtured and developed"• A New Appreciation of Our Interconnectedness• A Convergence of Science and Spirituality (Interconnectedness is a key concept The Three Dimensions of the Great Turning summarized• BOX 14 SHOWS THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF THE GT HAPPENING AT ONCE AND BEING MUTUALLY REINFORCING• HOLDING ACTIONS [STOPPING THE BAD AND SLOWING IT DOWN]• LIFE-SUSTAINING SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES [CREATING AN DIMPLEMENTING ALTERNATIVES]• SHIFT IN CONSCIOUSNESS [SELF-TRANSFORMATION IN INSIGHT, PERCEPTION, THINKING, VALUES, ASPIRATIONS, ETC]