intro to philosophy ch.1 ch.2 ch.9

The Traditional Western view of human nature(unique aspect)

First To believe all human beings have a "Self" the ego or the "I" in a physical body and that is conscious and rational. Second this self is different from but related to the body. The body is a physical material entity where as the self is a spiritual entity(soul) which can survive the death of its body Third the self endures through time, it remains the same safe throughout life and also after death, Finally the self is an independent individual, it exists separate from other things and people with an independent identity. - this view holds that all humans have a rational spirit self that is distinct from its body, has a purpose, endures over time, and exists as a separate individual.

Philosophy as an Activity

First, It is an acitivity and differs from other subjects, while studying philosophy, youll be asked to stufy the theories of several other philosophers Ny understanding the best philosophers, will help you to learn how to do philosophy better.

The Darwinian Challenge first key idea

He proposed the key ideas: 1. animals and plants are sometimes born with features that are different from those of their parents but that they can pass on to their own offspring. Called these differences "variations" ex. a giraffe may be born with a longer neck than its parents, then when it's older it can pass its variation onto its offspring.

- Why does your view of human nature matter?

Human nature refers to what a human is o The most basic question in philosophy is this: What kind of being am I? o Your answer to this question about human nature- what a human being is- will profoundly affect how you see yourself, how you see others, and how you live -psychologist question whether human nature is motivated only by self-interest or if unselfish considerations can also motivate human beings -Freud says that humans are selfish, aggressive and cruel o British philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued or a view that we now call psychological egoism This theory says that human beings are made so that they act only in self-interest (desirous of powers over others)

deductive

If Premise are true , the conclusion must be true , these come to us automatically, simple thinking, we do it all the time

Is life getting better or getting worse? based on what criteria?

Many people believe that humanity is still progressing and that people can contribute to making this a better place. We might not be becoming better people but at least we know more now than we did in our earlier history

Philosophy have a male bias?

Moulton and Lloyd are women philosophers who feel like men and created many sexist views and they are not fair for woman who want to philosophize. They want no sex to be overpowering of the other, therefore women need to philosophize to reshape the philosophical assumptions that influence our thinking and to create more cooperative and inclusive methods of philosophizing.

The four things that describe the philosophy side of the Myth of the Cave

Philosophy as an Activity, Philosophy is hard work the aim of philosophy is freedom philosophy examines our most basic assumptions

the three main parts of the human nature

Plato concluded that reason(human capacity for thinking reflectively and drawing conclusions in a rational way) , appetite(our physical desires,), and aggression(anger,spirit)

The Apology.

Plato summarizes the speech Socrates delivers in his defense. ( Greek language means this is why I did what I did) -The Apology is Socrates' speech at his trial on charges of being an atheist and of corrupting youth -Socrates says it was his mission to find if the oracle was right when it said he was the wisest man alive -So he searched for a wiser man by questioning everyone's knowledge -He made enemies but learned the wisest man is he who knows does not know -His young followers did the same kind of questioning -He must continue on his mission b/c it is better to obey god, not people; if corruption is teaching the youth to care more for their inner selves than anything else, then he does corrupt youth -Questioning is the greatest thing people can do b/c the unexamined life is not worth living; if death is a state of nothingness, dying is good; if there is an afterlife, it is also good -Philosophy is the quest for wisdom: an unrelenting devotion to uncover the truth about what matters most in one's life

Myth of the cave

Plato wants people to come into the light into the real world and face life hardship and think like philosophers and use the light of reasoning.

The Republic

Platos most famous work that talks about how he thinks things should work. His philosophical work on justice

The rationalistic Version of the tradition western view of human nature:

Reason: humanity's highest power o Views the human primarily as a self capable of reasoning o Plato claimed that reason(human capacity for thinking reflectively and drawing conclusions in a rational way) often conflicts with our appetite(our physical desires,), s or our aggressiveness(anger,spirit), and our appetites can conflict with our aggressiveness o Plato concluded that reason(human capacity for thinking reflectively and drawing conclusions in a rational way) , appetite(our physical desires,), and aggression(anger,spirit) are the three main parts of the human nature o Because reason can know how we ought to live, it should rule appetites and aggressions o If a person always gives in to his appetites or aggressive impulses, these will enslave him and reason can no longer rule them o For Aristotle, reason is our highest power and what distinguishes human nature o For Aristotle, all living things have a purpose. The purpose of humans is to use their reason to think and to control desires and aggressions o In Phaedo, Plato argues that the soul is immaterial and immortal b/c it can perceive nonmaterial ideals that do not exist in this world o Aristole claimed that because barbarians were less rational than Greeks, they were less human and so could be ruled and enslaved by the Greeks o Christians like Augustine adopted Plato's view that the self or soul is rational, immaterial, and immortal and not basically self-interested

Are we independent and self- sufficient individuals? o Power and Hegel's view

Claims that each of us is continually involved in a struggle to get the recognition from others that we need to exist as truly independent, free persons Everyone struggles to get from other the recognition each needs to be independent and free. Some emerge as slaves, others as masters, yet the master becomes dependent on the slave, and the slave comes to see himself as more competent than the master Thus, the slave is slave b/c that is what others see him as being, and the mast is master b/c other recognize him as such Hegel implies that the powerful and powerless classes in society are created by the qualities we are willing to recognize in them

The Darwinian Challenge o Responses to Darwin

Critics of Darwin claim that gaps in the fossil record disprove his theory, that a "theistic" view of evolution allows for purposeful design, and that reason does make us unique Darwin's argument was an inference to the best explanation, which assumes the best explanation is probably true. The best explanation: is determined after considering all serious alternatives: harmonizes with well-established beliefs; accounts for more kinds of facts; provides more information about the casual mechanisms; and its simplest. However, we can't say why best explanations are probably true

o Euthyphro: Do we know what Holiness is?

Example of how Socrates questioned people almost to the point of irritation Gives no answers b/c he wants you to realize that you, too, do not have any good answers to his questions Takes place at the court of kings; Socrates there to learn more about an indictment for "unholiness" brought against him for questioning traditional beliefs In Euthyphro, Socrates questions a priest's knowledge of what holiness is Socrates wants not examples, but the characteristic that all, and only, holy things have in common Euthyphro says that whatever the gods love is holy But, Socrates replies, the gods can disagree Also, Socrates says, if the gods love what is holy b/c it is holy, then what makes things holy is not that they are love by the gods Euthyphro next says that holiness is serving the gods w/ act they love Socrates points out that this is the view they earlier decided was wrong In this dialogue Socrates is going the kind of questioning that characterizes philosophy

o The Existentialist Challenge

Existentialists like Sarte say there is no God to determine our nature, so humans have no purpose or nature except the one they make themselves. We are free and fully responsible for what we know; knowing this cause anguish Bad faith is deceiving ourselves by pretending we are not free and so responsible The self has no rational nature but is the sum total of all its actions Existence is prior to essence means humans are first born(exist) and then define their nature(essence) by acting Existentialism says there is not universal human nature shared by all people because we create our own, no rational human nature because his or her choices are what will define them, no purpose for human nature because we are not made for anything, we simply exist and each of us can decide for ourselves our purpose

Are we independent and self- sufficient individuals? o Culture and self-identity

Hegel also argues that a person gets through his culture the recognition that makes him free or enslaved A culture consists of the traditions and language; the arts, ideas and outlooks; the practices and beliefs of a group of people To understand what Taylor means, consider how you think of who you are, your self-identity

The Darwinian Challenge Proposed what three key ideas

Idea that animals and plants are sometimes born with features that are different from those of their parents but they can pass in their own offspring Because living creatures produce more offspring than can survive they are continuously caught in a great "struggle for existence" "natural selection or survival of the fittest"; pointed out that some variations give a creature an advantage over other members of its species in this great struggle for existence and thereby give it a better chance of surviving, having offspring, and passing the variation on to its descendants Darwin said that some creatures have variations that can be inherited by offspring, and those with advantageous variations can better survive and pass them on, while those with injurious variations are destroyed, a process he called "natural selection, or survival of the fittest" Descendants of a species can be so different that they are a new species Darwin's theory applies to humans. But if all human abilities evolved from lower animals, reason is not unique but just a more developed animal ability

Crito: Do we have an obligation to obey the law

In Crito, Socrates' friend urges him to escape from prison as "the many" would advise Socrates replies that we should not listen to the opinions of the many but do what is truly right The govt will collapse if its laws are not followed, so laws should be obeyed Moreover, citizens should obey their govt b/c it is like a parent, because it gave them many benefits, and b/c they agreed to obey by freely choosing to stay. So it is wrong to escape the judgment of the government The conclusion of an argument is basic claim the argument is trying to prove and is often indicated with the words: so, therefore, consequently, hence, accordingly, which shows that, as a result, we may infer that, we may conclude that, which shows that The premises of an argument consist of the reasons or evidence that supports the conclusion and are often indicated with the words: because, inasmuch, as, since, for, otherwise To identify a missing premise or understand assumption of an argument, we must identify the claim(s) that is needed if the premises are to support or prove the conclusion

- Are we independent and self- sufficient individuals? o The atomistic self

Many hold the view that the self is and should be independent of others and self-sufficient View that some philosophers call the atomistic view of the self; on this view, the self is, like the atom, self-contained and independent of other atoms Descartes said the self exists and can be known independently of others and that only the self can judge the truth about what it is Kant argued that the core of the real self is the ability to choose for oneself

Are we independent and self- sufficient individuals? o Search for the real self

So, the self is not independent and self-sufficient, but depends on others for his or her existence as the kind of person he or she is But if one has many relationships w/ others, does this mean one has many selves And aren't many of our physical, mental, and personality traits independent of others

The Republic: Is justice what benefits the powerful?

Socrate's questioning gave him the reputation of an irritating "gadfly" Socrates got a reputation for a being a gadfly, an irritating personality who picked away at people's confident assertions and who left them w/ nothing mor than the embarrassing realization of their ignorance Thrasymachus claims justice is doing what benefits the strong And the strong are rulers who make the laws, so justice is following their laws Sometimes rulers mistakenly pass laws that do not benefit themselves; in such cases, if justice is following their laws, then justice would be following laws that do not benefit the rulers. But this contradicts what Thrasymachus said justice was Thrasymachus is a cynical philosopher His view is that might makes right; Justice is obeying the rules of society, and these rules, he claims, always favor the interests of whatever group happens to hold power in that society

o The feminist Challenge

Some feminists claim that the Traditional view of human nature is sexist Plato said reason is superior to and should rule our desires and emotions; Aristotle then associated women with desires and emotions and men with rationality and concluded that men should rule over women So the rationalistic view implies that reason is good, is male, and should rule, whereas feelings and desires are bad, are female, and should be ruled. This is sexist Insisting women are as rational as men still assumes that "male reason" is better than female desires and emotions are as good as reason still allows that b/c males have reason they should rule females, who have emotions and desires

Are we independent and self- sufficient individuals? o The relational self

Taylor objects that we depend on others for our very self b/c we need others to define for us who our real self is Aristotle argued that I depend on other not just to exist but to be the human that I am Traditional view of the self is that most of us share is the atomistic view that says you are who you are independently of your relatiosnships with other people Hegel denied the independent self, arguing that who is one depends on one's relationship w/ others and that we can know we are free and independent only if others recognize us as such

What is human nature?

The belief in life after death assumes that the self is conscious, has a purpose, and is distinct from its material body People who have come back to life say the purpose is humans have a destiny to life after death. Many thinkers have rejected the view that humans have a rational nature that has a purpose , others deny that the self is a kind of immaterial entity that is different from but related to our physical body

The Darwinian Challenge o Darwin's evidence

Theory that species had evolved from earlier species by the mechanisms of variation and natural selection meant that "probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial from" Way species are geographically distributed over the face of the earth, Darwin argued, was also best explained by his theory, and not by the view that each species had been independently created Darwins argued that his theory that "variations and natural selection" had caused species to evolved from earlies species explained numerous facts better than the view that each species was "independently created", including: the similarities btw distinct species, their geographical distribution, the similar bones and embryos of different species, rudimentary organs, and the fossil records

The Darwinian Challenge o Implications for the Traditional View

Traditional view says that although humans are animals, they have a characteristic that makes them unique Darwin's theory undermined the idea that living things and humans are designed for a purpose

third key idea

"natural selection" or survival of the fittest , variations however can give a species advantages over its other species.

appeal to emotion

(Informal) is the attempt to establish a claim not by providing good reasons for the claim but by appealing to the passions or prejudices of the audience

Ad Hominem argument

(Informal)argument that attacks the person making an argument instead of addressing the argument itself

inappropriate appeal to authority

(Informal)as attempt to establish a conclusion by appealing to "authority" who are not experts on the subject.

Hasty Generalization

(Informal)when an inductive generalization is not based on a sufficiently large sample.

What is unique about being a human being?

- the ability to ask ?s - to learn and understand more -ability to reason

Why is Socrates the Ideal

1. He asked so many questions and was always curious and wanted to know more about the reasons to everything. EX. he would ask "what is justice" "what does it mean" 2. He ended up being put on trial for treason. His persistent questioning left people puzzled but more so angry. When Athens was defeated, they determined that Socrates questions weakened the traditional values and beliefs making them lose. Since he left no writings we only know abot him from the Dialogues written by Plato.

What is the essence of the self

Being able to think is what makes the self

Importance of understand human nature

Beliefs about our nature influence our relationships, our view of our place in the universe and our view of how society should be arranged

psychological egoism

British Philosopher Thomas Hobbes, argued a view, says that human beings are made so that they act only out of self interest. - altruism

egoism

Browne's view that morality is a sham because humans always try to satisfy themselves- therefore, their actions are always selfish.

second key idea

Darwin advanced that because living creatures produce more offspring than can survive, they are continuously caught in a great "struggle for existence"- that is theymust compete with one another to stay alive. ex. newborn bobcat has to fight to get to its mothers milk with its other sibling, fighting with out bobcats for food, struggles to stay away from wolves, the heat, the cold.

Karma

Eastern philosophers have turned to this Hindu idea to claim that humans can be both free and determined. means "Action" or "deed" which consists of the accumulation of a persons past deed. The Hindu say that everything we have done in our past determines our present situation. Our past actions-our karma- they claim determine the kind of being we have become, but we are still free to choose within the limits of what we have become.

Essence

Thinking is necessary for the self it is w defining characteristic of the self.

Reductionism

View that processes such a as thought and life are really nothing more than physical and chemical processes The idea that we can completely understand or explain one kind of reality in terms of another kind or that one kind of reality is actually a different kind of reality Take one thing and argue thatbit is something else

Darwinian challenge

We are so used to the idea of evolution that it is hard for us to understand how incredible Darwins theory was to people of his time. The idea that natural processes might make any species evolve into an entire an entirely different species. This meaning so that the living world around us had not been created as it was. He applied his theory towards humans saying we evolved from nonhuman ancestors. This challenge wasn't so much about evolution but about whether we are the products of an accident, or were we intended to happen.

Explain the role an enduring self plays in human life and how it leads to the problem of personal identity.

You stay the same person, no matter what changes you go through. However body continuity is not what makes us the same person from one moment to the next. There is something else, something "in" his or her body that makes it stay the same. Philosophers have led to conclude this to be so that the body is not what makes a person remain the same over time. There is something "in" the body an- immaterial "soul" or "mind"- that remains the same even as the body changes.

fallicies

a defective argument, a case of bad or faulty reasoning, two broad groups which are formal and informal

The value of philosophy

a person studying philosophy for the first time might ask a question: Why devote this time and effort to study philosophy 1. Achieving freedom Plato says The value of philosophy is that through it we achieve freedom- freedom from assumptions we have unquestioningly accepted from others, and freedom to decide for ourselves what we believe about ourselves and our place in the world around us For Plato, philosophical knowledge makes us free For Buddha, philosophical knowledge frees us from the cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth • In this view, each living thing, when it dies, is reincarnated in another living thing, its new condition determined by its past action, or karma 2. allows you to develop a unified, coherent view of yourself and your life in the world 3. philosophy allows you have to have awareness to throw off the blinders that keep you unaware and unfree.

Albert Ellis

a well known clinical psychologist who developed a form of therapy based on the idea that irrational philosophy which are irrational beliefs that are the results of philosophical conditioning. Our emotions and behaviors are the result of the beliefs and assumptions that we have about ourselfs, the people around us, and the world.

philosphy

an approach to life (ology means study of) the love of wisdom, the pursuit of wisdom about what it means to be a human being, what the fundamental nature of reality is, what the sources and limits of knowledge are, and what is good and right in our lives and in our societies. - The goal of philosophy is to get us to answer these questions for ourselves—to make up our own minds about our self, life, knowledge, society, religion, and morality without simply depending on the authority of parents, peers, television, teachers, or society

by understanding the self, one could perhaps understand the reality, Upanished philosophers then turned to understand ..

atman, or the deepest self

Informal fallacy

bad arguments because of their content , the claims made do not provide real support to a conclusion

human nature

being motivated by self-interest(can have an influence on what you believe and do) -continuity of yourself through time

Pericles

brought Athens to the rise of glory, , Athens enjoyed a splendid golden age of democracy, an age of architectural, artistic, and literary advantages. It depended on the powerful military and economic forces. This ended when Athens was defeated at war.

determinism

claim that all things and all human beings are unfree b/c everything that occurs happens in accordance with some regular pattern or law

2 types of logical arguments

deductive, inductive

The three main fields/traditional divisions of philosophy are?

epistemology, metaphysics, ethics

philosophy examines our most basic assumptions

fourth, plato says that philosophy examines are assumptions we have about the most basic aspects of human existence. most clearly expressed by a woman philosopher named Perctione who claims that philosophy is the search for wisdom, search for an understanding of the ultimate truths about our selves and our universe.

Adam and Eve demonstrate

from the Christian view that humans as rational loving beings are created in the image of God and are capable of great good and evil

sound argument

has a valid argument and true premises

Judeo Christian version of traditional western view of human nature

human beings are made in the image of God, Plato influenced Christian through thinkers such as Augustine, who adapted many of Platos doctrines to Christianity. (human self is a rational self that is conscious and can reason) Augustine says that the rational self with the help of God can control its desires and rule over its passions. Also took but modified Platos view that if human beings love perfect eternal ideals would rise to heaven and changed it to the souls who rise will be those who love the perfect eternal God. Augustine emphasized the notion of a will and not just that of reason. The will is the ability to choose between good and evil. This will demonstrate the most significant Christian virtue which is love. -the fundamental and religious duty is freely choosing to love and serve God The human will, the power of choice over desire, allows human beings to make this choice. Augustine says humans are attracted toward evil and away from God -like Plato Augustine says that human nature is capable of controlling its desires and mastering its reasons but unlike Plato, says that we need Gods help to overcome pride and lust and only with Gods help can our reason master our desire. he human being has both reason and will, the ability to know our God and to choose and love that God. Another rationalistic tradition is adopted and modified and Chrisstian thinker Aquinas says that humans and all other creatures have a purpose however the purpose of humans is to achieve happiness by using their reason to know God.

inductive

if the Premise are true the conclusion is probably true. Things in the future, an estimation

Mark Mercer claims that when people act intentionally

intentionally they always expect a self-regarding benefit or reward; introspection reveals this and we could not understand their actions as intentional unless we attributed such a motive to them

Antonomy

means consequences

Deductive argument

meant to show its conclusion is necessarily true if its premises are true;-

logic

methodology- study of correct reasoning

to do philosophy, is to examine the basic and

most important assumptions that underlie everything we do and believe in

existentialism

no such thing as a human nature because humans are whatever they make themselves this denies any essential human nature in the traditional sense, insisting that individuals create their own nature through their free choice and actions

• The behaviorist view of human nature

o Behaviorism is a materialistic view that began as a school of psychology that restricted the study of humans to what can be observed- namely human behavior o Psychological behaviorists argued that they could not observe states of consciousness, so psychology should not be converned w/ them o Behaviorists like Ryle say mental ativities and states can be explained and defined in terms of our observable behaviors o But critics like Putnam say we can have an idea in mind w/o any externally observable behavior

- Does life have meaning

o Camus claimed that the most urgent and :the one truly serious question in philosophy" is the question whether life has meaning and thus worth living, because people are willing to die for this question o Death brings everything we are or ever hoped to be to a complete end o The shortness of human life, the insignificance of human life in the face of the great immensity and eternity of the universe, the apparent unconcern and uncaring impersonal coldness of the universe- all these factors can lead people to question whether human life in general, and their life in particular, have any meaning o The despair that gripped Macbeth is the despair that comes when a person becomes convinced that life is pointless and has no meaning o Tolstoy, an accomplished and wealthy writer with a loving family, came to feel that life had no meaning, as if someone had played a mean trick on him; hefelt that life was meaningless for his family ad everyone o With no meaning to express in his art, Tolstoy stopped writing and became depressed o What does the question mean? Ayer, Carnap, and the other logical positivists claim that the question is meaningless because it is not factual question that can be resolved through sense perception. Critics reply that many important questions can't be answered through sense perception Most people today believe that the logical positivists are mistaken; people reject the idea that questions are meaningless if they cannot be resolved through sense perception Many modern philosophers have shown that the question of the meaning of life can be given a perfectly understandable sense Tolstoy and others take the question to be asking whether life has a larger or more important purpose than merely living

• The new dualism

o Chalmers argues we can conceive of "zombies who are physically like us and act like us but have no consciousness. So, mental properties such as consciousness are not physical properties. This is "property dualism" o Chalmers concludes from this "thought experiment" that consciousness is not a physical feature of the world, b/c is consciousness were a physical feature, then a world that contained all the physical features our world has would have to contain consciousness o Consciousness is a nonphysical property of the world

• Eliminative materialism

o Eliminative materialism says that mental conscious states(desires, beliefs, intentions) don't exist; although our folk psychology refers to those states, it is mistaken and future science will let us eliminate all terms referring to such states o Critics say that eliminative materialism denies the existence of what we all know we experience, and so gets rid of the very thing that has to be explained

• The functionalist View of Human nature

o Functionalism holds that we should explain mental activities and mental states in terms of perceptual inputs and behavioral outputs o The inputs of the human minds are the stimulations that affect the nervous system- what we see, hear, taste, and feel; the outputs are the behaviors that result: running, walking, sitting, standing o We can think of a mental concept such a belief as a connection the material brain makes btw certain inputs and certain outputs o Functionalists like Armstrrong say mental states can be explained in terms of perceptual inputs and behavioral outputs; some mental states can be explained in terms of other mental states but ultimately must be connected to sense inputs and behavior outputs o Funtionalists might agree that a persons intention (a mental state) can be explained in terms of the person's desires and beliefs (other mental states) o Critics argue that if two people experience colors differently, they may like the same behavior outputs to the same sense inputs, yet they don't have the same mental states, as functionalism o Turing said the mind is a computer following a program that generates certain outputs when given certain inputs. The "turing test" says that if the outputs a computer program gives to certain inputs cannot be distinguished from the outputs a human would make to the same inputs, the computer program is equivalent to the human mind o Searle objects that a computer following a program is not conscious. His "Chinese room" example is a person in a room who follows a program that outputs the right Chinese characters when give certain Chinese inputs. The passes the turing test, yet the person is not conscious of knowing Chinese

What is the meaning of life? Meaning and Human Progress

o Georg Hegel argued that history shows progress o As history develops, Hegel claims people see more clearly that humans are essentially free, and more people actually become free o Hegel argues that the larger reality that gives an individual life meaning is the historical progress of the world toward an ever greater consciousness of freedom. The individual's life has no meaning to the extent that he or she takes part in this progressive movement of history by participating in the spirit of age, the way in which freedom is evolving in his time o Marx also argues that the meaning of life is found by participating in the progressive movement of history, but for him history was progressing economically toward a classless society, and meaning lay in joining the struggle to overthrow old capitalist structures and thereby help achieve the classless society o Others propose different view of human progress but agree that by advancing human progress, individual life gains meaning. But critics argue that there is little evidence that humanity is "progressing". Critics also question whether the proposed "goals" of human progress are worth seeking o Fukuyama argues that history is no longer progressing toward any goal b/c in achieving liberal democracies it has already achieved its goal

what is the meaning of life? Meaning as a self-chosen commitment

o Hare argues that a person gives her life a meaning by choosing goals that matter to her and that give direction to her life. Meaning that arises out of such personal choices is "subjective" meaning o Family, country, religion, friends- all these can become personal goals, and if these matter to me, then by choosing to pursue them, I can give my life meaning and value o Kierkegaard described three lifestyles, which he called aesthetic, ethical, and religious Argues that one gives one's life subjective meaning by choosing something for which one is willing to live or die, in particular by committing oneself to an aesthetic, ethical, or religious life o Sartre, an atheist, claims that only subjective meaning is possible and that we give subjective meaning to our lives by choosing to commit ourselves to something and thereby giving it value; nothing has value before it is chosen. Critics argue that one must believe something is valuable before one can choose to devote oneself to it o The idea of subjective meaning suggests that b/c meaning can be created through our choices, life can have meaning through our commitment to any of a wide variety of worthy human concerns, such as family, art, loving relationships, raising children, healing, helping moral integrity, and religious faith

- The Nihilist Rejection of Meaning

o Nihilist argue that life has no meaning. Schopenhauer claims that life has no more pain than enjoyment and that boredom we feel when all our needs are satisfied proves "the emptiness of existence" Taylor argues that the transitory nature of all our achievements shows that living has no meaning

The Materialist View of Human Nature

o Problem with Descartes dualism- says there are two things in human nature; instead let us say there is only one: the material body that we observes with our sense o Hobbes was a materialist and felt we can explain all human activities, including mental activities as working much like those of a machine o The materialist Hobbes said the mind could be reduced to the physical actions of a material body, so there is no need to believe that immaterial things exist. He was influenced by science of his day o Reductionism is the idea that we can completely understand or explain one kind of reality in terms of another kind, or that one kind of reality is acutally a different kind of reality

Socrates

o Socrates- (pre Socratic) western philosopher who questioned the conventional beliefs of his fellow Athenians Would ask, "what is justice? What does it mean? What do all just acts have in common?" o Would probe ideas about virtue, knowledge, morality, and religion o b/c Socrates left no writings, most of what we know about him comes from which the character of Socrates plays a major role

• The Mind/Brain Indentity Theory of human nature

o The identity theory claims that states of consciousness are identical with states of the brain, which is physical or material organ o Philosophers who accept the identity theory don't think that their theory is just a matter of definitions. In other words, they do not hold that words for mental states mean the same as words for brain states. Instead, they say, science will someday discovers which mental states are identical to which brain states o The identity theory of the mind, proposed by Smart says mental states, such as thinking are contingently identical with states of the brain, a material organ o Malcolm objects that mental states have no location in space but that brain states do, and that thoughts require surroundings such as practices, agreements, and assumptions but that brain events don't, so mental states are not identical to brain states

what is the meaning of life 1. The Theistic response to meaning

o The most common way people answer whether life has term is in terms of their relationship with God o Aquinas' view can be called the theistic response to the question of meaning; the theistic response claims that human life has meaning b/c humans are part of a larger plan or order devised by God; within that plan, all things in the universe have purpose and value o Aquinas' theistic response to the question is that the meaning of human life is related to the purpose that humans have a larger plan or cosmic order devised by God, and this purpose is to know and be united w/ God. Tolstoy accepted this as a reason for living o Each religion offers its own view of the cosmic whole in terms of which human life has meaning, but all theistic views give meaning to life by relating the individual to a divine reality that is larger and more important than the individual is o Islam infuse life with meaing in a way that is much like the theist response to Christianity o The theist response to the search for meaning satisfies many believers, but is also raise difficult questions First the response obviously can depend on accepting the belief that God exists Second, some like Kurt Baier have argued that there is something "morally repugnant" about the theist response; theist views claims that humans have meaning b/c they have a purpose that is assigned them by God Third, critics like Kai Nielson have claimed that the theist response makes an illogical jump; says that b/c God has a purpose for my life, my life has meaning o Critics argue that the theistic response is irrelevant to the nonbeliever. Baier claims that to say humans have a purpose assigned to them by God reduces humans to tools that God is using. Nielsen says from the fact that someone else has a purpose for me, it does not follow that my life has meaning b/c values are not established by facts o A life with meaning seems to be a life with value, and facts about other beings- even facts about God- cannot give value to you life

- Is there an Enduring Self?

o The traditional western view assumes that you are today the same person you were earlier in your life; assumes that we humans are selves that endure through time o We believe we remain the same person throughout our lives, unless perhaps exceptional events such as brain damage or Alzheimer's disease afflict us o Some philosophers say that what makes us the same person today that we were ten years ago is the continuity of our body o But critics point out that sometimes we say that a person w/ brain damage has the same bodily continuity but is not the same person as before o Also, if bodily continuity was required to make a person the same from one moment to another, then the idea of life after death should be comprehensible o In thought experiments were a mind is put in a new body, we say the body is now the person whose mind was transferred, not the person whose body was used. So, bodily continuity does not make someone the same person over time

- The mind-body problem: How do mind and body relate?

o To many, it is obvious that humans have both a mind a body and that they are completely different from each other o Consciousness is subjective o Although this all seems obvious and commonsensical, the view of human nature as consisting of a mind and body that are completely different from each other have given rise to profound problems

plato

one of the earliest and greatest western philosophers who illustrated how philosophy aims at freedom with his famous parable "The Myth of the Cave" which is told in "The Republic" He is the disciple of Socrates and wrote "Crito", "The Apology", and "Euthyphro"

A valid deductive argument is

one whose conclusion must be true if its premises are true- one whose conclusion must be true in every situation in which its premises are true 1. If Socrates is human then hes a mammal 2. Is a human 3. therefore he is a mammal

inductive argument

or probable argument is meant to show its conclusion is probably but not necessarily true if its premises are true

Platos dialogue The Symposium talks about what

philosopher Diotima argues that she believed people do not remain the same person as time passes they "long for immortality"

both plato and Aristotle say that what is our most important feature of human nature

reason, it is more important than desires and emotions, reason is what makes a human being unique (its what makes us different than all the other animals, Say reason should control our desires and our emotions

A "self-regarding end" is something that

rewards or benefits one's own self, such as getting pleasure, being happy, avoiding pain, gaining power or possessions, having self-respect, being loved, feeling good about oneself, or having others think well of oneself -when we engage in introspection, we always see the presence of such self-regarding motives. --he claims that the only kind of human motivation we can understand is self-interest "the expectation of realizing some self-regarding end"

Dialogues

short dramas

The identity theory claims

states of consciousness are identical with states of the brain, which is physical or material organ

aristotle

student of Plato, tutored alexander the great, opened up his own school the Lyceum in Athens

epistomology

study of knowledge, Looks at the extend of reliability of our knowledge, truth, and logic, and whether knowledge is possible Male approach to knowledge- theoretical thinking assumes there is only one truth, one correct theory. Female approach to knowledge- anarchic thinking recognizes that there is not just one "objective" truth but many different truths, none of which should be ruled out as "incorrect".

Ethics

study of morality and value (what should I do) ex. are abortion, suicide morally right

Metaphysics

study of reality (what is real) Looks at ultimate characteristics of reality or existence Some issues that fall under metaphysics are the place of humans in the universe, the purpose and nature of reality, and the nature of mind, self, and consciousness, also issues related to religion, God, destiny of the universe, and the immortality of the soul "Is everything in the universe determined by the outside causes, or are we freely able to choose for ourselves?"

critical thinking

takes place to determine the outcome, disciplined thinking that bases beliefs and actions on well founded evidence and valid reasoning.

what makes us unique

the ability to reason

Monotheism

the belief that there is just one God and is usually accompanied by the assertion that all beliefs in other gods should be rejected.

autonomy

the goal of philosophy, the freedom of being able to decide for yourself what you will believe in, by using your own reasoning abilities

Reasoning

the process of thinking by which we draw a conclusion from the reasons or evidence that support or prove a conclusion.

dualism

the traditional view of human nature said by Descartes that a human is composed of two kinds of things : a material body and an immaterial mind or soul. Philosophers call it this because it means that are made up of two substances

the aim of philosophy is freedom

third, plato indicates that the aim of philosophy of philosophy is freedom. It aims at breaking us free of the prejudices and unthinking assumptions we have long absorbed from people around us so that we can move toward views of our own

philein

to love

Philosophy examines the basic assumptions that

underlie religion ( Is there a God?)

pre-Socratics

were the first thinkers in the West who questioned religious authority and tried to provide nonreligious explanations of nature

logical argument

when the premise supports the conclusion making it logical if not its illogical

non philosophical

when we make an emotional decision, an argument in philosophy isn't emotional it is an attempt to prove something, made up with premise leading to a conclusion.

Athens

where people went to express philosophical ideas

sophia

wisdom

The no-self view

• Gets rid of the self altogether • Buddhism o Eastern view; there is no self, nothing survives overtime w/o change • Hume also held that there is no self. He argues that only what we perceive exists. But we never perceive a self in the constance flow of changing sensations, so there is no self • But if there is no enduring self, than all the care we take for our future makes no sense

Memory as the source of the enduring self

• Locke proposed that what makes a person remain the same person from time to another is her memory of those times • Reid objected: suppose at age 20 I remember myself at 10, and at 30 I remember myself at 20 but not 10. Then on Locke's view at 20 I am the same person I was a t 10, and at 30 I am the same person I was at 10, and at 30 I am the same person I was at 20. So at 30 I must be the same person I was at 10. Yet locke's view also says at 30 I am not the person I was at 10

The Dualist View of Human Nature

• Traditional view of human nature adopted, including Plato and Saint Augustine • View was most clearly pressed in the 17th century but the first philosophical figure of modern European age, Rene Descartes • Descartes said we can think of the self w/o a body, so it is not a body; we cannot think of the self w/o thinking, which is not a material act. So, the self must be a thinking immaterial mind with a material body • Thinking is necessary for the self; it is part of the essence(defining characteristics that make something what it is)0 • The traditional view of human nature, as Descartes explains it, says that a human is composed of two kinds of things: a material and an immaterial mind, or "soul"; this is called dualism b/c is claims that humans are made up of dual substances • But how can something that has no physical dimensions act on or be acted on by something that does? • Descartes recognized the problems created by saying that we have an immaterial mind that somehow interacts w/ a material body • Suggested that perhaps the mind interacts w/ the body through pineal gland • Leibniz agreed that mind and body can't interact but said they run in parallel order like two synchronized clockes. Malebranche also agreed that mind and body can't interact, but he said that God obligingly moves the body for the mind and affects the mind for the body

The Soul as the enduring self

• Traditional western view says that in each living human body is a soul; this soul is not made out of physical stuff like the body, instead the soul is immaterial or spiritual • Traditional view such as Descartes holds that the soul makes a person remain the same person as time passes • Critics object that we can know that a person remains the same person from one day to another w/o being able to see his or her soul • Traditional view also accounts for the fact that we can imagine someone waking up w/ a different body, as in our "mad surgeon" mind experiment

Philosophy is hard work

Second, Plato makes it clear that philosophy is a difficult activity. Going upward is hard because it involves questioning and thinking though our most basic assumptions. It is also hard because it requires us to think critically consistently.

Western Philosophy

Socrates, Aristotle Plato and Perictione are representatives of so-called Western Philosophy. It is a part of the cultural tradition that began in ancient Greece. It is important because of its profound and direct influence on the social and political institutions that surround us and because it continues to influence and shape the thinking of each of us today

Eastern Philosophers

Thales, Parmenides, Heraclitus,