Sorry

Sorry for briefly losing my equanimity this morning, section #5. The combination of Ronald Reagan's reprehensible endorsement of a bigoted theocrat's statement about his daughters being better dead than non-believers,  AND a student's statement that he'd vote for Trump again, even as our democracy vanishes before our eyes, was too much. But I value stoic composure as a pedagogic ideal. I'll do better. jpo

Bonkers

"… "Never before has an hour of Presidential rhetoric cost so many people so much," former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers posted. "The best estimate of the loss from tariff policy is now [close] to $30 trillion or $300,000 per family of four." 

"The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history," posted former vice president Mike Pence.

Trump claims he is imposing "reciprocal tariffs" and says they are about half of what other countries levy on U.S. goods. In fact, the numbers he is using for his claim that other countries are imposing high tariffs on U.S. goods are bonkers. Economist Paul Krugman points out that the European Union places tariffs of less than 3% on average on U.S. goods, while Trump maintained its tariffs are 39%..."

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/april-2-2025-wednesday?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios

Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu

👣Solvitur ambulando

💭Sapere aude

Lyceum Apr 11

 APPLIED PHILOSOPHY LYCEUM

Hosted by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

CULTURAL RACISM

 

Linda Alcoff, Ph.D.

Professor of Philosophy 

Hunter College and the Graduate Center,  

City University of New York 

Friday, April 11, 2025 • 5 p.m.  

College of Education, Room 164 

Linda Alcoff will define what cultural racism is and argue that it is central to understanding racism today, though it has receded into the background. Biological claims about race that justified racial rankings have long been disproved, and such approaches also lost influence after World War II because of their association with Nazism. But racism simply shifted to the terrain of culture, in which cultures are taken to be just as unchanging as biological races once were. Culture is used to explain differences in economic development, to justify disparities in global power, and to limit migration.

The principal antidote to cultural racism is a more accurate understanding of cultures as hybrid and inherently dynamic. As a corrective, Alcoff develops the concept of “transculturation” from the Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz. This helps us to foreground the colonial context of cultural ranking systems and offset the tendencies toward reification and determinism.

While transculturation often emerged from colonial practices including enslavement, the fact remains that mythic narratives of Western self-creation are simply false. A more accurate understanding of the formation of cultures will disabuse us of ranking and demand a re-understanding of the formation of racial groups as well.

This event is free and open to the public.

A reception will follow.

Peter Singer & his AI chatbot

…Today, while we have made significant strides in recognising gender equality, we also see growing recognition of animal rights, such as laws against cruelty and exploitation. What was once dismissed as laughable—the idea that animals deserve moral consideration—is now widely accepted.

This brought our conversation to a contemporary question: with the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, could similar arguments apply to AI? I asked Prof. Singer: based on this logic, shouldn't moral consideration also be extended to AI if it exhibits sentience? Prof.'s response was thought-provoking. He explained that if AI were to develop genuine consciousness—not merely imitating it—it would indeed warrant moral consideration and rights. He emphasised that sentience, or the capacity to experience suffering and pleasure, is the key factor. If AI systems eventually demonstrate true sentience, we would have a moral obligation to treat them accordingly, just as we do with sentient animals.

This possibility raises profound questions about the future of ethics. How would we recognise true consciousness in AI? What responsibilities would we have toward such entities? And how might our understanding of moral consideration evolve further? The boundaries of ethical reasoning are never fixed—they expand as we deepen our understanding of the world and the beings within it.

Later, after our breakfast and during the car ride back (thanks to Bro. Jono!), I thought of putting AI to the test. Because I just learnt from Prof. about an AI chatbot modelled after him (freely accessible online) at

https://www.petersinger.ai

I decided to ask the chatbot the same question posed to Prof. ("What is wisdom?"), compare its response with his actual reply, and share it with him on the spot!
(Continues)

==

And I asked Scarlett about Peter Singer's chatbot, and other things...

The Benefits of Plant-Based Nutrition

"Though protein is typically associated with animal foods in the U.S., predominantly plant-based and entirely plant-based diets easily meet or exceed recommended protein intake…"

American College of Lifestyle Medicine

https://lifestylemedicine.org/articles/benefits-plant-based-nutrition/

Questions FEB 3

• 1

  • Something from Why Grow Up (WGU) thru p.165. #5 Nadia B.  #6 Jessica Law #7 Alex P
  • John Kaag, Sick Souls Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life (SSHM), Prologue. #5 Hoang T. #6 Emmanuel J. #7 Jonathan D.
  • Fantasyland (FL) 40 When the GOP Went Off the Rails
  • William James (WJ), Is Life Worth Living? (1897) - in Be Not Afraid: in the Words of William James (BNA, on reserve) #5 Sophia E. #6 Aubree J. #7 Lorelei

  
  

  3

  • WGU -p.166-192. #5 Marshay Jones. #6 Kirsten H. #7 Autumn C,
  • SSHM ch1 Determinism and Despair, & WJ, The Dilemma of Determinism (1897) - in BNA, on reserve #5 Ben S. #6 Patrick S. #7 Maddison C.
  • Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard Intro-1 Infirmity (on reserve) #5 Larry L. #6 Josh S. #7 Aedan D.

 

WGU -192

1. What hallmark of modernity reversed Plato's and Aristotle's judgment?

2. What gives life meaning, for Kant?

3. In a truly human society, according to Marx, how would our capacities to work develop?

4.  Most jobs involve what, according to Paul Goodman? 

5. People were certain, as late as 2008, that what?

6. What alternatives to consumerism have small groups begun to develop?

1. What hallmark of modernity reversed Plato's and Aristotle's judgment?

2. What gives life meaning, for Kant?

3. In a truly human society, according to Marx, how would our capacities to work develop?

4.  Most jobs involve what, according to Paul Goodman? 

5. People were certain, as late as 2008, that what?

6. What alternatives to consumerism have small groups begun to develop?

SSHM ch1

1. Calvinism set out, for Henry James Sr., what impossible task?

2. Kaag thinks the Civil War gave WJ his first intimation that what?

3. WJ's entire life had been premised on what expectation?

4. What did WJ say (in 1906, to H.G. Wells) about "SUCCESS"?

5. What Stoic hope did young WJ share with his friend Tom Ward?

6. What thought seeded "the dilemma of determinism" for WJ?

7. As WJ explicated determinism in 1884, the future has no what?

8. WJ found what in Huxley's evolutionary materialism alarming?

9. Determinism has antipathy to the idea of what?

10. To the "sick soul," what seems blind and shallow?

==

Setiya Intro, ch1

1. What reminder does Kieran Setiya say he needed when he was younger? What kind of philosophy did his teachers say he needed? (pref) What has he experienced since age 27?

2. What is moral philosophy about?

3. Does Setiya think "everything happens for a reason"? What were Job's friends wrong about?

4. What did Nietzsche say about happiness and the English?

5. Who is Susan Gubar?

6. To whom should disability matter?

7. What's the difference between disease and illness?

8. What does Setiya think Aristotle gets wrong?

9. Who are Setiya's heroes? 

10. What does Setiya say about Marx's vision of communist society?

11. What was Harriet Johnson's reply to Peter Singer?

12. What did Setiya appreciate about his fifth urologist?

13. What, contrary to Descartes, does pain teach us about our bodies?

FL 41-42
1. What became of the 1998 study that promoted the false belief that vaccines cause autism?

2. How many people refusing vaccines can lead to the collapse of herd immunity?

3. What do experts say about most mass killers?

4. Who wrote a "demented" letter on behalf of gun rights in 1995?

Final report presentations - April '25

Indicate your preference(s) in the comments space below ASAP.

We'll do three or four presentations per class.

Presentation to be complemented with a final report blog post,* discussing and elaborating the main points of your presentation, due May 2. Everyone will need to sign up as an AUTHOR on this site. Post an early draft for constructive feedback or to use in your presentation.

* 1,000 words minimum, plus bloggish content: embedded links, relevant images/video etc.

APRIL

1

• Something from Why Grow Up (WGU) thru p.165. #5 Nadia B.  #6 Jessica Law #7 Alex P
• John Kaag, Sick Souls Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life (SSHM), Prologue. #5 Hoang T. #6 Emmanuel J. #7 Jonathan D.
• Fantasyland (FL) 40 When the GOP Went Off the Rails
• William James (WJ), Is Life Worth Living? (1897) - in Be Not Afraid: in the Words of William James (BNA, on reserve) #5 Sophia E. #6 Aubree J. #7 Lorelei

3

• WGU -p.166-192. #5 Marshay Jones. #6 Kirsten H. #7 Autumn C,
• SSHM ch1 Determinism and Despair, & WJ, The Dilemma of Determinism (1897) - in BNA, on reserve #5 Ben S. #6 Patrick S. #7 Maddison C.
• Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard Intro-1 Infirmity (on reserve) #5 Larry L. #6 Josh S. #7 Aedan D.

8

WGU -thru p. 193-234 #5 Cameron W. #6 Joey F. #7 Nick L. 

SSHM ch2 Freedom and Life #5 Abby W. #6 Taniya B #7 Lindsey F. 

WJ, The Moral Equivalent of War (1903) - in BNA, on reserve #5 Ethan K. #6 Adam S. #7 Sidney S.

Setiya 2 Loneliness #5 Brady M

10

• SSHM ch3 Psychology and the Healthy Mind #5 Jadyn C. #6 briley chandler #7 Emma S
• Setiya 3 Grief. #5 Nathen W. #6 Liz Elam. #7 Carter W.
• Question Everything (QE) IX What is it like to be a woman? (on reserve in lib'y) #5 Inas Issa  #6 MacKenzie #7 Claire M.

15

• SSHM ch4 Consciousness and Transcendence #5 Nate Hicks #6 Charles M
• Setiya 4 Failure  #5 Daniel W. #6 Tyler R. #7 Emalee Tang 
• QE X Why does art matter? #5 Bailey H. #6 Edwin Pena #7 Mackenna Mantia 
• QE XI Is this the end of the world as we know it? #7 Chris G.

17

• SSHM ch5 Truth and Consequences #5 Aaron M. #6 Henry H. #7 Keyleigh a
  
  
• Setiya 5 Injustice #5 Devin W. #6 Anslee B. #7 Nate G
• QE XII Do we need God? #5 McKinsley #6 Kripa S. #7 Ariyanna S
• WJ, On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings (1899) #_ Will P. #6 Holland K #7 Daniel S

22

• SSHM ch6 Wonder and Hope #5 Grace A. #6 Samantha J. #7John D
• Setiya 6-7 Absurdity, Hope #5 Nadia Jones #6 Patrick S #7 Koathar
• QE XIII Now what? #5 Valencia B. #7 Autumn C

• WJ, What Pragmatism Means (1903) #7 Isaiah B

24 Final report presentations conclude

• Your choice of essays not previously discussed in Be Not Afraid: in the Words of William James (BNA, on reserve)
• Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives by Robert Richardson (TRB-on reserve) chapter on  Emerson

• TRB (on reserve) chapter on Thoreau

• TRB (on reserve) chapter on James

29 Exam 2

May 2  -- Final report blog post (final draft) due. Post earlier for feedback

Questions APR 1

• Conclude Midterm Report Presentations
• Something from Why Grow Up (WGU) thru p.165. #5 Nadia B.  #6 Jessica Law #7 Alex P
• John Kaag, Sick Souls Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life (SSHM), Prologue. #5 Hoang T. #6 Emmanuel J. #7 Jonathan D.
• Fantasyland (FL) 40 When the GOP Went Off the Rails
• William James (WJ), Is Life Worth Living? (1897) - in Be Not Afraid: in the Words of William James (BNA, on reserve) #5 Sophia E. #6 Aubree J. #7 Lorelei

 

WGU -p.165

1. Kant's definition of maturity is what?

2. Education, travel, and work share what common purpose, ideally?

3. You're not grown-up if you've not rejected what? 

4. Why should languages and music be learned as early as possible?

5. What is the message of Rousseau's Emile?

6. What does it mean to love a book?

7. The internet, says Nick Carr, is a machine geared for what?

8. If you don't travel you're likely to suppose what?

9. What did Rousseau say about those who do not walk?

10. What is travel's greatest gift?

Discussion Questions

• What are some other signs of being grown-up, besides the ability to think for yourself? 123
• Are you good at accepting compromise? Are the adults in your life? 124
• Have you "sifted through your parents' choices about everything"? 125
• Do you "love the world enough to assume responsibility for it?" 126
• Has your educational experience so far broken or furthered your "urge to explore the world"? Do you still "desire to learn"? 127
• Should corporations like Coca-Cola be allowed to have "pouring rights" in public schools? 132
• "You must take your education into your own hands as soon as possible." Did you? How? 140
• Should the age of legal maturity be raised to match the age of brain maturity? 140
• "Minds need at least as much exercise as bodies..." 141 Do you get enough of both forms of exercise? Too much of one or the other? Do you subscribe to Mens sana in corpore sano?
• Do you love books and reading? 143 
• Do you agree with Mark Twain?: "A person who won't read has no advantage over a person who can't."
• Are you willing to go a month without internet? Or even a day? 148
• Were Augustine and Rousseau right about travel? 150-51
• Does group travel "preclude real encounters" with a place? 158
• Do you hope to live and work one day in another culture for at least a year? Do you think it will contribute to your maturity? 162-3

SSHM Prologue

1. Young William James's problem, as he felt "pulled in too many directions" and worried that we might be nothing but cogs in a machine, was ____.

2. What is distinctive about "our age" that makes James particularly relevant?

3. What happened on Feb. 6, 2014 that prompted Kaag to write this book?

(See "Is Life Worth Living...)

4. "Too much questioning and too little active responsibility lead" to what?

5. Human history is "one long commentary on" what?

6. A "wider world... unseen by us" may exist, just as our world does for ___.

7. The "deepest thing in our nature," which deals with possibilities rather than finished facts, is a "dumb region of the heart" called (in German) ___.

==

As we commence reading John Kaag's Sick Souls, Healthy Minds (SSHM), here's a new venture he's recently launched:

Rebind: a new interactive way to read, a novel application of AI to learning. "Turn books into conversations"-

For the past year, two philosophy professors have been calling around to prominent authors and public intellectuals with an unusual, perhaps heretical, proposal. They have been asking these thinkers if, for a handsome fee, they wouldn’t mind turning themselves into A.I. chatbots.

John Kaag, one of the academics, is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is known for writing books, such as “Hiking With Nietzsche” and “American Philosophy: A Love Story,” that blend philosophy and memoir... (nyt, continues)

==
Discussion questions:

• Have you ever felt "pulled in too many directions"? 2 How did you respond?
• Do you approach philosophy as a "detached intellectual exercise," an "existential life preserver," or something else?
• Where would you place yourself on the spectrum between "sick soul" and "healthy-minded"? Does that change, over time?
• Can belief that life is worth living become self-fulfilling?
• Do you know any "sick souls"? 3 Or "healthy minds"? 4 Are they the same person?
• Do you agree that believing life to be worth living "will help create the fact"? 5
• Do you like WJ's answer to the question "Is life worth living?" 9
• Is suicide always "the wrong way to exit life"? 10
• Have you ever visited the Harvard campus? What were your impressions?
• Is "maybe" a good answer to the eponymous question of James's essay below?
• Do you like Whitman's poetic expression of "the joy of living"?
• Have you ever been as happy as Rousseau at Annecy?
• Do you agree that nature cannot embody the ultimate "divine" spirit of the universe? What if you remove (or re-define) "divine"? 489
• Do you agree that "sufferings and hardships do not, as a rule, abate the love of life..."? 491
• Does the "purely naturalistic basis" suffice to make life worth living? 494
• Does life feel like a "real fight" to you? 502

==
*IS LIFE WORTH LIVING? (see the Library of America's terrific William James : Writings 1878-1899... vol.2 is William James : Writings 1902-1910).

When Mr. Mallock's book with this title appeared some fifteen years ago, the jocose answer that "it depends on the liver" had great currency in the newspapers. The answer which I propose to give to-night cannot be jocose. In the words of one of Shakespeare's prologues,—
"I come no more to make you laugh; things now,

That bear a weighty and a serious brow,

Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,"—

must be my theme. In the deepest heart of all of us there is a corner in which the ultimate mystery of things works sadly; and I know not what such an association as yours intends, nor what you ask of those whom you invite to address you, unless it be to lead you from the surface-glamour of existence, and for an hour at least to make you heedless to the buzzing and jigging and vibration of small interests and excitements that form the tissue of our ordinary consciousness. Without further explanation or apology, then, I ask you to join me in turning an attention, commonly too unwilling, to the profounder bass-note of life. Let us search the lonely depths for an hour together, and see what answers in the last folds and recesses of things our question may find... (continues)

FL 39-40

1. Who's the (former-fringe) freak and Sandy Hook "truther" who nonetheless draws the line at shape-shifting reptilian humanoids?

2. Where did the reptilian conspiracy idea begin?

3. What started to happen with "unhinged" people in the 90s?

4. What fictional work and author influenced libertarian/conservative politicians like Paul Ryan?

5. What has the GOP become, besides a distinctly Christian political party?

6. What two states "require officeholders to believe in Heaven and Hell"?

7. What did H.L. Mencken say about "civilized Tennesseans"?

DQ

• Why does anyone give Alex Jones any credibility at all?
• Why do people like Ayn Rand's message that selfishness is a virtue?
• Was Mencken right about the Scopes Trial? 375

All hands on deck

 I'm back, to class if not fully to form. We're behind, obviously, and need to catch up. All who had their presentations postponed, be ready. 

And: Happy Opening Day! Expectations for my team are low, but today they begin the year in first place. Let's go!

Questions MAR 27

NOTE: As midterm report presentations conclude, you can assume that you earned all 25 available points if I've not told you otherwise. The sign-up for final report presentations will be available next week.

1. After Plato, the next philosopher to turn his attention to the details of child-rearing was who?

2. What's the first step of human reason, according to Kant?

3. If we have hope for moral progress, what do we want for the next generation?

4. What was Orwell's nightmare?

5. What "perfidious reversal leaves us permanently confused"?

6. What are you committed to, if you're committed to Enlightenment?

7. What is freedom, according to Rousseau and Kant?

8. What's the key to whether or not we grow up?

==

Discussion Questions
WGU

• Should philosophers pay more attention to child-rearing and parenting? 36
• What do you think Cicero meant by saying that philosophy is learning to die?
• Do you feel fully empowered to "choose your life's journey"? If not, what obstacles prevent that? 37
• In what ways do you think your parents' occupations influence the number of choices you'll be able to make in your life?
• If you've read 1984 and Brave New World, which do you find the more "seductive dystopia"? 39
• Are we confused about toys and dreams? 40
• Do others make the most important decisions for you? 41
• Do you "make a regular appointment with your body"? 42
• Do you trust anyone over 30? 45
• Is it "reasonable to expect justice and joy"? 49
• Are you "committed to Enlightenment"? 51
• Do the passions for glory and luxury make us wicked and miserable? 53
• What does it mean to say there are no atheists in foxholes? Is it true? 54
• Was Rousseau right about inequality and private property? 55
• Should philosophy be taught to children, so as to become thinking adults? 57
• Should children "yield to the commands of other people"? 61
• Should parents "let the child wail"?
• Are Rousseau and Kant right about the true definition of freedom? 62
• Is Rousseau right about desire? 65
• Did Rousseau's abandonment of his children discredit his thoughts on child-rearing? 69 Or show him to be a hypocrite for saying no task in the world is more important than raising a child properly? 72

Mar17