Midterm report presentations

 Starting Sep 10 you can indicate your preference (in the comments' space of this post) for the topic and date of your report presentation. It can be on any relevant topic of your choice that you can relate to the reading assignments (required or recommended) on the corresponding date. Presentations will begin on the 15th. We'll do two or three presentations per class, hoping to finish before Fall Break. I'll give you a free base or two on the scorecard if you volunteer to present on the 15th.

Take a look ahead at the coming syllabus assignments (reprinted below). Scan the assigned texts and select your topic accordingly. You do not have to cover everything, just anything you can plausibly relate to something in that day's assigned material. Also scan the lists of recommended books in the right sidebar, to see if you would like to use any of them as a basis for your report. If the library does not have the text(s) you choose, go to the circulation desk and request via interlibrary loan.

Have fun with the project. Be creative. Consider using the podcast/video resources in the library's MakerSpace to prepare your presentation. Plan to present for about 10 minutes, with the goal of teaching us something we wouldn't have learned merely reading the assignment. Then lead a brief class discussion. Don't stress, you'll get all 25 available points if you fulfill these minimal criteria.

15 Kaag 1 - SSHM... Midterm report presentations begin. Machiavelli, Hobbes-LHP 9-10. Rec: FL 11-12. HWT 11-13. #1 Austin Vance-Machiavelli. #2 Max Lynch-___.  Fena-Hobbes.  #3David Vandelay-Hobbes. Alex Daniel-Epicurus

17 Kaag 2... Montaigne, Descartes, & Pascal-LHP 11-12. Weiner 14. Rec: FL 13-14. HWT 14-15. - #1 Adedoyin Adeyeni-Descartes. Krish Patel-Pascal. #2 Charlie Mayo-Descartes & AI. Brennan Bortz-Machiavelli. Ella Shafer-Pascal. #3 Amanda Maldonado-Montaigne. Aliya-Descartes. Michelle Reyes-Free Will

22 Kaag 3... Spinoza, Locke, & Reid-LHP 13-14. Rec: FL 15-16. HWT 16-17. - #1 Aiden Kopp-Epictetus & Spinoza.  Zander Gomez-Spinoza or Locke. #3 Eric Chen-Stoicism. Nat Andrews-Locke

24 Kaag 4... Berkeley, Leibniz, Hume, & Rousseau-LHP 15-18. Weiner 3. Rec: FL 17-18. HWT 18-19. #1 Avery Evans-Berkeley/. #2 Violet Smith-Rousseau

29 Kaag 5... Kant, Bentham, Hegel, Schopenhauer-LHP 19-23. Weiner 5. Rec: FL 19-20. HWT 20-22. -#1 Vi Nobles-Schopenhauer & Indian philosophy. Zane-Hegel. #2 Geena Caprio-Happiness. Lindsey Eavey-Kant. Tyler Scherr-Hegel. Nev Herzog-Bentham. #3 Young Zhang-Hegel. Spencer Hebel-Kant

OCT

1 Kaag 6... Mill, Darwin, Kierkegaard, Marx-LHP 24-27. Rec: FL 21-22. HWT 23-24.#_ Amariah Woods-J.S. Mill. #3 Will Shelton-Marx. Alex stover-Mill. Ethan Licea Gonzalez-Darwin. Cecile-Katya McKenna-Kierkegaard

2 Meet the author: Applied Philosophy Lyceum Friday Oct 2, 5 pm, COE 164. John Kaag, The Digital Cave" Reading, Thinking, and Dwelling in the Age of the Algorithm. Catered reception follows. Attendance expected.

6 Exam 1.

8 Peirce & James, Nietzsche, Freud-LHP 28-30. Weiner 11. Rec: FL 23-24. HWT 25-26.

Russell, Ayer, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus-LHP 31-33. Weiner 13. Rec: FL 25-26. HWT 27-28. - #_ Camryn Noel-Philosopher Queens. #2 erik angelo-Freud

Fall Break

“Is life worth living?”

That’s the big question raised at the start of John Kaag’s Sick Souls, Healthy Minds. 

Spoiler alert: yes, says Albert Camus. Maybe, says William James. 

It definitely is and has been, say I. And I’m looking forward to retirement too.

English philosopher Anthony Grayling, "arguing with Friedrich Nietzsche," asks:

Can there be optimism in a tragic universe? Or is escape – into music, as Schopenhauer said, or Dionysian dance, as Nietzsche said, or withdrawal, as Sceptics and sanyasis say, or drugs in all their forms, as so many say, or even suicide – the only option? Suffering is a condition of existence, and annihilation is its end: how else is one to face life, naked to its horror as thus viewed? Why, indeed, live? … (continues)

If you're asking me, Anthony, I say: Life is good, we the living are stupendously lucky to have been granted the elusive gift of life. Think how many merely-possible people might have been born in our place. But we're the actual ones. When I'm having a bad day I try to remember this. Fortunately, I have many more good ones... and I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to try and help others have more good ones too. That's why my life's worth living. How about yours, class?

Questions SEP 15

Midterm report presentations begin today

LHP

1. What did Machiavelli say a leader needs to have? Do you agree? Is it important to you for our leaders to be reliably honest, with exceptions only for instances of national security and the nation's best interests? 

2. Machiavelli's philosophy is described as being "rooted" in what? Does your own experience confirm his appraisal of human nature and what's "realistic"?

3. The idea that leaders should rule by fear is based on what view of human nature? Do you respond more positively to politicians who appeal to pessimism and fear, or to those who appeal to hope?

4. Life outside society would be what, according to Hobbes? Do you think your neighbors would threaten your survival if they could get away with it? 

5. What fear influenced Hobbes' writings? Do any particular fears influence your political opinions?

6. Hobbes did not believe in the existence of what? Do you? Why or why not?

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John Kaag 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) ___.

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HWT
1. How do eastern and western philosophies differ in their approach to things, and what is ma? Which do you find more appealing?

2. An interest in what is much more developed in eastern thought? Do you share it?

3. What is dukkha?

4. What is Sakura?

5. What takes the place of religion in China? Do you know people here who have found religion-substitutes?

6. Chinese thought does not distinguish between natural and ____, focusing on what?

7. What is the famous story of Zhuangzi? What's your reaction to it?

8. The Japanese fascination with robots reflects what traditional view? Are you similarly fascinated?

FL

1. What was Arthur C. Clarke's 3d law regarding technology, and what's its converse?

2. What was the original "alternative medicine" and what is its "upside"?

3. What national craze of the 1830s relied on a "totally bogus extrapolation"?

4. Who was Mary Baker Eddy and what are her followers misleadingly called?

5. Who was Dr. William A. Rockefeller?

6. What did Mark Twain say about history?

7. How was the California Gold Rush an "inflection point" in how Americans thought about reality?

8. What did de Tocqueville say was "the chief or secondary motive in everything Americans do"?

Feb 8 

Niccolo Machiavelli (in From Humanism to Hobbes by Quentin Skinner)

 

Calvin sounds like (Thomas) Hobbes describing the state of nature. Hobbes (the tiger) behaves like Machiavelli's Prince. (And check out Hobbes, Machiavelli & others in Existential Comics...)

Thomas Hobbes (in "The Dream of Enlightenment" by Anthony Gottlieb)

The Digital Cave

 Coming Oct 2-

#H1 THURSDAY: MEET IN LIBRARY Room 264a

BREAKING NEWS: Section #H1 will meet at 9:40 in WALKER LIBRARY Room 264a 272, with librarian Rachel Kirk. Ask any questions you may have about the library, its resources, etc.

Sections #H2 & #H3 will meet in the library on Sep 24. (Go ahead and sign up for midterm report presentations on that date, if you wish, but the actual date of presentation will probably be later.)

Having fun isn't hard...

if you've got a library card (or student ID). Remember, on Thursday (10th) we meet in the library: Room 264a, top of the stairs to the left (look for the sign).

  

"Who is Dewey?" Not John, not Tom...

Melvil

Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was 

an influential American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System

                                               

The Great Library of Alexandria

   

The Modest Library of Brownlee Dr

Read Banned Books... 

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. -Cicero

MTSU Walker Library - 2nd Floor B945.J24 O55 2001

Book-banning etc.-
I asked ChatGPT about this. Haven't yet confirmed the total accuracy of its response, but we'll be in the right place to do that Thursday. https://chatgpt.com/share/679b507b-4368-8007-96e9-4b5ea5bfca33

==

And remember:

There are several ways to access The New York Times:

• MTSU provides a free online subscription to The New York Times to faculty, staff and students. See the info here for how to subscribe: How do I subscribe to the New York Times?
• MTSU students, faculty and staff can also access the New York Times through several library databases.
  • For a complete list, use Journals A-Z and type new york times in the Title begins with search box.
• The New York Times is is also available on Microfilm on the 2nd floor of the Library.

---

Related info:

• ProQuest Historical Newspapers 
• New York Times on Microfilm

If you need further assistance, please Ask Us!

https://libanswers.mtsu.edu/faq/90420

A skeptic’s responsibility

People tend to think of themselves as critical thinkers. Yet, most of these people will defend their own opinions vehemently. We could say that these people are skeptical of others’ opinions but would we call them skeptics? 

No. Skepticism as a philosophy encompasses all opinions. A skeptic should therefore be as (or even more) skeptical towards his own opinions than towards those of others. A skeptic, if he is to call himself one, is well advised to remind himself of the responsibility he has. This responsibility concerns primarily himself. He is responsible to assess an issue based on his own knowledge about the matter and about himself…

Skye Cleary 

https://jonas1510.substack.com/p/a-short-case-for-skepticism?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios

Questions Sep 10

 Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Aquinas-LHP 6-8. FL 9-10, HWT 9-10

 LHP

1. How did Augustine "solve" the problem of evil in his younger days, and then after his conversion to Christianity? Why wasn't it such a problem for him originally?

2. What does Boethius not mention about himself in The Consolation of Philosophy?

3. Boethius' "recollection of ideas" can be traced back to what philosopher?

4. What uniquely self-validating idea did Anselm say we have?

5. Gaunilo criticized Anselm's reasoning using what example?

6. What was Aquinas' 2nd Way?

FL

1. How did Enlightenment values advance in America in the 19th century?

2. What fantasy about 1776 has been accepted as fact by Americans across the religious spectrum (and Ronald Reagan) ever since?

3. How was religion in America, unlike Europe, non-binary?

4. How did Thomas Jefferson characterize America's religious differences in the north and the south?

5. What happened in Cane Ridge, KY in 1801, and how did a Vanderbilt historian describe it?

6. Who was Charles Finney, and what did he understand about American Christianity?

7. What did de Tocqueville say was different about religion in America, compared to Europe?

8. Who was William Miller and what beliefs did he help revive?

9. Who was Joseph Smith and what is the most interesting thing about him?

HWT

1. What fundamental and non-western sense of time has underpinned much of human history?

2. What is "dreamtime" and how is it alien to the modern west?

3. The universalism of western universities implies that what is unimportant?

4. What does John Gray say about the idea of progress?

5. Karma originally concerned what, and lacked what connotations now commonly associated with it?

6. What western ideas have displaced karma, for many young Indians?

Discussion Questions

• [Add your own DQs]
• Would the existence of evil equivalent to good, without guarantees of tthe inevitable triiumph of the latter, solve the problem of suffering?
• Why do you think Boethius didn't write "The Consolation of Christianity"? 
• Do you think you have a clear idea of what it would mean for there to be an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good supernatural being?
• Do you think knowledge is really a form of remembering or recollection? Have we just forgotten what we knew?
• Is there a difference between an uncaused cause (or unmoved mover) and a god?
• Which is the more plausible explanation of the extent of gratuitous suffering in the world, that God exists but is not more powerful than Satan, or that neither God nor Satan exists? Why?
• Are supernatural stories of faith, redemption, and salvation more comforting to you than the power of reason and evidence? Why or why not?
• What do you think of the Manichean idea that an "evil God created the earth and emtombed our souls in the prisons of our bodies"? (Dream of Reason 392)
• Do you agree with Augustine about "the main message of Christianity...that man needs a great deal of help"? (DR 395). If so, must "help" take the form of supernatural salvation? If not, what do you think the message is? What kind of help do we need?
• What do you think of Boethius' proposed solution to the puzzle of free will, that from a divine point of view there's no difference between past, present, and future? 402
• Did Russell "demolish" Anselm's ontological argument? (See below)
• COMMENT: “The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.” Carl Sagan
• COMMENT: “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.”  Carl Sagan
• If you were falsely imprisoned, tortured, and scheduled for execution, would you be able to achieve "consolation"? How?
• Can the definition of a word prove anything about the world?
• Is theoretical simplicity always better, even if the universe is complex?
• Does the possibility of other worlds somehow diminish humanity? 
• How does the definition of God as omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good make it harder to account for evil and suffering in the world? Would it be better to believe in a lesser god, or no god at all?
• Can you explain the concept of Original Sin? Do you think you understand it?
• Is it better to embrace (or renounce) religious faith early in life, or to "sow your wild oats" and enjoy a wide experience of the world before committing to any particular tradition or belief? Were you encouraged by adults, in childhood, to make a public profession of faith? If so, did you understand what that meant or entailed?
• Does the concept of a never-ending struggle between good and evil appeal to you? Does it make sense, in the light of whatever else you believe? Would there be anything "wrong" with a world in which good was already triumphant, happiness for all already secured, kindness and compassion unrivaled by hatred and cruelty?
• Do you find the concept of Original Sin compelling, difficult, unfair, or dubious? In general, do we "inherit the sins of our fathers (and mothers)"? If yes, give examples and explain.
• What kinds of present-day McCarthyism can you see? Is socialism the new communism? How are alternate political philosophies discouraged in America, and where would you place yourself on the spectrum?
• Andersen notes that since WWII "mainline" Christian denominations were peaking (and, as evidence shows, are now declining). What do you think about this when you consider the visible political power of other evangelical denominations? Are you a part of a mainline traditon? If so, how would you explain this shift?

Feb 3

==

If our brains seem to be a step ahead of our minds, does that mean we do not possess free will?

 

Are all our actions inevitable? (Don't confuse that with ineffable.)

 

Is belief in free will better for some of us, while belief in determinism is better advised for others?

 

"Liberty consists in doing what one desires." — John Stuart Mill (But what if you always desire to do what nature has determined that you'll do? Is liberty the same as free will, if you couldn't have done otherwise... whether or not you desired to? What if you were a domino in one of those elaborately-prepared configurations, and you desired nothing more of life than to topple elegantly when your time came? Should we call you free?

The first sin that Augustine remembers doing was as a child stealing pears, just to steal them. That is, it was the crime itself that made him want to do it, he didn't even want the pears, he just wanted to sin. It was his "original sin" in a sense, and he always felt most guilty about it.

==

Aquinas...

==

 David Lewis doesn't offer much consolation:

==

I share these provocative cartoons not in hostility to religion, but because they reflect genuine puzzlements some of us have regarding the seeming incongruity of saying that God is ineffable AND being confident that one knows God's precise attitudes towards quite specific human concerns... and regarding the paradox of human free will in a universe allegedly governed by omniscience. I hope we'll all choose not to take offense, but to think about and discuss the experiences of ineffability, faith, agency, the unseen objects of belief, etc. 

 

  

"Boethius (AD c.475–524) was a Christian philosopher and theologian from an aristocratic Roman family who worked as principal minister to Theodoric the Ostrogoth, the ruler of Italy from 493 to 526. Boethius was depressed by the rapid degeneration of intellectual life and by the fact that few people in the West could read the Greek classics any more. He set out to translate all of Plato’s and Aristotle’s works into Latin so that they would not be lost to future generations. 

Unfortunately he was executed for treason before this ambitious project could get very far. Its only surviving fruits are Latin versions of Aristotle’s logical writings, which may help to explain why early medieval philosophers were so obsessed with old logic. They had little else to study. It is intriguing to speculate how much better informed the Latin world might have been if only the labours of Boethius had not been cruelly cut short. 

On the other hand, his indictment on what were probably trumped-up charges did have one happy result, though not for him. It was while he was in prison under sentence of death that Boethius wrote his impassioned The Consolation of Philosophy. Impending extinction concentrated his mind wonderfully: this masterpiece became one of the most widely read books of medieval times. King Alfred the Great, Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth I were among those who made English translations of it. It might never have been written had Boethius lived to a ripe, uneventful and scholarly old age instead of getting caught up in politics.

The Consolation takes the form of a dialogue between Boethius, who speaks in prose, and Lady Philosophy, who replies mostly in verse. Lady Philosophy answers Boethius’ despondent meditations about the miseries and injustice of life with a mixture of Stoic and Platonic wisdom. Adversity in general and evil rulers in particular are powerless to harm a good man, she says, because a good soul will remain untouched by ‘slippery Fortune’; besides, divine Providence oversees everything. 

Lady Philosophy steers him away from the many false roads to happiness and tries to guide him instead towards the contemplation of all that is good—which is to say, God: Grant, Father, that our minds Thy august seat may scan, Grant us the sight of true good’s source, and grant us light That we may fix on Thee our mind’s unblinded eye. Disperse the clouds of earthly matter’s cloying weight; Shine out in all Thy glory; for Thou art rest and peace To those who worship Thee; to see Thee is our end, Who art our source and maker, lord and path and goal.

The book never explicitly mentions Christianity. But it manages to address, in a non-technical manner, many of the philosophical problems that are likely to intrigue a believer. For example, it includes a solution to the puzzle of how man can be said to have any real choice in his actions if an omniscient God always knows beforehand what he is going to do. Boethius’ answer starts from the idea that there is no difference between past, present and future from God’s point of view. For God, all of eternity is like the present. So when God foresees what I will do, my freedom is no more curtailed by this fact than it would be by somebody observing what I am doing while I am doing it. Essentially the same solution was adopted by St Thomas Aquinas and some other late-medieval theologians.

The Consolation of Philosophy set the pattern for popular philosophizing. It showed Philosophy as a soothing balm to heal life’s wounds and as a source of perennial wisdom that could illuminate religious questions. It also served to broadcast the Platonic world-picture to a civilization that knew virtually none of the writings of ‘my servant Plato’, as Lady Philosophy called him. Many of the themes and images in medieval literature that derive ultimately from Plato or Aristotle made a vivid early appearance in Boethius’ Consolation." 

Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance (New Edition) by Anthony Gottlieb