CoPhi: Questions Nov 4/5

Monday, November 2, 2020

Questions Nov 4/5

FL 33-34, WGU -p.122. Reminder: before responding to the questions, read the relevant text as indicated by the accompanying page reference.

What do you think of Marianne Williamson's "basic idea"? 295 Would she have made a good president?
Does Oprah live in Fantasyland? 296
Is Dr. Oz reliable? 301
Is "alternative medicine" respectable? 302
Is "the placebo effect" an example of the "law of attraction" in action? 304

WGU

Is Hannah Arendt's emphasis on natality as important as mortality, in defining the human condition? Would it still be, if we ever achieved natural immortality? 80-81
Is the US still a proud nation of immigrants, or more like those European nations "struggling with what they regard as the problem of immigration? 81
Are there ways other than travel to "experience the world as babies do" etc.? 83
Did your upbringing make it easier or harder for you to trust? 86
"Once you start asking why, there's no natural place to stop." 88 So why do so many people stop, or else never start?
How long would we have to live, to see this as Leibniz's "best possible world" 89
Was Hume right about the reason being slave to the passions? 93
Was Thrasymachus rignt about justice? 94
Do you agree with the cliche about socialism? 100
Is Hume's strategy for dispelling melancholy good? 104
Has the gap between ought and is narrowed in the world, historically?107
Was Nietzsche right about stoicism? 113
Is it childish to expect the world to make sense? 114
How can philosophy help us grow up? 119
Do we have a right to happiness? 122

And one more:

Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

198 comments:

Mason SchoonoverNovember 2, 2020 at 9:45 PM
•Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
The 2020 election is unlike any election I have ever heard, read about, or been apart of in my lifetime. The two candidates are Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The 2016 election was also like no other. It was between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Donald Trump took the victory which was very exciting to see the corrupt Clintons take a loss especially after the email scandal. They then did a recount where Trump gained votes while also blaming the election on the Russians in which nothing came out of that after basically 4 years of trying to prove it. This election has been similar so far where Trump has still not yet released his tax returns but later addressed it as clearly not being his fault and then pre-paid his taxes so it would ensure he would get into no trouble. Biden has had his fair share of scandals as well with Hunter, his son, receiving a job and payment from Ukraine along with his computer having illegal material the FBI is currently investigating. He now must appear in court to address some of the things found on the laptop. Biden has received 3 and a half million dollars from Russian along with other funds from Ukraine and China in which he has yet to explain. He also is the first President in history to run on the fact he will raise our taxes. He has been in office for 47 years and has made the same political statements in order to get reelected and I cant really name anything major he has done besides let China prosper, pass NAFTA which has now been repealed, along with passing Obama Care which has also be completely re-constructed and majorly repealed as well. The media, tech giants, and the news controlled by the left has severely played a role in this election which is the only real reason I think Joe Biden has a chance to win. The United States is also proposing a 25th amendments which how I understand basically gives the right to deem the president incapable, giving the role to the vice president. It is unlike an impeachment as I understand it and with Joe Biden showing early signs of Dementia, it will give the house and the senate the right to give Harris the Presidential job which is something else to keep in mind in the coming months after the election. To answer the question, yes, I will vote tomorrow night in the election and it will be the first time I have voted.
11/11 essays 55/55 points 23/22 comments
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Barbara FrizzellNovember 3, 2020 at 1:25 PM
The gap between is and ought can be relative to the technology available: first world countries would say that third world countries ought to have better. But I think with the advancements we have made, social injustices like those of the Uighur Muslims in China, or the extreme police brutality in Nigeria ought not to be possible, but the fact of the matter is that’s the way the world is. Everywhere I look I’m beginning to see the world as it is and I’m still shocked by it. I’m only 18 so as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more aware of the gap between ought and is. The first thing I encountered was global warming and I was very annoyed to say the least. In an especially angsty moment, I even asked my parents why their generation destroyed the world if they knew their children were going to inherit it. I’ve started to not feel so impacted by this issue, but I wish that I was. Systematic and subtle racism never shocked me because I grew up watching it happen to my siblings (my family is interracial). I remember when I was little, and my siblings had different rules than me when it came to clothes and toys they could safely use. The recent shocks that anger me most are the outright violence and oppression in other countries. And it breaks me a little that people in this country view immigration as a problem. These people legitimately want to seek asylum, yet the process has been made nearly impossible and extremely drawn out. ICE is a whole other evil and so is the tax system. Another big issue is the prison system and the decline of the mental health system. Not to mention the fact that we start teaching kids how to takes tests (and even give them tests on how to take tests) in kindergarten or first grade. To address another question, no it is not childish to want the world to make sense. I think striving to do all you can to fix these wrongs is a vastly important cause and should not be written off as childish. Accepting the “it is what it is” model is horrendous if you apply it to many of these large issues. But I would like to add that this model is not always bad. This saying has actually become very popular in my opinion. Every time I read the saying, the tiktok sound of it pops into my head. I’ve even used it myself as a coping mechanism. For example, I used it when my senior year ended with a quarter to go, when my graduation and prom were cancelled, when my last summer swim season’s meets were all virtual (if you’re curious about this one- the answer is yes, we all swam very slow), when my dorm prohibited roommates, when I lived the whole first half of this semester is fear of getting sent home, and about a hundred other things. Most this list of my life’s “issues” are due to COVID-19, and I used the saying “it is what it is” to acknowledge that these things sucked, but also to remind myself that these were the best solutions to the larger problem that was the dangerousness of the virus to the older population. With bigger world issues, the “it is what it is” saying is fine when you’re acknowledging the issue, but this statement should never be used to write it off, just as wanting to change these issues shouldn’t be labelled as childish.
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Cole WalkerNovember 3, 2020 at 9:27 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
I voted early, because I believe that a lot of votes can get "lost" at the polls by people who don't want you to be heard. Only 1/3 of people voted before Election Day which I know is still an enormous amount of people, but it is less than 300 million. I think voting early ensure my vote to count, or so I hope. I turned 18 this May so I was excited to get to vote then, but now it feels almost wrong. I think both sides are absolutely horrendous and if it were up to me both candidates should be in a penitentiary and not running for the leader of this country. It saddens me that these are the two that we have. I truly lost an immense amount of hope when I saw all the other candidates dropping out leaving these two. Whatever the outcome is, I think America will be worse because of it. I don't think there is any good option here and I don't believe that one is worse than the other. I won't say whom I casted my vote for, but it should be rather easy to find out through this reading. Hey hopefully we can get free college out of this election though. I am sitting here watching the polls and votes get counted right now and I still don't know whether to be scared, happy, confused, angry, among other feelings. It is sad that our generation has to deal with the two worst candidates of all time.
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Brittney SherrellNovember 4, 2020 at 10:51 AM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

This was my first election, to which I happened to vote on election day - mostly due to scheduling issues completely out of my own control. I voted for the lesser of two evils, being Joe Biden, and I stand confidently with this choice. He, compared to Trump, has an actual plan to battle Covid-19 and believes the actual professionals advising the country and its citizens; such as the promise of a mask mandate. Compare this to our current President, who falsely claimed that Covid is "nothing to be afraid of." Keep in mind this is coming from the man who allowed football to come forward in the midst of a literal pandemic - low and behold, players ended up catching the virus. What a shocker. On top of this, under Trump's rule, disgusting groups of racist, neo-nazi supporters have come forward to support him; this alone should be a clear indicator of what kind of ideals he spreads in our country. Biden, on the other hand, supports the BLM movement. Yes, Biden has his own issues and policies I don't agree with, but think of it like this; people who aren't voting blue are worried about higher taxes while those who aren't voting red are scared for the rights, lives, and families. I'm terrified of what will happen if Trump is elected again, if I'm being completely honest. His policies and moral code are so skewed that it's turned us into the laughing stock of the globe.
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Kimmie SteakleyNovember 4, 2020 at 12:44 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

This was my first year voting, and I voted early. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the election. I am not a fan of the two party system that dominates our country at this moment. I feel, as do many people I believe, that neither side completely represents my views. This, paired with all of the misinformation that is presented online, made it difficult to make a final decision. There was a period of time where I was unsure if I would even vote. Additionally, though every vote for change is important, it sometimes feels like living in a state that has a set majority party, as Tennessee is a set Republican state, means that voting blue would not matter much. Still, I do feel good about having voted and know that my vote did make a difference, even if it was small. I am unsure of what will happen as a result of the election, but I hope that after the initial reaction either way, we will be able to discuss ways to make meaningful changes in our country.

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Simon PergandeNovember 4, 2020 at 2:48 PM
Simon Pergande
11/04/20
Commented on Cole Walker post (+1 points)
Commented on Mason Schoonover post (+1 points)
Total points: 11 weeks, 55 points total (not counting Midterm)

Weekly Essay (+3 points):
Is it childish to expect the world to make sense? WGU 114

The world is to be made sense of but the expectation for the world to make sense may be unreasonable. Susan Neiman discusses this topic on pages 114-115 in "Why Grow Up" (WGU 114-115). "It is reason that leads you to hold that the world should make sense. Not that it does; that's the error of children..." (WGU 114). Our purpose in life is to make sense of the world in a world that often does not make sense. Now it is the quality of children to expect the world to make sense because the extent of the complexity of their world views is very limited as compared to an adult. "For theoretical reason, the outcome of that search becomes science...." (WGU 115). Our pursuit for knowledge leads us on quests of exploration of the mind and the exploration of the world. Because of these pursuits, humanity is better off as we find more solutions to more complicated problems over time. In a sense, this may be a transformation of child to adult. Children are very curious by nature, stumbling around their environments attempting to make sense of the world while at the same time expecting the world to make sense. As we get older, however, we begin to recognize the inevitable complexities of life. We begin to recognize that way that we perceive the universe may not in fact be the way that other perceive the universe. We learn to disagree with each other and explore the realms of reason as we believe that world should make sense but recognize that it does not.
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Jared QuillosaNovember 4, 2020 at 4:16 PM
In one of my theory classes, the professor, a holder of many doctorate degrees from numerous well-established colleges and universities, gave a very important speech that I think deserves to be put in this week’s essay.

Before I begin, I personally have to say that I hold this professor in profoundly high regards for his work ethic within the world, his contribution to social and political matters, and genuine personality that harbors no mystery (or at least none that I know of). This professor talked about how in the current state of our society, there is much shooting metaphorically and literally in matters such as the election and in others as well. What stuck out the most from this speech is how important we as citizens act now for the days to come. Often times in social media, there is constant tension between factions of views and desires online and in communities around the area. There is a constant bickering which lingers in the internet and it seems someone is always “shooting” hateful comments towards another’s views or even suggesting a shooting towards these views. Often times, these acts are aimed towards strangers whom the person attacking does not know in real life. At our current moment, the professor expressed how important we act in our current social state by settling disputes in matters of civil attitude and legal action. Often times these disputes lead with the passion of the heart which is good, but a strong consideration for the logic behind these arguments must also be accounted for. Friendships which we hold dear are sometimes ripped apart because of desires and passions for politics or whatnot. This professor said something which will remain in my head for as long as I die. “We should always consider that whoever we argue with is still a human being” and I think this goes along with those on the internet as well. Obviously, there are still some problems about what actually defines a human being, and we can see America back then took quite awhile to examine this. I can only hope that one day the people divided of today's social, economic, and political climate will come together in hopes of creating a world that surpasses what they thought was possible. There were many other topics he spoke about like how corrupt TN is in county elections, especially in Murfreesboro and his personal stories with DEM and REPUB reps of the 1960's stories about why this was true, but thats all I'll talk about right now.

After this speech, if you were curious, we then analyzed and talked about Chopin’s C minor Prelude. Exciting theory stuff.
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Kate AllenNovember 4, 2020 at 6:40 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
This was my first election I was able to vote in, and it's a big one. I have the outlook of, if you don't vote than you can't complain about who wins and loses. We should all do our part in voting to make this country change for the better. Voting was a great experience and I felt very good afterwards. I felt like I did everything I could to push the candidate I voted for forwards. I am very glad I decided to vote and plan on voting in the future elections as well. I was also pleased because I didn't have to wait in line for even 5 minutes. I was happy it was very efficient and calm where I was. I think voting is very important because any vote can make a difference. Everyone in my family votes and I think that's where my encouragement to voting comes from. We live in a democratic country where we can pick our leaders and I feel we should exercise that right whenever we get the chance. Especially right now when many people's rights are at stake. There is a lot at stake in this election and we need to think of each other and how to save our rights. I also appreciate all my professors and the school fro encouraging us to vote. It was very nice of Dr. Oliver to give us the day off to get our votes in. I hope everyone took advantage of that.
section 11
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Zalen IngramNovember 5, 2020 at 2:06 AM
Sec 10

It was my first time voting, when I arrived at my designated voting area, it felt lonely both metaphorically and literally. I was half/half expecting see some people in front of the polling place to encourage others to vote for their candidate, or at least there to be a decent line. Yet there was not a single other voter on site when I arrived, almost vacant save the volunteers. It was one the easiest things I had to wait 19 years to finally do, and how does it feel? Nothing at all in the grand scheme of things, for later on in the night I witness Tennessee go red before the ballot is even read. I knew this would happen, it's as if I had knew the sky would be blue if I had walked outside. The only states that truly matter are the infamous Swing States, currently as of writing this still teetering to either side. I knew both of these circumstances walking into the booth, and yet I still voted. Why was this? Even though I stand by my belief that with the Electoral College, it shall be this way for a good while. However, a situation arises out of this election being Georgia, although being Red the majority of the race, it is currently less than thirty thousand votes away from shifting. I believe this may foreshadow a presence of a political shift, however faint it may be. I also believe that we should continue to follow suit with Georgia in the best possible manner that we can in future elections: vote!
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Ammar IdrisNovember 5, 2020 at 8:26 AM
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Ammar IdrisNovember 5, 2020 at 8:29 AM
Did your upbringings make it easier or harder for you to trust?
I believe my upbringings gave me a bit of both. It taught me to never trust shady people or people that are always in trouble. On the other hand, it also taught me to be more open to be people and not to overlook anyone based on their appearance. Moreover, it taught me that there are more good people in the world than bad and thus it forced me to be trusting but not ignorant.
Is it childish to expect the world to make sense?
No not at all! If anything, it is very mature. I believe that logic is a something humans will never let go of. We want to learn more so that things make sense and we can grasp anything and everything. That is why we have science, to learn more about the strange world we live in. We want to comprehend why people are different from us; why they live the way they do, why they believe in a specific deity and not in another. The more we learn about our world the more we can make sense of how life should be lived and what will benefit the human race. No matter where you live and which era you lived in you will see all of the work mankind has put in to better our understanding. There is so much more out there that we still no nothing about. The human mind will always crave knowledge and to make sense of everything!

section 012
essay 3p
reply to Zalen Ingram and Kate Allen 2pt
total 55/55
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MirandaNovember 5, 2020 at 10:07 AM
The two questions I am going to answer is:
Is it childish to expect the world to make sense? 114
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
It is not childish at all if the world makes sense to you or doesn't make sense. This world we are living in especially right now is crazy and at times it seems very hard to understand. It's hard to understand why certain things happen and what sense it makes as to when and why its happening.According to the book "Why Grow Up", "If you have lived-as much as you can try,as far as you can tell so as to be worthy of happiness." This is basically saying as long as you are happy to your full potential that's all that matters in life. Everyone should just focus on being happy. I don't think this world makes perfect sense to anybody honestly. It's never childish to have your own thoughts and opinions about anything especially this world.
Next Questions: Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
I did vote just not on election day. I did the early voting. This was my second time voting. I am 22 almost 23 so I got to vote in 2016. I remember I was very excited yet nervous about voting but I am even more nervous and excited now that I am older and know that even one vote is important. I believe everyone should do their research and vote for who they think is the better candidate. I don't think that Trump or Biden is perfect to be our president but I believe one person is a little bit better than the other. I'm glad I got to vote this year and we shall see who wins!
Essay 3points
Reply to two people 2points
Total: 5 points
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Don EnssNovember 5, 2020 at 10:59 AM
Dear Barbara, you have learned a lot in eighteen years, I am seventy-four and still learning. I enjoyed reading your post on is and ought to be and your maturity in recognizing that there are things that we have to accept right now, but not forever and our goal should be to try and change those things we can by being involved. I have seen a lot during my life time and the most inspiring has been when I see or read about young people such as yourself trying to make a difference, recognizing that there is inequity and injustices. I became involved in TIRRC a few years ago to try to spread the message of how much immigrants contribute to our country. Most senior citizens don't realize how many hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid into our Social Security and Medicare programs that immigrants who are not citizens will never receive any benefit. And yes you are absolutely, my generation that has let future generations down by not being more responsible in controlling water, air, and environmental pollution. When I first went to college, I work in an air and water resources department and saw first hand the wanton pollution by industries which for the sake of profit would dump their pollutants into the air and water at night or off hours so it wouldn't be so easily detected. I had hoped to make that a career, but it did not work out. I was not as mature at eighteen as you are. Also, I am inspired at how you have responded to COVID-19. If others had followed your lead so many fewer people would have been infected and died and sadly so many today do not still understand the need to wear masks not as a political statement, but as a public health need to protect not only themselves, but people like myself who have cancer. Thank you for caring.
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Taylor ChristianNovember 5, 2020 at 12:51 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

This was my first time ever being able to participate in an election. It meant more to me considering that this year's election is one of the most important elections that this country has faced. I participated in early voting, and went in person. Honestly, it felt good to be able to vote because every single vote makes a difference, no matter who you are and where you are from. I was easily disappointed when I saw Tennessee turn red during the election. With the election still not completed, it's very stressful and anxious. I hope everyone is staying safe right now during these times.

Weekly essay: +3
2 comments+2

Total for semester: 50/55
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Bailey StephensNovember 5, 2020 at 1:21 PM
My family and I voted before election day because we felt that there would be less people in line and we thought that we might as well get it done now rather than later. We voted at an early voting location in Nolensville. It was my first time voting. I was so nervous about it because I have been trying to not pay attention to the news on purpose so the night before I was texting my brother with many questions about the candidates’ goals and how they would go about being president. When we arrived at the polling place, we were lucky to find that there was only one other person in line at that moment (though a bunch of people showed up right after us). When I had my turn to hand my driver’s license to the voting official, she asked me if it was my first time voting. When I said yes, she announced it to the room and had everyone applaud for me. At that point, instead of nervous, now I was plain out embarrassed. I was directed to a voting kiosk. The machine was easy and I voted for a few random people. I then put my ballot into a tabulating machine and waited outside for the rest of my family. I took a photo outside with my “I voted” sticker so I could get English class extra credit. We ended with the best part of the day which was going out to eat at Martin’s BBQ (which we haven’t done in months thanks to COVID). I am glad I voted but I would rather avoid politics.
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Nate CarleyNovember 5, 2020 at 1:24 PM
• Did your upbringing make it easier or harder for you to trust? 86

I grew up with my mom, my dad, and my sister. I would definitely say that my upbringing has a lot to do with my trust issues. My dad moved us all over the US on a whole lot of different promises. I remember from an early age him talking about how he was going to leave me a fortune from his business and that he loved me more than anything in the world. Only for that business to go bankrupt and for him to put me in danger on countless occasions. My mom promised me that I would never move again for the reminder of me being in school and after that we moved 2 more times. I learned that the only person I could count on was myself and that everyone around me would enviably let me down. I learned that I cannot count on anyone for anything and that nothing is guaranteed. I was alone in a sense growing up, but I think it contributes to my ambition and my determination. If you always fight for what you want like nobody is coming to help you a person tends to fight harder than they would otherwise. I have fought for everything by myself so far in my life with the exception of the recent time. I am just now learning how to think differently in my current relationship with a girl that is now my fiancé. I hope that one day I will be able to trust like I should have been able to as a kid, but I suppose I will never really know considering I wouldn’t know what it feels like even if I magically acquired the ability.
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Mai-Thi KieuNovember 5, 2020 at 1:45 PM
-How can philosophy help us grow up? 119
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

Philosophy gives us a better perspective of the world, it makes us understand the value of our life,opinions, and how do we engage among others in a conversation. How it helps us grow reflects what we believe and what we are willing to believe and understand for the most part.

I voted early, it's my first time voting and it was quite nerve-wracking since we don't know what's going to happened, we don't exactly know what the majority agree or believe, what does the majority cares. I know every vote counts because this is our country and our life being controlled by the government, we can't control everything but we can try to make a difference steadily, instead of ignoring and let life being just another regular normal day. Sometimes you have to think about life as many things, everything is all connected, one thing leads, if you cut off one thing then later something else will be worse than what we believe.
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Shelby PittmanNovember 5, 2020 at 1:53 PM
Section 10
50/55
Reply to Ammar Idris & Simon Pergande
• Do we have a right to happiness? 122
I find this to be a very interesting question because there is not a cut and dry answer. The short answer is no. The long answer is it depends. If things like money and attention, or other artificial things is what makes you happy, no. You have the right to strive to find happiness, but the world does not owe you happiness, nor should it. Obviously, my stance on that can be disagreed with, and I have no doubt that it will be, but I hope that we can all agree if mass genocide is something that makes you happy, you clearly should not have a right to happiness in that aspect. It genuinely depends on what kind of happiness you are striving for. I feel like we all have a right to something more like inner peace. We may have a right to happiness if you look at inner happiness, but once again, that is up to you, not the rest of the world to create for you. So yes, we have the right to find happiness, even our founding fathers would agree, considering “the pursuit of happiness” was referred to as one of our fundamental rights in the Declaration of Independence.
• Is it childish to expect the world to make sense? 114

Yes, it is childish to expect it to. However, that does not mean we should stop searching for answers. Quite frankly, the world will never make sense. We can study human behavior and every science out there our whole lives and there will still be more questions at the end of every answer. That’s how it should be.
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Gavin BrownNovember 5, 2020 at 2:49 PM
Do we have a right to happiness?

I believe the answer to this question is stated clearly in the Declaration of Independence, and I agree with it. It says that we have the right to pursue happiness not that we have the right to happiness itself. There is a big difference between those two. Trying to ensure that everyone was happy would be impossible and impractical. It is truly up to the people themselves as to whether they want to be happy, and whether they want to do what would lead them to happiness. I think a problem in today's society is that too many people feel entitled to happiness. The problem with that is that often times they do not want to work for it. At the end of the day, the government can never know if someone is happy or not and even if they did, they could never please everyone.

Is "the placebo effect" an example of the "law of attraction" in action?

Yes, I believe that's exactly what it is. A person's mind is often times much more powerful than their body. Using sugar pills is a perfect experiment to test this theory. If a person's mind thinks they are getting better, then it may actually make itself better all on its own.
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Matt KolzowNovember 5, 2020 at 3:36 PM
Do we have the right to happiness?

I would say yes, you do have the right to happiness. But it's not that cut and dry, as some people only see happiness as having money, fame, things that won't truly make them happy. I'd say you have the right to be happy doing things you love and pursuing your hopes and aspirations. Like many have said the world doesn't owe you anything though, I don't believe you deserve to be happy without putting the work in to achieve it. You don't deserve to be handed happiness, but you deserve the opportunity to pursue it or even have the chance to obtain it. You deserve to be able to, in a way have the "pursuit of happiness", though I do worry on how far that goes. I would hope, that if your happiness impedes others or hurts them you wouldn't pursue it as putting your happiness ahead at the cost of someone else's can be crude. But, then that brings the conversation of what if your happiness is being the best at something like a sport or instrument? You will have to beat out people all the time to keep your spot and if someone else wants to also be the best one person will have their happiness hurt. It's a weird delicate balance but I think most people understand what happiness is okay to pursue.

Was Hume right about the reason being slave to the passions?

I would say yes, passions will drive us to find a reason. The reason will commonly serve our passions and drives if we so see it to. People do have logical reasons though, but most of the time the reason is there to serve the passion as Hume said.
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Carter StephensNovember 5, 2020 at 4:11 PM
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Carter StephensNovember 5, 2020 at 4:41 PM
I posted this already, but I didn't like the way I structured it, so I'll try again.
-Do we have the right to happiness?
I've seen a lot of people reply to this question, some have said yes, some say no, some say it depends on what gives you happiness. I would wager to say that no, happiness is not our right. Hear me out: I do not think we have the right to it, but that does not mean that I think it should be completely absent from life or that no one should have it at all. There's an old church hymn called "What God hath promised", I won't give the full lyrics but I encourage you to look it up and read it, it is quite beautiful and pretty to hear sung. It basically says that God hasn't promised us happiness in terms of this life, but He has promised us strength, care, and help. While this may seem overly mushy to someone who does not believe in God, it certainly makes more sense to me than the idea that happiness is something that we all chase in our own way and this is our very lot in life. But I'm open to hear what others have to say further about it.
In terms of the election, it is rather disheartening, and frankly disturbing for me to see how many people are so bothered by this "red state or blue state" mentality. I understand that everyone has a view and a voice that they want to be heard, but it has far reached beyond disagreement, at this point. This is downright divisive. We're supposed to be the United States, but we're anything but that right now. I'm not a democrat or a republican, but someone who believes that we are all people, made in the image of God, and that's something quite beautiful to me. I have seen people dump their friends and family because of their choice of political view or candidate. Seriously? Surely there are worse things that a person can do than have a differing opinion or view on politics. I'm not trying to slam anyone who voted or who enjoy politics, but I urge us all to take a look at the hostility that is in the world right now and ask: is this how we want to keep going? Or do we want to pick each other up and LIFT each other up and get through this ridiculous year 2020 together? The choice is yours.
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Jason A. PerezNovember 5, 2020 at 5:41 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

I am person that likes to get things over with so I registered early and voted early as I could. It being my first presidential election, I was thinking it was going to be a long and confusing process just to vote. Thankfully, it was not from the help of my friend which she was there to encourage me and walk me through on how to vote early. I was proud to vote on behalf of family and being the first in my family to ever vote was something I was looking forward to this year. As the year started with a global pandemic, I was thinking on how the election would be affected and how it would come to happen. I was really encouraged to vote and was hoping that not even the whole situation with Covid was going to stop me. I happily got the chance to vote early and with how the election is going so far, I could agree that my vote and any vote counts if you really want to make a change for our future. This election was where many young adults voted that have not voted in the past, because in my opinion the future of this country is for us young adults to decide which was one of my reasons to vote hoping for a change in this country.

Essay (3pts)
Reply to Kate Allen (1pt)
Reply to Jared Quillosa (1pt)
30 pts total
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Zoe HovingaNovember 5, 2020 at 6:06 PM
Is "alternative medicine" respectable? 302

Yes. Colds, sniffles, headaches, a bad night's rest can all be taken care of with alternative medicine in healthy ways without requiring the subpar and expensive health care system. Unless something is broken or genuinely wrong and not a common issue, remedies can be found at home. Most modern medicine is a direct result of "alternative medicine" anyways, aspirin comes from tree bark.

Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
I voted on Election Day and this was my first presidential election. The whole thing is giving me intense anxiety. I think that the electoral college system is unfair but, whatever. I'm shocked and upset that this election isn't going differently. I genuinely think that Trump's behavior, language and actions regarding voting and ballot counting is endangering the lives of the ballot counters. I can't believe that anyone that claims to be a patriot is so adamantly trying to deny people of their right to vote and have their vote be counted fairly. The democratic process has/is been/being brutally murdered right in front of our eyes and it's just really upsetting.
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Autumn DanielNovember 5, 2020 at 6:11 PM
Do we have a right to happiness?
I don't believe we have a right to happiness. Although, we have the right to a pursuit of happiness. Although, some people just aren't good people, and those people don't necessarily "deserve" to be happy. Happiness in my opinion, should come from within. Self acceptance and acceptance of others is a key to feeling "happy"(also an opinion). Everyone can be happy, and it should be an ultimate goal in life to feel fulfilled- but you have to put good things into the universe so good will come to you. As humans, I think we all strive to be "happy", but this can also be damaging. It depends on what makes you happy. For those who look at happiness as achievements or material possessions-it's proven that it actually leads to depressive thoughts, loneliness, or disappointment. Beyond that, happiness is varied and everyone's version of "happy" is different.

How can philosophy help us grow up?
Philosophy can help us grow up because it requires you to look at your life nd how you think, which is hard to do for an immature individual. Looking deep into your self is a difficult thing to do and you have to be able to admit your flaws, misinformed or misguided opinions, and strive for growth. This can cause you to "grow up" in a sense because it should ultimately be a tool to help you grow and understand the world around you.

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Emily KlunkNovember 5, 2020 at 7:20 PM

As a pharmacy technician, I have witnessed and been apart of the marvels of modern medicine and how they can be used to help people live longer and potentially better lives with the use of pharmaceuticals. The cancer patient getting to ring that bell when they go into remission, the patient who struggled with their weight for ages only to find out they had hypothyroidism and a regimen of thyroid medication (fun fact Armour Thyroid is made from pig glands) helped with that immensely, all the way to something as simple as Allegra for someone’s seasonal allergies. Modern medicine definitely has a place and a well defined use in today’s world but even though I make my living off of it; I do not believe that it should be the first course of treatment in all cases. Allergy medication can be addictive and cause rebound allergies and is not recommended for certain age groups. Peppermint and peppermint oil are actually very effective in treatment of allergies: hot shower with a few drops of peppermint essential oil will probably clear you up faster than an antihistamine will. Chiropractic services and acupuncture are coined as “alternative medicine” but both show evidence of being beneficial in the relief of pain and inflammation. The use of the Daith piercing (based off acupuncture) has evidence of being effective for migraine headaches. If something that uses natural products and is effective, I would advocate for that as a first course of treatment of the little things rather than turning to manufactured pharmaceuticals. At a certain point, please for the love of modern science seek out medical professionals for serious medical issues (lavender oil isn’t gonna help your necrotic cyst Susan) but for the little things? Give the natural route a try.
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Kiera RiordanNovember 5, 2020 at 7:50 PM

Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

I did vote for the first time on election day. I expected a long line of people, but I walked in to just one other person voting. It felt nice to have a say in this election and use my vote. Although, I do wish I had better choices for candidates. No matter who wins I will look forward to the next election and then hopefully we will have a better selection. This has been the worst election I have witnessed so far; it has really split America in two.

Is it childish to expect the world to make sense?

Our world is large and full of all different kinds of people and places. It is impossible to understand everything that goes on. The simple truth is that the world will never make sense but as long as one is willing to be okay with that, I do not see how that is childish. There is a difference between trying to learn as much as one can about the world and expecting it all to just make sense on its own. One’s life would be much simpler to just live it and not worry about trying to understand this crazy world. What makes this world so interesting is learning something new every day. There is a point is one’s life where one just needs to stop worrying about this world and what makes sense.

Weekly essay- 3
Shelby Pittman comment – 1
Autumn Daniel-1

Overall 55/55
Section 12
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Andrew KrogerNovember 5, 2020 at 7:52 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

This election was a rather unique experience considering the whole global pandemic. I was shocked to see so many people choose to vote in person instead of mail in ballots. From what I can tell, it seems that most of the older generation chose to go in person, while many of the younger generation chose to mail in ballots or not vote.
When I went to vote, it was the last day of early voting. The line was long, but mostly that was because most people were socially distancing in line. It took about 30 to 40 minutes to get all the way through the process. Some people were not wearing masks. Once they reached the building the poll workers made them put on masks, which was better. Inside they handed people a glove to put on and keep on until they left. It wasn’t that bad.
This was my first presidential election. The last time, I was 16 years old. Being in the middle of a pandemic and with so much division in the country, it wasn’t a very good year to vote for the first time. I don’t know how to feel right now. We don’t even know who won yet, and that could take a while. This whole situation is so screwed up and I hope the next generation doesn’t have to deal with the insanity going on now.

points 42/55

+3 essay
+1 comment on post by Zoe Hovinga
+1 Comment on post by Mai-Thi Kieu
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Betsy AkpotuNovember 5, 2020 at 8:09 PM
Betsy Akpotu
PHIL 1030-010
Weekly Essay # 12
11/05/2020

Is the US still a proud nation of immigrants, or more like those European nations "struggling with what they regard as the problem of immigration? No, The US is more like European nations struggling with what they regard as the problem of immigration. For example, we do not have health insurance and we are still talking about that plus the trading industry and money, the middle class. European and US are still the same, but they are trying their best purse people of which is better in the society, if you look at the history. Are there ways other than travel to "experience the world as babies do" etc.? Yes and No. No because taking your baby, on your first airplane or traveling with a baby on airplane can be stressful and babies like to cry while traveling because of the air pressure in the atmosphere, the baby’s ear may pop. Yes, babies need to know the unknown world, touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound to what is going on. Do we have a right to happiness? Yes, we do. Its not up your parents, sibling, aunts, and uncles to make your decision. It’s your decision make the people and fight what is right for you and the community and yourself as well. After our parents is done, we are the next generation to make this world a better place. Some people don’t have that yet but we are just getting started.
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Pedro RojasNovember 5, 2020 at 8:14 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

-I did early voting because I felt like it would have been less chaotic and since it was my first time I wanted to slowly process everything. The line went by super fast lasted their about 15min max and hopefully my vote meant something. Although I'd prefer other candidates I picked the one that suited me best. But I do feel we are much more involved this election time because I remember last election we didn't have sufficient votes in. Also, it's much more intense and people on social media have really strong opinions about this.

Do we have a right to happiness?

- Yes of course everyone has the right to experience happiness. More importantly what do you consider happiness? We all have different emotions and handle things differently. You mind fine happiness alone in the mountains, or at the beach with you're family, or with a large crowed at a concert. Everyone has different thrills and enjoy different things and if you do good and are on the right track to success. Then yes you're more then welcomed to experience happiness, but if you're doing bad to society then their are consequences. That most likely will not bring any type of happiness and that's on you shouldn't have been misbehaving. But other then that yes go seek what makes you happy. Like Drake said, "we only here for a good time not a long time".

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Calvin ParrackNovember 5, 2020 at 8:30 PM
Is "the placebo effect" an example of the "law of attraction" in action?

I do believe the placebo effect can identify some of the ways that our brains process and interpret information to fit a desired outcome, however I do not think the law of attraction can be fully encompassed or explained by just claiming “the placebo effect”. Placebo effect has to do with an outside situation ”tricking” or effecting our brain into thinking it is impacted in a way that really it is not. This is a very outside - in experience, and i believe that manifestation or “the law of attraction” has much more to do with being an inside - out experience. By this i mean manifestation starts with an intent, something you desire and intend on obtaining. That seems simple but it is actually much harder to grasp than you might think. People will think “i want to be more confident” and when they don’t see results give up, but the mindset of manifestation means thinking these thoughts with full confidence even if you don't believe them which is the tricky part to master. You should instead think, “I am confident in myself” or even a smaller step like, “I am becoming more confident every day”. This process helps you realize that anything really is possible if you want it hard enough and are willing to persevere. And that's where manifestation starts from within your body, because you have the power to control the things you think and do with the right mindset. And soon that energy can start being projected outwards which makes you more attentive to opportunities and things that will help you toward your goal.
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BlakeNovember 5, 2020 at 8:33 PM
Blake Hughes
Section 010
My Essay (+3)
Comments (+2): Cole Walker & Brittney Sherrell
Overall Points: 55
Weekly Question #11:

“Did your upbringing make it easier or harder for you to trust?”

I 100% know my upbringing made it far more difficult for me to trust, be open, and put myself out there.
Growing up, my family was quite religious (which is still true) but nothing to the extent of the hardcore Bible-thumpers we hear about today. However, they were very anti-LGBTQ+, which is the community that I am in. I have known I was different, ever since I was very little, but didn’t really understand it. I didn’t know why boys couldn’t play with “girl” toys, and girls couldn’t play with “boy” toys. I was interested in both, and had other friends that were the same, even if they weren’t as extremely different, like I was
I was told it was wrong, and shameful, to play with things that weren’t meant for me, and that it shouldn’t happen. This made me feel so hurt inside, because I knew I had to live a lie, and pretend to be someone I wasn’t. Even my parents knew, and made me live that lie, to keep up the façade.
Throughout the years, I did keep up the act, and continued living as a Sour-Patch Kid, in a world full of Hershey Kisses (or the opposite, rather, lmao.) But, once I was in High School, and started talking and meeting more open friends, I realized I didn’t have to live a lie anymore. I started becoming more open about myself, and more expressive of who I really was, feeling truly happy.
That is, until my parents realized what was going on. They made me put an end to it immediately, breaking off all of my friendships, and pulling the internet modem out of the wall, leaving me with no communication to the outside world. It stayed like that, for a handful of months, before they started to try and slowly open things back up, if I proved trustworthy.
I may have been able to convince them, but they weren’t able to convince me.
Years later, my relationship with them is stronger than ever, I’m allowed to be myself around them, and confident enough to be myself around anyone else. However, I know I will never be able to be as openly friendly or trusting to most people I encounter in life, due to my upbringing.
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Henry MoseleyNovember 5, 2020 at 8:40 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
Sec 10

I did vote. I voted early in order to avoid a mass crowd of people not wearing masks. I know a lot of people especially in this state were concerned with the election being rigged if they decided to submit their vote any other time than election day, but I was not concerned about that at all. This was my first presidential election. It was the first presidential election I have been of legal age to vote in and I believed that it was very important for me to vote in this election. It might be the most important presidential election I will ever vote in. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the election. With this being the first election I have ever voted it, I often asked myself if every election is as hostile as this one. Everyone I have talked to that has voted in multiple elections says they have not seen anything like this election, which makes me believe that the elections to come may not be as interesting as this one. My family is very political so I believe I will always have to care somewhat about politics, but I do not believe the voter turn out will be as high as it was this election or even the previous election. This is most certainly a strange time to be a first time voter. Especially when you have people lying about there being voter fraud. It must make a lot of first time voters not trust the political system we have had put our trust in for our countries entire existence.
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Don EnssNovember 5, 2020 at 8:42 PM
Productivity
Weekly essay on voting - 11/4 3pts.
Comments:
1. Mason Schoonover's post of 11/2 on voting 1 pt
2. Barbara Frizzel's post of 11/3 posted in incorrect section of blog 1 pt
3. Bailey Stephens' post of 11/5 on voting 1 pt
Total weekly max 5 pts.
Cumulative Total 58 + 5 + 63
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Moustafa ShamdeenNovember 5, 2020 at 8:50 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

I feel like a lot of people probably answered this question, but I think it's a pretty apt and relevant question to answer so here it goes. Yea, I voted prior to election day because I didn't want to deal with the election day crowd, this was my first election one because I am now eligible to vote, and two because I think this vote is extremely important. I mean to cut it straight and dry, I think if you didn't vote for Biden, screw the voting for your conscious mumbo jumbo, I truly believe that if you didn't vote for Biden, you're racist. Not to make it too political, but since the question at its core is political, can't really stray away from that. I'm not some activist, I don't go too far out of my way to be a better person, but truly, this was like an important time to vote. My options were a man, who essentially serves as a proxy president, who is my choice because I completely disagree with the other choice, to stop any more harm to the people I relate to, or a man with dozens of sexual misconduct cases, a man who told the proud boys to stand by, a man who wouldn't condemn white supremacists during a globally aired debate, a man who praised a 17 year old kid from miles away illegally holding a gun and killed two people, a man who knew about bounties on American soldiers heads from Russia, a man who though corona virus and climate change were a hoax, and has caused at least 200k casualties, the list goes on, maybe not at infinitum, but pretty damn close. I think one of the options is a bad president, with bad rhetoric, whose made bad decisions, but for some reason people still stand by him? Anyway my rambling cut short, I voted because while our political system does not truly count my vote, I felt like it was important enough to go out and do.
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Douglas HauserNovember 5, 2020 at 8:50 PM
Douglas Graham Hauser

Is "the placebo effect" an example of the "law of attraction" in action? 304

I think the placebo effect is partly an example of the law of attraction. The example that comes to mind is a placebo medication. You are told that it is real and it will do what it says it will do, so you expect something to happen, so it does. This isn’t necessarily positive or negative it usually is a neutral action. The law of attraction reminds me when people explain “Manifest” to me. Where you believe something is going to happen, and if you believe enough it will happen. I attribute that to always thinking about it so a lot of the actions you do surround what your goal is and what you believe is going to happen. So the law of attraction could be very similar where you think positively and want something to go well so your demeanor and actions are positive and maybe subconsciously pushing for a positive experience. This will work to an extent except when it is entirely out of your control. As long as you have some type of control in the situation, then there is a way to make the outcome how you want it to be. Thinking optimistically is part of that in the way that if you go to a movie you see all the good parts and end up enjoying the movie because of it, you are staying strapped to the positive scenes and the parts of the movie with good acting. Where if you concentrated on all the bad stuff the movie will likely be bad or boring to you. I guess if you have suspicions of your placebo medicine being a placebo then it won’t “work.” This is very weird to think about too because it seems that you have the ultimate power to change how you feel, but the question is; how do you use that effectively? Or at all?
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Alexa KruszewskiNovember 5, 2020 at 8:53 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

This was my first year at the polls! I attended them on election day, so that my parents could go with me. They thought it was a family affair, me voting for the first time. After standing in line for about ten minutes, because we live in the middle of nowhere, we got to vote! It was cool! I got a little paranoid with the computer because it would be my luck to accidentally press the wrong button. I checked over my ballot at least a million times. Soon after, off it went. I don’t know if it’s the chaos of this whole election or the sticker we all get at the end, but it really made me feel a part of something. It’s crazy to watch projections like we are this year because it’s something new every minute it feels like. As votes come in, leads change, certain states are really close, and some votes still are being counted. It feels like a collective experience we’ve all had over the past two days. Talking about it with each other and over Twitter about everything going on right now. It’s an interesting, collectively nerve wracking time.
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Michael ClancyNovember 5, 2020 at 9:02 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
This election was the first time that I was eligible to vote in the presidential election. It was definitely an experience like no other. If you would have asked me two months ago I would have told you that I was not even going to vote. All due to the fact that I had never followed politics at all and knew nothing about it at all. I did not understand the differences between the two parties or what each stood for, or when it meant to be democrat or republican at its roots. It honestly was not until the first presidential election that I sat down with my friends to watch that I began to gain interest in politics. Seeing how both sides expressed their own views on questions that were given to them really showed to me the differences between the two parties and what they stand for. Because of this I began researching more about both parties and understood what it actually meant when my friends called themselves republican or democrat supporters. I voted during the early voting availability and it was a lot different than I thought it was going to be. When I walked up to the lady to confirm that I was a registered voter she announced that I was a first time voter and everyone congratulated me and said how it was an exciting time to be able to vote right now because of how important this year is. After voting I found myself coming even more interred in the world of politics. Often talking with people on both sides of the spectrum just to be able to learn more. I think the most important things I realize is how different everyone thinks. I have multiple best friends that voted opposite than me and honestly I think thats more of a good thing than bad. It allows up to have real conversations about how we see different topics and helps up to learn from each other and accept multiple points of view.
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Mohap SiddigNovember 5, 2020 at 9:13 PM
Do we have a right to happiness?

That is a very good question. But I feel like that depends on the person. To me I think that we do have the right to happiness because we can either make ourselves happy or make ourselves sad. We control that. We have the right to ourselves. If we want to make ourselves happy than we have to the things that makes us happy. For example, say the thing that makes me happy is my family and friends so I should stay around my family and friends because that is what makes me happy and it is what keeps me going. For example, other people might be basketball that makes them happy whenever they touch the basketball it makes them happy and forget about everything that was going on with him. So, we do have the right to make ourselves happy. In fact, I’m going to take it a step further we have a right to do anything to ourselves. We control ourselves nobody else. Another thing is the friends. If you want to be happy than stay with positive friends because they will always make you stay positive but if you stay with negative friends than they will always keep you negative. The friends have a huge impact in our lives. But like I said we control that. We choose our friends nobody else. So yea we do have a right to make ourselves happy.

Section 012

Total Points: 45

Reply to Mason Schoonover(1pt)

Reply to Ammar Idris(1pt)
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Molly BelkNovember 5, 2020 at 9:23 PM
Is "the placebo effect" an example of the "law of attraction" in action? 304

When I think of “the placebo effect” my mind automatically begins to question whether or not those people actually had any illness at all. Any type of real healing can only come through God, which can be manifested in a miraculous healing or through actual medicine. I don’t believe in Rhonda Byrne’s “law of attraction” where belief in wanting to be healed or wanting your placebo drug to heal you will work. So no, I don’t think “the placebo effect” is the “law of attraction” because I simply don’t believe in either of those as real. I believe that people thinking that “all they have to do is want or crave something bad enough then it will become yours” Is very dangerous. That type of mentality puts so much pressure on people that I’m not sure how people can be truly satisfied. I think that as a Christian my reliance should be on God. For example, my aunt just recently passed away from a very aggressive cancer. Of course we prayed for a miracle and for God to take the cancer away, but only if it was His will. God’s plans are not necessarily our plans. I think this concept can be difficult for people who don’t have a relationship with God to understand. Peoples’ nature is to do things ourselves, to fix the problems ourselves, to not rely on anyone else because we know how to do things the right way. It’s hard relying on someone else, especially someone you can’t see. But knowing the love that God has for us, means that he only wants the very best for our lives.
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Jurnee HollowayNovember 5, 2020 at 9:28 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

I did vote way before the election day. I did it when it was on campus for a few weeks. This was my first time voting for the presidential election and I was sorta nervous because this was something very different that I never done before. I know people have their own opinions and beliefs when comes down to politics and such but I have my concerns and opinions as well, I just want a president who stands by his/her word and helps the community all over the United States and other countries as well. I want the world to be better with the healthcare and healthcare coverage, social issues, economic issues, education issues, environmental issues, criminal issues, and many more issues that needs to be handled with proper care and a right team to accomplish those to get done the right way. I watched the electoral college map results from my phone on November 3rd and watched the states turn into the colors of red and blue. Then after watching that for a good amount time, I hopped onto Twitter and saw other people opinions of what was going to happen, meme's, and many more. Some were funny and others were not but that was their own opinions and other comments below that were others and just back and forth. I even ended up on Snapchat and tapping away at other people's stories and they were also mentioning about the election. I finally ended up going to bed and having a enough of what others had to say about the election, but I am glad that I did vote and participated in something that made my voice be heard.
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Anthony OzohNovember 5, 2020 at 9:36 PM
Did I vote on Election Day or did I vote before? Well, I voted around 1 and a half weeks before Election Day, mostly because I figured that’s when the lines would probably be the emptiest. When I went in to the voting station by MTSU I found out I was right about my previous assumption because the place was basically empty other than the workers and a couple of voters. I found it a very straight forward process that let me take my time and really have a look at all the candidates on the ballot. I didn’t know what to expect for my first time voting in an election ever. I’m not going to lie though I was tempted to vote for Kanye West, like he is my favorite artist eve. It’s not just because he’s a third party but, it’s mostly his political ideas that make me not want to vote for him. Also they’ve been telling us for the past like two months that we wouldn’t know the results of the election on election night, because of all the mail in ballots. So I knew that on election night it would look like someone was on their way to winning the election and then when the mail ins came in they would shift the election another way. But, even though I knew that it still doesn’t stop me from being very worried about if the election will swing in a way that people won’t accept. Especially now that they’re saying it’s not gonna be until the 12th, the whole country feels like a pressure cooker.
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Nicolas SmithNovember 5, 2020 at 9:42 PM
While I was reading Susan Neiman’s Why Grow Up? I was proposed a question that I frankly should be able to answer, but ironically, I am unable to fully. “What does it mean to be an adult?” my first response to the question was a completely practical one, devoid of much thought. An adult is someone who is 18 years old or older. Then sadly I reflected on myself. While I myself, am older than 18, I don’t actually maintain many of the standards that I feel you must complete to be considered a true adult. I don’t have any property to speak of and I don’t have a real, stable job. And I think it is safe to assume there are plenty of young adults who are in a similar position to myself “young adults” but hardly adults at all. I began to resort to the idea that an adult is someone who can financially provide for themselves—but then I began to see the subtle flaws in this argument as well. If this is true, then what about someone who is on disability? Or someone who has lost their job? Does this make them any less of an adult? I can’t say that this is true. Just because someone is in a bad position, this doesn’t make them invalid as people. So, if we cast out the financial aspect of being an adult then what is left? Well, maybe being an adult is a mindset that one simply…gains. As there is no defining date for adulthood, one might just simply become a more courteous, loving, and responsible person at an indefinite arbitrary date.
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Anna JohnsonNovember 5, 2020 at 9:47 PM
Section 10
Keep your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free to yourself. This seems to be the unfortunate new attitude of the majority of the United States, the land of the free. This is disappointing to myself and would have also been disappointing to Arendt. The United States now has adopted the European outlook on immigration, viewing it as a problem rather than something to be proud of. I think it’s unfortunate because this country’s economy relies on immigration in many ways. The most obvious of this is labor, immigrants will often do jobs that are necessary but difficult to fill. Another point is that the economy relies on the image of being the land of opportunity for immigrants as a means to draw in genius innovators from around the World. Imprisoning and separating families seeking asylum at the border is a sad display of our new thoughts on immigration.

I do think there are other ways to “experience the world as babies do” other than travelling. There are brand new settings with completely unfamiliar norms all around us. I’ve spent years working in the restaurant industry as well as in the alarm industry. For the first few days I worked in each industry, I definitely felt as though I was experiencing the world as babies do. I started out with so much to learn and no frame of reference for how to deal with the type of situations I would be in. Similar to how Neiman describes this feeling only lasting for a few days when living in a new place, I quickly got used to the new atmospheres in my working environments and adjusted.
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Nicolas SmithNovember 5, 2020 at 9:56 PM
weekly essay
2 comments
molly belk
mohap sidding
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Eli FeckNovember 5, 2020 at 10:07 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
As a political science major, I have heard a lot about the election in most of my classes, as well as performing some research on my own outside of class. I think there is one thing that everyone can agree on, the 2020 election has been weird and different unlike any other. Personally, I did not vote, not because I did not agree with either candidate, but I recognized that my vote ultimately did not matter. If it were the popular vote that decided who won, I may have voted. I feel like this election has managed to pervert the classic American democracy that occurred before covid. That is something that has been an impact on this election, and I do not think it had a positive effect. The mail in ballots were a good idea, but ultimately, they have seemed to cause more harm than good. I may have voted if either candidate had done a thorough job of outlining what they wanted to accomplish in the next four years, but neither of them made more than a halfhearted attempt. Everyone has been so focused on this virus that they have forgotten the enormous amount of debt that the country is in, an amount that has doubled with every presidency in the last 20 years. How could I support either of these candidates, both of whom have shown signs of being incompetent for the position. People talk about choosing the lesser of two evils, but this is America, we should put the kind of person in office who has some sense of virtue, something almost unheard of in Washington these days.#12
Thursday- Essay
Thursday- Comment on Mason Schoonover’s post
Thursday- Comment on Nate Carley’s post
55/55 points
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BrendanNovember 5, 2020 at 10:18 PM
"Once you start asking why, there's no natural place to stop." 88 So why do so many people stop, or else never start?

The question “why” is used for learning. When you ask why, you are really asking someone to explain something to you that you don’t understand. There is always more to learn, and learning new things always opens you up to other things you don’t know, so you keep asking why. I think there are a few reasons why some people would stop, or never start asking in the first place. For one, asking why is often seen as kind of childish, as if being curious is for children. For a lot of people, a big part of “growing up” may be to stop trying to learn, if only because they feel as if they should or need to know everything already. Another reason is that asking why can be hard. Often, learning new information can challenge your existing ways of thinking and understanding the world, and a lot of times that can be intimidating. It may be easier to ignore new information only to keep your current way of viewing things. Learning can also get tiring, partially because of this, so some people may just get tired of asking questions or learning things, and eventually stop. I don’t believe anyone really never starts in the first place, at least they definitely don’t consciously choose to, as why questions are some of the first questions many children ask after learning to talk. I believe it is a natural instinct to be curious and ask questions, at least at a very young age, and that this instinct can be suppressed, consciously or unconsciously, as people get older.
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Alexandra JassoNovember 5, 2020 at 10:25 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

I did indeed registered and voted early because I didn't want to worry about big crowds. I was wrong because as soon as I showed up to my local voting poll, it was indeed crowded, I had to wait for an hour, and for a split second thought that I would have to come back the next day early as they were closing. Thankfully, I was just a few feet away and they did indeed allow me since I was still in line. Anyway, this was my first presidential election and even though I had voted before in the primary and state elections, I was way nervous. Since both my cousin and I were first generation Mexican-American, we were voting on behalf of the entire family including our younger brothers who weren't able to vote until 8 years later. Until four years ago, I had no idea about politics and after what happened this year due to Covid-19 and the BLM movement, I was encouraged and even excited to vote. Right now, I'm stressed about the election regardless of the results. I know that while Tennessee is majority a red state and isn't likely to change, I know that my vote matters regardless. I was the first person in my family to be born an American citizen and throughout history, millions of women and people of color have fought to make sure that someday, someone like me would be given the right to vote and I plan to use it for good.
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Adam ChambersNovember 5, 2020 at 10:42 PM
• Is it childish to expect the world to make sense? 114
Well, this is a bit of a difficult question for me to answer because one must first define what “childish” really means. If we’re going off the common interpretation of childish to mean stubborn, immature, or ignorant of the world around oneself, then I suppose it would be childish to expect or demand the world to make perfect sense. To have a mindset of “Why should I have to think critically about things or learn new concepts. Everything should work in a way that fits neatly within my knowledgebase and expertise” would show an incredible lack of emotional and intellectual immaturity akin to a stubborn child. If, however, you choose to use a definition of “childish” which still reflects a lack of life experience but is paired with an intrinsic sense of child-like curiosity and propensity to understand the world around them, our interpretation of the question changes slightly.

Ultimately, I think my answer will be yes to both interpretations, but the good or bad connotations associated with each require a deeper look at the intent of the person in question. It is childish in a harmful way to expect or demand that the world make sense to oneself and show no willingness to learn or grow to properly understand it, however, the latter interpretation presents neutral or potentially positive implications if said person strives to expand their knowledge and maturity by pursuing to find sense in the world around them. When faced with either obstinately rejecting the world around or striving to find understanding where there was none, an opportunity for personal growth is created.

The important part is what you do with it.
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RandyNovember 5, 2020 at 10:53 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

I voted before election day and it was my first time voting. I thought it would have been more crowded, but the process to vote was pretty fast. My friend and I were trying to schedule a day to go vote and it was also their first time voting. We didn't want to go alone for the first time. This election really encouraged me to get out there and vote. I wasn't really into politics until this year and I think it's because of what had happened this year. It really changes your perspective on your life when you start worrying about who is going to be President and how it can affect you and other people. I was very surprised that Kanye West actually managed to get on the ballot. I was in awe.

Did your upbringing make it easier or harder for you to trust?

I think it made me harder to trust because my parents told me to not trust strangers right away. However, I also think that in certain situations it could be easier to trust. It depends on the person I guess. There are just some people out there who you will hit it off with instantly. My parents never really broke my trust while growing up. I am sure that they have lied to me before, but it was probably better not knowing. The more I grow up, the more I become cautious because you can never really know for certain about people.
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Khushi PatelNovember 5, 2020 at 11:05 PM
I have read this somewhere and followed it strongly
My friend told me that he has failed in his exams, my question is, “is it a law that you will pass every time?” someone told me that her boyfriend broke up with her, my question is, “is it a rule that you will have successful relationships everywhere?” When somebody asked me why am I in depression, my question is, “is it compulsory to have confidence all the time?” When someone cries about his/her huge business loss due his/her wrong decision, my question is, “is it possible that you take all right decisions?” The fact is our expectation that life has to be perfect/permanent is the biggest reason of our unhappiness. One has to understand the law of impermanence of nature. After each sunny day, there has to be dark night, after each birth there have to be a certain death, for the full moon to come again it has to pass through no moon. Of course we all have a right to happiness. So stop taking your failures and bad part of your life so personally or intensely. Prepare yourself for one more fight after each fall because even failures cannot be permanent!
Section-010
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Matthew PaceNovember 5, 2020 at 11:05 PM
"Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?"

This wasn't my first election but it was my first presidential election, and I was honestly very excited to vote. Throughout this entire garbage presidency I felt hopeless as the country I was once proud to live in became a global embarrassment, but now I felt that I had the opportunity to at least slightly contribute to a step in the objectively right direction. I voted weeks early on October 16th, and once the results for Tennessee came in I was both angered and embarrassed. I had never been a fan of living in the South, the general mentality of Southerners who are still stuck in the stone age where they believe science fiction over science and believe that an invisible man in the sky will be mad at them if they inhale smoke from a plant or if John and Mike get married never meshed with my more modern outlook on the real world, however I always thought that this time the South would finally prove me wrong that it wasn't a hivemind for people who want to see a return to the dark ages but that didn't happen. I have no doubts that the obvious correct choice for president will win, but I won't ever forget how much my soon to be former state of Tennessee failed to step up and how much that made me believe for a moment that I voted for nothing.

Weekly essay +3
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KStephensNovember 5, 2020 at 11:16 PM
I voted this year- I'm not exactly sure when I did, but I'm pretty sure it was about 2 weeks before election night? Maybe more recent than that. It wasn't my first time voting either- that was the last major election. I went with my family- easier since we're living together during covid rn. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. We live in the middle of nowhere and we went super early so we had very little issues with other people being there. The voting itself was p streamlined this time to- though I did recheck my ballot about 10 times. I did appreciate that they gave us sanitized stylus's to touch the screen with, just as an extra layer of precaution. After we voted we got food together tho- which I wasn't super excited about (it is a pandemic) but at least it tasted good.
Idk how to feel about voting in general? I mean I super get that it's important and I will do it without fail, especially when it does not inconvenience me even slightly to do so. Though I'm always pretty aware that the people I vote for will probably not go for the extremes that I want? I mean Biden's lack of support for Medicare for all isn't exciting- though I do appreciate an attempt at moving somewhat towards it.
Though I should be clear I will never be excited for a candidate? I can't really find myself believing in or support America's system of government completely.
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Robbie Wright November 5, 2020 at 11:17 PM
How can philosophy help us grow up? 119

I would say philosophy does help us grow up in a way honestly. Philosophy helps us to enhance our ability to solve problems, our communication skills, our persuasive powers, and our writing skills. Much of what is learned in philosophy can be applied in virtually any endeavor. This is both because philosophy touches so many subjects and its used in almost anything.
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Daniel LopezNovember 5, 2020 at 11:19 PM
Daniel Lopez, Section 1030-011

Is "alternative medicine" respectable?

I'd say alternative medicine is respectable in as far as their is reasonable scientific evidence to suggest it has an objective benefit for the user. For instance, evidence that would strongly suggest, if not confirm, that taking certain kinds of supplements or herbs has a tangible benefit for a person's health would, in my opinion, be reasonable to take. However, psychic practices and the more non-tangible or poorly researched forms of this alternative medicine seem highly suspect as nothing more than placebo at best, incredibly harmful under the right circumstances at worst. I personally take supplements, but only after I've done my due diligence researching what it contains, how much of it contains, the quality of what it contains, the company that sells it, the medical research on the benefits of taking sufficient levels of said vitamins and minerals, etc. However, because so many people do hope in some kind of easy, magic pill for everything and rarely research that far into any of these things, they often make the mistake of poisoning themselves thinking if a little is good, a lot is even better.

Weekly essay 8/27/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 9/3/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 9/10/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 9/17/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 9/24/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 10/01/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 10/08/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay N/A (0 pts)
Midterm essay N/A (0 pts)
Weekly essay 10/19/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 10/29/20 (3 pts)
Weekly essay 11/05/20 (3 pts)

Total: 30 pts
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Andreais CNovember 5, 2020 at 11:19 PM
Questions: (3 points)
1. Is Dr. Oz reliable? And Is "alternative medicine" respectable? (FL p. 301 and 302)

Question: (1 point)
2. Do we have a right to happiness? (WGU p. 122)

Question: (1 point)
3. Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

1. I picked these questions because at the end of the day it’s not fully proven either way. To begin with if Dr. Oz is reliable, I’m not sure, and going off the readings there’s nothing to declare that his practices are leading to any malpractice legal issues. So, by stating this, he’s been on Oprah Winfrey’s show’s 5 dozen times, and she has one of the strongest voices/platforms in mainstream television history every. So, if she believes and backs him, he must have some type of credibility. Especially, since she has admitted multiple times on her show of using a lot of his medical practices; therefore, she saw healthier results pertaining to these practices. Again, from the readings from this book, the BMJ (British Medical Journey) team of eighty investigators, a little less than half found his practices legitimate.

Yes, I do agree with alternative medicine practices. As people we must begin with implementing proper and healthy diets to prevent health issues as we become older. The more an induvial mistreats their bodies, the more likely they will have extreme health disease/issues the older they become. The pharmaceutical movement wants us to use these expensive products daily but using them is costing us not just a lot of money, but the side effects are serious. So, you’ll find yourself being described more medications to offset the side effects from using the initial one. Therefore, the alternative medicine is extremely excepted by a lot of Americans, and this way of healing yourself will be a permanent approach going forward in our society. What’s funny, a lot of these practices aren’t new medical technology approaches but are old practices from older cultures from the past.

2. This is a great question; do we have the right to be happy pertaining to the “is or ought” way of thinking? I watched President Obama speak at a presidential convention in Atlanta Georgia on Monday prior to the 2020 election. He stated, ‘things won’t change completely at first on the first try; however, we have to do the little things to make it a little better, step by step, and brick by brick’, and this was my kind of way paraphrasing his quote. Where I’m getting at, you have to understand the world that you live in to be truly functional in that world, but also align some of your goals into this fantasy in order to be successful, then you’ll be able to accomplish these goals that you set for yourself in life. You must be realistic in this approach and not live in the fantasy of what could be. Continue to educate yourself, this will increase the chances of you being happy. Lastly, most people aren’t happy because they choose to not distinguish between the two being one-sided, go throughout their lives with binoculars on, stay content…this is why its hard for individuals to grow, change for the better, and at the end of the day aren’t happy!
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Andreais CNovember 5, 2020 at 11:20 PM
3. Yes, I voted a few days after the early voting centers opened around the Murfreesboro area. I might had voted in 2004, but I don’t remember the whole process because I was deployed. Though, the first voting process that I clearly remember going through, along with getting my troops to vote too was in 2008 when Barak Obama was elected; that was an awesome time in our country’s history! I was extremely proud to see Obama win, I remember seeing him speak at a convention for John Kerry, and that speech along; almost got Kerry elected lol. So, in short, this election means more to me because it’s the first time my vote has ever counted because all of my other votes have been absentee ballots. I learned about AV votes 8 years ago that these votes didn’t count, because in most cases there’s a clear-cut presidential elect. This was disappointing for me. How can you protect, serve, and defend your country’s constitution but you can’t truly participate in the voting process…unless it pertains to extremely circumstances? Therefore, I believe my vote counted this time around. Regardless, even if Tennessee is primarily a republican state; I still enjoyed this voting hooray this time around because it was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to vote at a poll-center in my life…it was the greatest time I’ve experience in 2020 thus far!

***Summary Posts 5Nov20*** 5 POINTS
Reading summary Dr. Oz and is alternative medicine respectable (FL) and answered a question from WGU and the voting question.
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Wesley HopperNovember 5, 2020 at 11:20 PM
• How can philosophy help us grow up? 119
I believe that Philosophy or even just intense thinking can help us go a long way in life to the best of our abilities. Philosophy as we grow can help us gain more and more knowledge as we grow up and as we grow up, we can connect the new ways of thinking with old knowledge to create one big web of ideas that help us be more understanding as a human throughout times. Philosophy helps better prepare us in life because we can get as close as we can to discovering reality and its true meaning more and more every day that we enhance our philosophical thinking ways. If we grow up thinking about the possibilities and opportunities that life throws at us, and we use philosophy to think of every possible outcome and situation, then that help a person make better decisions to help find their reality and their true meaning of life as they continue to think. Philosophy we help a lot in just being prepared for the hardships of life and being able to identify what should be a focus in reality compared to distractions that life throws at you and takes you away from the reality of you being alive. Philosophy can also be helpful growing up in a way by protecting your mental health and the psychology of life. Most people should know that philosophy and psychology are closely related. Philosophy could be considered the “mother” of psychology and philosophy can help your brain avoid the dangers of stress and all the harmful things that life put into your brain. The more that Philosophy is in your life, then the more open-minded and free your brain will be growing up. This the knowledge you can gain from philosophical thinking can help open more and more doors for your future in life and closer to finding your true purpose and meaning in life.

Section 012
Weekly essay +3
Responded to Randy +1
Responded to +1
Overall (50/55)
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James IIINovember 5, 2020 at 11:32 PM
James Robinson
Section 10
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?
I voted on November 3rd 2020, this was my first time participating in a presidential election. However, I did vote in the Tennessee special election in 2018. I believe this year being an election year makes it incredibly special. 2020 has been a challenging year for the world. With the coronavirus spreading from China the world has had dramatic shifts in the system of operation. From shutdowns to masks, social distancing, limited social events, not to mention a disease that preys on the frail and weak. With shutdowns lasting months the american spirit started to dwindle. Many people were laid off from their jobs, students moved to online education as best they could when the lockdowns started. I know this affected me personally struggling to catch up to the online learning curve. Concerning this election the coronavirus has been on the voters minds since their main focus is how do we resolve this as quickly as possible. They also wonder how long social distancing, mask mandates, and shutdowns will last. Another thing voters have noticed are the BLM protests as well as looting and arson occurring in major cities throughout the United states. The two presidential candidates could not be more different, each party knowing there is likely a better candidate yet maintaining their ideas through voting. Either way the world will continue to spin, the sun will continue to rise, and the constitution will still exist to protect our individual freedoms and values. I only hope the future will be bright rather than dark.

Kimmie Steakley
Gavin Brown
Essay +3 Comments (2) +2 weekly total (+5)
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Anna CollinsNovember 25, 2020 at 10:00 PM
Is it childish to expect the world to make sense? 114

“It is reason that leads you to hold that the world should make sense. Not that it does..” It is interesting to ponder if reality is intelligible and if we can really make sense of anything. I think there is differentiation in the world being intelligible to itself and the world being intelligible to us. As humans, we may reason that we have grasped a concept, but truly we have no idea what is going on. Although some may think they know all, it is especially apparent in the world today, that there is much we as humans simply do not understand and cannot make sense of. The world and the reality we live in can be raw, daunting, exciting, scary, and simply overwhelming. In a way, I do think it is childish to expect the world to make sense. In the time of being a child, on the other hand, I do believe this is what we are meant to feel and think. Because of the innocence and ignorance children possess, I think it would be foolish to expect them to not want everything in life to make sense. But even at an early age, children start to understand that certain things in life are not coherent. As we live and grow up, we begin to understand the confusion, sadness, and emptiness the world can bring. But we also can notice the beauty of it in the uncertainty.

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Patrick wolffDecember 7, 2020 at 4:23 PM
Did you vote, on election day or before? Was it your first presidential election? How do you feel about it?

I did not vote in this election. I have been a non partisan bistander watching this election unfold. One thing is blantantly clear to me. There is absolutely video evidence of voter fruad in georgia. This is not disputable. All news outlets said that a pipe had burst and counting had stopped but we have video footage proving that they continued to count ballots after everyone had left. ballots which were pulled from under a table and contained in a suitcase. This is sworn on a affadavit under penalty of purgery. Due to the media still saying that there is zero evidence I have lost all faith in the media. I have tried to stay out of politics but 2020 shoved politics down everyones throat. There is no longer life outside of politics as every person on this planet needs to share their opinion constantly instead of trying to thourghly research and understand a topic. in 2020 having a political opinion is potential enouh to get you fired. I have become increasingly more silent on most topics as you are one mistake away from losing your entire livelyhood
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CoPhi (PHIL 1030) returns to the classroom January 21, 2025: T/Th 9:40 (#5), 2:40 (#7) JUB 204, 1 pm (#6) PH 312... DEC 6 Final report blog post (final draft) due. Post earlier for feedback... Posting will close after Dec.6. If you are unable to post, send your report directly to me - phil.oliver@mtsu.edu - and include footnotes to all terms you intended to link... OPEN YOUR AUTHOR INVITATIONS, if you haven't yet, before they expire... To those who noted more LIFE IS HARD questions than anticipated: that was because there were so many presentations on it and we discussed it quite a lot in class. Having told you all via the audio review about those questions in advance, I assumed there wouldn't be an issue. Evidently there was, for some. So I'll discount a couple of the Setiya questions. Live and learn, right? And to those inquiring about EXTRA CREDIT, that effectively is what strong participation earned you (if the scorecard reflects it). But if you still feel compelled to do more, I suggest lengthening and strengthening your final blogpost. PHIL 1030, sections H1, H2, H3: TTh 9:40, 1 pm, 2:40; in HONR 116... phil.oliver@mtsu.edu

Texts Fall 2024

REQUIRED: Nigel Warburton, LITTLE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY (LHP) (etext linked below)... Susan Neiman, WHY GROW UP (WGU)... John Kaag, SICK SOULS, HEALTHY MINDS: How William James Can Save Your Life (SS)... Eric Weiner, THE SOCRATES EXPRESS: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers (Weiner_)... RECOMMENDED (and available for 3-day checkout at the library): Mariana Allesandri, NIGHT VISION: seeing ourselves through dark moods... Kurt Andersen, FANTASYLAND: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen (FL) ... Julian Baggini, HOW THE WORLD THINKS (HWT)... Kaag & J. van Belle, BE NOT AFRAID OF LIFE: In the Words of William James... Robert Richardson, THREE ROADS BACK: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives... Kieran Setiya, LIFE IS HARD (LH)

JPO bio

The author of "William James's Springs of Delight: The Return to Life, (VU Press, 2001) " Phil Oliver specializes in the American philosophical tradition with supporting interests in applied ethics (particularly Bioethics and Environmental Ethics), Anglo-American literature, history, humanism, naturalism, science and exploration, peripatetic ("walking & talking") philosophy, baseball, cycling, swimming, the pursuit of happiness, and the perpetual dawn of day. One of his favorite MTSU courses is The Philosophy of Happiness. He is academic advisor for minors in American Culture (American Studies), and a founding board member and current Vice-President of the William James Society. You can follow him on Threads, Instagram (@OSOPHER), Substack (philoliver.substack.com) and on his blogsite Up@dawn (jposopher.blogspot.com) but of course, as Immanuel Kant and Monty Python's Brian Cohen agreed: You don't have to follow anybody. "Sapere aude," have the courage to think for yourself. But not by yourself. Good philosophy collaborates and converses.

Philosophy tutor & Writing Center

The tutor for this year is Elle Robinson. Her email address, should you need to contact her, is: ljr3s@mtmail.mtsu.edu ... Her hours will be Mondays & Wednesdays, 6 pm until 7:45 pm, Feb 19--Apr 24. She will offer tutoring in the library... No tutoring will be offered during Spring Break... WRITING CENTER: The Margaret H. Ordoubadian University Writing Center is located in LIB 362 and online at www.mtsu.edu/writing-center. Here, students can receive valuable (and FREE!) one-to-one assistance in person or online on writing projects for any course. Please make your appointment by stopping by LIB 362, calling 615-904-8237, or visiting the UWC website. Visit early and often! https://www.mtsu.edu/writing-center/

Gymnasiums of the Mind

"Followers of the Greek Aristotle were known as peripatetics because they passed their days strolling and mind-wrestling through the groves of the Academe. The Romans’ equally high opinion of walking was summed up pithily in the Latin proverb: “It is solved by walking.” Nearly every philosopher-poet worth his salt has voiced similar sentiments. Erasmus recommended a little walk before supper and “after supper do the same.” Thomas Hobbes had an inkwell built into his walking stick to more easily jot down his brainstorms during his rambles. Jean- Jacques Rousseau claimed he could only meditate when walking: “When I stop, I cease to think,” he said. “My mind only works with my legs.” Søren Kierkegaard believed he’d walked himself into his best thoughts. In his brief life Henry David Thoreau walked an estimated 250,000 miles, or ten times the circumference of earth. “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits,” wrote Thoreau, “unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields absolutely free from worldly engagements.” Thoreau’s landlord and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson characterized walking as “gymnastics for the mind...” Christopher Orlet, Philosophy Now https://philosophynow.org/issues/44/The_Gymnasiums_of_the_Mind

Admirable profession

"...Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor. The ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches, none so rich in inward. We know not much about them. It is remarkable that we know so much of them as we do. The same is true of the more modern reformers and benefactors of their race. None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty. Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art. There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live..."

"I went to the woods because...

I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion... "

"I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there...

Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now... I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours..."

Where he lived, and what he lived for

"Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe, through Paris and London, through New York and Boston and Concord, through church and state, through poetry and philosophy and religion, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality, and say, This is, and no mistake; and then begin, having a point d’appui, below freshet and frost and fire, a place where you might found a wall or a state, or set a lamp-post safely, or perhaps a gauge, not a Nilometer, but a Realometer, that future ages might know how deep a freshet of shams and appearances had gathered from time to time. If you stand right fronting and face to face to a fact, you will see the sun glimmer on both its surfaces, as if it were a cimeter, and feel its sweet edge dividing you through the heart and marrow, and so you will happily conclude your mortal career. Be it life or death, we crave only reality. If we are really dying, let us hear the rattle in our throats and feel cold in the extremities; if we are alive, let us go about our business."

Vote!

"The 2024 election is going to be decided by people under 30, who have the most at stake, and they need to register to vote in order to make a difference. That’s the answer, simple democracy." -GK... Please visit TennVoterLookup if you would like to check your Tennessee registration status or check RockTheVote.org. TN residents can update or change their information on the TN Government's website. If you're currently registered in another county it may be easier for you to vote here. Register in Rutherford County: https://www.mtsu.edu/amerdem/register-to-vote.php

Thinking is a social activity

"We do not (on Justice Holmes's reasoning) permit the free expression of ideas because some individual may have the right one. No individual alone can have the right one. We permit free expression because we need the resources of the whole group to get us the ideas we need. Thinking is a social activity. I tolerate your thought because it is part of my thought—even when my thought defines itself in opposition to yours." — The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand https://a.co/8qI6C9a

A proper education

“The complexity of our present trouble suggests as never before that we need to change our present concept of education. Education is not properly an industry, and its proper use is not to serve industries, either by job-training or by industry-subsidized research. It's proper use is to enable citizens to live lives that are economically, politically, socially, and culturally responsible. This cannot be done by gathering or "accessing" what we now call "information" - which is to say facts without context and therefore without priority. A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first.” ― Wendell Berry

The college project

“The American college may be considered a continuation, at the human level, of the self-education process of the earth itself: universe education, earth education, and human education are stages of development in a single unbroken process...The entire college project can be seen as that of enabling the student to understand the immense story of the universe and the role of the student in creating the next phase of the story.” --Thomas Berry, “The American College in the Ecological Age,” in The Dream of the Earth

Planting seeds

One thing is certain: if our educational system does not honestly and explicitly promote the central tenet of science—that nothing is sacred—then we encourage myth and prejudice to endure. We need to equip our children with tools to avoid the mistakes of the past while constructing a better, and more sustainable, world for themselves and future generations. We won’t do that by dodging inevitable and important questions about facts and faith. Instead of punting on those questions, we owe it to the next generation to plant the seeds of doubt." Lawrence M. Krauss, "Teaching Doubt"-The New Yorker

Enlightened thoughts

“Reason drives your search to make sense of the world by pushing you to ask why things are as they are. For theoretical reason, the outcome of that search becomes science; for practical reason, the outcome is a more just world.”

“A defence of the Enlightenment is a defence of the modern world, along with all its possibilities for self-criticism and transformation. If you’re committed to Enlightenment, you’re committed to understanding the world in order to improve it.”

“Freedom cannot simply mean doing whatever strikes you at the moment: that way you're a slave to any whim or passing fancy. Real freedom involves control over your life as a whole, learning to make plans and promises and decisions, to take responsibility for your actions' consequences.”

“Doing what you can to move your part of the world closer to the way that it should be, while never losing sight of the way that it is, is what being a grown-up comes to.”
― Susan Neiman, Why Grow Up?: Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age

The thinkers of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment saw an urgent need for a secular foundation for morality, because they were haunted by a historical memory of centuries of religious carnage: the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts, the European wars of religion. They laid that foundation in what we now call humanism, which privileges the well-being of individual men, women, and children over the glory of the tribe, race, nation, or religion. It is individuals, not groups, who are sentient—who feel pleasure and pain, fulfillment and anguish. Whether it is framed as the goal of providing the greatest happiness for the greatest number or as a categorical imperative to treat people as ends rather than means, it was the universal capacity of a person to suffer and flourish, they said, that called on our moral concern.”

“The Enlightenment thus translated the ultimate question ‘How can I be saved?’ into the pragmatic ‘How can I be happy?’—thereby heralding a new praxis of personal and social adjustment.”

“The ideals of the Enlightenment are products of human reason, but they always struggle with other strands of human nature: loyalty to tribe, deference to authority, magical thinking, the blaming of misfortune on evildoers.”― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“We must cultivate our garden.”

“Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.” Voltaire

“Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.”

“To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.” ― John Locke

“One unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant.”

“I pretend not to teach, but to inquire; and therefore cannot but confess here again,–that external and internal sensation are the only passages I can find of knowledge to the understanding. These alone, as far as I can discover, are the windows by which light is let into this DARK ROOM. For, methinks, the understanding is not much unlike a closet wholly shut from light, with only some little openings left, to let in external visible resemblances, or ideas of things without: which, would they but stay there, and lie so orderly as to be found upon occasion, it would very much resemble the understanding of a man, in reference to all objects of sight, and the ideas of them.”

― John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.”

“Why should we build our happiness on the opinons of others, when we can find it in our own hearts?”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

“It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.― Thomas Jefferson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson

Religion. Your reason is now mature enough to examine this object. In the first place, divest yourself of all bias in favor of novelty & singularity of opinion... shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear... ...Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise, and the love of others which it will procure you... In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything, because any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it... [Jefferson, Letter to his nephew, Peter Carr, advising him in matters of religion, 1787]”

“The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.”― Albert Einstein

“There is strong shadow where there is much light.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen

“How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?”
― Plato, The Allegory of the Cave

“Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.”
― William Blake

“To live is not to breathe but to act. It is to make use of our organs, our senses, our faculties, of all the parts of ourselves which give us the sentiment of our existence. The man who has lived the most is not he who has counted the most years but he who has most felt life.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, or On Education

“We owe a huge debt to Galileo for emancipating us all from the stupid belief in an Earth-centered or man-centered (let alone God-centered) system. He quite literally taught us our place and allowed us to go on to make extraordinary advances in knowledge.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“It is not easy to convey, unless one has experienced it, the dramatic feeling of sudden enlightenment that floods the mind when the right idea finally clicks into place. One immediately sees how many previously puzzling facts are neatly explained by the new hypothesis. One could kick oneself for not having the idea earlier, it now seems so obvious. Yet before, everything was in a fog.”
― Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit

“I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishments after I am dead.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
==

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

“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.”

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American life is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

“We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”

“If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

==
On the other hand, eastern enlightenment...

“Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.”
― Bodhidharma, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

How to add links, embed videos etc.

Videos: in Blogger, after clicking on "New Post"-- 1. Copy the URL of the video you want to share. 2. Click on "More options" on the far right of the toolbar above, then Insert Video icon (3d from left) 3. Select YouTube 5. Select Search 6. Paste the URL & Select it == To insert links: 1. Highlight a word or phrase in your text 2. Click on the link icon 3. Paste the URL address of the site or passage you want to link to == To insert graphics, either just copy-&-paste... OR, click on the "insert image" icon (to the right of the link icon, to the left of the "insert video" icon) and select the appropriate option == To embed Google Books pages: 1. Find the book you want to embed. 2. Select Preview 3. Select (click on) the page you want to embed. 4. Click More Actions (the three vertical dots in the upper right) 5. Select Embed (unless you just want to link the page) 6. Copy the code 7. In edit mode on blogger, select the pen icon in the upper left and click on HTML view 8. Paste the code == Familiarize yourself with the edit icons in the drop-down menu (link, insert image, insert video, etc.) Always make sure, after you Publish, that the formatting is correct on the blogsite. If not, click More options (the three horizontal dots in the upper right) and then Clear Formatting on the far right (the T with a diagonal slash).