Kant, Bentham, Hegel, Schopenhauer-LH 19-23, FL 19-20, HWT 20; and report presentations continue. (See updated schedule under NEXT)
- Do you think the human mind and its categories are like rose-colored spectacles, permanently preventing us from knowing the "noumenal" world but enabling us to see the "phenomena" more clearly? 111-12
- Was Kant's "great insight" really a breakthrough? 114
- Is sympathy irrelevant to morality? 115
- Have you ever helped someone because you felt sorry for them? Was that a moral action on your part?
- Should you ever lie? Is Kant's reasoning on this question reasonable, or rational? Is it emotionally intelligent? 117-18
- What do you think of Jeremy Bentham's auto-icon?
- Do you agree with the Greatest Happiness Principle? 122 Why or why not?
- Is a Felicific Calculus possible or desirable? 123
- Would you plug in to the Experience Machine? 125 Do you think virtual reality technology will one day make that a real option?
- If wisdom and understanding come only at a "later stage" of history, is philosophy worth doing now? 126
- Should Hegel have rejected Kant's view about noumena and phenomena? 128
- Is Geist real? Is there a "single mind" shared by all humanity? 129
- Was Hegel being arrogant to claim that Spirit first came to "know itself" in his own books?
- Was Schopenhauer right about Will? 133
- Is asceticism "the ideal way to cope with existence"? 136
FL
- Has the film industry narrowed the perceived distance between fantasy and reality? Is it like a drug? 136-7
- Is advertising manipulative and misleading? Has it engendered false desires and a confusion about what will make us happy? 138
- Do you think you would have been fooled by War of the Worlds?
- Are Americans too preoccupied with celebrity, and celebrities? 140
- Is the American suburb a mistake, a "happy fictionalization"? 143 Is suburban nostalgia racist? 144
- What do you think of LA and South Florida as fantasylands? 147-8 Do you want to live there?
HWT
- Did you know there's a Confucius Institute at MTSU? 222 Should there be a Western Philosophy Institute in China?
- Are there other "bonds" of harmony besides those noted by Mencius? 223
- What's the difference between harmony and conformity, compliance, sameness, or uniformity?
- Would we have a more eastern attitude about harmony and cosmic order in the west if Heraclitus (and Hegel) had "won out" over Plato? 225
- Do the Chinese actually have greater "family values" than westerners? 227
- Would you ever denounce your parents for political reasons?
- Do you feel a moral obligation to visit (and perhaps eventually care for) elderly relatives? 228
- Is Kant's view about Enlightenment and "maturity" an implicit critique of hierarchical and monarchical societies? 230
- Do you know any parents who try "to maintain their authority over their children after those children have grown up"? 231
- Is it disrespectful not to criticize others' views when you disagree with them? 234
- What do you think of people who are "beyond care" and have "given up"? 235
- Is/are "yin/yang" two things, or one? 237 Or are they things at all? 238
- Any comment on "picking yin"? 239 (Keep it clean please.)
- Are Daoists libertarians? 242
- Is the Confucian principle of quan anti-Kantian? 243 How about the African concept of ubuntu? 246
- Was Han China's version of Machiavelli? 244-5
Schopenhauer and his sidekick "Atman"
"His closest relationships are now with a succession of poodles, who he feels have a gentleness and humility humans lack... He acquires a new white poodle and names her Atman, after the world-soul of the Brahmins..." Consolations of Philosophy
Reminds me of...
(Cancel Dr. Seuss?!)
But he's still fun to read. He's often clever and amusing, and he's frequently right.
Schopenhauer on Hegel:
- “The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.”
- “Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.”
- “Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.”
- "Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.”
- “We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.”
- “A sense of humor is the only divine quality of man.”
- “What disturbs and depresses young people is the hunt for happiness on the firm assumption that it must be met with in life. From this arises constantly deluded hope and so also dissatisfaction. Deceptive images of a vague happiness hover before us in our dreams, and we search in vain for their original. Much would have been gained if, through timely advice and instruction, young people could have had eradicated from their minds the erroneous notion that the world has a great deal to offer them.”
- “If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of existence, or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden upon it in cold blood?”
The great rational optimist and cynical pessimist, ultimately (like us all) in the same boat. "Shipwreck is a permanent possibility," said William James...
Schopenhauer on Hegel:
“But the height of audacity in serving up pure nonsense, in stringing together senseless and extravagant mazes of words, such as had previously been known only in madhouses, was finally reached in Hegel, and became the instrument of the most barefaced general mystification that has ever taken place, with a result which will appear fabulous to posterity, and will remain as a monument to German stupidity.”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, trans. Haldane-Kemp (The World as Will and Idea, vol. 2), London: Kegan Paul, p. 22.
==
William James on Hegel:
Some "Hegelisms" James came up with, when reading Hegel while ingesting nitrous oxide:
What's mistake but a kind of take?
What's nausea but a kind of -ausea?
Sober, drunk, -unk, astonishment.
Everything can become the subject of criticism—how
criticise without something to criticise?
Agreement—disagreement!!
Emotion—motion!!!
Die away from, from, die away (without the from).
Reconciliation of opposites; sober, drunk, all the same!
Good and evil reconciled in a laugh!
It escapes, it escapes!
But——
What escapes, WHAT escapes?
Emphasis, EMphasis; there must be some emphasis in order
for there to be a phasis.
No verbiage can give it, because the verbiage is other.
Incoherent, coherent—same.
And it fades! And it's infinite! AND it's infinite!
If it was n't going, why should you hold on to it?
Don't you see the difference, don't you see the identity?
Constantly opposites united!
The same me telling you to write and not to write!
Extreme—extreme, extreme! Within the extensity that
'extreme' contains is contained the 'extreme' of intensity.
Something, and other than that thing!
Intoxication, and otherness than intoxication.
Every attempt at betterment,—every attempt at otherment,—is a——.
It fades forever and forever as we move.
What's nausea but a kind of -ausea?
Sober, drunk, -unk, astonishment.
Everything can become the subject of criticism—how
criticise without something to criticise?
Agreement—disagreement!!
Emotion—motion!!!
Die away from, from, die away (without the from).
Reconciliation of opposites; sober, drunk, all the same!
Good and evil reconciled in a laugh!
It escapes, it escapes!
But——
What escapes, WHAT escapes?
Emphasis, EMphasis; there must be some emphasis in order
for there to be a phasis.
No verbiage can give it, because the verbiage is other.
Incoherent, coherent—same.
And it fades! And it's infinite! AND it's infinite!
If it was n't going, why should you hold on to it?
Don't you see the difference, don't you see the identity?
Constantly opposites united!
The same me telling you to write and not to write!
Extreme—extreme, extreme! Within the extensity that
'extreme' contains is contained the 'extreme' of intensity.
Something, and other than that thing!
Intoxication, and otherness than intoxication.
Every attempt at betterment,—every attempt at otherment,—is a——.
It fades forever and forever as we move.
There is a reconciliation!
Reconciliation—econciliation!
By God, how that hurts! By God, how it does n't hurt!
Reconciliation of two extremes.
By George, nothing but othing!
That sounds like nonsense, but it is pure onsense!
Thought deeper than speech——!
Medical school; divinity school, school! SCHOOL! Oh my
God, oh God, oh God!
Reconciliation—econciliation!
By God, how that hurts! By God, how it does n't hurt!
Reconciliation of two extremes.
By George, nothing but othing!
That sounds like nonsense, but it is pure onsense!
Thought deeper than speech——!
Medical school; divinity school, school! SCHOOL! Oh my
God, oh God, oh God!
The most coherent and articulate sentence which came was this:—
There are no differences but differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference...
William James, On Some Hegelisms
==
==
Arts & Letters Daily search results for “schopenhauer” (5)
2013-07-11 | John Gray against humanism. Influenced by Schopenhauer, Conrad, and an abiding cynicism, the philosopher has lost hope for mankind more »
2014-03-13 | Schopenhauer called noise 'the most impertinent of all forms of interruption,' and he was right. Thus our obsession with silence: the new luxury good more »
2013-10-23 | Schopenhauer dismissed dignity as 'the shibboleth of all perplexed and empty-headed moralists.' But the notion has been revived as a liberal ideal more »
2010-01-01 | 'Hitler kept Schopenhauer's works in his knapsack through WWI, so he claimed. Too bad that he couldn''t actually spell the philosopher''s name' more »
2018-01-27 | Philosophers haven’t had much to say about middle age, but Schopenhauer is an exception. His view of the futility of desire -- getting what you want can make you unhappy -- illuminates the darkness of midlife more »
HEGEL
2011-01-01 | Darwin has displaced Hegel as a political thinker, suggests Francis Fukuyama. Is this the end of the end of history? more »
2016-08-02 | A philosophy of education. Influenced by Hegel and Darwin, John Dewey launched a revolution that overthrew the methods of the day. Hannah Arendt was not pleased more »
2017-07-26 | The tradition of Kant, Hegel, and Habermas has given way to slick performers. Is German philosophy exchanging profundity for popularity? more »
2014-12-04 | For an apostle of alienation, Herbert Marcuse sure was a media star. To think his unsettling blend of Hegel, Marx, and Freud ended up in Playboy more »
2011-01-01 | Hegel goes west. In the 1870s, an odd idea took hold on the American frontier: History had a direction, and it pointed toward St. Louis more »
2018-05-12 | For Plato, uprightness made us human; for Kant, people were inherently bent; Hegel worried about stiffness. Why does posture attract such philosophical attention? more »
2017-05-12 | Since Hegel, philosophers have declared the end of art, meaning that no further progress is possible. In that sense, it’s a good thing: Art is now free to be anything more »
KANT
2014-07-08 | What would Kant do? His maxims, applied to ethical quandaries, seem contradictory, incoherent, a mess. But there's another way more »
2012-11-29 | Harvard wants to enroll the next Homer, Kant, Dickinson. But how likely is it that future philosophers, critics, and artists will be admitted? more »
2015-02-23 | At least since Kant said the 'true strength of virtue is a tranquil mind,' anxiety has been something to avoid. Was he wrong? more »
2015-04-09 | Feeling distracted, as if advertisers, Facebook, and Apple had colonized your mental space? Is silence ever harder to find? Blame Kant more »
2015-08-21 | Kant is associated with optimism, ambition, progress. But he suffered from depression and “general morbid feelings.” His last word: “Enough” more »
2018-08-15 | Kant believed that beautiful art “must always show a certain dignity in itself.” Alfred Brendel disagrees. He believes in musical jokes more »
2018-09-14 | In 1791, a depressed Austrian woman wrote to Kant seeking advice. She later killed herself. Oh, the folly of asking philosophers for practical advice more »
2015-04-18 | John Searle has a bone to pick with Bacon, Descartes, Locke, and Kant. He blames them for the basic mistake of modern epistemology more »
2017-01-14 | Because the study of logic ended with Aristotle, Kant believed, the field had run its course. But what was logic for in the first place? more »
2016-04-22 | Philosophy has been overrun by Kant and by moralistic rules. We need a version that appeals to people — we need a return to Hume more »
2018-09-06 | Hobbes, Hume, and Kant alike sympathetic to the thought that “there must be something more,” and sensitive to the limits of speculating about God more »
2015-05-13 | From the Greek philosophers to Kant and beyond, theories of the cosmos have been proposed and discarded. Has the expansive debate finally slowed? more »
2016-05-20 | Kant declared fashion "foolish." To Kierkegaard, outer garments kept us from ascertaining inner truth. But clothes are a form of thought, freighted with meaning more »
2017-07-26 | The tradition of Kant, Hegel, and Habermas has given way to slick performers. Is German philosophy exchanging profundity for popularity? more »
2017-11-02 | Kant thought entire civilizations incapable of philosophy. Derrida said China had no philosophy, only thought. Why did Western philosophy turn its back on the world? more »
BENTHAM
2018-02-17 | The comprehensive John Stuart Mill. He was out to combine Bentham with poetry, the Enlightenment with Romanticism, and to span the entire philosophy of his time more »
Kant's Categorical Imperative
In Our Time-Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how, in the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) sought to define the difference between right and wrong by applying reason, looking at the intention behind actions rather than at consequences. He was inspired to find moral laws by natural philosophers such as Newton and Leibniz, who had used reason rather than emotion to analyse the world around them and had identified laws of nature. Kant argued that when someone was doing the right thing, that person was doing what was the universal law for everyone, a formulation that has been influential on moral philosophy ever since and is known as the Categorical Imperative. Arguably even more influential was one of his reformulations, echoed in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which he asserted that humanity has a value of an entirely different kind from that placed on commodities. Kant argued that simply existing as a human being was valuable in itself, so that every human owed moral responsibilities to other humans and was owed responsibilities in turn.
Utilitarianism
In Our Time-A moral theory that emphasises ends over means, Utilitarianism holds that a good act is one that increases pleasure in the world and decreases pain. The tradition flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and has antecedents in ancient philosophy. According to Bentham, happiness is the means for assessing the utility of an act, declaring "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." Mill and others went on to refine and challenge Bentham's views and to defend them from critics such as Thomas Carlyle, who termed Utilitarianism a "doctrine worthy only of swine."
Schopenhauer
In Our Time-Melvyn Bragg and guests AC Grayling, Beatrice Han-Pile and Christopher Janaway discuss the dark, pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.As a radical young thinker in Germany in the early 19th century, Schopenhauer railed against the dominant ideas of the day. He dismissed the pre-eminent German philosopher Georg Hegel as a pompous charlatan, and turned instead to the Enlightenment thinking of Immanuel Kant for inspiration. Schopenhauer's central idea was that everything in the world was driven by the Will - broadly, the ceaseless desire to live. But this, he argued, left us swinging pointlessly between suffering and boredom. The only escape from the tyranny of the Will was to be found in art, and particularly in music. Schopenhauer was influenced by Eastern philosophy, and in turn his own work had an impact well beyond the philosophical tradition in the West, helping to shape the work of artists and writers from Richard Wagner to Marcel Proust, and Albert Camus to Sigmund Freud
Hegel's Philosophy of Right
Free Thinking-What links Beethoven & Hegel's philosophy of freedom? Anne McElvoy talks to New Generation Thinker Seán Williams, Christoph Schuringa, Gary Browning, and Alison Stone about Hegel's discussion of freedom, law, family, markets and the state in his Principles of the Philosophy of Right 1820.
Kant's Metaphysics-Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is a great but difficult work. In this interview for Philosophy Bites A.W. Moore gives an accessible account of the main themes of the book and explains what might have been motivating Kant's approach to metaphysics (no mean feat in under 20 minutes!). Listen to Adrian Moore on Kant's Metaphysics
Section 4
ReplyDeleteI don't think that people should lie. Sometimes lying is seen as a way to "protect" others, but then they go one living thinking everything is okay when it isn't. They are in that sense living a lie. White lies are very similar in the sense they are used to "ease" pain, but since the pain lingers, it becomes worse.
Lying is unpreventable at some moments and is often done without knowing. I am a pathological lier at some moments. Some things are also exaggerated, which I consider a form of lying.
I also think children use lying as a defense to get out of trouble. But that also teaches them lying is a way to get out of consequences and helps them avoid trouble linked to poor behavior.
Kant is correct that lying is morally wrong, but everyone has different morals in life. Similar to how "right and wrong" are perceived differently throughout everyone, "morals" are the same way. Some families are okay with lying, some aren't. I don't like when people lie to me, but I have no problem doing it. Parents lie to children, but children aren't allowed to lie to parents.
I completely agree. I think that lying is used as a way for people to cover up the actions that they don't want others to know about. It is definitely used as a protection method and it's awful that people use it in that way. I think the lying, depending on the situation, can definitely be prevented. I know that there are times I think should I tell them the truth or keep it from them just because I think it could hurt someone. With that being said, I think that the only responsible and considerate thing to do is to tell the truth. Children one hundred percent use lies and deception to get out of trouble for literally anything. Exaggeration is a form of a lie in some aspects. If I exaggerate just for dramatization of a story, I don't think that that that should be considered me lying to someone. I agree with what Immanuel Kant says in that lying is morally wrong and I don't think that that is the right way to look at it and if more people did so then the lying that goes on would slowly start to decline. If everyone realized that lying to someone is morally not okay and realized how hurtful it can be, it could changed the way people look at how often they lie.
DeleteIn the ordinary course of events, I agree, lying is unethical. And habitual lying by politicians is reprehensible, as well as destructive of public trust and (thus) of democracy itself.
DeleteBut... doesn't it matter WHO you lie to, and why? What if an evil-doer asks you if you know where an innocent person can be found? Isn't it right to lie, in that instance? Won't lying to a bad person to save a good person produce greater good in the world? Shouldn't we do all the good in the world we have the opportunity to do? That's the utilitarian line.
Section 7.
ReplyDeleteOf course I've helped someone because I felt pity, and that falls under morals. I also think sometimes it's necessary to lie. On a bigger spectrum, that also means it's okay to break rules, both for the reason that morals come before rules. During the Nuremburg trials, the Nazi officers tried to play the clause that they were only following orders. Their position was hammered by saying that your morals & knowledge of what is right and wrong always come before your orders, or rules. I completely agree with that claim.
I think the movie business and showbiz extremely skews reality. They have set stereotypes that aren't even accurate, and when we encounter them in real life, we are often disappointed. However, movies and shows do provide a great escape from reality.
I totally believe that LA and Vegas, etc. are their own fantasylands, but I also believe within that "dome" of existence, it's reality. It is the reality there. Part of the issue with large places -- like the US -- is that it is so different, sometimes places feel like separate countries or realities. IF and only if I had everything going for me, maybe I'd settle down there. Maybe.
Lastly, I think overall it's disrespectful not to debate someone who doesn't agree with you. We're here to solve problems, and the world is better when we work together. On the personal scale, yeah it feels nice when people agree with you all the time, but after a while you begin to wonder are you even right in what you say? It's always good to have people around you that question you.
Everything experienced or experience-able is real, in some important sense. And yet, the term has been corrupted by "reality TV" and by political hacks who speak of alternative realities and facts etc.
ReplyDeleteMark Twain or Daniel Patrick Moynihan or somebody first said we're entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts. Lately, people who bend reality to their own preference seems to think they're totally entitled.
Section 4
ReplyDeleteHave you ever helped someone because you felt sorry for them? Was that a moral action on your part? Yes I have helped someone because I felt sorry for them. Whenever I see the homeless I try and bring them food whenever im able as I imagine myself in that position. I have also volunteered at soup kitchens in a effort to make theirs lives a little bit easier. Yes I believe it was a moral action on my part as my beliefs in certain morals I guess compelled me to do something. Some of these I developed myself while others I picked up through church or close friends.
Are Americans too preoccupied with celebrity, and celebrities? In my belief yes, very much so. The amount of shows about celebrities' live or paparazzi following around popular figures goes to show this point in action. Why each individual watches the lives of the famous never made sense to me personally but then again, im a big believer in free choice. America is increasingly being taken over culturally by Hollywood and the this in turn creates distance from reality as to what life really is. Because the average person does not live like the Kardashians, the average person can many times struggle to get by. So this obsession with celebrities is peculiar.
Kant didn't object to feeling sorry for people, he just didn't want the FEELING to be our primary motive for helping them. He wanted us to do the right thing, WHETHER OR NOT our action was accompanied by such a feeling. He didn't want right action to depend upon a feeling.
DeleteSection 8
ReplyDeleteAre Americans too preoccupied with celebrity, and celebrities? I would have to say yes. Before more modern times humanity was mostly focused on survival and could care less about a celebrity and they're doings. With civilization coming to what it is today and how much more comfortably we live, well in developed countries that is, it is a much more common occurrence. Kings and queens hundreds or even thousands of years ago had jesters and people to amuse them because they lived a life of comfort and didn't worry nearly as much as common folk. The amount of excess and prosperity that Americans have today gives them much more free time on their hands and they are looking for something to fill that hole or fantasize about. Who better than the wealthy, attractive, and freak athletes to idolize. I would personally say that the average American is too preoccupied with these celebrities but who am I to tell another how to spend their free time. If someone would rather follow around these celebrities than spend their time doing something productive that's their own prerogative. I think this life of leisure has softened the American public and many would rather fantasize about being rich and famous instead of taking the steps to get to that same level.
Is sympathy irrelevant to morality? 115
ReplyDeleteKant's view of morality and doing what's right was very intriguing. When I first started reading about it, I wasn't sure if I understood or agreed. However, I think Kant was making a valid point. If we only doing good because we feel sympathy for a certain person, we may not be doing it out of the right place. Sympathy and empathy are important things to feel I think, but it shouldn't be the only reason why we are willing to help someone. It should be simply because we know we should help them if we are able to.
I think we do need to make sure that we are doing kind acts because we know that is what we are supposed to do. I would say I agree with Kant on this one, I don't agree on some the extremes of his views, but with this one I agree. If feeling and sympathy is the only driving force behind one's good acts then what happens when they should do good, but they don't feel like it in the moment? There are going to be situations in life where you should help someone, give, etc... but if these acts only take place when we feel like it then we don't really care about doing good. We only care about what's convenient for us. Kant's take on this brought some good perspective.
Are Americans too preoccupied with celebrity, and celebrities? 140
Yes, I think that American culture is too preoccupied with celebrity. The most unimportant information about celebrities are now top stories in today's news. Culture is so caught up in what these individuals are doing and as a result these people get put on pedestals. People begin trying to be like them, and they become obsessed honestly. It's good to have people you look up to or who inspire you, but the whole celebrity culture is a bit much in today's American culture. These are just people at the end of the day. They are still people and I think people forget that and in turn become entitled to feeling like they deserve to know every aspect of a celebrity's life.
Response Log:
Replied to a comment for Jan 28
Responded to questions for Jan 28
Responded to questions for Feb 2nd
Responded to questions for Feb 4th
Responded to questions for Feb 9th
Responded to questions for Feb 11th
Responded to questions for Feb 16th
Responded to questions for Feb 18th
Responded to questions for Feb 25th
Responded to questions for March 2nd
"If feeling and sympathy is the only driving force behind one's good acts then what happens when they should do good, but they don't feel like it in the moment?" --Exactly.
DeleteHave you ever helped someone because you felt sorry for them? Was that a moral action on your part?
ReplyDelete----Yes, and I think it’s a moral action, even though it was done with sympathy. I also think just because something was done out of sympathy doesn’t mean that it can’t also be from a place of moral obligation, unlike Kant. I don’t think you can feel sympathy without a feeling of moral obligation.
Should you ever lie? Is Kant's reasoning on this question reasonable, or rational? Is it emotionally intelligent? 117-18
----I think there are some situations where it’s okay to lie. I think Kant was being overly dramatic with the example of a murderer looking for your friend. Not really related, but it really annoys me when people make up all these moral black-and-white rules.
Would you plug in to the Experience Machine? 125 Do you think virtual reality technology will one day make that a real option?
----I would definitely try out the Experience Machine and have fun. Of course I’d still prioritize real life though. I don’t know if virtual reality technology will get this advanced, but I think it’s possible. I hope so because that would be really cool.
Do you know any parents who try "to maintain their authority over their children after those children have grown up"? 231
----Yes, I think it’s pretty common. I also think there are some parents that try to exert too much authority over younger children, like not giving them any choices in what they wear, forcing them to interact with people they don’t want to out of social obligation, forcing them into a sport or activities after the children have given it a shot and clearly aren’t interested.
"I also think just because something was done out of sympathy doesn’t mean that it can’t also be from a place of moral obligation, unlike Kant" --Again, Kant's not AGAINST sympathy. He just doesn't want our rectitude held hostage by feelings. Virtuous people are virtuous whether they feel like it or not.
Delete==
I think there's a good chance that "virtual reality" will become seductively "real"... and we may have to pry some of our peers out of the holo-deck and into counseling sessions to reclaim their sense of actual reality.
==
Emerson said, to such parents: "You're trying to make another you. One is enough."
Section 4
ReplyDeleteHas the film industry narrowed the perceived distance between fantasy and reality? Is it like a drug? 136-7 I think It changes our perspectives and as a result, we have unrealistic or unreal expectations. For example when party scenes are shot you see lights and music and the characters are posed cool. While in reality we are given a bad hangover and barely any memory of the night before. Having a film minor I know movies have moved past party-like scenes and if they aren’t beneficial to the plot, then they are usually cut. Lately, there have been more adaptations of books made and remakes made than I can count. I would say it is like a drug because most of the time you leave a movie theatre after viewing you think “Woah I could do that. That was amazing”. When in reality no you can’t because you have to clock in for work tomorrow morning.
Is advertising manipulative and misleading? Has it engendered false desires and confusion about what will make us happy? 138 Advertising is very manipulative and misleading. If you look at the diet commercials you see, how misleading they are. Especially with “Influencers” doing diet tea’s, and lollipops, but they continuously look the same.
Do you think you would have been fooled by War of the Worlds? Possibly but I would like to have help creating it. When talking about the event, it was the first of its kind and really set the waves for “fake news”, no not the phrase that Fox news uses when they see something that doesn’t agree with them. But takes a story, fact or fiction, and uses it to create an event in pop culture. Like the Kayne West and Taylor Swift drama, that started off with just a recording and then ended up being a best-selling album.
Are Americans too preoccupied with celebrity, and celebrities? 140 Yes the information above will show I take part in pop culture and celebrity drama. It distracts us from our own problems.
Is the American suburb a mistake, a "happy fictionalization"? 143 Is suburban nostalgia racist? 144 Yes, American suburbs were made for capitalism because rich white inner-city families controlled the majority of the economy at the time in the 1950-the 60s when suburbs started popping up. I think it is racist because personally where I lived the majority of people were white, and if you have ever read A Raisin In The Sun, it is a play that talks about the racism black families faced when moving into the suburbs.
What do you think of LA and South Florida as fantasylands? 147-8 Do you want to live there? I think LA caters to the young people’s ideas of fantasy land while south Florida caters to old people’s ideas.LA offers celebrities and Hollywood parties with drugs, while Florida offers retirement, relaxation, and drugs. Drugs are always in fantasylands.
Older Daughter moved out to LA, with her film major. Her timing wasn't great, but she says she's in the right place. She could care less about celebrities and drugs, especially amidst a pandemic.
Deletesection 4:
ReplyDeleteIs sympathy irrelevant to morality?
according to Kant doing the right because you feel sorry for said person or group would not be a moral action. so Yes sympathy is irrelevant to mortality because regardless of how you feel, you should do the right thing because you know it is your duty. Even if your emotions may feel otherwise doing the right thing because regardless is mortality.
Is advertising manipulative and misleading? Has it engendered false desires and a confusion about what will make us happy?
It most certainly can be and has before. I'm sure most of us noticed the car commercials during the super bowl this year. For example, There was one in particular I thought was very lucrative. This commercial showed someone injured by a car crash, followed by someone being rescued out a building on fire. It captured the audiences attention to the hero's such as the medic or fire fighter. but then swiftly changed the pace and made reference to how these heroes were able to save lives because they used ford vehicles as their work cars. It was insane to me how they can even exploit such heroism as there own.
Section 8
ReplyDeleteDo you think the human mind and its categories are like rose-colored spectacles, permanently preventing us from knowing the "noumenal" world but enabling us to see the "phenomena" more clearly? 111-12
Yes, everything is perception. The mind tries to understand things easily by always making connections, or short cuts of thought. The way WE perceive the world is relative.
Is sympathy irrelevant to morality? 115
I think it is relevant to morality, even though empathy is a human trait, sympathy causing moral actions are still moral. On the other hand doing the right thing even when you don’t want to says more about you than doing a good act out of emotion.
I agree that they are related. I feel as though because you may be sympathetic you want to do the right thing and possibly help someone out. also if you have pure and good morals you would want to put yourself in the other person's position and help them out.
DeleteSection 8
ReplyDeleteWould you plug into the Experience Machine? Why or why not?
I would use it and experience it but I would not make it into my new reality. Nothing in the Experience Machine would be real and I want a life in the real world. The possible happy connections you would make in it wouldn't be real but made of coding from a computer. There's also satisfaction from achieving happiness on your own and not just given to you.
Do you think you would have been fooled by War of the Worlds?
As the person I am now and the experiences I have had, I do not think I would've been fooled. It's just far too outrageous to be believable. Given if I grew up during that time maybe I would've believed but even then I still doubt it. With all the other fake things and new forms of entertainment going around during that time, I would've seen it as just a fictional story. What makes it believable is it interrupting the regular news and radio so that added to the belief. Overall, I would like to think I wouldn't be tricked but who knows.
Do you feel a moral obligation to visit (and perhaps eventually care for) elderly relatives?
Maybe a little bit but I visit my grandparents and would help take care of them not because I feel an obligation to do so but because I love them. They're my family and while they have wanted me to succeed in life and have helped me get to where I am today, they also love and didn't fixate solely on my success. The slight obligation comes from me feeling like that it is just the right thing to do but overall I visit them and would care for them out of love for my family.
Keylee Crutcher Section 8
ReplyDeleteIs sympathy irrelevant to morality? 115
--- Morality is very subjective. If you take the most average answer from everyone in the world, it would probably be "No, it's relevant. If it's not relevant then they didn't actually care" or something along those lines. The majority of people determine right from wrong based on their emotions, and others from reason based on how other people will react emotionally if they know what they did. Emotions are definitely tied in with most peoples ideas on morality and I feel that that makes them a valid part of it because morality itself is subjective.
Do you agree with the Greatest Happiness Principle? 122 Why or why not?
---Yes I do. Technically if you add some more steps its what I live by. I don't think it should be used on whole populations though because humans can be a little twisted, I don't really have a full opinion on that yet though.
Is a Felicific Calculus possible or desirable? 123
---I think it is possible to an extent and it is desirable for me. If I really took the time and did that on everything I do, maybe I could find interests I didn't know that I had and could focus on them more. I would choose to do the things that make me happier more often if I knew they were (relatively) objectively better than something else.
Would you plug in to the Experience Machine? 125 Do you think virtual reality technology will one day make that a real option?
---I'm 99% sure it will happen. I would love to do it as long as we don't consciously know that were in there- I feel that that would ruin it. However, only experiencing happiness doesn't make sense, it honestly seems impossible. If you don't know sadness you don't feel the full effect of happiness. It would be nice to still have some minimal sadness every now and then or the whole happiness will blind in with your whole life.
Section 4
ReplyDeleteHave you ever helped anyone because you feel sorry for them?
The short answer is yes, but I don't think it was a bad thing. It is good to help people out when they need it. Feeling sorry for people doesn't mean that you are any better than them. Sometimes people just need help and if you have morals, it is the right thing to do.
Do you think you would have been fooled by "War of the Worlds"?
Honestly I don't think I would have been fooled by the movie, but I definitely would have done some more research into it to make sure it wasn't real. I wouldn't consider that being fooled. But at the time that the movie came out, technology was not like it is now, so I can see how some people would have been fooled by the movie. But, I think that a lot of people were just too ignorant to believe that all that stuff was actually happening on earth. Even if it was, why would it be in a movie instead of being on the news?
I agree with your first statement. Just because I feel sorry for them does not mean I am in any way better than them. That is like helping out a homeless man and giving him some food and money. I obviously felt bad for him. I wanted to make his day, but I did not push the idea of me being better. I did it because I feel like everyone deserves a chance and happiness.
Deletesection 8 Is sympathy irrelevant to morality? 115 Bottom line emotions are important in a persons life as what we consider morality is how you consider the world in your eyes. Depending what you see sympathy could be or couldn't be relevant. For example someone you consider good nature sympathy would be natural thing when they consider what is right and what is not. Then someone you considered to be bad natured could care less what happens to other people as morality to them could be whatever happens to anyone else does not concern me or if their actions affect people in a bad way and affects him/she in a good way they will not care what happens to other people. Would you plug into the Experience Machine? Why or why not? No i would not as to me even if experiencing happiness is what people would want. To me sadness comes with happiness you haft to feel sadness to eventually feel happiness. In the long run only experiencing happiness could be a bad thing as it dull the effect it would have on you each time. To me I think it would be better to not plug in a experience machine as I would want to feel the sadness that comes with happiness
ReplyDeleteMarim Sameer
ReplyDeleteSection 7
Discussion answer/ weekly essay
Is advertising manipulative and misleading? Has it engendered false desires and a confusion about what will make us happy? 138
Are Americans too preoccupied with celebrity, and celebrities?
I would like to answer these two questions and link them together. I do believe that advertising is manipulative and misleading. Advertisements make it seem like “this is the next best thing” and if you do not have it, you are not good enough. Kids growing up in today's time will experience this the most. They are constantly around technology and with technology there is always some type of ads. We already see kids with phones. Earlier on kids were not even aloud to have phone. As they group up, they are going to see that new models of that phone came out and they are going to constant want to upgrade to fit it. It makes these kids depend on materialistic items in order to be happy and satisfied. Kids growing up will start to lose the true reasons of happiness. They will start to believe that money buys happiness when it truly does not. I want to tie this in with the fact that I do believe Americans are too preoccupies with celebrities. That is how some advertisements work. They get the celebrity to have their merchandise and people, especially the young one, look up to those celebrities and want to be like them. Therefore, they will get that item and feel “happiness.” TVs also air reality shows of celebrities and celebrities are also constantly posting their daily routines. The people that want to be just like them tend to want to mimic them. They become the shadow of the celebrity, but never learn to become and embrace themselves.
Should you ever lie? Is Kant's reasoning on this question reasonable, or rational? Is it emotionally intelligent? 117-18
ReplyDeletesection 7
I believe that lying is a very slippery slope. On one hand, lying about where your friend is in order to save her life from a murderer is seen as heroic or good. But, lying to your teacher saying your dog ate your homework is seen as immoral or bad, perhaps even punishable. I think that whether or not you should lie depends on your circumstance such as the ones above.
I do not think Kant has a reasonable outlook on lying. The book itself says that he had a very extreme view about it which I agree with. Saying that if you lie and your friend actually did go to the park and was murdered for it just does not make sense in my head. If my friend knocked on my door looking for a place to hide and she goes upstairs to hide. What in my head would think "well I guess I shouldn't lie to the murderer because what if she went to the park for no reason at all after me telling her to hide upstairs."
Once again, being emotionally intelligent all depends on the circumstance and if you feel that it is the right thing to do.
Have you ever helped someone because you felt sorry for them? Was that a moral action on your part?
ReplyDeleteSection 7
I have helped a lot of people in my short time on this planet but It was never because I felt sorry for that person. It would have been because they really needed the help and im in a position to help them. Morals are generally not involved in the choice to help someone because I have never actually helped a person do something wrong at that point in time would I involve morals. Since in my case, ive only helped people better themselves, morals are not really involved. one could argue it is morally correct to help someone who needs it but I don't think that it is an obligation.
Do you feel a moral obligation to visit (and perhaps eventually care for) elderly relatives? 228
ReplyDeleteI do feel a moral obligation to visit and care for elderly relatives. I know that one days my parents will become old and I will be the person responsible to take care of them. They will become like babies again, needing to make sure that all their needs are met like eating,helping them places, making sure they are clean. It's because they were the ones who sacrificed time and energy for me to grow up and become an adult, and to show my gratitude for them, it is only right that I return the favor.
Have you ever helped someone because you felt sorry for them? Was that a moral action on your part?
I help people because I want to make their situation better. Of course I feel sorry for them, because they are going through something and I want to be their help to them. It's up to the value of the person offering help and if they are being genuine, otherwise it may be look like a cheap handout. I want to help because I am in the situation, and I don't really like seeing people suffer. I don't know about morals being involved, it is seeing a situation that could be resolved that I help.
Do you know any parents who try "to maintain their authority over their children after those children have grown up"? 231
Yes, in India, it is pretty common because it is hard for children to disobey what their parents command due to the strict familial culture set up. It does not matter what age the children are, they still have to obey their parents.
Hi, Rebecca! I liked hearing your thoughts on this section. I also feel a moral obligation to visit elderly relatives or just the elderly in general. Like you mentioned, they get to a point where they are unable to take care of themselves and their survival depends on the help of others.
DeleteDo you agree with the Greatest Happiness Principle? 122 Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the Greatest Happiness Principle. I understand that one would rather make a choice that creates the most happiness, but you cannot please everyone. Although a dark example, think about the Holocaust. The people of Germany elected Hitler to be their leader as they anticipated him to do great things; however, we know that he had alternative intentions. He was voted in because he was expected to bring happiness. I think the general idea of the Greatest Happiness Principle is sound, but in application it does not work.
Would you plug in to the Experience Machine? 125 Do you think virtual reality technology will one day make that a real option?
I believe that I would plug into the Experience Machine. I think that this machine is much like any substance that gives pleasure. Some people use drugs to escape reality and reach a high. This machine acts in a similar way, but hopefully safer. I think that virtual reality technology will one day make this an option. It can already make somebody think that they are in a haunted house, or on a roller coaster. I do not think that the notion of an experience machine is far from reality.
Section 7
ReplyDeleteHas the film industry narrowed the perceived distance between fantasy and reality? Is it like a drug? 136-7
I think that it has and it is not healthy at all. I know that I grew up expecting a Disney fairytale type romance and that is not at all what happened. It is like a drug because fantasy is so much better than reality and it is hard to not want that. I think we are failing kids by letting them believe the lies of Hollywood and setting them up so their expectations will always fall short and reality will never be satisfying. Especially with the rise of social media and filters, the line between fantasy and reality has never been more blurred.
Do the Chinese actually have greater "family values" than westerners? 227
I think so. They seem to respect their ancestors more. In America, it seems once people get old they are cast off and thrown in nursing homes.
Log:
-Answered questions on 2/24 post
-Answered questions on 2/18 post
-Weekly Essay on 2/4 post
-Answered questions on 2/2 post
-Answered questions on 1/28 post
Ash Warner Section 7
ReplyDeleteIs it disrespectful not to criticize others' views when you disagree with them?
It is not disrespectful at all personally, I think its actually more respectful to sit and listen then say a single word criticizing their point(s). The problem with criticizing people is that it truly does no good. 99% of the time all they’re going to do is get upset, justify themselves, and not understand why they were being criticized, so mentally they will feel attacked and when you feel attacked you’re less likely to actually listen to the opposition points. Instead of criticizing people for sharing a different belief, I believe people should listen to why others believe in what they believe and fill in hopefully what they’re missing or are wrong on. In times like now this would be much more difficult. The current political atmosphere in America as of right now is beyond toxic and I believe it reflects how entitled most Americans are. They believe they’re right just because they said it so they wont even listen a possible other solution just because it goes against what they think. So the only thing criticizing has done is made things worse, so maybe if we switched to actually listening to the opposition and trying to find some middle ground maybe we can instead of criticizing each other, maybe we can start toward critiquing one another.
Sydney Davis Section 7
ReplyDeleteIf wisdom and understanding come only at a "later stage" of history, is philosophy worth doing now? 126
I think philosophy is still relevant and worth doing now. As humanity continues on there will always be someone who is considered more wise and understanding in philosophical ideas. Therefore continuing to practice philosophy will continue to teach the younger generation and help guide them to become these wise people. If philosophy was to just be stopped, then there would be so many lessons missed out and would get lost, i believe continuing to spread these ideas will continue to teach the generations as they come up with their own ideas that will teach their generations to come, and so forth.
Section 4
ReplyDeleteShould you ever lie? Is Kant's reasoning on this question reasonable, or rational? Is it emotionally intelligent?
Personally I feel like their are times when lies help in certain situations. For the most part though I believe that lies should be avoided if at all possible. Telling lies are a bit of a gray area because they can help or hinder a person if they are caught in a lie.
Do you know any parents who try "to maintain their authority over their children after those children have grown up"?
Yes I knew someone that was from India and their parents were trying to maintain absolute control over their children. However this is just how it is over their and how it has been for awhile. I do not agree with this but they don't have a problem with it.
Have you ever helped someone because you felt sorry for them? Was that a moral action on your part?
I have helped some people because I felt sorry for them. I feel like for the most part it was a moral action. Being kind to others is just one of the things that I believe in and especially so if they are struggling.
Section 4
ReplyDeleteHas the film industry narrowed the perceived distance between fantasy and reality? Is it like a drug? 136-7
Parts of the film industry has narrowed the perceptions of fantasy and reaislty. They have been using better methods to bring such fanstaies to reaislty. Iron mans cave armor is a real thing. And it like a drug partly for escapism.
Is sympathy irrelevant to morality?
ReplyDeleteI think that sympathy and morality are relevant to each other because people tend to do the morally right thing usually out of sympathy. If someone has the heart to have sympathy for another person in trouble they are also most likely to be a morally good person. Most of the time the thing that leads us to do the morally right choice is because of sympathy we have towards the other person.