Mill, Darwin, Kierkegaard, Marx-LH 24-27. FL 21-22, HWT 23-24. PRESENTATIONS 1. Charles Darwin's natural selection: its importance for philosophy-#6 Eden Tucker; #9 Phillip Smith; 2. Karl Marx's revolutionary philosophy - #6 Bayleigh Elliott; #9 Keegan Barrett; 3. Moksa - #9, Andrew Quinn Burton [ FL 21-22 or HWT 23-24]
HWT
1. What two concepts from Indian and Buddhist philosophy are essentially the same?
2. What are the four stages of Hindu life?
3. What is "the smile of philosophy"?
FL
1. What were Americans spending a third of their time doing, by the end of the '50s?
2. Who grew up in Marceline, MO?
3. What fantasy did Hugh Hefner sell?
4. What was added to currency in 1954?
5. What did Jane Roberts "discover" in 1963?
6. The sudden embrace of what, in the 60s, helped turn America into Fantasyland?
LH
LH
1. How did Mill disagree with Bentham about pleasure?
2. What view did Mill defend in On Liberty?
3. What's the benefit to society of open discussion, according to Mill, and what's wrong with being dogmatic?
4. Who did Bishop Wilberforce debate at Oxford in 1860?
5. The single best idea anyone ever had was what, according to whom?
6. What scientific developments since Darwin's time establish evolution by natural selection as more than just a theory or hypothesis?
7. Who was the Danish Socrates, and what was most of his writing about?
8. Why is faith irrational, according to Nigel Warburton?
9. What is "the subjective point of view"?
10. Why was Karl Marx angry? How did he think the whole of human history could be explained?
11. What was Marx's "vision"?
12. What did Marx call religion?
2. What view did Mill defend in On Liberty?
3. What's the benefit to society of open discussion, according to Mill, and what's wrong with being dogmatic?
4. Who did Bishop Wilberforce debate at Oxford in 1860?
5. The single best idea anyone ever had was what, according to whom?
6. What scientific developments since Darwin's time establish evolution by natural selection as more than just a theory or hypothesis?
7. Who was the Danish Socrates, and what was most of his writing about?
8. Why is faith irrational, according to Nigel Warburton?
9. What is "the subjective point of view"?
10. Why was Karl Marx angry? How did he think the whole of human history could be explained?
11. What was Marx's "vision"?
12. What did Marx call religion?
Discussion Questions
- Was Mill right about Bentham's account of happiness? Would you rather be a sad human or a happy pig? 139
- Was Mill right about the best way to organize society? 141
- Was Mill right about the importance of open discussion and free speech? 143
- What do you think of Huxley's reply to Wilberforce? 144
- Is Dennett right about Darwin's idea of natural selection? 146
- Darwin said the subject of God is too profound for the human intellect. 151 Agree?
- More on the Scopes Trial: re-visit the Fantasyland discussion from last week. Should the judge have allowed "my first landlord" and the other scientific experts to testify?
- If you heard a voice purporting to be God, telling you to murder your child, what would you do? 152
- Do you agree with Kierkegaard that faith is an irrational "leap"? 154
- Kierkegaard was a Christian who hated the Danish church and reviled "christendom"... Was he a good Christian? 155
- Is the "subjective point of view all-important"? 157
- Was Marx right about history as "class struggle"? 159
- What do you think of "Marx's vision"? 161
FL
- Do you watch TV (and YouTube, Netflix, etc.) and play video games as much as (or more than) the average American? 151 Do you think you watch too much? Do you read for pleasure?
- Were Walt Disney and Steve Jobs great Americans? Have their fantasy worlds made life better? 153-4
- What do you think of Hugh Hefner's Playboy philosophy? 157 [See Carlin Romano, America the Philosophical 272f.]
- What do you think of Billy Graham? 166-7 Do we need a national ad hoc pastor-in-chief?
- Should "under God" be in the pledge of allegiance? Should small children be made to recite a pledge? Should any of us pledge blind allegiance to anything? 167
- Do people who don't like churches and religions need something like Esalen? 178
- Are you New Age? Do you believe you "create your own reality"? 180
- Did psychotropics make America more of a fantasyland, in a bad or a good way (or both)? 186
- Do you talk to your plants? 187
HWT
- Is it more important to form good habits or to follow strong principles, in order to build your character and become a good person? Or both?
- If you pursue excellence (arete) in life will you be more likely to be happy? More or less likely to value happiness? What do these terms mean to you?
- Would you rather be Socrates dissatisfied or a fool satisfied? 249
- COMMENT: "Nurture makes actual what nature makes possible." 252
- Are "manners" important? 255
- Is Aristotle right about the "mark of virtue"? 257 About "the mean"? 259 Does the Confucian Doctrine of the Mean apply to philosophy itself, and some philosophers' tendency to over-emphasize "one aspect"? 261
- Should virtue expect a reward? 263
- What do you think is the best version of The Golden Rule? 264-5
- Do truly good people need a Golden Rule? 266
More DQs
- Name two or three of your favorite pleasures. Are any of them higher or better than the others? In what way? Are any of yours higher or better than those of a friend whose list includes none of yours? Why or why not?
- Is state paternalism ever warranted?
- Why don't we ever talk about state maternalism?
- What are the appropriate legal limits on speech and expression in a free society, if any?
- How would you reply to Wilberforce's debate question?
- What do you think was the best idea ever?
- Do you want a map of your own genome? Why or why not?
- Do you agree with Darwin that the subject of God is "too profound for human intellect"? Does it mean we should all be agnostic?
- What would you have done, in Abraham's position? Would you have doubted the "message" or challenged the messenger?
- Does it damage the parent-child relationship if Mom or Dad make it clear to the child that they'll always defer to the perceived instructions of a "heavenly father," even including murderous instructions? Does anything "trump the duty to be a good [parent]"?
- Would you ever do something you considered morally wrong, in the name of faith?
- Does taking a "leap of faith" make you irrational?
- How do you balance your subjective point of view with objectivity, and with the subjectivity of others? What role should inter-subjectivity play, in forming that balance?
- If you ever own a business will you pay your workers as little as possible and extract as much "surplus value" from them as you can?
- Is anything in history "inevitable"?
- Does religion make people more reconciled to oppression and exploitation, and less likely to revolt?
Kloey Jackson Section 006
ReplyDeleteLH
1. He did not agree that happiness was pleasure. He believed there were different kinds of pleasure, some greater than others.
2. His view was that giving people space to develop was the best way to organize society
3. Open discussion allowed people to think about what they believe and challenge the idea if their beliefs. Being dogmatic meaning that your beliefs have turned into prejudices.
4. Thomas Henry Huxley
5. The theory of evolution and natural selection, Daniel Dennett
6. Genetics and fossil evidence
7. Søren Kierkegaard, his writings were about choosing how to live and determining which of your decisions were the right ones.
8. It is not based on reason
9. The experience of the individual making the choices
10. a class struggle: the
struggle between the rich capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) and
the working class or proletariat.
11. Each person would contribute whatever they could to society,
and society in turn would provide for them: ‘from each according
to his ability, to each according to his need
12. The opium of the people.
Kloey Jackson Section 006
ReplyDeleteHWT
1. Moksa and Nirvana
2. The student, The householder, The forest dweller, and the wandering ascetic.
3. Teaism, being able to laugh at yourself.
Kloey Jackson section 006
ReplyDeleteI think that you cannot form good habits without following strong principles and you cannot follow strong principles without forming good habits. Everything is connected.
section 9
ReplyDeleteHWT
1. Moksa/Nirvana: "emancipation or liberation from turmoil and suffering, and freedom from rebirth."
2. The student (brahmacarya), the householder (garhasthya), the forest-dweller (vanaprastha), and the wandering ascetic (sunnyasa).
3. "Teasim...is the noble secret of laughing at yourself, calmly yet thoroughly, and is thus humour itself - the smile of philosophy."
section 9
ReplyDeleteFL
2. Walt Disney
3. Playboy
4. "In God We Trust"
5. A supernatural being called Seth
section 9
ReplyDeleteLH
1. He believed his account of happiness as pleasure was too crude, so he came up with his own version of the theory that distinguished between higher and lower pleasures.
2. He defended his view that giving each person space to develop as they saw fit was the best way to organize society.
3. He says open discussion forced people to think hard about what they believed, therefore benefiting the environment. You need to have your views challenged by people with opposing views so you don't hold them as "dead dogmas."
4. Thomas Henry Huxley
5. Daniel Dennett believed that the theory of evolution and natural selection was the single best idea anyone ever had.
6. Genetics and fossil evidence
Section #9
ReplyDeleteLH
1. Mill saw the view that pleasure is happiness as too broad, and distinguished between higher and lower forms of happiness.
2. He defended each person's space to develop in a way they saw fit in organize in society.
3. Mill believed open discussion was the way of making people think hard about what they believed. He believed being dogmatic meant that you can't defend what you believe.
HWT
ReplyDelete1. Moksa and Nirvana are essentially the same.
2. The four stages of Hindu life are the student (brahmacarya), the householder (garhasthya), the forest-dweller (vanaprastha) and the wandering ascetic (sunnyasa).
3. Teaism is the smile of philosophy.
FL
1. By the end of the 50s, Americans spent their time watching TV.
2. Walt Disney grew up in Marceline, MO.
3. The fantasy that Hefner sold is Playboy.
4. “In God We Trust” was added.
5. Roberts discovered a supernatural being named Seth.
6. Psychotropics helped turn America into Fantasyland.
LH
1. Mill thought you can have different types of pleasure and some would be better than others. Mill states, “it would be better to be a dissatisfied Socrates than a satisfied fool.”
2. To produce more happiness, Mill defended his view on individual freedom.
3. The benefit to society of open discussion helped people think critically about what they believed in. Being dogmatic can lead you to prejudices you are unable to defend.
4. Wilberfoce debated with Thomas Henry Huxley.
5. According to Daniel Dennet, the best idea anyone has ever had was Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.
6. Genetics and fossil evidence helped establish evolution by natural selection as more than a theory or hypothesis.
7. Søren Kierkegaard was the Danish Socrates and his writing was mainly about choosing how to live and the difficulties of knowing if your decision was right.
8. According to Warburton, faith is not based on reason.
9. The “subjective point of view” is the experience of individuals making choices.
10. Marx was angered by the grim conditions of the Industrial Revolution and the capitalist system. Marx thought human history can be explained as a class struggle.
11. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” was Marx’s vision. Individuals would contribute what they could to society and then society would provide for them.
12. Marx called religion “the opium of the people.”
Section 6.
Section 6
ReplyDeleteFL
1. What were Americans spending a third of their time doing, by the end of the '50s?
Most Americans spent a third of their time watching TV.
2. Who grew up in Marceline, MO?
Walt Disney grew up in Marceline, MO.
3. What fantasy did Hugh Hefner sell?
Hugh Hefner sold the fantasy of Playboy.
4. What was added to currency in 1954?
“In God We Trust” was added to currency in 1954.
Section 6
ReplyDeleteHWT
1. Moksa and Nirvana
2. The four stages of Hindu life are the student (brahmacarya), the householder (garhasthya), the forest-dweller (vanaprastha), and the wandering ascetic (sunnyasa).
3. What is "the smile of philosophy"? ‘Teaism,’ says Okakura, ‘is the noble secret of laughing at yourself, calmly yet thoroughly, and is thus humour itself.
Section 009
ReplyDeleteLH
1.) Mill believed Bentham's view was too crude. Mill's theory distinguished between higher and lower pleasures
2.)Mill defended his view of organizing society in On Liberty. He believed that each person needed space to develop.
3.)People being forced to think hard about what they believed is the benefit of open discussion according to Mill. Being dogmatic is wrong in the way of not being able to defend your prejudice.