Up@dawn 2.0 (blogger)

Delight Springs

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Questions NOV 9

If you've not been to class lately, you probably are NOT yet on the final report presentations schedule. Let me know if you want to be, ASAP.

PRESENTATIONS NOV 9

    1. William James (WJ), Is Life Worth Living? - #10 EMMA W. #11 HASSAN. #13 ALLYSON C.


    2. Sick Souls, Healthy Minds (SSHM) Prologue - #10 JOSIAH. #11 CONNOR. #13 DAVID S.

    3. FL 39-40 - #10 MARK M. #11 DIXON D. #13 CIARA R.


WGU

1. What mixed messages keep us in states of immaturity?

2. The older you get, the more you know what?

3. What does the U-bend tell us about aging?

4. Growing up means realizing what?

5. Philosophy is an attempt to wrestle with what three questions, according to Kant?

6. The young have only vague and erroneous notions of what, according to de Beauvoir?

7. Shakespeare's As You Like It is a gloss on what modern message?

8. Philosophers seek answers to children's questions such as what?


SSHM

1. "Anhedonia" is what?

2. What was Renouvier's definition of free will?

3. Renouvier said an individual's will could break what?

4. What must one frequently do, according to James, to establish reciprocity in a relationship?

5. "Looking on the bright side," though often not objectively warranted, is nonetheless what?

6. Why did James think most of his contemporaries would not have preferred to "expunge" the Civil War?

7. Readiness for war is the essence of what, according to General Lea?

8. James says he devoutly believes in what, and in a future that has outlawed what?

9. Non-military conscription of our "gilded youth" would do what for them, according to James?

==

LH

  1. What sort of childhood did Kieran Setiya have? Can you relate?
  2. What was KS's response to the pandemic? What was yours?
  3. What did Aristotle and Hume say about friendship?
  4. What is the impact of social isolation on health?
  5. What does KS say about Descartes, Hegel, Sartre, and Wittgenstein?
  6. KS is unsure about which view of Aristotle's?
  7. What "dual propensity" did Kant say belongs to human nature?
  8. What is KS's picture of friendship?
  9. What is the path to strong relationships?

Discussion Questions

  • Is suffering the rule, not the exception, in the human condition? 43
  • Can facing death provide an impetus to live? 46
  • Why do you think so many who attempt and fail suicide say they experienced immediate regret for the attempt? 47
  • What has believing in free will enabled you to do, that you couldn't or wouldn't have done otherwise? 
  • Are you ever unsettled by a "psychological upturn"? 51
  • Do you consider yourself fully "embodied"? 54
  • Do you find anything about war "ideal, sacred, spiritual" etc.?
  • Can sports function as a moral equivalent of war, at least to the extent of channeling our martial imupulses into benign forms of expression on playing fields, in harmless competition? Or do sports intensify and exacerbate the aggressive side of human nature?
  • Are most politicians "pliant" like McKinley, easily "swept away" by war fever?
  • Do we glorify war and millitarism excessively, in this culture? 
  • "Patriotism no one thinks discreditable" (1284). True? Should we sharply distinguish patriotism from nationalism?
  • What do you think of James's references to our "feminism" as a mark of weakness or lack of hardihood? 1285-6
  • Instead of an army enlisted "against Nature," do you think we can muster an army in defense of nature and against anthropogenic environmental destruction?

==

FL

1. What gives Andersen "the heebie-jeebies"?

2.  What does Disneyfication denote?

3.  A third of people at theme parks are what?

4. Andersen thinks we've become more like what?

5. Andersen argues that Americans are not just exceptionally religious, but that what?


DQ

  • Should we be worried or excited (both, neither?) about the future impact of "augmented reality" technologies? 395
  • Does the prevalence of adults infatuated with the world of Disney indicate an increasingly infantilized public (in Susan Neiman's sense of the tern)?
  • What do you think of Rhonda Byrne's Secret advice? 408


LISTEN (11.9.21). "The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party," begins James's "Moral Equivalent of War." This is no idle metaphysical dispute about squirrels and trees, it's ultimately about our collective decision as to what sort of species we intend to become. It's predicated on the very possibility of  deciding anything, of choosing and enacting one identity and way of being in the world over another. Can we be more pacifistic and mutually supportive, less belligerent and violent? Can we pull together and work cooperatively in some grand common cause that dwarfs our differences? Go to Mars and beyond with Elon, maybe? 

It's Carl Sagan's birthday today, he'd remind us that while Mars is a nice place to visit we wouldn't probably want to live there. Here, on this "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam," is where we must make our stand. Here, on the PBDThe only home we've ever known.

In light of our long human history of mutual- and self-destruction, the substitution for war of constructive and non-rapacious energies directed to the public good ought to be an easier sell. Those who love the Peace Corps and its cousin public service organizations are legion, and I'm always happy to welcome their representatives to my classroom. Did that just last year... (continues)

==

The Moral Equivalent of War

by William James
This essay, based on a speech delivered at Stanford University in 1906, is the origin of the idea of organized national service. The line of descent runs directly from this address to the depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps to the Peace Corps, VISTA, and AmeriCorps. Though some phrases grate upon modern ears, particularly the assumption that only males can perform such service, several racially-biased comments, and the notion that the main form of service should be viewed as a "warfare against nature," it still sounds a rallying cry for service in the interests of the individual and the nation.

The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party. The military feelings are too deeply grounded to abdicate their place among our ideals until better substitutes are offered than the glory and shame that come to nations as well as to individuals from the ups and downs of politics and the vicissitudes of trade. There is something highly paradoxical in the modern man's relation to war. Ask all our millions, north and south, whether they would vote now (were such a thing possible) to have our war for the Union expunged from history, and the record of a peaceful transition to the present time substituted for that of its marches and battles, and probably hardly a handful of eccentrics would say yes. Those ancestors, those efforts, those memories and legends, are the most ideal part of what we now own together, a sacred spiritual possession worth more than all the blood poured out. Yet ask those same people whether they would be willing, in cold blood, to start another civil war now to gain another similar possession, and not one man or woman would vote for the proposition. In modern eyes, precious though wars may be they must not be waged solely for the sake of the ideal harvest. Only when forced upon one, is a war now thought permissible... (continues)

==

War

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 

Some reject the very idea of the “morality of war”.[1] Of those, some deny that morality applies at all once the guns strike up; for others, no plausible moral theory could license the exceptional horrors of war. The first group are sometimes called realists. The second group are pacifists. The task of just war theory is to seek a middle path between them: to justify at least some wars, but also to limit them (Ramsey 1961). Although realism undoubtedly has its adherents, few philosophers find it compelling.[2] The real challenge to just war theory comes from pacifism. And we should remember, from the outset, that this challenge is real. The justified war might well be a chimera.

However, this entry explores the middle path between realism and pacifism. It begins by outlining the central substantive divide in contemporary just war theory, before introducing the methodological schisms underpinning that debate. It then discusses the moral evaluation of wars as a whole, and of individual acts within war (traditionally, though somewhat misleadingly, called jus ad bellum and jus in bello respectively)... (continues)

==



==

...war poetry... Top 10 War Poems... Poems Against War... Teddy Roosevelt on "The Strenuous Life"...

   

8 comments:

  1. SSHM

    1. "Anhedonia" is what?
    -Inability to feel pleasure.

    2. What was Renouvier's definition of free will?
    -"The sustaining of a thought because i choose to when i might have other thoughts."

    3. Renouvier said an individual's will could break what?
    -"Logical community of a mechanical series and be the initial cause of another series of phenomena."

    4. What must one frequently do, according to James, to establish reciprocity in a relationship?
    -Meeting in the middle.

    5. "Looking on the bright side," though often not objectively warranted, is nonetheless what?
    -Life is harsh and cruel.

    6. Why did James think most of his contemporaries would not have preferred to "expunge" the Civil War?
    -"There is something highly paradoxical in the modern man's relation to war."

    7. Readiness for war is the essence of what, according to General Lea?
    -"The essence of nationality, and ability in it the supreme measure of the health of nations."

    8. James says he devoutly believes in what, and in a future that has outlawed what?
    "Reign of peace and in the gradual advent of some sort of a socialistic equilibrium. Acts of war shall be formally outlawed as between civilized peoples."

    9. Non-military conscription of our "gilded youth" would do what for them, according to James?
    -"Knocked out of them, and to come back into society with healthier sympathies and soberer ideas."

    ReplyDelete
  2. LH
    1. What sort of childhood did Kieran Setiya have? Can you relate?
    -Solidary childhood with few friends, he was not very lonely. Yes and no

    2. What was KS's response to the pandemic? What was yours?
    -He started a podcast to help keep his loneliness at bay. I learned new skills during the pandemic

    3. What did Aristotle and Hume say about friendship?
    -"without friends no one would choose to live."

    4. What is the impact of social isolation on health?
    -"High blood pressure, lack of exercise, obesity, or smoking... chronic feeling of isolation can drive a cascade of physiological events that actually accelerates the aging process."

    5. What does KS say about Descartes, Hegel, Sartre, and Wittgenstein?
    "If these philosophers are right, we have a metaphysical need for one another."

    6. KS is unsure about which view of Aristotle's?
    -"Man is by nature a political animal."

    7. What "dual propensity" did Kant say belongs to human nature?
    "we need others, but we recoil from being ruled or overwhelmed by them, wanting space of our own."

    8. What is KS's picture of friendship?
    "People having drinks together, laughing at each others jokes, grieving, sharing stories, watching movies, playing games, and cooking food."

    9. What is the path to strong relationships?
    -Learning how to listen.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SSHM #10
    1. "Anhedonia" is what?

    Inability to feel pleasure.

    2. What was Renouvier's definition of free will?

    Choosing a different thought over other thoughts you may have.

    3. Renouvier said an individual's will could break what?

    Logical community of a mechanical series and be the initial cause of another series of phenomena.

    4. What must one frequently do, according to James, to establish reciprocity in a relationship?

    Meet in the middle.

    5. "Looking on the bright side," though often not objectively warranted, is nonetheless what?

    Life is cruel and harsh.

    6. Why did James think most of his contemporaries would not have preferred to "expunge" the Civil War?

    Something paradoxical in a modern man’s relation to war.

    7. Readiness for war is the essence of what, according to General Lea?

    Essence of nationality.

    8. James says he devoutly believes in what, and in a future that has outlawed what?

    Military organization.

    9. Non-military conscription of our "gilded youth" would do what for them, according to James?


    Childishness eliminated.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LH #10

    1. What sort of childhood did Kieran Setiya have? Can you relate?
    Solitary childhood. Yes.
    2. What was KS's response to the pandemic? What was yours?
    He started a podcast. I played video games.
    3. What did Aristotle and Hume say about friendship?
    Without friends, no one would choose to live.
    4. What is the impact of social isolation on health?
    Accelerates the aging process.
    5. What does KS say about Descartes, Hegel, Sartre, and Wittgenstein?
    If they are right, we have a metaphysical need for one another.
    6. KS is unsure about which view of Aristotle's?
    Man is a political animal.
    7. What "dual propensity" did Kant say belongs to human nature?
    We need others, but we don’t want to be controlled by them.
    8. What is KS's picture of friendship?
    People having drinks together, laughing at each others jokes, grieving, sharing stories, watching movies, playing games, and cooking food.
    9. What is the path to strong relationships?
    Learning to listen.

    ReplyDelete
  5. #11
    SSHM
    1. "Anhedonia" is what?
    Not being able to feel pleasure
    2. What was Renouvier's definition of free will?
    Choosing a different thought over other thoughts you may have.
    3. Renouvier said an individual's will could break what?
    Logical community of a mechanical series and be the initial cause of another series of phenomena.
    4. What must one frequently do, according to James, to establish reciprocity in a relationship?
    compromise.
    5. "Looking on the bright side," though often not objectively warranted, is nonetheless what?
    Life gets hard at times, find the silver lining.
    6. Why did James think most of his contemporaries would not have preferred to "expunge" the Civil War?
    Something's paradoxical in a modern man's relation to war.
    7. Readiness for war is the essence of what, according to General Lea?
    The essence of nationality.
    8. James says he devoutly believes in what, and in a future that has outlawed what?
    military organization.
    9. Non-military conscription of our "gilded youth" would do what for them, according to James?
    The childishness would be removed, and they would return to society with more clarity of thought.

    ReplyDelete
  6. WGU
    1. Make us want to be serious and accept the world. The other is products and suggestions to stay young
    2. The more you know that plateaus are not endless.
    3. Unhappy until middle age, global low is 46
    4. No time is the best time in life
    5. What can I know, what should I do, what may I hope
    6. Experience of old age itself
    7. Life sucks and then you die
    8. Why grow up? Why follow rules, education, how do I shape my life?
    SSHM
    1. Inability to feel pleasure
    2. Sustaining a thought because of choosing when he may have another thought
    3. Break the logical continuity of a mechanical series and be the inital cause of another series phenomena
    4. Meeting half way
    5. Life is harsh and cruel in all of the ways that the sick souls suspects
    6. Paradox in the modern man's relation to war
    7. The essence of nationality
    8. War is outlawed
    9. Work in the coal mine, wash clothes, knock away childishness.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. One message tells us to be serious and the other ones tell us to stay a kid

    2. Plateaus are not endless, plunges are not fatal

    3. People become increasingly unhappy until middle age

    4. Growing up means realizing that no one time of one’s life is the best one

    5. What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope?

    6. Young people only hear that no grown-up state will be better

    7. Life sucks then you die

    8. Why should I grow up? Find meaning? Shape my own life?

    SSHM

    1. Inability to feel pleasure

    2. "The sustaining thought of a thought because I choose to when I might have other thoughts.”

    3. Logical continuity of a mechanical series and be the new initial cause of another series of phenomena

    4. Will it, work it, win it

    5. Life is harsh and cruel

    6. There is something highly paradoxical in the modern man's relation to war

    7. Nationality

    8. Acts of war

    9. "Knocked out of them, and to come back into society with healthier sympathies and soberer ideas."

    ReplyDelete
  8. Section 13
    SSHM
    1.inability to feel pleasure

    5.Things are out of our control, so we might as well find the silver lining.

    LH
    3."Without friends no one would choose to live." Happiness forms when we are social.

    WGU
    3.We stay unhappy until about middle age

    7.Life sucks and then we die

    ReplyDelete