- Ludwig Wittgenstein - #H1 John Wise
- Something in QE Part VII - Why can't we all just get along? - #H1 Ally Brumfield; #H2 Samwaeil Boules (conclude)
- John Rawls
- Artificial Intelligence - #H1 John Pardue; #H2 Annlee Head; #H3 Jairo Perdomo
- Peter Singer - #H1 Hayden Dye; #H3 Brooke Hale
- Something in QE Part VIII - What is the difference between right and wrong? - #H1 Alayna Frazier; #H3 Hunter Clouthier
NOTE: As midterm report presentations conclude, you can assume that you earned all 25 available points if I've not told you otherwise. The sign-up for final report presentations will be available next week.
1. What did John Rawls call the thought experiment he believed would yield fair and just principles, and what was its primary device?
2. Under what circumstances would Rawls' theory permit huge inequalities of wealth between people?
3. What was the Imitation Game, and who devised a thought experiment to oppose it?
4. What, according to Searle, is involved in truly understanding something?
5. How do some philosophers think we might use computers to achieve immortality?
6. What does Peter Singer say we should sacrifice, to help stranger
3. What was the Imitation Game, and who devised a thought experiment to oppose it?
4. What, according to Searle, is involved in truly understanding something?
5. How do some philosophers think we might use computers to achieve immortality?
6. What does Peter Singer say we should sacrifice, to help stranger
7. Why did Singer first become famous?
8. How does Singer represent the best tradition in philosophy?
WGU
1. Being grown-up is widely considered to be what? Do you agree?
2. Is Leibniz's optimism more likely to appeal to a small child? Why? 3
3. What was Kant's definition of Enlightenment? 5
4. What do Susan Neiman's children say she can't understand? Do you agree? 9
5. Why is judgement important? Is this a surprising thing to hear from a Kantian? 11
6. Being a grown-up comes to what? 12
7. What did Paul Goodman say about growing up? Are his observations are still relevant? 19
8. Why (in Neiman's opinion) should you not think this is the best time of your life, if you're a young college student? 20
9. What did Samoan children have that ours lack? 27 Can we fix that?
10. What is philosophy's greatest task? 31
==
NOTE: These questions may be a bit out of sync, but (as they say) it'll all come out in the wash.
1. After Plato, the next philosopher to turn his attention to the details of child-rearing was who?
2. What's the first step of human reason, according to Kant?
3. If we have hope for moral progress, what do we want for the next generation?
4. What was Orwell's nightmare?
5. What "perfidious reversal leaves us permanently confused"?
6. What are you committed to, if you're committed to Enlightenment?
7. What is freedom, according to Rousseau and Kant?
5. What "perfidious reversal leaves us permanently confused"?
6. What are you committed to, if you're committed to Enlightenment?
7. What is freedom, according to Rousseau and Kant?
8. What's the key to whether or not we grow up?
==
Discussion Questions
WGU
WGU
- Should philosophers pay more attention to child-rearing and parenting? 36
- What do you think Cicero meant by saying that philosophy is learning to die?
- Do you feel fully empowered to "choose your life's journey"? If not, what obstacles prevent that? 37
- In what ways do you think your parents' occupations influence the number of choices you'll be able to make in your life?
- If you've read 1984 and Brave New World, which do you find the more "seductive dystopia"? 39
- Are we confused about toys and dreams? 40
- Do others make the most important decisions for you? 41
- Do you "make a regular appointment with your body"? 42
- Do you trust anyone over 30? 45
- Is it "reasonable to expect justice and joy"? 49
- Are you "committed to Enlightenment"? 51
- Do the passions for glory and luxury make us wicked and miserable? 53
- What does it mean to say there are no atheists in foxholes? Is it true? 54
- Was Rousseau right about inequality and private property? 55
- Should philosophy be taught to children, so as to become thinking adults? 57
- Should children "yield to the commands of other people"? 61
- Should parents "let the child wail"?
- Are Rousseau and Kant right about the true definition of freedom? 62
- Is Rousseau right about desire? 65
- Did Rousseau's abandonment of his children discredit his thoughts on child-rearing? 69 Or show him to be a hypocrite for saying no task in the world is more important than raising a child properly? 72
WGU-6: Paul Goodman argued that modern societies often create barriers to genuine adulthood by treating young people as adolescents, restricting their opportunities for meaningful work, independence, and responsibility. He believed that growing up should involve real engagement with the world and self-determination. Goodman’s observations remain highly relevant, as many argue that societal structures still pamper young adults. With extended education, delayed financial independence, and societal expectations, many young people feel unprepared for adulthood, struggling to find roles and independence in a changing world.
ReplyDeleteWGU-8: Neiman cautions against thinking of youth as the best time of life because this perspective diminishes the value of later stages of life, suggesting that things go downhill after college. She argues that such an outlook can make people fearful of the future and unprepared for growth. Instead, life should be seen as a process of continual development, where different stages offer new opportunities for fulfillment and experience.
WGU-9: Samoan children, as observed by Mead, had more freedom and responsibility at an earlier age compared to children in Western societies. They participated fully in the community, learning life skills and contributing to their families' welfare, which gave them a sense of purpose. Neiman suggests that modern Western societies might benefit from giving children more real responsibilities and involving them in meaningful tasks. This could foster independence and practical knowledge from a younger age.
WGU-10: According to Neiman, philosophy’s greatest task is to help us grow up by encouraging us to question the world, seek knowledge, and pursue moral maturity. Philosophy helps us understand the nature of reality, deal with obstacles, and embrace the ongoing process of becoming a mature individual. It is about gaining wisdom and supporting critical thinking that guides us toward living better lives.
The first answer is NOT to WGU-6. It is to WGU-7
DeleteLHP
ReplyDelete1. Rawls called the thought experiment he believed would yield fair and just principles, "The Original Position." This experiment plays down some of our selfish biases by pointing out the goal of building a better society unsure of what position you might occupy. The main idea is to choose fairer principles behind an "imaginary veil of ignorance" because you won't know where you will end up or what kind of person you will be. When choosing without knowing your own place, Rawls reasoned people would be accepting of this experiment based on the principles of freedom and equality.
6. Some philosophers think computers might be used to achieve mortality by uploading the mind into a computer so that it continues to work long after the body is buried or cremated. However, there would be no guarantee of the uploaded mind being conscious in the way it is now even if it gave responses to show that it was.
7. Peter Singer first became famous because of his influential books about the treatment of animals in particular, "Animal Liberation". Singer believes the key relevant feature for most animals is their capacity to feel pain. Singer calls the people who don't care enough about the suffering of animals 'speciesists' and views these people like racists or sexists. Singer even argues that humans should be vegetarians because humans can live well without consuming animals.
8. Like Socrates, Singer takes risks when he makes public statements about how we should live. In spite of protests and death threats, Singer has become one of the most well-known living philosophers because he constantly challenges widely held views (even those that are controversial). Nevertheless, Singer supports his conclusions with reasoned arguments informed by well researched facts.
WGU
3. Kant defined enlightenment as reason's emancipation from its self-incurred immaturity. We choose immaturity because we are lazy and scared.
6. Being a grown-up according to Kant comes down more of a matter of courage than knowledge. All of the information in the world does not compare to the instinct to use your own judgement. Growing up requires confronting the gap in between the two and not give up on either.
H01
ReplyDeleteLHP 1. Rawls’ thought experiment, called “The Original Position”, aimed to remove the bias we have when observing society and class. He said that if we were to hypothetically design a better society, then one should do so without knowing where they would be put in this improved society. By doing this, one would have to consider the situations a minority might face.
LHP 3. The Imitation Game was a test made for computers. It was designed to determine if a computer is intelligent enough to do more than crack codes. If the computer could pass the test, than it is intelligent “in the way a human being can be”. John Searle argued that the Imitation Game cannot prove that computers actually think like humans do. Like in his Chinese Room example, computers can only sort information and cannot be aware that they are answering questions or having a conversation.
LHP 8. Singer fulfills the greatest tradition of philosophy by going against widely accepted opinions and expectations. Despite constant critique, he never changes his. He continues to support his ideas with well-rounded arguments and research, making him one of the most famous living philosophers.
H02
ReplyDeleteLHP
3.The Imitation Game, in its premise, sees if a computer can successfully take in code and shoot it back out to you. In this game though, the computer would have to communicate to a human on the other side, and if the human thought it was communicating to another human the computer passed the imitation game. This game was implemented by Alan Turing, and the one that opposed this game was John Searle.
7. Singer became famous after he published his most influential book Animal Liberation. This book focused on the suffering of animals, specifically, the suffering that humans don't acknowledge. This philosophy allows one to expand the mind and see that suffering is not just a human thing; selfishly, we consider pain and suffering only with humans, since we can feel it, however, it is universal. This book sparked controversy and awareness about animal rights when it came to testing, killing, and abusing animals.
8. Singer represents the best tradition in philosophy because he goes against the collective thought. Singer was revolutionary for his time and many didn't agree with him, and that is how every philosopher was. Most were hated by people, some even deported, but philosophy is about breaking the ice and that is what Sanger did.
H03
ReplyDelete(LHP, Question 1)
1. John Rawls designed a thought experiment known as, "The Original Position." In it, you are tasked with a designing a better society, but must do so without knowing what position in it you will personally occupy. Rawls believed this primary twist would result in more egalitarian societies being designed, as people generally give more weight to their own perspectives compared to others. If you set out on designing a society with the assumption that you will roughly be in the same position in it as you are currently, then you are more likely to provide unequal benefits to those of your status than others. If that instead becomes an unknowable variable, you're incentivized to design a society in which everyone is better off. Interestingly, LHP posits that perhaps Rawls was overly pessimistic in his estimation of the amount of people who would prefer to 'gamble' with their lives in this scenario. Upon encountering the thought experiment, some may choose to create a deeply unequal society in which few have exorbitant wealth and others have nothing just on the off-chance that they luck into a position of privilege. If this experiment were 'real', that's obviously not a good outlook, but since there are no stakes to just thinking about it, I can't help find this sphere of thought kind of funny.
(LHP, Question 3)
2. The Imitation Game (a.k.a. The Turing Test) was designed by Alan Turing in 1950 to test whether or not a computer was truly intelligent. Turing presents a situation in which a tester types a conversation on a computer. The tester doesn't know whether or not the responses are coming from another person somewhere else via a different computer or if the computer is generating the responses itself. At the end of the test, if the tester cannot tell whether it was a person or a human that was answering, the computer passes, and it is reasonable to say that it is truly intelligent.
John Searle countered Turing's Imitation Game with his own thought experiment called, "The Chinese Room." In it, you (an non-Chinese speaker) are placed in a blank room with a letterbox, a rule-book, and some cards with strange squiggles on them. Sometimes, a card with different squiggles on it comes through the letterbox. Your job is to take that card, and use the book to match the letterbox-card squiggles to some other symbol. Then, you look for that symbol in the provided cards and push it back through the letterbox. What is actually written on the cards are Chinese characters and sentences, and the rule-book is actually providing answers to questions that you are then pushing back out through the door. But since you don't speak Chinese you have no concept of what is being asked, what you're responding with, or even that those symbols are Chinese characters at all. Despite your lack of understanding, to a Chinese speaker on the other side of the door, it seems as though you completely comprehend what is going on and are intelligently answering inquiries.
(WGU, Question 8)
3. Susan Neiman thinks that the idealization of youth makes thinking about life difficult for said youth. It heavily implies that life is a downhill process that only gets worse with time, so if you're not having a great time in your 20s, then you're gonna be having an even worse time in your 30s, 40s, etc. Neiman points out that, as we get older, we often forget the intense fear and frustration that comes with navigating teenage/young-adult life and only remember the exhilarating and excitement that came from discovering new things. While she admits that, due to biological reasons, many people are in their PHYSICAL prime from their late 'teens to early thirties, Neiman asserts that doesn't mean this time-frame is the easiest or even most exciting that life will ever be.
My original comment on LHP, Question 3 was ( somewhat embarrassingly) too long, so here's my extended thoughts on that:
DeleteSearle used this thought experiment to show that he thought computers were not really intelligent. To users, they may appear to understand language, grasp deep concepts, and form thoughts of their own, but really it is just doing what it was programmed to do with no consciousness behind it.
I'm inclined to agree with Searle's argument technically, though philosophically I think it's difficult to maintain. Especially with the relatively recent introduction of large language models like ChatGPT, which are capable of adopting (reproducing? copying?) a vast array of styles, slang, rhythm, tone, and even philosophical banter on their own existence, answering the question of whether or not computers can think becomes tricky. I find myself often taking a very reductionist view point to complicated topics, 'if it looks like a duck' and all that. But from a programmer's perspective, there is no THOUGHT happening in the way that humans usually talk about it. So, while it seems kind of like making a special exception, I don't think that computers or AI is truly conscious...yet.
#H02
ReplyDeleteLHP 1: John Rawls' thought experiment was titled "The Original Position" and presented the idea of creating a society without personal bias. This society, in Rawls's view, would be a sort of "Utopia" and demonstrated what the perfect society would look like, as one would not take into account the preconceived bias they have in their current life.
LHP 5: Philosophers may use computers to achieve immortality, if brains truly are simply complex computers that technology can interact with in the distant future. If brains can be harvested after death and put into new artificial bodies, then death may never be something we have to experience. Although, we could never know for certain consciousness would still exist after death, as the brain may not retain it even if it is seemingly fully operational.
LHP 6: Peter Singer believed it was right for a person to ruin their shoes to save a drowning child, which was an analogy that he argued paralleled giving up minor pleasures to save improvised children around the world. Singer argued that society was hypocritical in the way that it would save those in need right Infront of them, without helping the masses they know exist beyond their perception of reality.
Section: H03
ReplyDeleteLHP Q1: John Rawls thought experiment, “The Original Position”, reinvented society by reevaluating the principles of freedom and equality. He thought of giving everyone a specific class and setting the standard. He said the only reason for the rich to become richer is if it benefited the poor. He thought success did not mean a person deserved more money.
LHP Q5: Artificial Intelligence has improved vastly over the last few years. Some philosophers have concluded that a person can be uploaded into a system and become a part of AI. They believe this will allow them to live past the expiration of their body. This could allow people to become immortal.
LHP Q6: Peter Singer asked if a child was drowning in shallow water would you sacrifice your shoes to save them? The obvious answer would be yes, no matter the cost of the shoes. Now he asked to apply this example in a modern sense. Children in Africa are starving. If you give the cost of the ruined shoes to help feed the hungry in Africa, you could save lives. Sacrificing some spare change to the hungry could significantly help the planet.
H#2
ReplyDeleteLHP#6 - I think Singer was trying to make us understand that we could sacrifice some of our money to REALLY help others who aren't privileged.
LHP#7 - Singer became famous after he published his book which talked about how we shouldn't be speciest and treat other animals with respect. He was a key figure in early animal rights activism.
WGU#1 - Growing up is considered to be resigning from an adventurous life and settling for less. Basically giving up on the dreams we once had. I disagree with this and hope that I will NEVER have this view in my later life. I want to be able to adventure and live my life.
H01
ReplyDeleteLHP 1- John Rawls called his thought experiment "The Original Position" and it was meant to yield fair and just principles. This occured through people imagining a better society, a fair society, but telling them they wouldn't know who they would end up living as in that society. They don't know their race, their gender, their sexuality, and so they should want to make the society as fair and just as possible to everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, etc. He called this a "veil of ignorance", this purposeful unknowing, and it led to his two main principles for a better society: Liberty and Difference. Under these, people would be guaranteed certain freedoms and provided money and opportunities proportional to their disadvantages.
2- Rawls was generally against single people holding large amounts of wealth. However, he believed that huge inequalities of wealth should only occur if the poor are receiving direct benefits from the wealthier person. Bankers, for example, should only be making lots of money if their poorest workers are receiving increased wages because of the bankers wealth. In no circumstances should the rich be getting richer while the poor get nothing, because that is not equality. This situation falls under Rawls' Difference Principle, and it contributes to his Original Position thought experiment. If you didn't know whether you'd be ending up as the rich banker or the poor worker in this scenario, you'd want it to be as fair and equal as possible, right?
8- Peter Singer represents the best tradition in philosophy by constantly challenging widely held assumptions. He presents evidence for all his opinions and isn't afraid to argue and debate with people who disagree with him. He does research on topics he cares about and is willing to receive backlash for the beliefs he supports. This goes all the way back to Socrates, who was considered annoying and disruptive for wanting to debate on large and serious topics. Singer, I think, is a good representation of a modern philosopher. Having the well-researched facts to back up your controversial beliefs is the most important thing in a modern debate, because so much information is readily available. You can call yourself a philosopher nowadays, but you should absolutely be ready to defend your strong convictions with proven evidence.
H03
ReplyDelete2: Rawls believed that the only reason a innequality in wealth should occur would be if the poorest people in society got richer as a result of that happening.
3: The imitation game, commonly referred to as the Turing test, is what Alan Turing devised to decide whether a computer was intelligent the basic idea was that if a person was having a conversation by text on a screen, but they don't know whether it is a human or a computer. By the end if the human cannot tell whether the conversation is with a human or a computer the computer will pass the test. John Searle believed computers couldn't really think and so he devised the Chinese room thought experiment since he believed computers could give out answers but could never really understand them.
4. Searle believed that to understand something semantics are required as humans understand things because they give meaning to it. Computers on the other hand only understand rules and are really just mimicking humans with the data that they have.
(All of these are from LHP)
Delete#H01
ReplyDeleteLHP-8
Singer carries on the spirit of philosophy that was first realized through Socrates asking questions. Not being afraid to go against the grain and discussing the big questions of life.
LHP-6
Peter gives a story of jumping in muddy waters at the cost of ones brand new shoes. He is showing how anyone in their right mind would value a child's life over their monetary desire, yet whenever this child is not right in front of us we often get disconnected from helping others. Specifically those within other countries who live in immense poverty.
#H02
ReplyDeleteLHP1: Rawls called his thought experiment “The Original Position,” and its primary device was choosing the best society without knowing which place you would end up in society. He believed this would yield fair and just principles because its the closest to removing bias that could happen in a society-building experiment.
LHP3: The Imitation Game, or Turing Test, was created by Alan Turing to test whether a computer shows intelligence or not. If during the conversation the tester can’t tell whether there is a person or a human being responding, the computer passes the Turing Test.
LHP4: According to Searle, truly understanding something involves getting semantics from syntax: providing the rules about the correcto order in which to process the symbols while also understanding the meanings added to the symbols and truly understanding what they mean.
#H01
ReplyDeleteLHP
1. John Rawls called his thought experiment "The Original Position." The idea was to create a society but do it without knowing what position you have in this society. Doing this makes you choose fairer principles.
2. Rawls said that in order for inequality to occur, the poor must be making more wealth as a result of his theories.
3.The Imitation Card game was a Chinese game. You got a card from a box and had to match the symbol to a picture in a book. Then you had to take a piece of the symbol and put it in the box. Alan Turning wanted to test his theory if computers are more intelligent than humans.
4. Searle believed humans MEAN things when they speak, they relate themselves to the world. They give their words meaning and that is what is means to understand something.
W03
ReplyDeleteLHP
1. Rawls' thought experiment was called 'The Original Position,' and it involved creating a better society without knowing what part of it you would occupy.
3. The Imitation Game was the first form of the Turing Test, and aimed to see if AI was truly intelligent. Searle's Chinese Room experiment showed that even if computers knew a lot, they would not understand any of it.
4. In order for people to truly understand something, they must first have the parts of their brain capable of understanding anything at all. This is mainly why he says machines are not intelligent.
H01
ReplyDeleteLHP
6) Singer uses a hypothetical situation where a child has fallen in a pond and may be drowning. He poses the question ‘What would you do’? Would you sacrifice your shoes to jump in and save a child in danger? This situation is about being human and valuing life, but he uses this situation to explain the hypocritical views some may have. Singer furthermore reveals that you could have a genuine influence on other people’s lives, and you should.
7) Singer first became popular because of his influential books about the treatment of animals, especially Animal Liberation, which was published in 1975. Singer believes that the key relevant feature for most animals is their capacity to feel pain and animals do have the ability to suffer, and their suffering should be considered.
8) Singer is considered one of the best-known living philosophers because he has challenged several widely held views, and some of them are very controversial. Although, this is exactly why Singer represents the best tradition in philosophy. Even under extreme backlash from those who disagree with what Singer believes, he still holds true to his views and continues to advocate for what he believes is right. His controversy and ability to form his own opinion and give supportive reasoning makes him a splendid example of the best philosophy tradition.
H01
ReplyDeleteLHP #1:
He called it "The Original Position." Its primary device was a "Veil of Ignorance," which encourages people to imagine the possibility that they would find themselves in an unfortunate circumstance within the imagined scenario. I think this is a good exercise, except that it may not really eliminate bias, because, if you are a person that has been dealt good fortune in life, you may say to yourself that you would have society set up a certain way, even if you didn't end up in a fortunate position within it, but that is because you don't really know what it's like to be in a less fortunate position. Of course, none of this should matter if the decision about what type of society to live in was based purely on reason and argumentation rather than factoring in the real-life status of the people who are making the theoretical decision.
LHP #3:
The imitation game essentially involves a human communicating with another entity in such a medium that it is ambiguous whether the entity is a human or a computer, and trying to determine which one it was based on how it communicated with the person. John Searle created the "Chinese Room" thought experiment to oppose the idea that computers could ever really understand something. In my opinion, Searle's rebuttal makes sense. It is this type of seemingly Cartesian thought that makes me disagree with pure materialism, because there is obviously a difference between conscious things and non-conscious things.
WGU #7:
Real freedom involved not simply doing whatever you want and following no rules, but instead that you would make the rules and have the freedom to act accordingly (Neiman 62). I think that, although it may just be semantics at this point, it must be said that if you obey the laws you give yourself, that is essentially still just the idea of license. You can just do whatever you want regardless of the rules because, if you choose to do something outside of the rules, you can always simply change them.
WGU - Do you trust anyone over 30?:
There are definitely people over 30 that I trust with a number of different things. I don't see how or why it would make sense to decide ahead of time that you weren't going to trust somebody just because of some group that they are a part of, especially when it comes to something like age, where there is often additional wisdom and credibility that somebody may have accumulated if they are older than you. I also don't think that you should assume young people are all ignorant and not very smart. That would be the kind of thing that I would suspect is the partial cause of young people losing trust in older people. In other words, just don't cast judgment on an entire age group and treat everybody like a human who has something to bring to the table.
Neiman, Susan. WHY GROW UP?: SUBVERSIVE THOUGHTS FOR AN
INFANTILE AGE. Revised ed., Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 26 Apr.
2016.
Warburton, Nigel. A LITTLE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY. Yale University
Press, 30 Oct. 2012.
H1
ReplyDeleteDiscussion Questions
37 I don't feel fully empowered to choose my life's journey because I feel like there are a lot of obstacles. I would like to be a writer, but unfortunately a lot of writers don't make it, and it's very expensive to publish books.
My parents occupations have helped me have more options for my life. They have good jobs that pay well, which benefits me because they can better provide for me. I'm lucky because a lot of people don't have the choices I do.
45 I feel like people over 30 don't fully understand how much the world has changed since they were my age. I do trust people over 30 but I tend to avoid asking for advice from them because the problems I face now are sometimes so different from what they experienced. Of course, some things are still the same like struggling in school, but I prefer to turn to my peers for help.
H02
ReplyDeleteLHP #1: Rawls thought experiment that he believed would orchestrate a fair society is called "The Original Position". The main mechanism behind this was to have individuals choose how to create a better society without knowing their place or role in said society. The individual wouldn't know if they would have a disability, be wealthy or poor, what job they would hold, etc. With the absence of knowing how comfortable the individual would live in the society, they would choose the most fair and just principles, so they would be protected at any level of the totem pole. This thought experiment targets a very essential problem in our modern world and seeing people's answers nowadays would cause a dramatic societal shift.
LHP #4: According to Searle, to truly understand something is not to simply produce correct answers according to a set of rules; which is why he claims that computer programs are not intelligent. Rather, true understanding comes from the inclusion of meaning and context. I understand this argument and see the point he was proving with his thought experiment. However, I don't really see the benefits or the need for this "discovery".
LHP #6: Singer points out with his hypothetical of the drowning child that we should place helping others at a higher level of priority. His message overall is not only that we could positively benefit someone else's life, but that we should do it. Perhaps by sacrificing a few unnecessary luxuries to be able to give more to those who are much worse off. Singer's' view on helping a stranger simply emphasizes concepts the majority of us have already considered, but rarely act on.
#H02-
ReplyDeleteWGU-1-
Being grown-up is often seen as moving past the phase of endless adolescence. Neiman challenges this idea by looking at thinkers like Kant, Rousseau, and Arendt to find a different maturity model. Instead of just giving up on dreams, growing up is about transitioning from the limitless trust of childhood to the mix of disappointment and excitement that comes with adolescence.
I think Neiman’s take is pretty insightful. Growing up isn’t just about taking on responsibilities; it’s also about personal growth, self-awareness, and balancing idealism with realism.
WGU-2-
Leibniz’s optimism, which suggests that we live in the best of all possible worlds, might indeed appeal to a small child. Children often have a naturally optimistic outlook and a sense of wonder about the world. They tend to believe in the inherent goodness of people and the world around them, which aligns with Leibniz’s idea that everything happens for the best possible reason.
Additionally, children are usually more accepting of simple, positive explanations for complex issues. Leibniz’s optimism provides a comforting and straightforward perspective that everything, even the bad things, has a purpose and contributes to the greater good. This can be reassuring and easy for a child to grasp.
WGU-5-
Judgment is crucial because it plays a significant role in various aspects of life, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and forming opinions. It helps individuals evaluate options, consider consequences, and make informed choices. Good judgment allows people to navigate complex situations, understand different perspectives, and make decisions that align with their values and goals.
From a Kantian perspective, judgment is essential because it mediates between understanding and reason. Kant believed that judgment helps us apply general principles to specific situations, allowing us to make sense of the world and our experiences. This is not surprising coming from a Kantian, as Kant emphasized the importance of using one’s own understanding and reasoning to achieve Enlightenment.
Maheswari Ramesh (Maahi)
#H1 - Zoe Kuhn
ReplyDeleteLHP - #1
John Rawls called the thought experiment he believed would yield fair and just principles, “The Original Position” and its primary device was making a better society without knowing specific roles.
LHP - #3
The Imitation Game was the first form of the Turing Test and Searle devised a thought experiment to oppose it.
LHP -#4
According to Searle, the parts of the brain that are capable of understanding are involved and needed to comprehend and understand things.
Gavin Cooley H2
ReplyDeleteLHP
6. Singer says that we should sacrifice out own wealth to help strangers that need assistance. He argues that there is no reason for some of us to have the surplus of wealth that we do and not use it to benefit our fellow human beings. Why should we not help them if we have the capacity to? Just because we can't see the suffering of some people firsthand doesn't mean that they are not suffering.
7. Singer first becomes famous after his book containing his views on the animal ethics, "Animal Liberation" was published. The book argues for the treatment of animals with the same fairness and dignity of people. He believes that animals experience suffering much like humans do, thus we must treat them in a manner to prevent suffering as we would with other humans.
8. Singer best represents traditional philosophy in that he goes against the grain. He takes up controversial views and is not afraid to defend them. Much like Socrates, he asks people to dive deeper into the things that they've come to accept as true, encouraging them to reevaluate ideas and values that they suppose to be concrete.
#H02
ReplyDeleteLHP
1 - Rawls's "Original Position" thought experiment was his idea of how to improve society. The reason this thought experiment was so unique was because it possessed a "veil of ignorance" where the person attempting to answer the question would not know their situation in the perfect society. They wouldn't know their sex, race, gender, education, economic status, etc. The reason for this veil is because people typically consider their current status when thinking of a better world. This veil eliminates this factor of thought.
3 - The Imitation game or Turing Test is a test to see if a computer is capable of doing more than cracking codes. A tester sits in a room typing to a computer. If at any point the tester cannot tell if a human or a computer is responding to them, the computer has passed the Turing Test. John Searle developed his Chinese room thought experiment to oppose the Turing Test, saying the computer could not truly understand what they are doing.
5 - Some philosophers believe that eventually, we will be able to upload our minds to computers to achieve a sort of immortality.
H02 Erick Martinez
ReplyDeleteLHP
1. John Rawls called his thought experiment “The Original Position”. He believed this experiment would yield fair and just principles. The idea of the original position was fairly simple. Design a better society, but in a way that no one knows where they belong. No one decides if they’re rich, their personality, their identity essentially. You don’t get to decide anything. If people got to choose, they would be selfish and give themselves advantages. He believed that society should give people basic freedoms, but also that society should give equal wealth and opportunity to the most disadvantages.
3. The Imitation game was a test for computers/artificial intelligence. The tests composed of a person in a room typing with what could be a human or a computer. If the person in the room is able to distinguish that they are talking to a computer, then the computer wouldn’t be considered intelligent, but if it confused the human, then it would pass. John Searle created a thought experiment called the Chinese room example that opposed this idea. The experiment was you’re sitting in a room and there’s a letterbox. After a while a letter comes out with a squiggle shape on it. You’re tasked to find the squiggle in a book in the other room. The squiggles were Chinese. As it showed that in an experiment, you can fool someone in the real world that you know what you’re doing, but in reality, you were given a certain task, and you just follow what you were told to do. So, Searle suggested that aa computer passing the imitation test didn’t mean anything because the person doesn’t have any sense of what the experiment is about.
8. Singer does an amazing job representing the best traditions in philosophy. He does this but not only what he believes in but also his actions. Singer takes risk similar to Socrates before him. He isn’t shy when making statements about how we humans should live. He is also challenging assumptions that we have all claimed to, His philosophy has impacted his life, and others around him. When disagreed with, he is always prepared to back up his opinions and challenge other opinions. Lastly, Singer doesn’t back up his facts with theories or simple beliefs, but with facts and research. This is what philosophy has and continues to be, debates, facts, and challenging the difficult questions that we need to be challenging. Singer continues to hold all these parts of philosophy up that have shaped philosophy throughout the years.
#H02
ReplyDeleteLHP
#1 - John Rawis called the thought experiment he believed would yield fair and just principles the "Original Position". It's primary device was to make a better society with people not knowing their role in that society.
#2 - Rawls' theory only permits huge inequalities of wealth if the poor get richer as a result of it.
#3 - The imitation game, also known as the Turing Test, was test made to be see if AI or computers were capable of anything more than computing. John Searle's "Chinese Room" was a thought experiment made to oppose the Turing Test, which set to prove that computer are not capable of understanding anything other that their programming.
H03 John Owens
ReplyDeleteLHP
Q1: He called it “The Original Position.” The main point of the thinking exercise was for a person to design a better society without knowing or assuming what part of that society they would occupy. To prevent bias in how it would be imagined.
Q2: He thought the only disparities in income should be to benefit those who are the worst off and would require it the most to stay equal with others,
Q3: The Imitation Game, the turing test, was the thought experiment that said wanted to see if computers were capable of imitating human intelligence. John Searle's Chinese Room opposed the Turing test by showing how patter recognition or imitation din't actually equal understanding, or, true intelligence
H03
ReplyDeleteLHP
2. Rawls's theory never really permitted large inequalities in wealth. He believed that if one person were to earn a significantly larger wage, then the poorest should be provided benefits to reduce the difference between them and the rich. The Difference Principle that Rawls argued for asserted that there should be societal protections in place for the disadvantaged to provide more equal wealth and opportunity universally. In this system, large gaps in income are only allowed if those with the short end of the stick are given aid.
8. Singer represents the "best tradition in philosophy" in that he is bolding in challenging very commonly held beliefs and values. He does not abandon the Socratic method, choosing to put his ideas forward for questioning and to question the ideas of others. Singer's positions are backed with strong and thorough research, as he examines numerous sources and perspectives to support his claims. Despite the controversial nature of his arguments, Singer does not hold back.
WGU
3. Kant defines Enlightenment as "reason's emancipation from self-incurred immaturity." What he means by this is that to be enlightened, one must free oneself from naivety and pursue higher reasoning and understanding. To self-incur immaturity is to submit to sloth and banality rejecting or ignoring higher thinking and truth in favor of safety and comfort. You remain in the mindset of a child, seeing things from a surface-level perspective, taking things at face value, and being content with your one-dimensional understanding despite the potential for nuance. To be enlightened - to Kant - is to reject that way of life and pursue deeper meaning, a mature understanding of things.
H03
ReplyDeleteLHP 1-
John Rawls called the though experiment he believed to yield fair and just principles, ‘The Original Position.’ The main idea for it was simple, design a better society without knowing what role or position you will contribute by. In this thought experiment, you will not know if you are going to be rich or poor, female or male, homeless or jobless, smart or dumb, you know nothing about how your life would be. Due to this ignorance behind your own role, Rawls believed that you would come up with fairer and more just principles, as they might end up helping you out. Overall, the primary device of the experiment was that one is ignorant of their role, to be blind of where you will stand.
LHP 7-
Signer first became famous due to his influential books, specifically about the treatment of animals. One book in particular published in 1975 stood out among them, “Animal Liberation.” Due to him being a consequentialist, Signer believed that in order to get the best results, one needs to thinking of what is best for all who is involved, not just one side. He involved this view with the treatment of animals, so that when we want the best results, we need to not take just our interests into account, but animals as well. He believed that animals to feel pain, but also acknowledged that we could suffer more due to out ability to understand and reason what is happening to us with our pain unlike most animals. Eventually he called those that did not care much about the interests of animals 'speciesist.’
LHP 8-
Signer represents the best tradition in philosophy through constantly challenging widely held assumptions. He was always ready to challenge those around him and their opinions, and he also did so with his philosophy too. With his claims and conclusions supported through well-researched facts, he was able to hold his own against others as well, and engage in discussions with others about their countering opinions. Philosophy thrives under the heat of debate, and this is something that holds true about Signer too.
Ho2
ReplyDelete4. What, according to Searle, is involved in truly understanding something?
We need to not just understand the subject or content of something but also the context and syntax in which it is perceived
5. How do some philosophers think we might use computers to achieve immortality?
They thought uploading a copy of your life personality, experience, and consciousness into a computer creating a carbon copy indistinguishable from you would make you theoretically immortal as no one could identify the “Real” you making both the physical and digital copies the “real” you
6. What does Peter Singer say we should sacrifice, to help stranger
Whatever we can do that does not produce a compariable harm as the one its trying to prevent
H03
ReplyDeleteLHP
6. Some philosophers think computers might be used to achieve mortality by uploading the mind into a computer so that it continues to work long after the body is buried or cremated. However, there would be no guarantee of the uploaded mind being conscious of how it is now, even if it gave responses to show that it was.
7. Peter Singer first became famous because of his influential books about the treatment of animals, in particular, "Animal Liberation." Singer believes that most animals' capacity to feel pain is a critical and relevant feature. Singer calls the people who don't care enough about the suffering of animals 'speciesists' and views these people as racists or sexists. The singer even argues that humans should be vegetarians because humans can live well without consuming animals.
8. Like Socrates, Singer takes risks publicly, stating how we should live. Despite protests and death threats, Singer has become one of the most well-known living philosophers because he constantly challenges widely held views. Nevertheless, Singer supports his conclusions with reasoned arguments informed by well-researched facts.
1. John Rawls came up with the Though experiment. The idea behind this experiment was on creating a perfect society. He proposed this would be done by people who would not know their place in the next society. This would take all the bias away from the society. A veil of ignorance would make this possible.
ReplyDelete2.His principle known as the "difference principle" would create huge inequalities of wealth. It would make it so people can't get too rich and that money would be shared equally among the people. However, this assumes there is a differential in money and that if people weren't super wealthy the poorer would get less.
#H02
ReplyDeleteLHP 5: AI has improved immensely over the past 10 years or so. Some philosophers have come to the idea that one day a person will be able to upload themselves into a system and in a way basically become part of the AI.
LHP 6: The question Peter Singer posed was “if a child were drowning in shallow water, would you sacrifice your shoes to save them?” The answer would and should always be yes, despite the cost of the shoes.