AWESOME job today, folks. I was very impressed with the level of understanding and thinking evident in your insights and comments during the seminar today. Very impressed.
I look forward to reading your reflections on Friday.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
DAY 31 Hume on Human Nature
AWESOME job today, everyone. I was very impressed with the level of understanding and thinking evident in your insights and comments during the seminar today. Very impressed.
I look forward to reading your reflections on Thursday.
I look forward to reading your reflections on Thursday.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
DAY 30 Seminar - Adler on Personhood
AWESOME job today, ladies. I was very impressed with the level of understanding and thinking evident in your insights and comments during the seminar today. Very impressed.
I look forward to reading your reflections on Wednesday.
I look forward to reading your reflections on Wednesday.
Monday, March 26, 2012
DAY 29 Seminar Prep
Last day for Seminar Prep. Your questions are outstanding and it's pretty clear that you understanding of the concepts involved in the readings is growing by leaps and bounds.
Please have your pre-prepared Q & A in to me before class tomorrow (or right at the very beginning of class).
Seminar people for tomorrow need to be on time and ready to roll right at the beginning of class.
Those of you not involved in the seminar will spend the class silently working through the beginning of the next unit from the textbook or online so please come prepared to do that.
Please have your pre-prepared Q & A in to me before class tomorrow (or right at the very beginning of class).
Seminar people for tomorrow need to be on time and ready to roll right at the beginning of class.
Those of you not involved in the seminar will spend the class silently working through the beginning of the next unit from the textbook or online so please come prepared to do that.
Friday, March 23, 2012
DAY 28 Seminar Prep
Note a couple of changes to the lists of who is going when next week.
Also, we discussed that you can have Monday to complete your pre-prepared Q & A (the 3 questions and answers) so that you submit them before Tuesday's class. That way if any of you have questions on the weekend that I don't get to in time you can move forward on Monday after I answer your questions.
Also, we discussed that you can have Monday to complete your pre-prepared Q & A (the 3 questions and answers) so that you submit them before Tuesday's class. That way if any of you have questions on the weekend that I don't get to in time you can move forward on Monday after I answer your questions.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
DAY 27 Seminars Prep and Groups
You spent the day asking questions, creating questions and answers, and prepping for the seminar. We chose numbers out of a hat and then signed up for our groups as follows: (if you're not on the list below please email me and I'll put you in either Group 2 or 3 - first come first served, max 11 in a group :-)
Seminar 1 - Personhood - Adler - Tuesday
Siobhan, Nirubaa, Rachael, Nicole, Kaitlyn T.,Chelsea , Kandis, Jaslynn, Sara, Ashley K., Holly (11)
Seminar 2 - Self - Hume - Wednesday
Emily, Taylor, Kim, Liny, Avery, August, Kyle, Jake, Rhiannon, Carly, Dani (11)
Seminar 3 - Supreme Being - Confucius - Thursday
Lorenzo, Kaitlyn B., Ashley S., Nick, Jade, Cassie, Chris, Michelle, Dana, Ryan, Justin (11)
Seminar 1 - Personhood - Adler - Tuesday
Siobhan, Nirubaa, Rachael, Nicole, Kaitlyn T.,Chelsea , Kandis, Jaslynn, Sara, Ashley K., Holly (11)
Seminar 2 - Self - Hume - Wednesday
Emily, Taylor, Kim, Liny, Avery, August, Kyle, Jake, Rhiannon, Carly, Dani (11)
Seminar 3 - Supreme Being - Confucius - Thursday
Lorenzo, Kaitlyn B., Ashley S., Nick, Jade, Cassie, Chris, Michelle, Dana, Ryan, Justin (11)
DAY 26 Metaphysics Seminars Prep
Here are the complete instructions and marking schemes for the pre-Seminar Q & A and for the seminar itself.
You all asked excellent questions and did a fine job prepping the documents today!
You all asked excellent questions and did a fine job prepping the documents today!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
DAY 25 Readings in Metaphysics for Seminars
Here are the Readings in Metaphysics for Seminars. At the end are also some areas to help focus some of your thinking.
Below is an example of a reasonably posed and answered question. Note the use of quotes, societal links, use of a theory, and note that the question has a quote from the reading too.
Question
In The Self (taken from Essay Concerning Human Understanding), John Locke writes, “We have some kind of evidence in our very bodies, all whose particles, which are vitally united to this same thinking conscious self are a part of ourselves. Cut off a hand, and thereby separate it from that consciousness he had of its heat, cold and other affections... it is then no longer a part of that which is himself anymore than the remotest part of matter.” From this, what can we gather about Locke’s view on personal identity?
Answer
Unlike in Descartes’ rationalism in which the body is considered irrelevant to personhood, Locke believes that the body does make up a fair part of your personal identity. It is your carrier; your body and its unique functions are one aspect of what differentiates humans from being any other sort of animal. However, Locke also recognizes that the mind is important as well, taking a middle-ground approach to the difference between mind and body. When conscious, he believes the mind and body work in harmony to carry out actions – initiated and thought out by the mind, carried out by the body. But does that mean that the mind and body are of equal importance?
Taken from his own words in other work, Locke wrote, “...the basic ingredients to personhood include rationality, thought, consciousness, self-consciousness and self identity.” It should also be noted that there was much controversy over this definition of personhood, as it does not claim all humans are persons and vice versa. Thus, the theory was improved by contemporary philosopher Daniel Dennett to include verbal communication and being subject of a special stance to other persons. However, as all of the aforementioned conditions to personhood are directly linked to the mind, one may assume that Locke favours mind over matter in terms of what defines personhood. In the quote from the question above, Locke suggests that you can cut off a body part, and because it is no longer linked to your body, it is no longer something that defines you or your personal identity.
He also goes on to explain how someone may be considered to be two different people depending on their mentality. He writes, “If the same Socrates waking and sleeping do not partake of the same consciousness, Socrates waking and sleeping is not the same person... to punish Socrates waking for what sleeping Socrates thought... would be no more right than to punish one twin for what his brother-twin did, because their outsides were so alike that they could not be distinguished.” Another instance that could be used in this scenario is someone that drank a large amount of alcohol and become intoxicated. The alcohol impairs the person’s judgement and perhaps behaves in a way that they would if they were not intoxicated. In Locke’s perspective, they should not be considered the same person, as their mentality is one uncharacteristic of their normal behaviour. As he later states, “Why else is he punished for the fact he commits when drunk, though he be never afterwards conscious of it?”
From this, we can gather that Locke believes that while your body is your belonging and in its purest position will contribute to your personal identity, mind is ultimately most important as you cannot separate yourself from it. A harmonious mind and body contributes to optimal peace. As was quoted by him, “A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.”
Below is an example of a reasonably posed and answered question. Note the use of quotes, societal links, use of a theory, and note that the question has a quote from the reading too.
Question
In The Self (taken from Essay Concerning Human Understanding), John Locke writes, “We have some kind of evidence in our very bodies, all whose particles, which are vitally united to this same thinking conscious self are a part of ourselves. Cut off a hand, and thereby separate it from that consciousness he had of its heat, cold and other affections... it is then no longer a part of that which is himself anymore than the remotest part of matter.” From this, what can we gather about Locke’s view on personal identity?
Answer
Unlike in Descartes’ rationalism in which the body is considered irrelevant to personhood, Locke believes that the body does make up a fair part of your personal identity. It is your carrier; your body and its unique functions are one aspect of what differentiates humans from being any other sort of animal. However, Locke also recognizes that the mind is important as well, taking a middle-ground approach to the difference between mind and body. When conscious, he believes the mind and body work in harmony to carry out actions – initiated and thought out by the mind, carried out by the body. But does that mean that the mind and body are of equal importance?
Taken from his own words in other work, Locke wrote, “...the basic ingredients to personhood include rationality, thought, consciousness, self-consciousness and self identity.” It should also be noted that there was much controversy over this definition of personhood, as it does not claim all humans are persons and vice versa. Thus, the theory was improved by contemporary philosopher Daniel Dennett to include verbal communication and being subject of a special stance to other persons. However, as all of the aforementioned conditions to personhood are directly linked to the mind, one may assume that Locke favours mind over matter in terms of what defines personhood. In the quote from the question above, Locke suggests that you can cut off a body part, and because it is no longer linked to your body, it is no longer something that defines you or your personal identity.
He also goes on to explain how someone may be considered to be two different people depending on their mentality. He writes, “If the same Socrates waking and sleeping do not partake of the same consciousness, Socrates waking and sleeping is not the same person... to punish Socrates waking for what sleeping Socrates thought... would be no more right than to punish one twin for what his brother-twin did, because their outsides were so alike that they could not be distinguished.” Another instance that could be used in this scenario is someone that drank a large amount of alcohol and become intoxicated. The alcohol impairs the person’s judgement and perhaps behaves in a way that they would if they were not intoxicated. In Locke’s perspective, they should not be considered the same person, as their mentality is one uncharacteristic of their normal behaviour. As he later states, “Why else is he punished for the fact he commits when drunk, though he be never afterwards conscious of it?”
From this, we can gather that Locke believes that while your body is your belonging and in its purest position will contribute to your personal identity, mind is ultimately most important as you cannot separate yourself from it. A harmonious mind and body contributes to optimal peace. As was quoted by him, “A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.”
Monday, March 19, 2012
DAY 24 (Mar 19) Review Meta - Seminars Coming Up!!
Metaphysics in a Nutshell ("nutshell" in this context means, "...what we can fit into an hour of typing/writing heehee).
Reality Theories
Idealism - Berkeley, Plato. Reality consists of ideas (of perfection?) and the minds that house these ideas.
Realism - Plato. Reality consists of ideas of perfection that do not change with time, but are always more perfect that the reality of the world and what you can encounter in the material world.
Materialism - Ancient Greeks, Hobbes. Everything is physical and reality is matter. Even consciousness is a by-product of the physical brain.
Monoism - Spinoza. Reality is one all-encompassing thing and all things are just expressions of the one reality. The one thing can be an idea, a thing, or a god.
Dualism - Descartes. Reality is two distinct things: mind, matter. Nothing in common but they do interact.
Determinism - Every event, including one's own actions, is determined by a chain of events going back in time.
Ontology - simply the study of the nature of being and of reality.
Substance - something that has an independent existence.
Personhood
John Locke - thinking, intelligent being, with reason and reflection, that can consider itself as itself. This ALLOWS for non-human entities to be considered persons.
Dan Dennett - rationality, conscious mental states and intentionality, thought to be persons by other people, the person must consider that other persons are persons, complex verbal communication, self-consciousness. This ALLOWS some non-human entitles to be considered persons.
Mary Ann Warren - chiefly from point of view of abortion, or beginning of life. Consciousness of objects, ability to feel pain, reasoning and problem-solving abilities, self-motivated actions, complex ways of communications (not just verbal), concepts of "self" and "self-awareness". She says that a person does NOT have to satisfy all of these criteria, only some of them.
Annette Baier - basically a response to all of these definitions. Persons tests are too narrow. Too much emphasis on cognitive powers (e.g. rationality) than to learning interpersonal skills and social roles.
All of this begs some questions: e.g. are a week-old baby and an Alzheimer's patient not to be considered persons? Do we exclude developmentally challenged people and those with severe brain damage? When does a person begin and end?
Self
Bundle Theory - Hume. Imagine a bag full of stuff (a bundle), and every item in it represents one of your experiences. The Self is a collection of bits and pieces of experiences in the past. This does not really account for someone's future which is in large part determined by someone's past.
Project Theory - Sartre. Imagine the building of a bridge, the planning, building, maintenance, repairing, etc., this is a never-ending project, just like you! Always evolving, connected with the future, conscious, with a conscience, with morals, with a soul.
Narrative Theory - Ricoeur. Imagine that you are a book and you are constantly writing it. Your pen is your set of experiences. Both past and present make you you. Your story is interwoven with others' stories too. Your own narrative does not end - it continues in other people's narratives.
Substance Theory - Descartes. Imagine that you are a boat (S.S. You), the wind = experiences, although the wind may change your direction, you the boat does not change. This is opposite the Bundle Theory, there is a mental substance (not derived from the material), and experiences do not change self.
Supreme Being
Theism - (based on Greek word, theos = God). Belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing supreme being worthy of worship. Belief is that it was present at creation and can intervene.
Deism - (based on the Latin word, deo = God). A belief in a supreme being as above, but that the supreme being does NOT intervene in life.
Polytheism - belief in the work of many gods, each with a particular role in the universe. Hinduism.
Monotheism - belief in one supreme, perfect, all powerful maker. The main monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) maintain that the God is an entity with human characteristics (not a human) who has a mind, a will and an ability to communicate.
Pantheism - belief that the supreme being is everywhere. That everything contains the spirit of this entity. Aboriginal Spirituality, many other religions, somewhat a Christian ideal.
Panentheism - belief that the supreme being is everything. That it is the totality of all existence. That there is nothing outside of God (but God is not a person).
Meaning of Life?
Nihilists - life has no meaning. No work of art, scientific advancement, etc. is important because the universe will end in the future (e.g. the sun will burn us up in around 10b years.
Theists - because the supreme being has given us life it thus has meaning and purpose. The meaning is there and it's up to us to discover that meaning, that it's part of His/Her plan. Because the supreme being has given us life, life has meaning.
What gives meaning to your life?
Reality Theories
Idealism - Berkeley, Plato. Reality consists of ideas (of perfection?) and the minds that house these ideas.
Realism - Plato. Reality consists of ideas of perfection that do not change with time, but are always more perfect that the reality of the world and what you can encounter in the material world.
Materialism - Ancient Greeks, Hobbes. Everything is physical and reality is matter. Even consciousness is a by-product of the physical brain.
Monoism - Spinoza. Reality is one all-encompassing thing and all things are just expressions of the one reality. The one thing can be an idea, a thing, or a god.
Dualism - Descartes. Reality is two distinct things: mind, matter. Nothing in common but they do interact.
Determinism - Every event, including one's own actions, is determined by a chain of events going back in time.
Ontology - simply the study of the nature of being and of reality.
Substance - something that has an independent existence.
Personhood
John Locke - thinking, intelligent being, with reason and reflection, that can consider itself as itself. This ALLOWS for non-human entities to be considered persons.
Dan Dennett - rationality, conscious mental states and intentionality, thought to be persons by other people, the person must consider that other persons are persons, complex verbal communication, self-consciousness. This ALLOWS some non-human entitles to be considered persons.
Mary Ann Warren - chiefly from point of view of abortion, or beginning of life. Consciousness of objects, ability to feel pain, reasoning and problem-solving abilities, self-motivated actions, complex ways of communications (not just verbal), concepts of "self" and "self-awareness". She says that a person does NOT have to satisfy all of these criteria, only some of them.
Annette Baier - basically a response to all of these definitions. Persons tests are too narrow. Too much emphasis on cognitive powers (e.g. rationality) than to learning interpersonal skills and social roles.
All of this begs some questions: e.g. are a week-old baby and an Alzheimer's patient not to be considered persons? Do we exclude developmentally challenged people and those with severe brain damage? When does a person begin and end?
Self
Bundle Theory - Hume. Imagine a bag full of stuff (a bundle), and every item in it represents one of your experiences. The Self is a collection of bits and pieces of experiences in the past. This does not really account for someone's future which is in large part determined by someone's past.
Project Theory - Sartre. Imagine the building of a bridge, the planning, building, maintenance, repairing, etc., this is a never-ending project, just like you! Always evolving, connected with the future, conscious, with a conscience, with morals, with a soul.
Narrative Theory - Ricoeur. Imagine that you are a book and you are constantly writing it. Your pen is your set of experiences. Both past and present make you you. Your story is interwoven with others' stories too. Your own narrative does not end - it continues in other people's narratives.
Substance Theory - Descartes. Imagine that you are a boat (S.S. You), the wind = experiences, although the wind may change your direction, you the boat does not change. This is opposite the Bundle Theory, there is a mental substance (not derived from the material), and experiences do not change self.
Supreme Being
Theism - (based on Greek word, theos = God). Belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing supreme being worthy of worship. Belief is that it was present at creation and can intervene.
Deism - (based on the Latin word, deo = God). A belief in a supreme being as above, but that the supreme being does NOT intervene in life.
Polytheism - belief in the work of many gods, each with a particular role in the universe. Hinduism.
Monotheism - belief in one supreme, perfect, all powerful maker. The main monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) maintain that the God is an entity with human characteristics (not a human) who has a mind, a will and an ability to communicate.
Pantheism - belief that the supreme being is everywhere. That everything contains the spirit of this entity. Aboriginal Spirituality, many other religions, somewhat a Christian ideal.
Panentheism - belief that the supreme being is everything. That it is the totality of all existence. That there is nothing outside of God (but God is not a person).
Meaning of Life?
Nihilists - life has no meaning. No work of art, scientific advancement, etc. is important because the universe will end in the future (e.g. the sun will burn us up in around 10b years.
Theists - because the supreme being has given us life it thus has meaning and purpose. The meaning is there and it's up to us to discover that meaning, that it's part of His/Her plan. Because the supreme being has given us life, life has meaning.
What gives meaning to your life?
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
DAYs 21, 22, 23 ALFQ in the Library
These days are work periods for ALFQs - all the handouts etc. are on yesterday's blog (
Day 19). Supreme Being stuff is on the blog from DAY 15.
Due Friday please at end of class if possible!
You are all asking excellent questions and proposing connections between the theories of philosophers and the "real life" situations in the media you've watched and read. I'm very impressed with the level and power of your thinking through this. And the best comments in return that I get are about your enjoyment of the books that you are reading! Awesome!
Day 19). Supreme Being stuff is on the blog from DAY 15.
Due Friday please at end of class if possible!
You are all asking excellent questions and proposing connections between the theories of philosophers and the "real life" situations in the media you've watched and read. I'm very impressed with the level and power of your thinking through this. And the best comments in return that I get are about your enjoyment of the books that you are reading! Awesome!
Monday, March 5, 2012
DAYs 19, 20 Answering Life's Fundamental Questions
Today I distributed your project to bring together all of the ideas in Metaphysics in Answering Life's Fundamental Questions Project. It's due on Friday please.
Here are the handouts from today:
Quotes from Life is Beautiful
Questions that arose in Life is Beautiful
Chart of arguments FOR and AGAINST the existence of a God (Supreme Building) to help with your text note-taking
Sample ALFQ Project
Enjoy! As you know I'm flexible with due dates but I really hope you can get this in by Friday so that you can relax over March Break.
Here are the handouts from today:
Quotes from Life is Beautiful
Questions that arose in Life is Beautiful
Chart of arguments FOR and AGAINST the existence of a God (Supreme Building) to help with your text note-taking
Sample ALFQ Project
Enjoy! As you know I'm flexible with due dates but I really hope you can get this in by Friday so that you can relax over March Break.
Friday, March 2, 2012
DAY 16, 17, 18 Start Reading Your Novels
In my absence with Ofsaa Snowboarding on Thursday, you were to begin reading and note-taking for your novels. Most of you have spent enough time with your novels on these three days - you have been note-taking, putting little slips of paper into appropriate pages to refer to later on, and you have worked through Supreme Being in the text as per notes from the blog on Day 15.
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