Transcript Class #5 - 1/15/14

Philosophy 1010
Class #5
Title:
Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor:
Paul Dickey
E-mail Address: [email protected]
Today
1. Submit Logic Exercises
2. Pop Quiz
3. Chapter 2 -- On Human Nature, pp. 50-71.
1/22/13
Midterm Exam,
Chapters 1-2 and Critical Thinking
Be sure to read the chapter summaries &
study Quia exercises.
For a hypothetical claim such as "If it is raining, the grass
is wet," the clause (or assertion) "it is raining" is called the
antecedent (the statement that follows the "if"), and "the
grass is wet" is called the “consequent." Now, affirming
the antecedent occurs when you have the following valid
logical form:
If p then q
p
____
thus, q
and you have denying the consequent when you have a
valid argument in the logical form
If p then q
~q (“not Q”)
____
thus, ~p (“not P”)
As for exercise #1, you will not always find
a "so" in the argument. Ask yourself what
is the logical form. It appears to be:
If G then A.
~G
___
~A
This of course is neither of the two valid
logical forms above and rather it is the
invalid formal fallacy of denying the
antecedent. It is a formal (not informal)
fallacy because it is a deductive argument.
Chain Arguments
“If it’s raining outside, the grass is wet. If the
grass is wet, then our toddler will slip and fall.
Thus, if it is raining outside, our toddler will slip
and fall.”
R -> W
W -> S
_____
R -> S
Similar to the “transitive property” in
Mathematics
Jack is taller than Betty. Betty is taller than
Sam. Thus, Jack is taller than Sam.
Ambiguity
•
Let’s discuss three kinds of ambiguity.
1. Semantic ambiguity or Equivocation is where there is
an ambiguous word or phrase, e.g. “average” price.
-- When Barry Goldwater ran for president, his
slogan was, "In your heart, you know he's right."
In what way is this ambiguous?
2. Syntactic ambiguity or Amphiboly is where there is
ambiguity because of grammar or sentence
structure, e.g. “Players with beginners’ skills only
may use Court #1.”
3. Grouping ambiguity or Composition is ambiguous in
that the claim could be about an individual in the
group or the group entirely, e. g. Baseball players
make more money that computer programmers.”
5
Chapter 2
On Human Nature: A Metaphysical Study
What is it to be Human? What is a Person?
What is a Self? What is a Soul? What is a
Person Worth?
In reviewing the different attempts to
answer philosophical questions such
as these, please note carefully:
1)
Likely each view can give us additional or new
insight into the questions and potential answers
to the questions and thus provides us a richer
understanding of human nature, BUT
2)
No answer will likely give us a complete and/or
satisfactory answer that will supplant all the other
views.
3)
In short, all views proposed to answer a
philosophical question should be respected but
examined aggressively. We should not rush
either to reject them or to accept them.
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious (has
reason) and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the
body, but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent
existence from other selves
The Traditional Western View
The Traditional Western View of Human
Nature is the one most commonly held in our
culture.
Yet different philosophers throughout history
have questioned and rejected every one of
the four tenets with various arguments.
The Traditional Rationalist View
(Plato)
• For Plato, humans have a nonphysical or
material soul or self in agreeing with all these
assumptions.
• Plato contends that since reason often conflicts
with our desires (or appetites) and that either of
these can conflict with our aggression, each of
these comprise one of the three main elements
of our soul (self).
• For Plato, man can choose what part of his self
rules his actions. (Free Will?) Because reason
alone can know how we ought to live, it should
rule the appetite and our aggressions.
The Traditional Rationalist View
(Aristotle)
• Aristotle (384-322 BC) mostly agreed with
Plato but went on to argue that reason can
discover the truth about man in the natural
world, and how we should act.
• Thus, Aristotle is rejecting Plato’s Allegory of
the Cave, suggesting that Plato’s world of
shadows can be known through reason.
Ah, isn’t this the basic motivation for science?
• For Aristotle, all living things and the natural
world have purpose (telos). The purpose of
man is to control desires and aggression
through reason.
The Traditional Western Religious View
(Judeo-Christian)
• “The purpose of man is to love and serve God.”
(St. Augustine – 354-430 AD)
• Although influenced by Plato, this view asserts
that humans are made in the image of God.
Man has an immaterial and immortal soul and
the ability to love and to know, in the very
manner of God.
• Augustine emphasized that humans have will
and intellect, the ability to choose between
good and evil.
• “The purpose of man is to know God through
reason.” (St. Thomas Aquinas - c. 1225 –1274)
The Traditional Western View
The Traditional Western View of Human
Nature is the one most commonly held in our
culture.
Yet different philosophers throughout history
have questioned and rejected every one of
the four tenets with various arguments.
The most radical view is perhaps the Existentialism
of Jean-Paul Sartre -- 1905 – 1980.
• “Existence precedes essence.”
• Humans are radically free. Human nature itself is
determined by a man’s choices. There is no fixed
universal human nature (or soul) prior to the
choices that an individual free man makes.
• Existentialism challenges our basic values of
western civilization that human nature in some
way is “fixed.” God does not exist.
Human, All Too Human
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxbkPCLlXII
Ten Minute Break!
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious (has
reason) and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the body,
but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent
existence from other selves
Challenges to
the Traditional Rationalist View
•
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) claimed that man
acts only to satisfy his desires. In particular, he
possesses a basic, powerful desire for
aggressiveness and sexual pleasure. Man views
others as objects.
•
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) claimed that the
man’s primary desire was for power over others.
•
Moritz Schlick (1882-1936) believed that man is
able to act only out of self-interest. Schlick
recognized the appearance of unselfish
behavior, but claimed even such behavior
occurred only because of unrecognized selfinterest.
Challenges to the Traditional Rationalist View
Feminism
•
The traditional view seems to be sexist in that it
assumes that reason is male and emotions are
female (e.g. Aristotle & Augustine) By calling for
the subjugation of emotions to reason, does the
traditional view take a gender bias?
•
Some feminist philosophers repudiate the
traditional rationalist view and reject reason as the
basis of human nature. Others agree that reason
is primary and say the view only needs to be
modified to remove gender bias and to
acknowledge that reason is gender neutral.
•
Genevieve Lloyd suggests that the issue is even
more fundamental and may be near impossible to
resolve. Read your text on page 73 carefully!! We
will discuss this passage in class next week.
II the Rationalist View Racist?
• Aristotle claimed that since barbarians
were less rational than Greeks, it was
justifiable to rule and enslave them
because they were less human.
•
Caveat Emptor: Such an assertion
does not logically follow from Plato.
The Traditional Western Religious View
• For Thomas Aquinas, however, one is not
limited in their ability to love and serve God by
differing levels of intelligence or knowledge.
• In his view of Human Nature, note that Love
and Service to God trumps Reason !!!
• Question for the class:
Does this view contradict the previously
asserted suggestion in the class that it is best
to seek truth and wisdom? Or Socrates’ view
that the unexamined life is not worth living?
Would Aquinas agree with you?
Darwinism
• Evolutionary theory claims that random
variations and natural selection make
species evolve. To many, this suggests
that humans are not unique and that
there perhaps is no special purpose to
human life.
Charles Darwin – 1809–1882
• Darwin does not himself take a
position on the question whether God
exists.
Other Challenges to
the Traditional Rationalist View
•
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) claimed that man
acts only to satisfy his desires. In particular, he
possesses a basic, powerful desire for
aggressiveness and sexual pleasure. Man views
others as objects.
•
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) claimed that the
man’s primary desire was for power over others.
•
Moritz Schlick (1882-1936) believed that man is
able to act only out of self-interest. Schlick
recognized the appearance of unselfish
behavior, but claimed even such behavior
occurred only because of unrecognized selfinterest.
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the body,
but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent existence from
other selves
The Dualist View of Human Nature
•
The Dualist View is an ancient view that can be
traced back to Plato and the Traditional Rationalist
View of Human Nature.
•
A developed, systematic view of Dualism was best
expressed by Rene Descartes (1596-1650).
•
Descartes argues that he can imagine his self
without a body, thus the self is not the body. We
cannot think of the self without thought which is
immaterial. Thus, the mind and body must be
distinct.
•
Descartes further argues that the mind or “soul” is
the essential form of the self and could exist without
the body.
•
I think, therefore I am.
The Mind-Body Problem
•
So how can the mind as a non-physical entity cause
the physical body to act and how can the physical
body cause changes in the state of the mind?
•
Can the mind add energy or force to the physical
world?
But that is exactly what seems to happen when I
decide to move my hand and then move it.
•
How can a physical body alter a state of
consciousness or thought?
But that is exactly what seems to happen when a fly
buzzes near my head and I become annoyed.
Cartesian Dualism on the Mind-Body Problem
•
Descartes suggested that the mind/body
interacts through the pineal gland, a small
gland near the brain by being so small that
an immaterial mind could move it.
•
But the problem still seems to remain! No
matter how small a physical object is, it is of
course still a physical object.
Responses to Cartesian Dualism
•
Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) denied that the
mind and body actually do interact. They only
appear to do so.
•
Leibniz argued that the mind and the body
operate in parallel universes like synchronized
clocks.
•
Nicholas Malebranche (1683-1715) argued that
such a synchronism could not occur by
coincidence. Only by the constant act of God
could the two worlds be kept parallel.
Descartes & The Scientific Revolution
In 1636, a Hobbes travels to Italy where he may
have met with Galileo. With the influence of Galileo,
Hobbes develops his social philosophy on principles
of geometry and natural science.
Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642),
was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer,
and philosopher who played a major role in the
Scientific Revolution. Galileo has been called the
"father of modern observational astronomy", the "father
of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the
Father of Modern Science“
Galileo proposes that physics should be a “new
science” based on methods of observation not just on
the methods of reason.
Materialism
•
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) rejects Cartesian
dualism claiming that Descartes Mind/Body
problem itself refutes dualism.
•
Since mind and body cannot interact, they
cannot both exist within human nature.
•
There can only be one realm of human nature
and that is the material world.
•
All human activities, including the mental, can
be explained on the paradigm of a machine.
Materialism
•
Hobbes was reductionist in that he believed that one
kind of purported reality (the mind) could be understood
entirely in terms of another (matter).
•
New scientific techniques of observation and
measurement being used by Galileo, Kepler, and
Copernicus were making giant strides in understanding
the universe.
•
The spirit of his century suggested to Hobbes that all
reality would be explained in time in terms only of the
observable and the measurable.
•
Hobbes himself was unable to explain any mental
processes in terms of the physical.
•
Perhaps motivating Hobbes’ view was basically his
passionate faith in the advancement of science at the
time.
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the body, but somehow is
related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent existence from other
selves
Is There An Enduring Self?
•
Descartes argues that the enduring self is the soul, an
enduring immaterial being or existence.
•
John Locke (1632-1704) says that the enduring self is
a based only on our having continuous memory.
•
Buddhism asserts that nothing in the universe,
particularly the self, remains the same from one
moment to the next.
•
David Hume (1711-1776) also denies that there is an
enduring self. He argues that only what we perceive
exists and that we never perceive an enduring self, only
a constant flow of perceptions.
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the body, but somehow is
related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent
existence from other selves
Is the Self Independent or Relational?
•
Descartes argues that the self exists independently of
others and the independent self can judge the truth
about what is.
•
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) suggests that the self is
the ability to choose independently of others, and not
being determined by conforming to others.
Georg W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) proposes that the self
is relational. A person is only free and independent if
others recognize him or her to be so.
•
Charles Taylor (1931- ) argues that we depend on
others for the very definition of what our real self is.