Philosophy 1010
Class #3
Hand in Definition and
Philosophical Issue Essay.
Reading Assignment for Class #4:
Read Velasquez, Philosophy: A Text With
Readings, Chapter 2, pp. 71-90
Philosophy 1010
Class #3
Title:
Instructor:
E-mail Address:
Introduction to Philosophy
Paul Dickey
pdickey2@mccneb.edu
Additional assignment for Class #4:
Write a two-page “play” as a Socratic Dialogue
discussing perhaps the question you proposed in
your Class #1 writing assignment. Use two
characters, you and Socrates. Illustrate the
principles of the Socratic Method in your play.
Critical Thinking Rule #3:
“Avoid Vague and
Ambiguous Claims.”
What Are the Major Fields of
Philosophy?
2. Metaphysics is “the study of reality
or existence.”
Does God Exist? What is the nature of
the universe?
Does man have a soul? If so, is it
immortal?
Are humans free to choose for
themselves, or are all human acts
determined?
Monism
Monism is the view that all of reality is one kind of
thing. If, for example, you believe that all of reality is
matter, or that God is the only reality, then you are a
monist.
Typically, most monists are materialists. (But not all!)
In other words, they believe that the single unifying
feature of reality is matter. Holding this view,
materialistic monists argue that there is no God,
Heaven, Hell, soul, or any other "spiritual" part of
reality.
Dualism
Dualism is the view that all of reality is
divided into two kinds of things. Thus, if
you believe that all of reality is divided
between the realm of God and the
physical universe, or that there is a "higher
world" and a "lower world", or that reality
is composed of spirit and matter, you are a
dualist.
In general, most Christians are dualists.
They hold that reality is divided into two
parts. Our souls are eternal and nonmaterial; our bodies, like the physical
universe, are temporal and material.
Critical Thinking Rule #4:
“Support your Claims with
Reasons to Believe”
What Are the Major Fields of
Philosophy?
3. Ethics is “the study of values and morality
and how they relate to conduct.” (or
rather….)
What is the nature of man’s obligation to other men?
How should we live to be good?
What responsibilities do governments have to their
citizens?
Is man essentially selfish? Or can he be motivated
by principles beyond his own self-interest?
Ethics comes from the Greek word ethos for character. Ethics
is the study of the nature of morality and immorality, of how
humans should, and should not, act. A central ethical
question is, what is the source of moral values?
Here are three of several possible answers:
1. Moral values come from
God. If you hold this position,
then odds are that you believe
that genuine moral values are
unchanging and universal.
What is right, has always been
right; what is wrong, has always
been wrong. God's laws apply to
everyone, in all cultures. This
position would make you a
moral absolutist.
2.
Moral values come from societies. If
you hold this view, then you probably
believe that moral values can
legitimately vary from culture to culture.
Each society can have its own
standards of ethical behavior. What is
right for the Chinese, may be wrong for
Brazilians, and vice versa. This position
would make you a moral relativist.
3.
Moral values are determined by the
utility or usefulness of an action to
promote everyone’s best interest. If
you hold this view, then you are a
utilitarian. Utilitarianism was argued
by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).
Critical Thinking Rule #5:
“Evaluate the truth of the
premises of the argument.”
Ten Minute Break!
Plato
Plato is history's first great philosopher
because, among other reasons, he provided
the first set of answers to some of the largest
and most difficult questions: What is the
structure of reality? What can be known for
certain? What is moral virtue? What is the
nature of the ideal state?
No philosopher before Plato had ever
attempted such a wide and deep exploration
of philosophical problems.
The Father of Western Philosophy
•
Socrates, 460-399 B. C.
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Socrates' deserves credit for rigorous, ethical
investigation. His conversations with his fellow
Athenians are the first records we have of an
individual, by careful reasoning, trying to discover
the guiding principles of moral choices.
•
But be careful. There were many Greek thinkers
(actually known as “The Pre-Socratics”) prior to
Socrates who developed profound insights into the
nature of the universe and man’s place in it.
•
Socrates built a reputation on questioning
conventional beliefs, thus embodying the
nature of philosophy itself.
Plato’s Dialogues &
the Socratic Method
•
Plato’s dialogues demonstrate the Socratic Method.
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In The Euthyphro, Plato shows Socrates questioning traditional
religious beliefs and the nature of religious duty. He asks
“what is it to be holy” and Euthyphro says that being holy is
“doing what the gods love.”
•
Class, has Euthyphro given a good answer to the question?
Does he really understand or is he just assuming that he knows?
•
Socrates probes further: what makes a thing holy? Is an act holy
because it is loved by the gods or do the gods love what is holy because
it is holy?
•
If the first, are the gods capricious and random and be able
to select anything to be holy? If the latter, then we have not
answer the original question at all.
What is the Socratic method?
•
“Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling”
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Socrates engaged himself in questioning students in an
unending search for truth. He sought to get to the foundations
of his students' and colleagues' views by asking continual
questions until a contradiction was exposed, thus proving the
fallacy of the initial assumption.
•
This became known as the Socratic Method, and may be
Socrates' most enduring contribution to philosophy.
•
Socrates was both a real philosopher and the major character
in Plato’s (his student’s) dialogues. Thus, it is not clear to what
degree Socrates was a precursor to Plato’s ideas or was a
mouthpiece for Plato to put forward his own views.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arBTipKocfY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaIyBIUytR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKQ-ifC47Bo