Philosophy 1010
Class 4/16/12
Title:
Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor:
Paul Dickey
E-mail Address: pdickey2@mccneb.edu
Tonight:
Discuss Class Essay
Hand Out Student Evaluation Instructions
Finish Chapter Two Discussion
Midterm Exam
Next Week
Overview & Introduction to Chapter 3
Read:
from sections 3.1, & 3.2 (pp. 134-140, 144-150)
Sections 3.3 & 3.4 (all pages)
Homework:
Discuss in a brief (200-250 word) essay how the
philosophical view of Pragmatism discussed in
the text is like and/or unlike what pragmatism
means to you in your day-to-day life. THINK!
Electronic/Online Course/Instructor Feedback
12/SP Availability
April 16 – May 16, 2012
Student Instructions
Electronic/Online Course/Instructor Feedback
Students must have access to the Internet in order to perform an electronic/online
student feedback of their course and instructor. Faculty reserves the right to
schedule the feedback session during class if equipment is available, in a school
learning center if pre scheduled, or allow the student to perform the evaluation
process on their own time.
Your feedback is completely confidential and anonymous. The student username
and regular password are to be used as a login and password to ensure that only
students in that particular class have access to the process; and to ensure that a
student may only submit their feedback once. All information is reported back to
the instructor approximately three weeks after the term is over in report form,
without individual student information provided.
Instructions
1.
From the Metro Home page (mccneb.edu):
Click on WebAdvisor.
Log in as a student & click on Student Evaluations link,
OR
Enter www.mccneb.edu/studentfeedback in web address
box.
2.
The Course Evaluations” page will pop up.
3.
For “Username” enter your regular Metro username,
which is usually your first initial and last name.
4.
For “Password” enter your regular Metro password, then
click on Submit button.
From this point onward, instructions will be provided to
guide you through the feedback process.
5.
Using the drop down menu, scroll down to the
appropriate, class course number, and instructor being
evaluated.
i.e. 11/FA INFO 1010 1A Doe, John.
Click on Begin Evaluation to start.
6.
The feedback screen will pop up. Please answer all
questions. Two comment questions are included at the
end of the form so the student may include their own
specific comments.
7.
When completed. Click on the Submit button. Your
feedback will be submitted to the database. You will
not be able to reopen or reenter the feedback screen
after the submit button has been selected.
Discuss
Class Essay
Requirements for Class Essay
You are writing a short 3-5-page essay (computer-printed or typed,
double-spaced, 1” margins, Times Romans 12-point font).
1)
The paper must demonstrate your understanding of a topic
we discussed -- for example, the mind/body problem.
2)
You will need to identify two philosophers to discuss in your
essay in regard to your topic.
3)
Your paper will show specific understanding of the two
points of view on the issue by the two philosophers which
raises an apparent conflict.
4)
The student will propose in his or her paper an argument to
resolve the conflict between the positions. In doing this
analysis, you will be using your own independent thinking.
5)
You will need to explicitly identify a narrow sub-topic on the
issue that you choose that appropriately allows you to make
an interesting claim about how your philosophers agree or
disagree on the issue.
Requirements for Class Essay
5)
You are free to select from a broad availability of sources
(but not Wikipedia). If you have a question about the
appropriateness of a source you wish to use, please
discuss this with instructor before you turn in your essay.
6)
You must use at least three sources, but not more than
five (otherwise your research could get unwieldy).
7)
Topic to be selected with instructor approval by next
week. By then, you should have a good idea what your
general argument will be.
8)
Essay are due when you come to final exam on the last
day of class. No essays will be accepted after that
time!!!
9)
The essay will be 15% of your course grade.
Any questions?
Requirements for Class Essay
Choosing a Topic:
1. Hopefully, something we have talked about in class has
interested you. Perhaps you are intrigued, for example, by
the third proof of the existence of God: the Argument from
Design.
2. Pick two philosophers that we have discussed who
addressed the question, say William Paley and David Hume.
3. Focus your attention on one point where they disagreed.
For example, Paley and Hume disagreed about the validity
of the watchmaker analogy.
4. Decide what you think about this particular disagreement
and make a statement (a claim!) that summarizes your own
view on it. For example, a claim might be: Paley based the
watchmaker analogy on strong scientific evidence that
David Hume did not recognize. Notice that simply saying
“Paley was right and Hume was wrong” is not a good claim
because it is excessively vague. Now, have fun and let’s
hear your argument for that conclusion !!!
Requirements for Class Essay
Your essay will be graded as an sum of five scores:
a)
How correctly do you represent the view of the
1st philosopher? NO STRAW MEN ALLOWED!
b)
How correctly do you represent the view of the
2st philosopher? NO STRAW MEN ALLOWED!
c)
Is your claim reasonable and clearly stated?
d)
Do you give a good argument for your claim?,
and
e)
Technical areas such as grammar, spelling.
Did you follow the specified requirements?,
did you provide a bibliography of your sources,
etc.
Online Philosophy Sources that you
might wish to use in your term paper:
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/gpi/philo.htm
http://philosophy.hku.hk/psearch/
http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gk1415/philosophy.htm
http://plato.stanford.edu/
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?
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.
Materialism
• Let’s discuss briefly four different modern versions of
Materialism as applied to the Mind/Body problem:
1)
The Mind/Brain Identity Theory
2)
Behaviorism
3)
Functionalism
4)
The Computer Model
The Mind/Brain Identity Theory
•
Hobbes’ materialism became a research strategy for
the sciences and modern philosophy. One prominent
form of 20th century materialism is known as The
Identity Theory.
•
The Identity Theory claims that states of mind (e.g.
consciousness) are identical with states of the brain.
Someday science will discover what states of the
mind (e.g. “desiring, “being happy,” etc) coincide with
particular states of the brain.
•
A prime proponent of the Identity Theory is J.J.C.
Smart (1920-)
•
The relationship between brain states and mind states
is “contingent” or empirical and not “necessary” or
logical. It is a subject of science, not philosophy. It
cannot be understood by clarifying the meanings of
our words or through reason alone.
The Mind/Brain Identity Theory
•
Although materialism is a strong force in philosophy to
this day, not all modern philosophers “buy in” to the
Identity Theory.
•
Norman Malcolm (1911-1990) argues against the
Mind/Brain Identity Theory.
•
He claims that mental states have no location in
space like brain states do. Thoughts require abstract
context such as rules and practices, mutual
understandings between parties, and assumptions.
Since brain events do not, then brain states cannot
ever be identical to mental states.
Behaviorist View of Human Nature
•
Behaviorism is a second form of Materialism.
•
Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) claimed in his book
The Concept of Mind that mental activities and
states can be explained in terms of the
external, observable behaviors with which
they are associated.
•
For Ryle, to say that a person loves someone
is only to say that she is likely to behave in
certain ways to the other person. Note that
this does not refer to any states of
consciousness.
Behaviorist View of Human Nature
•
Ryle would tell us that this has to be so because
otherwise it would be impossible for us even to we
learn the meaning of love, or even pain or fear. We
cannot do so by referring to states of consciousness
because we cannot know such states in others.
•
Hilary Putnam (1926 - ) provides a counter-argument
to Ryle -- Imagine a super-actor who can give a
perfect imitation of someone in pain but does not feel
pain or a super-Spartan who can endure pain without
showing it. Putnam says the behaviorist would have
to deny the possibility of these events. Surely that is
wrong.
•
Thus, Putnam argues that behaviorism throws out
the baby (consciousness) with the bath water.
Functionalist View of Human Nature
•
Functionalism is a third form of materialism that is
inspired by the model of the modern computer and is
reminiscent of Aristotle’s teleological explanations.
•
D. M. Armstrong (1926 - ) argues that mental
activities and states can be explained in terms of
perceptual inputs and behavioral outputs.
•
Mental state are the connections that the material
brain makes between certain inputs and outputs.
That is, our “consciousness” is not a separate
existence but is like the “purpose” of the brain
activities.
•
Or in other words, conscious mental states and
activities refer only to the functions that are served in
the processes connecting sensory inputs and
behavior outputs.
Computer View of Human Nature
•
A view closely related to Functionalism is the view that
humans indeed are sophisticated computers.
•
This view proposes that the mind is a computer following
a program that generates outputs when given certain
inputs.
•
Alan Turing (1912-1954) has suggested the Turing Test as
a criteria to determine whether computers have minds.
•
According to Turing, when a computer is able to provide
outputs that are indistinguishable in its answers from the
answers of a human being, it would be entirely
appropriate to say that the computer has a mind.
•
Turing believed it was only a matter of time before we
would have such computers.
Computer View of Human Nature
•
John Searle (1932 - ) proposes the Chinese Room as a
counter argument.
•
Searle asserts that a person following a program that
outputs the right Chinese characters when given certain
Chinese inputs may not understand Chinese.
•
Thus, Searle argues that Turing’s view in the end, does
not provide a fully adequate account of consciousness.
•
Searle however does not slide back into Dualism.
Instead, he claims that consciousness is a unique kind
of human quality and someday science will explain how
the brain produces it. It is not reducible to the physical
reality of the brain but the brain does in fact produce it.
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.
Break!