C Block
Please move the desks into
a u-shape.
DO NOW: “Calvin & Hobbes” 4 minutes
What do you think this cartoon means? Why show it
in this class? Please write in full sentences.
I. What is philosophy?
A. Philosophy is
1. An activity (demonstration)
2. Rational inquiry
3. Comprehensive view of reality and our
place in it
4. Goal: systematic world view
I. What is philosophy?
A. Philosophy is, continued
5. Traditional definition: love of wisdom
6. Examples
a) Nancy the thief
b) Zeno’s paradox
I. What is philosophy?
B. Areas of inquiry/what Philosophers think
about
1. What is there?
2. What can be known?
3. How should life be lived?
4. What is good reasoning?
I. What is philosophy?
C. Names of branches
1. Metaphysics
a)What is there?
b)What is a thing?
c) How do parts make a whole?
d)What are numbers?
e)What is a person?
f) Why is there something rather than nothing?
I. What is philosophy?
2. Epistemology
a)What is knowledge?
b)How is knowledge different from
belief?
c) Can we know anything without
experience?
I. What is philosophy?
3. Ethics
a)How should life be lived?
b)Is war ever justified?
c) Is lying always wrong?
d)Is abortion ever acceptable?
e)Do we have moral duties to other people?
I. Unit 1: What is philosophy?
4. Aesthetics
A.What is art?
B.What does it mean to call something
beautiful?
1. A person?
2. A flower?
3. A house?
4. A mathematical proof?
I. Unit 1: What is philosophy?
5. Logic
a)Good reasoning
b)“Logical fallacies”
c) Rules of correct reasoning
d)Conclusions that follow premises
I. What is philosophy?
6. Philosophy of Language
a)How does language work?
b)How do words have meaning?
c) How do words refer to the world?
d)Is language merely a game?
DO NOW: “Four questions” 3 minutes
Here are four questions. Write which branch
of philosophy the question represents.
1. Should good and bad be determined by custom,
law or some other person/concept?
2. What makes some art beautiful and other art
ugly?
3. Can words have meaning other than what the
speaker intends?
4. How can I know that you are conscious like I am?
DO NOW: “Baby Eric” 8 minutes
Warm up your philosophical brain.
Take a handout from the chair. You will
have eight minutes to complete the
task before we share answers.
You may discuss your ideas with one
buddy as you work.
II. The love of wisdom
A. Triple-A-Skill Set
1. Analysis
a. What do I really want?
b. What is life about?
c. What can make me happy?
II. The love of wisdom
2. Assessment
a) To examine and decide among
proposals
b) How to assess
1 Is it coherent?
2 Is it complete?
3 Is it correct?
II. The love of wisdom
3. Argument
a) Reasoned presentation of ideas,
using evidence, in favor of a
conclusion
b) Reason
II. The love of wisdom
c) Why do arguments fail?
1) Differ on evidence
2) Blind to truth
3) Refuse to listen
4) Emotion and logic in conflict
DO NOW: “Failed Arguments”
– 10 minutes
Give examples of arguments in
which these things happened. Be
willing to share with the class. You
may work in groups of two.
1) Differ on evidence
2) Blind to truth
3) Refuse to listen
4) Emotion and logic in conflict
Homework
Go to
www.philoteacher.wordpress.com
and go to the page “World View
Spring 2012”
C block:
Please move the desks back into a
U-shape. If everyone moves one
or two desks, nobody will have to
work too hard.
Your recent notes & DO NOWs are
graded and on the front chair.
Find your work in the pile, please,
if you want to use it for notes
today.
Do Now “Cow in the Field” 3 min
A farmer is worried his cow is lost. When the mailman
comes, he tells the farmer not to worry, because he’s seen
that the cow nearby. The farmer takes a look for himself,
sees the familiar black and white shape of his cow, and is
satisfied that he knows the cow is there. Later on, the
mailman stops at the field to double-check. The cow is
indeed there, but it’s hidden behind trees. There is also a
large sheet of black and white paper caught in a tree, and it
is obvious that the farmer mistook it for his cow.
The question, then: even
though the cow was in the
field, was the farmer correct
when he said he knew it was
there?
Chapters 4 – 6 Epistemology
“How do we know?”
Plato’s parable of the cave
Knowledge of things we see
Do Now “Hadron Collider” 4 minutes
Scientific Knowledge: What does this cartoon suggest
about science or experiments and knowledge? You may
talk with a friend, but both of you must write your
answers.
Watch “Jonestown”
What types of knowledge were
involved?
C Block
Please move the desks into
a u-shape.
DO NOW “Simpsons” – 1 minutes
What idea in
epistemology is
Bart Simpson
referring to? In
other words, how
does Bart say
people can prove
things?
Bad news
Do Now – “Cyberbaby” 2 min.
What does this picture suggest about
the limits of our knowledge? Explain.
The Challenge of Skepticism
Source Skepticism
 Beliefs about the past
Testimony
Circular: When I was young, my parents told me
that other people can usually be trusted.
My parents told me
Other examples of circular reasoning
"If such actions were not illegal, then they would not be
prohibited by the law."
"The belief in God is universal. After all, everyone
believes in God."
Interviewer: "Your resume looks impressive but I need
another reference."
Bill: "Jill can give me a good reference."
Interviewer: "Good. But how do I know that Jill is
trustworthy?"
Bill: "Certainly. I can vouch for her."
Other examples of circular reasoning
 Interviewer: "Your resume looks impressive but I need
another reference.”
 Bill: "Jill can give me a good reference.”
 Interviewer: "Good. But how do I know that Jill is
trustworthy?”
 Bill: "Certainly. I can vouch for her."
Do Now – 2 minutes
Circular Reasoning
 Write two or more examples of circular reasoning.
The Challenge of Skepticism
Source Skepticism
Memory
I remember my memory being reliable
Circular reasoning (appeal to memory to justify
memory)
The challenge of skepticism
Beliefs about the present
Comes to use from testimony – already problematic
Comes to use from sense experience
Memory – already problematic
Circular – sense experience – “I can recall many times
in the past seeming to see something, like a penny on
the street, and when I got closer, there it was, just as
it had appeared to be.”
The invisible gorilla
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_m_9N_3u7o
Invisible Dog video
Do Now – “The Unexpected” – 3 minutes
Have you ever seen something that you never
expected to see and had trouble explaining it?
The challenge of skepticism
Beliefs about the future
Plagued by the same problems or worse!
Radical skepticism
 Bertrand Russell: “The Five Minute Hypothesis”
The entire universe sprang into existence from
nothing five minutes ago, exactly as it then was,
apparent fossils in the ground, wrinkles on people’s
faces, and other signs of age all instantly formed and
thoroughly deceptive.
All of my memories are false.
We cannot produce any evidence that this hypothesis
is false.
We should withhold judgment.
RADICAL SKEPTICISM
2. Rene Descartes: dream/delusion/evil demon
Everything that I think I experience now is just part of
a big dream or delusion.
We cannot produce any evidence that this hypothesis
is false.
3. Future Nihilism - radical skepticism about the future
The future does not yet exist
In order for a belief to be true, the object about
which it is true must be among the “furniture of
reality” – it MUST exist
The future does not yet exist – it is a void
Do Now – Your turn at skepticism – 6 minutes
DO NOW: Work with a partner. Imagine your own “radical
skepticism” scenario. Write it on your DO NOW paper.
Do Now: “English Muffin” – 4
minutes
What in the world???
Epistemology - Ways of Knowing
Empiricism
Sense experience is the ultimate
starting point for all of our
knowledge
Epistemology - Ways of Knowing
Empiricism (perception)
Epistemology - Ways of Knowing
Rationalism
The starting point for knowledge is
not the senses but reason.
Without categories and principles
in our mind, we could not organize
sensory information.
Rationalism
Innate knowledge - Mental
categories: Cause and effect
Innate knowledge - Mental
categories: Cause and effect
Innate knowledge - Mental
categories: time
Self-evident proposition
Propositions (statements) that we
“see” as true without further
explanation.
Any surface that is red is colored.
If A is greater than B and B is
greater than C, then A is greater
than C.
Do Now: “Self evident”
Below are five statements. Write “SE” if the
statement is self-evident. Write “n” if it is not. You
do not need to copy the statements.
1. Anything that is alive is not dead.
2. When we are hungry, we should eat food.
3. Anything that is yellow is a color.
4. Anything that takes up space has mass.
5. Dogs are smarter than cats.
Do Now: “How can we know?”
12 minutes
1. Work in groups of threes.
2. Work out a plan on how you think
you can know things.
3. Come to your own conclusions. Do
you side with the rationalist or the
empiricist or neither? Explain why and
give examples. (Maybe there are other
sources of knowledge?)
Do Now: The Truman Show
1. How is The Truman Show about
epistemology?
2. What is truth for Truman?
3. What does Truman “know”?
Do Now: Move desks back into ushape.
Prepare yourself to finish last week’s
DO NOW presentations on The Truman
Show.
DO NOW: Prepare yourself for the
last group to talk about The
Truman Show.
Ways of Knowing
Rationalism appeals to reason
Rationalism or empiricism?
Rationalism or empiricism?
Rationalism or empiricism?
Knowledge: Properly Justified
True Belief
Three elements:
1) Properly justified
2) True
3) Belief
DO NOW: 4 minutes
Below are a list of possible beliefs that
Truman might have at the beginning of the
movie. Finish the chart following the
pattern.
Possible belief
Properly
Justified
True
Belief
Truman can come and go from Seahaven as
he wants.
Yes
No
Yes
Truman’s father is dead.
There is a director controlling Truman’s life.
Truman’s wife loves him.
Truman’s mother is an actress.
Seahaven is not the real world. It is a world
created by Christof.
DO NOW: 12 minutes
Complete the bubbles in the Foxtrot cartoon
to make it reflect your view of knowledge in
some way. We will be sharing answers when
done.
DO NOW: 7 minutes
If knowledge is properly justified
true belief, what is the hardest
part to determine?
Explain and give two examples.
You may work with one partner.
Write your answers on both
papers.