San Diego Mesa College
Phil 107
Spring 2012
Instructor: Prof. Nina Rosenstand
REFLECTIONS ON HUMAN NATURE
STUDY-GUIDE, Midterm March 8, 2012
OFFICE HOURS: MTWTh: 10:00-11:05; MT 2:10-2:30
Office: H-301G. Phone: (619) 388-2407
E-mail: nrosenst@sdccd.edu (e-mails will be answered during Prof. Rosenstand’s office hours.)
Website: http://classroom.sdmesa.edu/nrosenst
STAY INFORMED ABOUT POSSIBLE CHANGES IN READINGS AND TEST DATE; check the
website!
FORMAT OF MIDTERM
50 % objective, 50 % subjective/essay test. Use a scantron Form #882 and a Blue Book. You must use a pencil #2
for the scantron, and a pen for the Blue Book. Make sure your scantron answers are clear and unambiguous;
otherwise the scantron machine can’t read them. Read the question carefully. You may write on the test. Total
possible points: 100. NO BOOKS, NO NOTES ALLOWED.
Plagiarism policy: Using open books, unauthorized electronic devices or notes during the test, or consulting with
other students, will result in an F on the test and reported.
There will be 10 True/False questions; each correct answer is worth 2 points.
There will be 15 Multiple Choice questions; each correct answer is worth 2 points.
There will be 2 Essay questions. Answer 1 out of 2. (Min. 2 pages in a small Blue Book, max. 6
pages) Worth max. 50 points.
READINGS:
Rosenstand, The Human Condition, Chapters 1 and 4
Course Reader: Daniel Dennett, Freedom Evolves pp.1-8
Course Reader: “The Controversial Science of Free Will” pp.47-50
KEY CONCEPTS: [* signifies possible essay topic]
THC Ch.1:
Descriptive (factual, “is”) vs. normative (“ought”)
theories
Some popular definitions: rational being; speaking;
has free will; child of God (has religion); story-telling
animal.
Man with Two Brains: Man w. separate brain
hemispheres makes sense of chaos through making
up a story. [His doctor is Mike Gazzaniga]
Paul Ricoeur: We understand ourselves better by
reading fiction; we learn to see our lives as stories.
[all of Ricoeur: *]
3 levels of fiction: 1) plot-structure, 2) entertainment,
3) comprehension *
Narrative time: the time-span of the plot
Problem with telling our own story: We are in the
middle; we don’t remember the beginning, and we
don’t know the ending.
Primary Reading:
Ricoeur: We should work toward a narrative unity of
our life.
We need fiction to teach us to tell our own story, with
a beginning and an end
Telling our own story can help us mourn our own
passing. Narrative unity is also about projecting
ourselves into the future.
Hanley, “The Metaphysics of Star Trek”: 3 concepts
of “human”: biological, psychological, and moral *
Moral meaning: “person” rather than “human”*
Narrative:
STTNG, “The Measure of a Man”: Data challenges
the ruling that he is a machine and property of
Starfleet.*
Criteria for sentience (=sapience): self-awareness,
intelligence, consciousness. *
THC Ch.4:
Mechanistic determinism: 100 percent knowledge =
100 percent accuracy in prediction of natural events.
Hard determinism: Mechanistic determinism applied
to the human mind = total predictability
Hard determinism’s challenge to free will: Even
human actions, feelings, and decisions can be
predicted: There is no free will, and nobody is
accountable for anything.
Fatalism: the future determined by a divine master
plan; the meeting in Samarra*
Karma: the future determined by previous actions,
causally*
Free choice (political) vs. free will (philosophical)
Nature or nurture? Harris’s two children: nature.
Twin studies: identical twins raised together: Nurture
dominates. Raised apart: nature dominates.
Feminism: Classical feminism sees human nature as a
matter of nurture,
Difference feminism sees it as a matter of nature.
Three kinds of metaphysics: materialism (reality is
matter), idealism (reality is mind), and dualism
(reality is mind and matter).
Behaviorism: extreme nurture theory. Watson and
Skinner. *
No mental states, just behavior; goal is not just
prediction, but control.*
Can criminal behavior be predicted? Phrenology
Determinism used in court: Leopold and Loeb, and
other cases. *
Main arguments against determinism:
Douglas’s “policeman at the elbow” *
Determinism is unfalsifiable (Karl Popper)
Compatibilism: the external world can be
predicted, the internal world can’t (= soft
determinism)
Sartre’s existentialism: No human nature. We are
condemned to be free [all of Sartre: *]
Bad faith
The woman on a date [from your
notes]
In-itself vs. for-itself
Humans: existence precedes
essence
When we choose, we choose for
everybody
Aristotle, compatibilist: [all of Aristotle: *]
Actions are voluntary except in cases of
ignorance and compulsion
Ignorance scenarios; compulsion scenarios
Example: Patty Hearst
Primary readings:
Aristotle: borderline cases: voluntary choice
in involuntary situation. Ignorance only
counts as excuse if you are sorry afterwards.
*
Sartre:
the paper knife; existence precedes essence.
Man chooses himself, and chooses for all
men *
Narratives:
Andersen, “Ugly Duckling”: nature.* Pontoppidan,
“Flight of the Eagle”: nurture. *
A Clockwork Orange: Alex is brainwashed to control
his violent tendencies, and then brainwashed to
restore them. Critique of behaviorism.*
COURSE READER: DANIEL DENNETT, “FREEDOM
EVOLVES”
Dennett: compatibilist [from your notes]
Increasing scientific knowledge seems to lead to hard
determinism (“exculpation”).
We need to be able to tell the difference between
somebody who couldn’t help what they were doing,
and somebody who chooses to do evil.
We have an intuitive standard of guilt.
Remedy: We must make it attractive to take
responsibility
Ex: castration of pedophiles
“Ought implies can”
Ideal punishment: acceptable to the person punished
COURSE READER: The Controversial Science of
Free Will”
Interview w. neuroscientist Mike Gazzaniga
Gazzaniga: Free will is alive and well
We try to interpret life so it makes sense, through
stories.
We feel we have free will and a sense of self
We have a built-in sense of fairness
We can’t have a social network without
accountability