This is the stimulus that I wrote about for my Internal Assessment.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday, November 18, 2011
What is Justice?
I would define Justice as everyone getting exactly what they deserve to receive in a society, whether that be punishment, reward, etc. But defining what everyone should receive is the tricky part. It delves into ethics and morals . Different societies and people define these differently, but a core belief must be there somewhere at the heart of humanity.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Arguing against Nietzsche
To argue against Nietzsche one must use the conception of faith. Nietzsche claimed he couldn't trust the idea of faith, Kierkegaard could respond that he couldn't even grasp it. For faith is truly something beyond human capacity to grasp. A leap of faith is not logical. Letting go of all you have to believe in something you cannot understand would indeed by a disturbing idea to Nietzsche and beyond both he and Kierkegaard minds. But unlike Nietzsche, Kierkegaard saw this as the only means to escape in the face of death. There really is no logical argument Nietzsche can use to rebut it because it goes beyond logic.
Thoughts on the Technology Video
In class we watched a video showing how the world was being changed by technology. The video posed the question of whether it is harmful or beneficial to us to experience this change. One day after watching the video and with these questions in my head, I saw this iphone commercial on T.V:
This commercial is, honestly quite disheartening. I do not deny the benefits that smart-phones and related modern devices bring to us. They make it easier to share ideas and contact each other. But at the same time we seem to be losing something. In this commercial the people are all asking the iphone to do something for them. But most of these things would not require much effort for them to do themselves and could be accomplished by other means. Take for instance when the man says "Tell my wife I'm coming home." I would think that he could just call her himself, and I would assume that most wives would rather have their husband tell them he was almost home, than a droning computer voice. But what disturbed me more was the scene where the girl asks, "what a weasel looks like." This is why we have books. I know that when I was her age I had a small little book about mammals and I remember looking at a weasel in that. Moreover the way she seems to be content just to sit there and with no effort have her whims answered is almost sickening. This idea of dependence on our devices, rather than our own memory, effort, and perfectly capable other means such as the seemingly archaic book, is not something I believe should be glorified. Something just seems to be missing.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Paper is Paper
A blank piece of paper in philosophy class how deep. Blank paper is just that, blank paper. It contains plant fiber and chemicals and that's about it. It does not have limitless possibilities. Perhaps the metaphor of a blank slate attached to it does but the paper does not. The paper can only be paper nothing else. People can attach their own meaning to it but the paper itself will be no different not matter what is placed on it. I'm not saying that you cannot interpret the paper in a happy blissful way. This is just one person's view.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Arguing Against Descartes
Descartes had a strong belief in rationalism as well as a strange way in which he viewed the existence of god. Both of these can be argued well against. Hume said that reason was the "slave" or passions. He didn't hold reason to the same level as Descartes. When Descartes said, "I think therefore I am," Hume maintained that he would be at least partially motivated by his emotions in saying this . Although Descartes would point to this as an excellent example of his reason, Hume would think differently. Perhaps Descartes only says this because he wants to exist. He wants to feel a content emotion, in knowing that he is a free thinking being. Another point in Descartes argument that could be attacked is his view of god. Descartes, to paraphrase, believed he could be certain of a perfect being, because that perfect being had created certainty in him. This example of circular reasoning does not stand up well to criticism.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Sophie's World Questions
1. I had a moment of synchronicity while reading about Sophie and the Lego on page 44. I'm a big fan of Lego myself and often wonder why it grows harder to play with them as I get older like Sophie did at that point in the story. I had an epiphany when I finally grasped the true meaning of the Man in the Cave allegory on page 90. Previously I had seen it as a metaphor for human ignorance, now I see how it relates to Plato's world of "ideas" and the way people judged Socrates.
2. I believe one of the larger themes of the book is illustrated at the passage on the end of page 42. Sophie thinks that philosophy is more away of thinking than a discipline she can learn. This a key point of the novel. Albert Knox does not give Sophie cut and dry questions and answers, but poses questions that require philosophical thought and even then the answers are unclear. Much of this book is Sophie adapting and thinking like this.
3. One irony of the book is Socratic Irony. Socrates feigned ignorance in order to force people to make decisions using their reasoning, and then proceed to pick it apart. Alberto points to this as a contributing cause of his death on page 67.
4. I think the premise of the book is encouraging people to think philosophically. As his daughter enters her fifteenth year she will probably begin questioning the world why things are the way they are. Her father says that's okay and wants her to ponder these questions. So he writes her a book about philosophy.
5. The author seems to value history and the inquisitive mind. The opening quotation of the novel is recognizing the importance of history. "He who cannot draw on three sound years is living from hand to mouth." -Goethe. The author also includes history in the title. Sophie spends much time learning about the history of philosophy and how views have changed. The inquisitive mind is also central to the novel. The story focuses on the perspective of a young inquisitive girl. The author believes curiosity to be a valuable tool when considering philosophy. He also seems to put the message across that youthful curiosity is a very wondrous thing and can lead to a widening of the way one considers the world.
6. The book says that both free will and philosophy can be illusionary. Sophie is under the impression she is a free being until she discovers she is just an idea in someone's mind. Similarly the book also discusses reason vs. sense perception and how each could be false in their own way, to how you figure out the world. This is evidenced in Plato and Aristotle's disagreements on page 106.
7. The book says that imagination is a very good part of the human mind. Philosophers throughout the book had to use their imagination and reason to come to conclusions. Knowledge is more hard set whereas imagination is more ambiguous. To be good philosopher you must learn to think open ended as Sophie learns.
8. A passage I found to be annoying in its seriousness was on page 71. After reading about one of the founders of European philosophical thought, Sophie's first thought is to worry about her mom. She thinks of tasks she has to do for when her mom gets home. She doesn't seem amazed at what she just read, which she should be considering the importance of Socrates.
9. A passage I found to be humorous was on page 22, at the beginning of the novel. Sophie's mom assumes she must be on drugs, because she is pondering the deeper meanings of life. I find this humorous because I hear people echo the same notion to each other when someone asks a hard question for them to answer. It also establishes what a hopelessly confused character Sophie's mom is.
10. A world means different things to different characters. To Plato the world is something you only really can trust your reason to discern. He believed in a world of ideas and a word of sensory perception. To Sophie a world is inside the mind of a different person. A world can be many things, it all depends on your perception.
11. Sophie's mom's role as a mother to Sophie leads here to feel concerned for Sophie, but also to be confused about what Sophie is actually spending her time doing. Sophie's mom has grown into the world and does not ask the questions her daughter does. On the other hand Sophie's youth, wonder, and philosophical pondering's allow her to see the world as something amazing, something Sophie's mom can't see.
12. Sophie has a run in with mysticism on page 136. She questions her existence on whether she is in her own mind or has merged with the "cosmic spirit," and has always been around. She says it is an experience she will never forget. This illustrates the author's ideal of a philosopher who not only questions themselves from themselves but can question themselves from others.
13. The Author characterizes most people as generally apathetic about philosophy. He proposes that in the rabbit fur analogy on page 20 that they would rather be content in the warm fur of the rabbit then climb to the tip of the air and try and decipher their meaning. Another example of this apathy is only tow pages later, when Sophie explains to her mom that she always goes through the same routine and will go put "potatoes on. " she won't question anything. This scares her mother who is apathetic to this kind of thinking.
14. The author Jostein Gaarder criticizes philosophy when he tells of Socrates. People think that vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom are the most important things when considering philosophy. However the author counters this with Socrates's idea. "Wisest is he, who knows he knows nothing." In other words you don't really know anything and that's why you turn to philosophy where this issue is recognized and gone after.
15. The origins of this criticism are in Socrates teachings and the idea that philosophers are always people with vast knowledge.
16. The author contrasts both the linear and cyclical view of history. He seems to side more with the cyclical one in some respects. But this contrasts to his story telling, and with Sophie's reality. Her reality is one of not linear nor cyclical approach but one of no time movement of all. She exists only in the timeless aspect of Albert Knag's imagination.
17. An example of the authors dealing with linear concepts of time and progression is on page 502. He explains the Christian linear concept of time with God at the beginning and an ever forward progression.
18.An example of teleological thinking in the novel is on page 179. Aquinas is using Aristotelian thinking to prove there is a god, and a cause. An example of anti teleological thinking is on page 245, where Spinoza denies involvement of god in the bible.
19. The role of imagination in the story is the same as it is in philosophy. That is as a use to question. When one imagines a premise about the universe one is taking the first step toward trying to find philosophical truth. In Sophie's and Alberto's lives it is both what defines their lives and how they can escape their existence. They're are but a figment of someone's imagination yet they themselves have imagination too.
20. The author uses dreams and past happenings to show how ambiguous reality is. Many characters have this experience yet they exist in separate planes of reality. They are really not so different. The author wants to stress how strange reality really is.
21. The boat floating on the lake is Sartre's view of human life. The boat lacks its own innate essence. It cannot move on its own across the lake. The is no predetermined sail. A human must guide their own actions through the use of free will, to create a route for their boat across the lake of life. The boat will not simply go on its own. This is a tribute to Sartre's theory of existentialism.
2. I believe one of the larger themes of the book is illustrated at the passage on the end of page 42. Sophie thinks that philosophy is more away of thinking than a discipline she can learn. This a key point of the novel. Albert Knox does not give Sophie cut and dry questions and answers, but poses questions that require philosophical thought and even then the answers are unclear. Much of this book is Sophie adapting and thinking like this.
3. One irony of the book is Socratic Irony. Socrates feigned ignorance in order to force people to make decisions using their reasoning, and then proceed to pick it apart. Alberto points to this as a contributing cause of his death on page 67.
4. I think the premise of the book is encouraging people to think philosophically. As his daughter enters her fifteenth year she will probably begin questioning the world why things are the way they are. Her father says that's okay and wants her to ponder these questions. So he writes her a book about philosophy.
5. The author seems to value history and the inquisitive mind. The opening quotation of the novel is recognizing the importance of history. "He who cannot draw on three sound years is living from hand to mouth." -Goethe. The author also includes history in the title. Sophie spends much time learning about the history of philosophy and how views have changed. The inquisitive mind is also central to the novel. The story focuses on the perspective of a young inquisitive girl. The author believes curiosity to be a valuable tool when considering philosophy. He also seems to put the message across that youthful curiosity is a very wondrous thing and can lead to a widening of the way one considers the world.
6. The book says that both free will and philosophy can be illusionary. Sophie is under the impression she is a free being until she discovers she is just an idea in someone's mind. Similarly the book also discusses reason vs. sense perception and how each could be false in their own way, to how you figure out the world. This is evidenced in Plato and Aristotle's disagreements on page 106.
7. The book says that imagination is a very good part of the human mind. Philosophers throughout the book had to use their imagination and reason to come to conclusions. Knowledge is more hard set whereas imagination is more ambiguous. To be good philosopher you must learn to think open ended as Sophie learns.
8. A passage I found to be annoying in its seriousness was on page 71. After reading about one of the founders of European philosophical thought, Sophie's first thought is to worry about her mom. She thinks of tasks she has to do for when her mom gets home. She doesn't seem amazed at what she just read, which she should be considering the importance of Socrates.
9. A passage I found to be humorous was on page 22, at the beginning of the novel. Sophie's mom assumes she must be on drugs, because she is pondering the deeper meanings of life. I find this humorous because I hear people echo the same notion to each other when someone asks a hard question for them to answer. It also establishes what a hopelessly confused character Sophie's mom is.
10. A world means different things to different characters. To Plato the world is something you only really can trust your reason to discern. He believed in a world of ideas and a word of sensory perception. To Sophie a world is inside the mind of a different person. A world can be many things, it all depends on your perception.
11. Sophie's mom's role as a mother to Sophie leads here to feel concerned for Sophie, but also to be confused about what Sophie is actually spending her time doing. Sophie's mom has grown into the world and does not ask the questions her daughter does. On the other hand Sophie's youth, wonder, and philosophical pondering's allow her to see the world as something amazing, something Sophie's mom can't see.
12. Sophie has a run in with mysticism on page 136. She questions her existence on whether she is in her own mind or has merged with the "cosmic spirit," and has always been around. She says it is an experience she will never forget. This illustrates the author's ideal of a philosopher who not only questions themselves from themselves but can question themselves from others.
13. The Author characterizes most people as generally apathetic about philosophy. He proposes that in the rabbit fur analogy on page 20 that they would rather be content in the warm fur of the rabbit then climb to the tip of the air and try and decipher their meaning. Another example of this apathy is only tow pages later, when Sophie explains to her mom that she always goes through the same routine and will go put "potatoes on. " she won't question anything. This scares her mother who is apathetic to this kind of thinking.
14. The author Jostein Gaarder criticizes philosophy when he tells of Socrates. People think that vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom are the most important things when considering philosophy. However the author counters this with Socrates's idea. "Wisest is he, who knows he knows nothing." In other words you don't really know anything and that's why you turn to philosophy where this issue is recognized and gone after.
15. The origins of this criticism are in Socrates teachings and the idea that philosophers are always people with vast knowledge.
16. The author contrasts both the linear and cyclical view of history. He seems to side more with the cyclical one in some respects. But this contrasts to his story telling, and with Sophie's reality. Her reality is one of not linear nor cyclical approach but one of no time movement of all. She exists only in the timeless aspect of Albert Knag's imagination.
17. An example of the authors dealing with linear concepts of time and progression is on page 502. He explains the Christian linear concept of time with God at the beginning and an ever forward progression.
18.An example of teleological thinking in the novel is on page 179. Aquinas is using Aristotelian thinking to prove there is a god, and a cause. An example of anti teleological thinking is on page 245, where Spinoza denies involvement of god in the bible.
19. The role of imagination in the story is the same as it is in philosophy. That is as a use to question. When one imagines a premise about the universe one is taking the first step toward trying to find philosophical truth. In Sophie's and Alberto's lives it is both what defines their lives and how they can escape their existence. They're are but a figment of someone's imagination yet they themselves have imagination too.
20. The author uses dreams and past happenings to show how ambiguous reality is. Many characters have this experience yet they exist in separate planes of reality. They are really not so different. The author wants to stress how strange reality really is.
21. The boat floating on the lake is Sartre's view of human life. The boat lacks its own innate essence. It cannot move on its own across the lake. The is no predetermined sail. A human must guide their own actions through the use of free will, to create a route for their boat across the lake of life. The boat will not simply go on its own. This is a tribute to Sartre's theory of existentialism.
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