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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?. Philosophy is An activity (demonstration) Rational inquiry
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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? • Philosophy is • An activity (demonstration) • Rational inquiry • Comprehensive view of reality and our place in it • Goal: systematic world view
I. What is philosophy? • Philosophy is, continued • Traditional definition: love of wisdom • Examples • Nancy the thief • Zeno’s paradox
I. What is philosophy? • B. Areas of inquiry/what Philosophers think about • What is there? • What can be known? • How should life be lived? • What is good reasoning?
I. What is philosophy? • C. Names of branches • Metaphysics • What is there? • What is a thing? • How do parts make a whole? • What are numbers? • What is a person? • Why is there something rather than nothing?
I. What is philosophy? • Epistemology • What is knowledge? • How is knowledge different from belief? • Can we know anything without experience?
I. What is philosophy? • Ethics • How should life be lived? • Is war ever justified? • Is lying always wrong? • Is abortion ever acceptable? • Do we have moral duties to other people?
I. Unit 1: What is philosophy? • Aesthetics • What is art? • What does it mean to call something beautiful? • A person? • A flower? • A house? • A mathematical proof?
I. Unit 1: What is philosophy? • Logic • Good reasoning • “Logical fallacies” • Rules of correct reasoning • Conclusions that follow premises
I. What is philosophy? • Philosophy of Language • How does language work? • How do words have meaning? • How do words refer to the world? • Is language merely a game?
DO NOW: “Four questions” 3 minutesHere are four questions. Write which branch of philosophy the question represents. • Should good and bad be determined by custom, law or some other person/concept? • What makes some art beautiful and other art ugly? • Can words have meaning other than what the speaker intends? • 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 • Triple-A-Skill Set • Analysis • What do I really want? • What is life about? • What can make me happy?
II. The love of wisdom • Assessment • To examine and decide among proposals • How to assess • Is it coherent? • Is it complete? • Is it correct?
II. The love of wisdom • Argument • Reasoned presentation of ideas, using evidence, in favor of a conclusion • Reason
II. The love of wisdom • Why do arguments fail? • Differ on evidence • Blind to truth • Refuse to listen • 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. • Differ on evidence • Blind to truth • Refuse to listen • 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
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?
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 minutesCircular 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.
Epistemology - Ways of KnowingEmpiricismSense experience is the ultimate starting point for all of our knowledge
Epistemology - Ways of KnowingRationalism The starting point for knowledge is not the senses but reason.Without categories and principles in our mind, we could not organize sensory information.
