Introduction to Philosophy: Exploring the Nature of Reality and Knowledge

1. Philosophy 1010 Class #2 - 6/17/2010 Title: Introduction to Philosophy Instructor: Paul Dickey E-mail Address: pdickey2@mccneb.edu Website: http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/dickey.htm Prefix/Section: Phil 1010 – SA Begins/Ends: 6/10/2010 – 8/12/2010 Meeting Day/Time: TH 5:30 – 9:55 PM Quia Class Website www.quia.com

2. http://www.coursesmart.com/9780495103097 Assignment for 6/24/2010: Read Velasquez, Philosophy: A Text With Readings (10e or 11e), Chapter 2 & Appendix 1.8 in 9th edition, A Look at Logic. Available online at http://www.quia.com/files/quia/users/pauldickey77/Intro_Philosophy/velasquez26289_0534626289_02.01_chapter01---v9.pdf Also do logic homework assignment on Quia website.

3. Plato Plato is history's first great philosopher because, among other reasons, he provided the first set of answers to some of the largest and most difficult questions: What is the structure of reality? What can be known for certain? What is moral virtue? What is the nature of the ideal state? No philosopher before Plato had ever attempted such a wide and deep exploration of philosophical problems.

4. Plato & The Allegory of the Cave • To better understand what philosophy is, Plato describes the nature of philosophy in the Allegory of the Cave. • Plato compares the state of man’s ignorance to living at the bottom of an underground cave chained so that such men cannot move. All they see are shadows created by a fire behind them. • Through this symbolism, he then describes the act of philosophy which he likens to the prisoners being freed from their chains. • Plato is suggesting to us that this process is the “ascent of the mind into the domain of true knowledge.” Plato suggests that the aim of philosophy is freedom from unwarranted belief.

5. The Allegory of the Cave Recommended Video

6. What Is Philosophy? Disk 1 from “The Examined Life” Video Series

7. The Matrix / The Allegory of the Cave Video The Matrix Trailer

8. The Allegory of the Cave: The Heavy Metal Version Video Content begins at 10:30

9. Ten Minute Break!

10. What Are the Major Fields or Divisions of Philosophy? • WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! • (or rather, in contrast to other areas of study such as biology where biology studies a particular domain, Philosophy does not necessarily have agreed upon assumptions that it can rely on to define any domain of study. Thus, metaphysics is more accurately “a collection of questions that seem to group together about what is real and what reality is like.” • NOTE: Biology is the study of life or living matter in all its forms and phenomena. To do biology, scientists thus must work with an agreed upon view of what is life.

11. What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy? • 1. Metaphysics asks questions that focus on “reality or existence.” • Does God Exist? • Does man have a soul? If so, is it immortal? • Are humans free to choose for themselves, or are all human acts determined?

12. In general, there are two kinds of metaphysical questions: • - What is all of reality? • - What are important parts of reality? • On the first, a Christian and an atheist might differ like this: • Christian: All of reality is divided into two parts: a higher part, the realm of God, that is eternal, perfect and non-material and a lower part, the human realm, that exists in time, is imperfect and material. • Atheist: All of reality is matter, that which the sciences can measure and describe. • On the second: • Christian: God, Heaven, Hell, the physical universe, the human body and soul are important parts of reality. • Atheist: The physical universe is the only reality and has only two parts, the living and the non-living.

13. Monism Monism is the view that all of reality is one kind of thing. If, for example, you believe that all of reality is matter, or that God is the only reality, then you are a monist. The first philosophers (Pre-Socratics) like Thales (c. 600 BCE) Pythagoras (c. 550 BCE) and Heraclitus (c. 500 BCE), were monists. Thales' belief that "All is Water" is considered the first philosophical statement because it explains reality, "All", in non-religious terms. Every previous description of all of existence relied upon stories rooted in religious traditions. Typically, most monists are materialists. In other words, they believe that the single unifying feature of reality is matter. Holding this view, materialistic monists would be expected to argue that there is no God, Heaven, Hell, soul, or any other "spiritual" part of reality.

14. Dualism Dualism is the view that all of reality is divided into two kinds of things. Thus, if you believe that all of reality is divided between the realm of God and the physical universe, or that there is a "higher world" and a "lower world", or that reality is composed of spirit and matter, you are a dualist. In general, most Christians are dualists. They hold that reality is divided into two parts. Our souls are eternal and non-material; our bodies, like the physical universe, are temporal and material. Plato's view of reality is often termed dualistic, that is, he saw reality "dual", divided into two parts. The higher part of reality consisted of perfect and eternal truths which he called Forms. Plato held that all physical things are imperfect copies of Forms. Thus, all physical triangles are imperfect copies of the Form of Triangle.

15. What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy? • 2. Epistemology asks questions that focus on our “knowledge” in some way. • What is the structure, reliability and kinds of knowledge we have? • What is the meaning of truth? • Is scientific knowledge different than other forms of knowledge? • Is the nature of knowledge different based on gender?

16. In general, philosophers have discussed knowledge in three ways. • Empiricists argue that all knowledge begins with the senses. • Rationalists argue that is possible for the mind, independently of the senses, to gain knowledge. • Skeptics explain knowledge by saying that little if anything is truly known.

17. If you believe that everything you know can be traced back to information that you saw, heard, touched, smelled or tasted, then you are an empiricist. If you believe that you have knowledge of God, heaven, hell, spiritual aspects of reality, or anything else that didn't come to you through your senses, then you are a rationalist. Some rationalists like Plato (427-348 BCE) hold that we are born with knowledge; other rationalists like St. Augustine (354-430) believe that God, during our lives, makes it possible for our minds to know truths that could not be gained through our senses. If you don't know for certain that the material world exists, or that the principles of science qualify as genuine knowledge or that God exists (or doesn't exist) then, on each of those issues, you are a skeptic.

18. What Are the Major Fields of Philosophy? 3. Ethics asks questions that focus on “values and morality and how they relate to conduct.” What is the nature of man’s obligation to other men? How should we live to be good? What responsibilities do governments have to their citizens? Is man essentially selfish? Or can he be motivated by principles beyond his own self-interest?

19. Ethics comes from the Greek word ethos for character. Ethics is the study of the nature of morality and immorality, of how humans should, and should not, act. A central ethical question is, what is the source of moral values? Here are three of several possible answers: • 1. Moral values come from God. If you hold this position, then odds are that you believe that genuine moral values are unchanging and universal. What is right, has always been right; what is wrong, has always been wrong. God's laws apply to everyone, in all cultures. This position would make you a moral absolutist.

20. Moral values come from societies. If you hold this view, then you probably believe that moral values can legitimately vary from culture to culture. Each society can have its own standards of ethical behavior. What is right for the Chinese, may be wrong for Brazilians, and vice versa. This position would make you a moral relativist. • Moral values are determined by the utility or usefulness of an action to promote everyone’s best interest. If you hold this view, then you are a utilitarian. Utilitarianism was supported by, among others, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).

21. Ten Minute Break!

22. The Father of Western Philosophy • Socrates, 460-399 B. C. • Socrates was both a real philosopher and the major character in Plato’s (his student’s) dialogues. Thus, it is not clear to what degree Socrates was a precursor to Plato’s ideas or was a mouthpiece for Plato to put forward his own views. • There were many Greek thinkers (actually known as “The Pre-Socratics”) prior to Socrates who developed profound insights into the nature of the universe and man’s place in it. • Most importantly though, Socrates' deserves credit for inventing rigorous, ethical investigation. His conversations with his fellow Athenians, as recorded by Plato, are the first records we have of an individual, by his own careful reasoning, trying to discover the guiding principles of moral choices.

23. What is the Socratic method? • “Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling” • More than anyone prior to him however, Socrates built a reputation on questioning conventional beliefs, thus embodying the nature of philosophy itself. • Socrates engaged himself in questioning students in an unending search for truth. He sought to get to the foundations of his students' and colleagues' views by asking continual questions until a contradiction was exposed, thus proving the fallacy of the initial assumption. • This became known as the Socratic Method, and may be Socrates' most enduring contribution to philosophy. Recommended Video

24. Plato’s Dialogues & the Socratic Method • Plato’s dialogues demonstrate the Socratic Method. • In The Euthyphro, Plato shows Socrates questioning traditional religious beliefs and the nature of religious duty. He asks: what makes a thing holy? Is an act holy because it is loved by the godsor do the gods love what is holy because it is holy? • Another way of asking basically this same question is: Are acts moral because God commands them or does God command them because they are moral? • If the first, are the gods capricious and random and be able to select anything to be holy? • If the latter, then we have not answered the original question at all.

25. Plato’s Dialogues & the Socratic Method • In Plato’s Republic, Socrates questions Thrasymachus who states that justice is whatever is to the advantage of the strong, that “might makes right.” • Socrates asks what if the powerful pass laws that in error do not benefit themselves. • Would not justice then be following laws that do not benefit the strong?

26. Plato’s Dialogues & the Socratic Search for How to Live • Plato’s dialogues demonstrate Socrates’ pursuit of how one should live. • In The Apology, Socrates claims that the wisest man is he who knows he does not know. The unexamined life is not worth living. It is better to obey God than man. His pursuit of philosophy is following the instruction of God. • In Crito, Socrates is awaiting execution in his prison. Crito arrives and tries to persuade Socrates to escape. In order he says to act on reason alone, he asks Crito what is right and wrong. Socrates argues we must obey the laws of the society in which we live. Recommended Video

27. A Second Opinion… • What is Philosophy? • Graham Priest, • Professor of Philosophy • University of Queensland Recommended Video

28. Logic and Critical Thinking: An Overview The background of philosophical and all rational discussion.

29. The Fundamental Principle of Critical Thinking is The Nature of an Argument • Making a claim is stating a belief or opinion -- the conclusion • An argument is presented when you give a reason or reasons that the claim is true. -- the premise(s) • Thus, an argument consists of two parts, and one part (the premise or premises) is/are the reason(s) for thinking that the conclusion is true.

30. Two Kinds of Good Arguments • A good deductive argument is one in which if the premises are true, then the conclusion necessarily (I.e. has to be) true. • Such an argument is called “valid” and “proves” the conclusion. • For example – Lebron James lives in the United States because he lives in Nebraska. • All men are mortal. • Socrates is a man. • ____ • Socrates is mortal. • A sound argument is a valid, deductive argument in which the premises are in fact true.

31. Two Kinds of Good Arguments • A good inductive argument is one in which if the premises are true, then the conclusion is probably true, but not always. The truth of the premises do not guarantee the truth of the conclusion. • Such an argument is called “strong” and supports the conclusion. • For example: Dan lives in Nebraska and he loves football, so he is a Nebraska Cornhusker fan. • “Strong” inductive arguments still can be made “stronger” or “weaker” by adding or removing premises.

32. What is “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” vs “Proof? • PROOF requires a valid deductive argument. • “Beyond a reasonable doubt” requires a level of evidence in an inductive argument such that if someone were to believe it were not true, they might still possibly be right, but that probability is so remote that reasonable, critical thinking, people will be satisfied to act and claim to knowwithout a proof.

33. How Do Premises Support Conclusions? • For an Deductive argument, premises prove or demonstrate a conclusion based on if the premises make the conclusion certainly true. • Consider the argument: • (P1) If it’s raining outside, the grass near the house gets wet. • (P2) It’s raining outside. • _________________________ • The grass near the house is wet. • In a Deductive argument, premises prove a conclusion based on the logical form of the statement or based on definitions. It would be a contradiction to suggest that the conclusion is false but the premises are true.

34. What is Logical Form? Consider the following argument: A good God cannot exist. There is evil in the world and any God who is good would not permit evil to exist. This argument can be stated as follows: (Premise 1) There is evil in the world. (P2) A God who is good would not permit evil to exist. ____ (Conclusion) A God who is good does not exist.

35. What is Logical Form? • Note that we can symbolize this argument with variables. In this case, say for example, this argument could be represented as: • G = A good God exists, E= There is no evil in the world. • This argument is of the form: • If G  E • ~ E (i.e. NOT E or “E is false”) • _____ • ~G (NOT G or “G is false” • Thus, it is a valid deductive argument. This is the deductive rule of Modus Tollens. EVERY argument that can be represented in this form is valid, regardless what G and E represent.

36. How Do Premises Support Conclusions? • For an Inductive argument, premises support (never prove) a conclusion based on how strongly the premises provide evidence for the conclusion. • Consider the argument: • (P1) If it’s raining outside, the grass near the house gets wet when the wind is not blowing strongly from the North (which doesn’t often occur). • (P2) It’s raining outside. • _________________________ • The grass near the house is wet.

37. How Do We Evaluate an Argument? There are generally two requirements (and only two) logically to evaluate a claim – 1) Do the premises support or prove the conclusion? Or is the argument valid (if deductive) or strong (if inductive)? 2) Are the premises true? -- It would be nonsense for you to object with, for example, “I don’t want to believe that” or “You shouldn’t say that”, or “Where did you come up with that?” “That’s not what my girl friend says,” etc, etc.

38. Writing Assignment Worth 5 points in Participation Category. Re-evaluate your answer to the philosophical question that you posed last week in light of what we have learned tonight about the nature of philosophy & critical thinking. Propose a philosophical argument for your view as we just described the nature of an argument in 250 words or less.  As before, please do not use any sources. Just use your own reflection.