For Intro to Philosophy the quiz question for the class on Spinoza was the scenario of the young man who shot a man in Mountain View. If you were on the jury would you have found him guilty or not guilty? For Intro to Humanities II the quiz question today was to evaluate the social differences apparent between the audience listening to the Red Skelton performance and that of Eddie Izzard.

For Truth Beauty Goodness this morning the quiz question was what place would be more of a utopia then Disney World / Epcot? For Intro to Philosophy today the quiz question was what do you think our inalienable rights should be in our social contract?

For Intro to Philosophy this morning the question was what do you think should be our inalienable rights? For Intro to Humanities II the quiz question was what do you think of the thesis that our contemporary way to reach religious ecstasy is through humor?

Today for Truth Beauty Goodness the quiz question was What do you find most beautiful? For Intro to Philosophy the quiz question was How do you know the world is as you perceive it? (This is the question posed by Descartes and the movie The Matrix - how do you know you are not deceived about the way the world is?)

Quiz question for this morning in Intro to Philosophy talking about Descartes concerns the evil Deceiver - or the modern version in the movie The Matrix - how do you know life is as you perceive it? How do you know you are not being deceived or living in a dream? For Intro to Humanities II the quiz question was what is your favorite ballet?

Today the quiz question for Truth Beauty Goodness concerned the TED Talk by Sam Harris on the Moral Landscape. Did you find his argument persuasive? In Intro to Philosophy my quiz question was what movie should we watch on our final session? Would The Name of the Rose be a good pick? Yesterday in my morning Intro to Philosophy the question was "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Who brought that argument up?" In Intro to Humanities II the quiz question was What is your favorite deconstruction? As examples I talked about Umberto Eco, Mel Brooks movies, even the musical Wicked. But the class seems to think almost all current TV fair deconstructs some cherished narrative.

Today in Truth Beauty Goodness the quiz question concerned the relationship between narration and language games. Do narratives structure language games or do language games structure narratives? In one possible situation we can say that involves whether or not a person's sex determines the roles they can play. Does the Socially Constructed Reality enable us freedom to construct our own narratives of who we are, what our place is in the universe, and how we maintain that place, or are the constraints of the form of life a limitation on the freedom we have to create our own narratives? A bit ahead o schedule, I expect the quiz question for my Intro to Philosophy class today will be how persuasive you find the Ontological Argument for the Existence of God?

Today in Intro to Philosophy we talked about the Middle Ages and the Ontological Argument. The quiz was do you think the Ontological Argument is persuasive? In Intro to Humanities II today we talked about Structuralism and I asked what you thought about the Chinese movie The Battle of Wits? Does it show that western conceptions of narrative structure have begun to dominate ancient Chinese narration among contemporary Chinese? This looks like a link for it: http://www.gooddrama.net/chinese-movie/battle-of-wits-watch

For Truth Beauty and Goodness today I asked what is the saddest song you have ever heard? And asked if you would send me the link. This was the song I played for the class as an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkXbzffVl44 Here is one submission: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5E6JT89BS0 I mentioned another from The Lord of the Rings that won an Academy Award: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24fGmWG6kpg

Here are some of the more recent quiz questions I have used in class. These are mixed together! What is your favorite syllogism? Which is your favorite example of religious music? (Send a link!) Why is Gangnam Style so popular? Did Jesus give the coin of tribute back or did he keep it? Which son was Abraham about to sacrifice? How do you keep looking at the bright side of life? (I find it amazing on reflection how the seriously ridiculous satire The Life of Brian ends on this song when one way of interpreting Saint Augustine seems to suggest that is really the main point.) What did you think of Weiwei and his art?

For those frustrated students that wanted to see the MIT Gagnam Style video with Noam Chomsky in it the link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8-UfLQ7jXc and Noam shows up around 3:25 in the video saying Opan Chomsky Style". The quiz question for TBG today was if so many people find the Gagnam Style videos disgusting why are they so popular? For an interesting discussion on this see Slavoj Zizkek Masterclass from December 2012 and note his opening comments on this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kugiufHh800