History of Philosophy II

Today we briefly talked about some of Richard Wagner's work thinking about how Schopenhauer influenced him. We focused on the Ring and his introduction of (or heavy use of) leitmotifs. Next we looked briefly at Auguste Comte founder of Sociology and Positivism. He was a great influence on John Stewart Mill as was Jeremy Bentham. There were two quiz questions today. The first was regarding a quote by Mill: Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. Better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than ....what? What was interesting was there seemed to be a split between those who would rather be a happy pig than a dissatisfied human and those who would not! Amazing. The second quiz question was what is your favorite leitmotif? Have a great Spring Break everyone!