Wednesday Logic

Sorry this post is late but the web was down at CERC today. The quiz for today was to send me an example of a syllogism that breaks the rule illicit minor. Hope you are enjoying the snow.

Tuesday classes

For Introduction to Philosophy today the quiz question was what movie would you like to see for the last class of the semester? (We watched the trailer from The Name of the Rose for example.) For History of Philosophy I the quiz question today was what experience would you say is more Eudaimonistic - watching the scene from Phantom of the Opera or finding out that there is water on Mars?

Monday Logic

Today the quiz question is what do you think of David Brooks opinion piece in the paper today? (We read this in class but here is the link.) We discussed Converse, Obverse and Contrapositive today and just began talking about how Existential Import will impact the modern interpretation of the Square of Opposition. Next class we should finish this and move on to syllogisms in the next chapter (6).

Thursday classes

For Introduction to Philosophy the quiz question is what does it mean to be saved? As an explanation by one of my favorites I mentioned Josiah Royce and his book The Sources of Religious Insight Someone brought up another possible question too but I forget what it was. Anyone remember? In History of Philosophy we began our work on Aristotle. Quiz question: give me an example of a true categorical proposition / statement. Do you see how anything we say that could be either true or false would have to fit his description of categorical statements?

Wednesday Logic

The quiz question today was what is your answer to Yali's question? (If you go to 2:20 on the video clip you will hit the question.) Meanwhile, notice we are moving ahead of the syllabus somewhat and already in chapter 5. Test 1 is due no later than midnight on the 28th.

Tuesday classes

For Introduction to Philosophy today the quiz question was who do you think Jesus is? We begin looking at Saint Augustine's view Thursday. Also note that on the 29th of September you should bring colored pencils, or crayons, or something you could color with since we will spend some time listening to Gregorian Chant and coloring pages of scriptural illustrations to have a Medieval Experience! For History of Philosophy the quiz question concerns the conception of God - the craftsman - in the Timaeus. How do you view the conflict between science and religion concerning the definition of God? Some think Plato uses this book to give his version of Creation in the Bible. He claims it comes from the Egyptian wise men.

Monday Logic

The quiz question today was what are your thoughts regarding the selection of Inside Amy Schumer winning the Emmy for best writing in a variety show.

Thursday classes

For Introduction to Philosophy this morning the quiz question is a scenario problem. You are a platoon leader taking your men on patrol in Vietnam. You have been giving out candy to children on your patrols in order to make friends. But the VC have discovered this and thought it a weakness. They have begun putting bombs on children and blowing them up when they mix with the platoons. You have been given orders to keep the children away from your platoon even if it means shooting them if they insist on coming too close. Your problem: will you order your men to shoot children or not? Children as suicide bombers? For History of Philosophy we should be discussing part two of the Republic. How do you insure the society you build is just? What would you like to be? Would you like to work for Amazon?

Wednesday class

For Logic the quiz question today was what fallacy do you think Steve Wright uses in his jokes? I think it would be called amphiboly. (I lost a button hole.) (I have a map of the US that is actual size. I live at E5.) I also mentioned Daniel Dennett's book Inside Jokes.

Tuesday classes

For Introduction to Philosophy today the question was who is Nichomachus? Since that is a really light question, how about saying what you think of Sam Harris' TED talk so far? We will pick up with that next class. For History of Philosophy the question concerns the ring of power. What would you do if you had such a ring?

Monday Logic

The quiz question for today is in preparation for our discussion of fallacies that I hope to start next class once we finish chapter 3. It is: who is your favorite comedian? I will make the comparison between jokes and fallacies since jokes seem to follow particular fallacy formats. The example I used quickly today was equivocation (what we call puns.)

Thursday classes

For Introduction to Philosophy the quiz question today was tell me what your favorite song is (send me a link if you have one). My favorite song is this one as sung by Francois Hardy. How do we determine what defines a category? Is rap music or poetry? All horses are animals. Some terms are easier to define than others. The list of philosophers for term papers includes all of these: Living Philosophers Charles Murray Thomas Metzinger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Metzinger Owen Flanagan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Flanagan Joseph Margolis http://www.cla.temple.edu/philosophy/faculty/joseph-margolis/ Peter Sloterdijk http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113387/peter-sloterdijks-philosophy-gives-reasons-living Jurgen Habermas http://www.egs.edu/library/juergen-habermas/biography/ Sam Harris http://www.samharris.org/ Charles Taylor http://www.thenation.com/article/162667/sentimentality-or-honesty-charles-taylor# Alister McGrath http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mcgrath/ Daniel Dennett http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/index.html Martha Nussbaum http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/nussbaum/ Hilary Putnam http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~phildept/putnam.html Slavoj Zizek http://www.egs.edu/faculty/slavoj-zizek/biography/ Alain Badiou http://www.egs.edu/faculty/alain-badiou/biography/ Peter Singer https://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/ David Chalmers http://consc.net/chalmers/ Judith Butler http://www.egs.edu/faculty/judith-butler/biography/ Fredric Jameson http://literature.duke.edu/people?Gurl=&Uil=812&subpage=profile A.C. Grayling http://www.acgrayling.com/ Anthony Kenny http://www.europaeum.org/europaeum/?q=node/1239 Philip Kitcher http://philosophy.columbia.edu/directories/faculty/philip-kitcher Frances Fukuyama http://fukuyama.stanford.edu/ Steven Pinker http://stevenpinker.com/ Mary Warnock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Warnock,_Baroness_Warnock Cornel West http://www.cornelwest.com/ Douglas Hofstadter http://www.soic.indiana.edu/people/profiles/hofstadter-douglas.shtml Susan Haack Tariq Ramadan Reza Aslan Bernard-Henri Levy Umberto Eco Patricia Churchland Paul Churchland Richard Dawkins Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) Alvin Carl Plantinga Hans Kung Alasdair MacIntyre Completely Dead but still relatively recent philosophers Michel Foucault Edward Said Vine Deloria Jr. C. S. Lewis Richard Rorty John Rawls Robert Nozick Ronald Dworkin Hans-Georg Gadamer

Wednesday Logic

The quiz question for today (as I used earlier in Introduction to Philosophy) is an exciting one I think. Jesus comes to your home and knocks at the door. You know it is Him and you know He is God. He says that you should sell all you have, give the money to the poor, and then follow him. What do you do? Does this situation deal with facts? Values? Could we scientifically determine whether following Jesus would be the best choice?

Thursday classes

Talking about Platonic Idealism today using the approach of Stephen Hawking that is that we can create models or conceptions of the universe but they are limited and do not give us a true understanding of reality in itself. In much the same way I ask the quiz question does the earth go around the sun or does the sun go around the earth? Usually everyone has been raised to think of the heliocentric model as the way reality is and the geocentric model as false, but treating these as models we can understand them as both true in the context of their usefulness for us.

Wednesday Logic

The quiz question today was please give me a word you consider improper using in polite company, and why that is the case. We used the example of "Ginger" in class with Tim

Tuesday quiz questions

For Introduction to Philosophy today we began discussing the nature of the Soul and I referred to Stuart Hameroff who thinks consciousness is found in the microtubules in our neurons and means we have a quantum computer instead of a Turing machine as the seat of our soul. But my question to you is what do you think the soul is? Do you have one? Or like Steven Pinker do you think it is a side effect of brain activity?