Intro to Philosophy Study Guide

Philosophy Study Guide

Freedom:

* Boethius – The Consolation of Philosophy * Determinism, no regret * Pre-determined, is a God * Pessimistic Determinism - Bad things must happen for plan to work * Boethius: If God foresees all things and cannot ever be mistaken, that which his Providence sees must happen. Therefore, if Providence knows beforehand not only men’s deeds but even their plans and wishes, there will be no freewill. * Philosophy: Foreseeing that an event will occur does not impose necessity on it. * Boethius: How can God have certain foreknowledge of something whose occurrence is not necessary? * Philosophy: We must distinguish between the human way of knowing, which happens in time, and the divine way of knowing, which is eternal. As eternal, God grasps all events simultaneously in a single and simple vision. Human reason, however, cannot know in this way, but must employ past and future. * We see things in a temporal present; God sees things in an eternal present. * God’s knowledge of the eternal present includes both foreknowledge of things that happen necessarily, and of things that proceed from human free will. * Therefore divine foreknowledge is compatible with freewill.

* James – The Dilemma of Determinism * Postulate of Rationality * Soft Determinism * Freewill * Regret, Judgment of Regret * Lecture to students at Harvard * According to determinism, the only future that is possible is the one that happens; whatever happens, happens by necessity * According to indeterminism, alternative futures are possible; things could have happened differently than they did * Postulates of Rationality – whether we think the world is no more rational if it is governed by necessity or if it contains multiple possibilities * Determinists: If chance has a role in the world (not the product of necessity), the world becomes chaotic and unintelligible. * James: An event that happens by chance is just as intelligible as one that happens by necessity * The existence of “Judgments of Regret” makes indeterminism more plausible than determinism * If determinists admit the rationality of judgments of regret, they commit themselves to the pessimistic view that the world, with all its evils, could not be better than it is. * If they want to be optimistic, they have to view all judgments of regret as irrational.

* Hospers – The Range of Human Freedom * 2 Levels of Discourse: Actions we’re responsible for & Springs of Actions by which we’re constrained * Responsibility = freedom * Constraint = not free * Connect to Reid * Our actions flow from our character and our character is defined by forces beyond our control (childhood environment & genetics) * Criminals not responsible for crimes? * Some people overcoming negative influences is still a result of heredity and environment * Not denying that we “could have acted otherwise”, however, we mean if our desires had been different, our actions would have been different but desires are product of character – conditions occurring outside our control

* Reid – Essays of the Active Powers of the Human Mind * 1. We believe we act freely * 2. We are accountable * 3. We are able to pursue an end by means adapted to it * Constraint of Liberty * Freedom of Actions * Soft Determinism * We have the power to determine whether we will act well or badly, and are not determined by external forces or involuntary internal forces * This liberty can, however, be impaired of lost by physical/mental disorders, evil habits, or divine intervention * 1. We have a deep-seated conviction that we act freely – a conviction that is evident when we deliberate, resolve to do something, make a promise, blame ourselves, feel guilt, etc. * 2. All morality and all religion assume that we are capable of acting rightly or wrongly and that we are morally accountable for our actions – Implies Moral Liberty * 3. We can prudently and steadily pursue a course of action calculated to achieve a goal we have set for ourselves – Proving a certain degree of power over the determinations of our will

* Hobbes – Leviathan * State of Nature: Brutish, short, poor, nasty, solitary * Engage in social contract: Give rights to Leviathan, Get peace & protection/sovereign * Not Free – free within guidelines * The condition to human life before formation of society and government * Each person tries to further hi/her own interests by whatever means possible; war – every man against every man * No law; no such thing as justice or injustice * Law of nature dictates people to whatever best preserves their lives. * People in state of nature would be more secure if they transferred most of their rights to a common power (social contract) – foundation of society and government to this day * With contract, injustice/justice born * Justice only assured if common power is a leviathan – a mortal god – with absolute authority to force observance of the contract. * Only the terror of punishment by a power with absolute sovereignty will ensure justice and make life secure

* Mill– On Liberty * No Harm Principle – adults with full faculties * Public and Private, Liberties of Thought, Tasks to Unite * Direct & Indirect Harm: Intention * Domains: Thoughts & Discussion, Tastes & Pursuits, Tasks to Unite * Spheres: Public & Private * Tyranny of the Majority * Protection for the Minority * Liberty Principle * What kind of power can society legitimately exert over the individual? * Liberty implied protection against the tyranny of political rulers * Leader did not govern by will of people – power necessary but dangerous * Patriots’ limitations: 1) Gained immunities – “political liberties (rights)” – leader to respect them and right to rebellion if infringed. 2) Constitutional checks – community or representatives gained power of consent over important acts of governance * Men progress to a point where they want leaders to be servants and reflect their interests & will * Democracy – People don’t rule themselves, people with power exercise it over those without * Majority consciously rises to oppress minority * Power of public opinion can be more stifling to individuality and dissent than law * Must also be protection for people against prevailing public opinions & tendency of society to impose * How to limit public opinion over independence? * Self-interest * Only time to interfere is self-protection * Is fine to argue but not compel * Only over himself is one sovereign * Not apply to children or backward societies * If one causes harm, is appropriate to condemn * Compelling to do good ok because otherwise causing harm * Domains: 1) Conscience - liberty of individual thought & opinion. 2) Planning – tastes & pursuits. 3) Liberty to Unite – with consenting individuals & to do no harm * These ideas directly contradict society’s increasing tendency to deman conformity, and unless moral conviction turns against this tendency, the demand for conformity will only increase.

* Lorde – Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference * We know the differences so we cannot ignore them, we can only choose not to add to them * In a society where the good is defined in terms of profit rather than in terms of human need, there must always be some group of people made to feel surplus, to occupy the place of the dehumanized inferior. Within this society, that group is made up of Black and Third World people, working-class people, older people, and women. * The oppressors maintain their position and evade responsibility for their own actions * It is not the differences that separate us, rather our refusal to recognize them and to examine the distortions which result from our misnaming them and their effects upon human behavior and expectation * Mythical norm: white, thin, male, young, hetero, Christian, & financially secure * By ignoring the past, we are encouraged to repeat its mistakes

* Harrington – A Definition of Poverty * Social problems in a capitalist society * Rich get richer, poor get poorer, inequality, poverty, discrepancy * Democratic government: locally controlled, planned economy

* Rawls – Justice as Fairness * 4 Kinds of Justice: Utilitarian, Special Interest, Desert, Justice as Fairness – first three common before Rawls (not fair) * JaF only way - original position/veil of ignorance * NO bias * Liberty principle & Difference principle * Justice s a virtue of social institutions and contends the fundamental idea of this kind of justice is fairness * Basic traits of justice expressed in form of two principles: 1) Each person in the society has an equal right to the maximum liberty compatible with a similar liberty for all. 2) Inequalities are permissible only if they will work to the advantage of everyone, and if the offices and positions that carry special benefits are open to everyone * Fair play
Meaning:

* Schopenhauer – Parerga and Paralipomena – “On the Sufferings of the World” & “On the Vanity of Existence” * Buddhism/Enlightenment * Awakening a process, not immediate * Suffering most important to Buddhism & Schopenhauer * Must understand & accept suffering to achieve enlightenment * Negative Idealism * Impossible to ignore: suffering, imperfections of humans, no God * Only thing that is possible/The will/The will to live is that which causes suffering * Aim for enlightenment * Pessimistic view of life * Human life filled with work, worry, labor, and trouble * Suffering outweighs any pleasures we might experience – worse off than animals – same basic goals, incomparably smaller expenditure of pleasure and pain * Animals have greater ability to enjoy the present moment without worrying about past & future * Because the world contains so much suffering, it cannot be the creation of an all-powerful, all-wise, all-good God * Best way to look at the world is like a penal colony where each of us pays the “penalty of existence in his own peculiar way” * Suffering brings one benefit – If life consisted of luxury and ease, “men would either die of boredom or hang themselves” * Human life is insignificant and empty * Short existence * Only time that is real is the ever-fleeting present * Neither past nor future is, and that which in the next moment exists no more and vanishes utterly, like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort * Continual becoming,and never attain being * Human life must be a mistake * The Great Turning: 1) Understand happiness 2) Admit Fruitlessness of current strategy. 3) Turn away from false pursuits. 4) Turn toward new understanding of life and emptying the self. * Two poles of existence: Needs & Boredom * Happiness is negative = Avoidance of Suffering

* Tolstoy – My Confession * Faith * Quietude * 4 Ways out of Meaninglessness: Ignorance, Weakness, Force of energy (suicide), of Epicureanism * Jesus an example to have faith in people * Do not ignore the poor * Admit Fault * Be willing to help * Meditate * Search for the meaning of life * No help in science describing life as temporary conjunction of bits of matter – nothing about meaning * Philosophers taught life as evil, vain, death to be welcomed * Ordinary persons convinced of meaning but convictions based on faith, not reason * Faith explains meaning of finite human existence in terms of relationship to infinite * Life takes on meaning once seen as a phantasm related to infinite reality outside of space and time * If a person understands the finite, he must believe in the infinite * Faith enables us to bear the trials of life in peace and joy * 4 Ways out of Meaninglessness: Ignorance (one cannot unknow what he knows), Epicureanism (live in the moment, searching for refined pleasure, philosophical thoughts & only temporary relief), Force of Energy (suicide – if best option, why isn’t everyone doing it?), Weakness (hopeful resignation) * Faith also weakness but ok…?

* James – Is Life Worth Living? * Lines up with Frankl * What might persuade a pessimistic, suicidal person that life is worth living? * Since the existence of evil rouses our instincts to do battle against it, and this battle gives our life meaning, one could urge a suicidal person to fight the “supposed world of multifarious and immoral nature.” * More fundamental: through religious faith – a belief that the significance of this natural world derives from its relation to an unseen, supernatural world * Although there is no proof of the supernatural, we have the right to believe in it and to act as if it were true * Sometimes having faith that something is true, can help make it be true * We can give into despair or trust that these evils are not the ultimate reality and that they receive meaning by their relation to a supernatural reality * Life is a real fight in which something is eternally gained for the universe by our success * God draws strength from our fidelity in earthly struggles * Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact

* Russel – The Free Man’s Worship * No God * Universe of Nothingness * Must accept nothingness to be happy/free * Worship beauty, truth, and goodness * Desires never satisfied * Atheistic standpoint * What meaning can we find for human life in the impersonal universe described by science in which we suffer, then die? * What is worthy of our worship? Power = submit to evil, power largely bad * Object of worship should be our ideals of goodness and beauty * We must keep ideals before our eyes & fully aware that they can never be realized in the actual universe * Resign ourselves to the fact that the world was not made to satisfy our desires and desires will never be fully satisfied * To feel the passionless splendor of these forces and to make them a part of ourselves is to become free * Abandon the struggle for private happiness, expel all eagerness of temporary desire, burn with passion for eternal things – this is emancipation and the “free man’s worship

* Camus – The Myth of Sisyphus * Beauty, Truth, & Goodness * Existentialism * Absurdity * The human condition is absurd because we want to find a basis for human values (morally right & wrong) but the world provides no such basis * Once we are aware, we must decide if life is worth living * “There is but only one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” * The proper response to the absurd is not to take one’s life but to be fully aware of absurdity and live defiantly in the face of it * Sisyphus suffers but is superior to the gods – in those moments of lucidity, when returning to the bottom of the mountain, he understands his fate and scorns it * One must imagine Sisyphus happy

* Wolf – Meaning in Life and Why it Matters * Motivated out of love for things worthy of loving 7 engaging with them in a positive way * Objective = worthy * Subjective = engaging * A subject is attracted to and engaged with something that has objective attractiveness * Combines two popular views: 1) A meaningful life is one in which we find our passion (subjective) 2) And that it is one in which we are involved in something larger than ourselves (objective) * Each is inadequate in itself * Not just feeling of fulfillment but type of activity that brings it * Not just helping others but feeling fulfillment

* Singer – The Life you Can Save * Altruism * How much is enough? * In our nature to give * Psychology of giving * If you can give, it’s wrong not to * Standards for giving * His argument p. 15-16 * First Premise: Suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad * Second Premise: If it is in your power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so * Third Premise: by donating to aid agencies, you can prevent suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care, without sacrificing anything nearly as important * Conclusion: Therefore, if you do not donate to aid agencies, you are doing something wrong

* Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning * Logotherapy * Find meaning in the future * Finding meaning of your own life through helping others find theirs * Most powerful motivating and driving force in humans * Logos = meaning (greek) * 1) Life has meaning under all circumstances * 2) People have a will to meaning * 3) People have freedom under all circumstances to activate the will to meaning and to find the meaning * Man = body, mind, spirit * Meaning Triangle: Creativity (self-expression, talents, work, gifts we give to life), Experiencing (receiving the world, nature, culture, relationships, interactions), and Change of Attitude (cant change circumstances, but can change attitude toward condition; self-transcending way of finding meaning especially in unavoidable suffering) * Two levels of meaning in life: 1) Ultimate meaning (can never reach but glimpse – God, Science, Truth, Nature, Evolution). 2) Meaning of the Moment (All the time to answer the questions life asks us, therefore important to understand meaning of each moment by fulfilling demands life places on us) * Existential vacuum – a state of inertia, boredom, apathy – persists into frustration – noogenic neurosis, fill vacuum with drugs, violence, food, over-work, sports, ets. – remain unfulfilled * Tragic Triad – Unavoidable Suffering, Guilt, Death

* Buddhism: * Buddha’s last words: Decay is inherent in all things; besure to strive for clarity of mind * Subject to decay are compound things/strive for earnestness * Conditioned things break down, tread the path with care

* Emerson: * Everything falls down & is decomposed, nothing ascends