Midterm Flashcards
(85 cards)
philosophical method
“what is philosophy” handout
- philosophy is concerned with..
- pursuit of truth, understanding, and the good life through
- (well represented in our readings by Plato’s depiction of Socrates)
- reflection: often personal.
- the examination of one’s thoughts, desires, values, emotions, and likes)
- the development of reason or theories
- careful analysis
- commitment to reason and argument as a source of knowledge (or justification for people to believe)
reflective deliberation
“what is philosophy” handout
- examination of one’s position in the world
- their thoughts, desires, values, emotions, and the like.
- done with a critical eye
arguments: premises, conclusions, validity, and soundness
“what is philosophy” handout
- philosophers often provide arguments and theories in order to provide reasons for belief or to enhance understanding.
- the arguments should offer premises in support of come conclusion, and they should also be true.
- the model of a good argument is a deductively sound argument.
- philosophers also want reasons. they value reason as good means to true belief.
conceptual analysis
“what is philosophy” handout
the careful scrutiny of fundamental concepts such as virtue, knowledge, existence, etc.
value of philosophy
“what is philosophy” handout
- helps with understanding the human condition
- what it means to be human in terms of the mind
- what it is to be a person
- the nature and limits of human knowledge
- our responsibility for and control of human action, as well as value questions
- a guide to life
- philosophers often give rather specific advice as to how one should handle particular situations and how to be happy, successful, or moral
- proto-science
- can provide “big picture” perspective to challenge assumptions that are foundational for some scientific discipline
- various phil. subfields relate to specific sciences
- puzzle making and problem solving
- well-known for raising puzzles and questions; typically more questions than answers
- skills development
- phil. is an activity that develops skills that are valuable in a variety of contexts
- emphasizes the development of good reasoning and analytical skills
- stresses clarity of thought and expression
- involves open-mindedness
- encourages creative thinking
the ship-owner story (and others)
“Clifford”
- owner is about to send off emigrant-ship
- many unhappy families were leaving to seek better lives elsewhere
- ship is old- not built well to begin with and needed many repairs.
- the owner knew this, and debated repairing it. since it was expensive to do so, he decided against it.
- he ignored the obvious, and knowingly/willingly convinced himself that it was safe enough to travel
- the owner sent the ship anyway and it sunk
- he received insurance money when it sunk, and it “told no tales”
- he talked himself into believing something that wasn’t okay
- SELF-DECEPTION
- ex. drinking and driving and not wrecking- it is wrong but you received no consequences
evidential and non-evidential reasons for belief
“Clifford”
- evidential:
- prudential
- strictest form of evidentialism
- claims that the source of value is always believing on sufficient evidence
- moral
- moral rightness and wrongness is analyzed in many different ways
- a moral Evidentialist will presumably either…
- adopt one of those analyses and develop her position accordingly
- or show that the ethics of belief swings free of debates between deontologists, consequentialists, virtue theorists, and the like
- moral rightness and wrongness is analyzed in many different ways
- epistemic
- most influential and wide-spread variety
- central thesis of is that the norms of evidence governing belief are somehow based in the nature and aims of theoretical reason itself
- prudential
- non-evidential:
- practical
- If, for instance, there is no sufficient evidence one way or the other for a certain proposition p, and if one has set a moral end that requires one to take a stand on the truth of p, and if any evidence that one does have points in the direction of the truth of p, then one is permitted (and sometimes even required) to take p to be true
- justified on moral rather than theoretical grounds, and it counts as belief or acceptance rather than knowledge
- conservative
- the view that one is prima facie justified in believing that p if in fact one does believe that p
- fideistic
- doesn’t have anything to do with religious doctrine in particular.
- Believe that we can legitimately hold propositions on faith without having any evidence for them, without feeling impelled towards them, and even in the face of strong evidence against them
- practical
“ethics of belief” and the ship-owner’s guilt
“Clifford”
- ethics of belief:
- a cluster of questions at the intersection of epistemology, ethics, philosophy of mind, and psychology
- central question: whether there are norms of some sort governing our habits of belief-formation, belief-maintenance, and belief-relinquishment
- related questions have to do with the nature and structure of the norms involved, if any, as well as the source of their authority
- assuming that there are norms of some sort governing belief-formation, what does that imply about the nature of being?
- The ship-owner is “equally guilty- equally blameworthy- for believing something on insufficient evidence”
the irrelevance of actual (as opposed to expected) outcomes, truth/falsity, and sincerity
“Clifford”
- ******
- he knew that the ship was not safe for travel (it had “seen many seas and climbs”), and others knew it too.
- there were obvious safety issues with the boat.
- he genuinely convinced himself that it was safe, and expected it to survive its voyage but it did not.
the importance of belief
“Clifford”
- there is a tight connection between belief and action. if you believe something, you will act on it.
- every belief could matter and has an effect
- beliefs are not private
self-deception
“Clifford”
in the story: ignoring the available evidence and believing something because you want to believe it
Clifford’s rules for belief
“Clifford”
- “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence”
- “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to ignore evidence that is relevant to his beliefs, or to dismiss relevant evidence in a facile way”
- Clifford thinks “why should religion be any different than anything else?”
- he thinks it makes you credulous (gullible)
the dangers of credulity
“Clifford”
N/A
Plato, Socrates, and Athens background
- Plato
- Had his own school
- Taught Aristotle
- Socrates
- everything that we know about him was written by other people
- sometimes thought to be a Sophist because he argued/debated with people and talked about virtue/virtue related topics
- differences between him and sophist
- he wasn’t a teacher and wasn’t paid
- sophists valued rhetoric/reason
- didn’t claim to have knowledge of virtue in particular/not able to teach it
- he despised the influence of rhetoric
- thought it was perverted and had a bad impact
- ex. someone who is guilty should be found guilty.
- Since we are vulnerable to persuasion, someone could just get off
- ex. advertisements, sales, etc.
- thought that it was perverse, that it would use our vulnerabilities to get us to buy things that we do not need
- Athens
the Socratic Method
“Plato”
- method of teaching.
- the teacher doesn’t lecture the student.
- they ask a series of guided questions that get the student to answer the question on their own.
- it contrasts to lecturing.
- some subjects cannot be taught this way, but a lot of subjects can be.
- socrates does not think of this as a form of teaching
Socratic Irony
“Plato”
statement that entices others to challenge the statement a pose of ignorance
the Sophists
“Plato”
- teach rhetoric and virtue; wanted children to be good, upstanding citizens
- claimed not able to teach virtue
What is piety?
Plato: “Euthyphro”
the quality of being religious or reverent
fEuthyphro’s proposed definitions of piety and Socrates’s responses
Plato: “Euthyphro”
- E: “holiness is persecuting religious offenders”
- S: finds this unsatisfying since there are many holy deeds aside from that of prosecuting offenders
- E: “holiness is kind of a justice, specifically a kind which is concerned with looking after the gods”
- S: is confused because surely the gods are omnipotent and do not need to be looked over
- E: “holiness is a kind of trading with the gods, where we give them sacrifice and they grant our prayers. our sacrifices do not help them in any way but simply gratify the gods.”
- S: points out that holiness is gratifying the gods.
wwmthe Euthyphro Dilemma
Plato: “Euthyphro”
Socrates asks Euthyphro, “Do the gods love the pious because it is pious, or is the pious such because the gods love it?”
3divine command theory
Plato: “Euthyphro”
- the view that morality is somehow dependent upon God &…
- that moral obligation consists in obedience to God’s commands
Can virtue be taught?
Plato: “Meno”
- the entire text is a dialogue between meno and socrates; meno asks socrates if virtue can be taught
- by the end of the passage, neither of them men know what virtue is, but they at least know that they do not know what it is
- it can be taught? Just not defined
Meno’s accounts of virtue and Socrates’s responses
Plato: “Meno”
- meno thinks that courage is a virtue, moderation, wisdom, justice
- meno works through a series of possible definitions of virtue, and socrates dismantles them all
Socrates on desiring the good
Plato: “Meno”
- Socrates suggests that we acquire knowledge of what is good in order to know that the actions we perform are actually good, not only just good to us
- Plato does not suggest in any way punishing anyone, since everyone desires the good.
- We should keep in mind that we are all alike in that aspect, but we should still hold people accountable for their actions