final

Final exam
3b. I think I deserve a C+ or B-. I wouldn’t give myself an A because I feel like there is still more for me to understand. Philosophy is a very broad subject and it was very difficult to get a grasp on a lot of the concepts talked about throughout this course.
4. Monique Paramo
5. I never received a grade for my midterm. I emailed it to you on a word document. I have uploaded it to the website on #7
6. moniqueparamo@gmail.com
7. http://moniqueparamo.blogspot.com/
8. yes
9. yes, with the exception of Dennett’s video
10.
11. Pinker believes that evolution is important in understanding human behavior because he believes that it is important for people to understand why they act they way they do. He believes that some of our traits have been passed down through generations and these traits explain why we act the way we do.
He wants to answer why the elements of behavior, consciousness, and morality are what they are and how they came about. Through reason and logic, we have discovered a certain basis of morality and have adapted our lives to it.
12.The theory of evolution is helpful in studying philosophy because philosophy is such a broad subject, it is at the basis of everything. It is a necessity for science to exist and to explain certain things that philosophy addresses.
I have stated before that philosophy is the study of inquiries and finding the answer to “why?” The theory of evolution helps us ask and answer the question of “why?” when we wonder why we exist, why are we here, how did we get here, and even “How?”
13. Francis Crick does not believe in a soul because we have conned ourselves into believing something that there is no proof of. What we do have proof of is being composed of neurons.
Crick, in “The Astonishing Hypothesis” argues that conscience is made up of “a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.” To support his point, he brings up how most of us “believe” there is a little person inside of us that tells us what to do and what not to do. He calls this the “Fallacy of the Homunculus.
14. Some major issues behind the nuero-ethical argument for vegetarianism are the idea of pain and feeling morally wrong which is why humans don’t eat other humans. We tend to associate what we eat with pain, therefore, we do not know what it’s like to be a chicken, and as a result, we eat chicken.
15. Ken Wilber's view of consciousness differ from John Searle's views. According to Searle, consciousness is varies and is based on the individual person. Searle's theory states that "consciousness is a real subjective experience, caused by the physical processes of the brain. Wilber believes that consciousness is a physical process—that not only the biological process of neurons
and groups of neurons is responsible of explaining the concept of consciousness.
I find that even though both don’t believe in a soul, I am leaning more towards agreeing with Wilber than with Searle because of his model. I think it covers more and answers more concerns. It is more inclusive.
16. The theme behind the movie “Glorious Piece of Meat” addresses the limitations of the “I” and even though we can do so much and have advanced as much as we have, we still have limitations and ambiguities.
The speaker was listing all of the things that “he(I)” doesn’t do like making his heart beat, blinking, sleeping, waking up, creating antibodies, etc. He states that the “I” doesn’t do a whole lot of anything and that we believe the “I” to be more powerful than “we” really are.
17. Sam Harris is very critical of religion. His strongest arguments include comparing religion to war. I think this is a very strong argument because in looking back on history, we will find that religion has been at the root for a lot of the wars. Even now post-9/11, we can see that religion has played a role in such a historical event that is still going on.
I didn’t find a lot of weaknesses in his argument because religion also doesn’t have any borders and we continue to see that today. People from almost every religion, at one point or another, try to convert others to their religion. It is part of what can make religion so dangerous. It has to do with control. Controlling how people live, from the way they dress, to what they eat.
18. Nietzsche genealogy of morals goes back to how we attain the morals that we have now. Morals are values that people live by and because we are so different, people live by different moral codes.
Nietzsche compares philosophers and their moral codes to trees that bear fruit. The fruit of the trees are the morals or pearls of wisdom that we can chose to live by, or eat that certain fruit from that certain tree. If we decide that we don’t like the fruit from that tree, we can chose to eat from another tree.
19. Gandhi believed in ahisma—nonviolence because causing harm to another living thing would be bad karma. He also believed that if everyone adopted ahisma as a way of life, then the world would and could be free of all war.
20. Nietzsche’s notion of eternal recurrence states that the eternal hourglass of existence will be turned again and again and again and you will be a part of it. I think this video is speaking for advancement and against redundancy. Life being redundant and being lived the same over and over will be boring and we will remain stagnant.
I think that is why the film was broken into two parts. The first part consisted of the same images over and over—things that are familiar. The video then ends with undiscovered frontiers—Mars, Earth, and space. Although we already know a little about them, there are untapped sources that still need to be discovered. There is a life of progress and advancement.
21. The ironic theme in the movie “Flame On” lies in sarcasm and the film’s ironic tone. It starts off as a propaganda piece that looked like it was put together in the age of conservatism like the 1950s and the “Leave It To Beaver” era. It then started taking a sarcastic turn when it began to show very notable and respected people in different professions like philosophers and writers like Walt Whitman—people whose talents cannot be denied.
I also liked the way the film ended by using the quote that “truth is not part of the proceedings.” And I think that that is something that gets lost in the midst of a lot of things. A lot of times people focus on people’s characteristics or personal lives instead of their accomplishments. Following the saying about truth with a list of notable homosexuals is a reminder that a person’s sexuality doesn’t hinder or enhance a person’s value.
22. the Daniel Dennett video did not work.
23. Betrand in a “Free Man’s Worship” states that man has created the notion that God is the creator of everything that is good. If we sacrifice for God, we will see some sort of reward.
He adds that everything in this life is nothing but the end result of atoms. Everything that happens and everything we do is the accidental result of moving and colliding atoms.
24. The overall theme of the movie “Inner Visions and Running Trains” is that God or a higher power comes in many forms and is created in the mind. Chand believes that all gurus are ignorant about the real cause of the miracles and visions attributed to them. This realization first dawned on him during a military battle in Iraq in 1919.
He says that during the battle and seeming to be in a weakened position with his troops preparing for battle with very little ammunition, he began to worry until he had a vision of his guru advising him not to worry and that the opposing army was just going to come by to pick up their dead. Upon returning, he was being praised and worshipped for saving the lives of his soldiers.
25. Nicholas of Cusa terms the phrase “learned ignorance.” Learned ignorance is defined as something that people are ignorant about but they are taught to believe to be true. There have been many instances of learned ignorance. Some of the most familiar examples of learned ignorance are the earth being flat and the sun revolving around the earth—the earth being the center of the cosmos or universe.
Its implications for my own life are mostly based on everyday fallacies, but I would say the biggest implication this term has on my life is in the place of religion and my faith. Although I wouldn’t use the word “ignorant” to describe myself or my faith, I can see how some might use it to describe me especially since I don’t have solid proof that God exists, my faith is strong enough to believe that God does exist.
26. By Neural Darwinism, Edelman refers to a nueral goup selection that occurs in the brain. It’s similar to evolution and natural selection of ideas that take place in the brain instead of genes with natural selection and evolution. It’s how different neurons in the brain form different structures and groups within the brain.
Second nature is a state of consciousness. Not sleep or coma. Language would be a concept of second nature.
27. People should turn vegetarian due to the ethics and morals behind causing harm and killing another living thing. Ethically, people believe it is wrong to do so. Some of it has to do with the pain that animals go through and once we realize that, some people have decided to turn vegetarian.
Some arguments against vegetarianism would be the theory of natural selection and the order of the food chain. As humans, we are superior to cows and other animals. It’s all a process of life. Other arguments could use the Bible for support that the animals were created “for” Adam and Eve and to be used as “food.” Another reason would be for the economy. America has a lot invested in the cattle industry, and thirdly to satisfy nutrition.
28. The turning point in Ramana Maharshi’s life was what he gained form a near death experience. He learned that when a person dies, the person’s soul continues to thrive.
29. Gandhi’s double shame was when his father was terminally ill. Gandhi was always at his father’s side taking care of him, but he would think of his wife and had carnal desires. She was pregnant at the time and so one night, he left to be with his wife and wasn’t present at his father’s bedside when he passed away. Gandhi felt shame that he chose his carnal desires—to be with his wife instead of with his ailing father. His wife was pregnant and when the baby died, Gandhi felt responsible for abandoning his father to be with his pregnant wife. He blamed himself for both deaths.
I don’t think Gandhi would have a different view of that event if he lived during our era because I think he would still have the same beliefs and same principles that made him who he was.
30.
31. The author’s overall thesis in “Is My i-phone Conscious” is that the idea of our conscious is nothing but a bunch of neurons acting and moving a certain way. To understand the conscious isn’t a “philosophical problem.” It’s a “technical problem.”
The sound-grenade application is an illustrative example of how people have different levels of consciousness. I think this can explain why he, his brother, and a student were immune to the sound that was so hard to stomach.
32.
33. Tolstoy had a somewhat dark outlook on life and its “meaning.” He was famous and well-respected and had many things to be happy about. He also reflected on suicide.
He believed that suicide was a sign of strength and that it was the strongest mental state of a human. This belief seems to counter how suicide is viewed by most. Although it requires an extraordinary amount of passion to end one’s own life, it is viewed as a cowardly act due to the notion that suicide is an “easy” way out as opposed to facing the problems or circumstances that have led to such an act.
34. My favorite expert film lecture this term was by Aldous Huxley. 1984 by George Orwell is one of my favorite books that I’ve read. I haven’t read it since high school in 1996, but it has stayed with me ever since. Watching his interview gave me insight to how things are, how they used to be, and how they might get. It cause me to think a lot about where we are and where we’re going. I also want to read “Brave New World.”
35. My favorite movie this term was “Flame On” due to its sarcasm and ironic tone. It just reinforces the idea that society can choose to focus on the wrong things, like a person’s sexual orientation, instead of the important things that they have contributed to society.
36. My favorite reading was on Gandhi. He has been a very iconic figure in history and I have always wanted to read more about him. I think it’s amazing how he was able to accomplish so much by preaching about love and nonviolence. Very inspirational.
37. The most unusual thing I learned this term was how science and philosophy are connected and intertwined. I never thought of them being so closely connected. I always thought of philosophy of a more abstract art whereas science being pretty straightforward and concrete. I was also not familiar with the different branches of philosophy that are science-based. Although I knew that philosophy encompassed a lot of different areas, the relation to science was eye opening.