Introduction to Philosophy Discussion Board 1 Respond to one of the following questions: Read the excerpt from Pericles’ famous speech. Are the qualities he praises characteristics of democracy? Do you see those characteristics in American democracy? Why or why not? Is rhetoric an art that seeks to teach people to be good and just, or is rhetoric simply a tool, in itself neither good nor bad, to use to persuade others to do what you want? Are tyrants like Adolf Hitler “good rhetoricians,” or are they misusing rhetoric? Explain your answer. What is the significance of the Myth of the Cave? Do you see examples in today’s society of people living in Plato’s metaphorical cave? Who are they, and why do you think they are like Plato’s cave dwellers? What do you think: Is it more important to be just or to appear just? Why? Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words). Reflection Paper 1 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Briefly state the differences between relativism and the dialectical method. Who do you think is correct, the sophists or Socrates and Plato? Both? Neither? Explain your answer. Discussion Board 2 Respond to one of the following questions: In your view, does Aristotle’s logic do anything to undercut the relativism spawned by the sophists’ teaching of rhetoric? Explain your answer. Aristotle thinks that people have to be virtuous to be happy. Do you agree with him? Why or why not? Would Aristotle say that it is possible for an alcoholic to practice moderate alcohol use, or is virtue complete abstention in that example? Do you think moderation is an “all or nothing” proposition? Reference Aristotle’s thought when replying. We read that young people attracted to gang life are seeking “respect.” Write an Aristotelian critique of this motivation. Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words). Reflection Paper 2 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Assess Plato’s theory of the Forms from Aristotle’s standpoint. Is Aristotle correct? Give good reasons for your answer. Discussion Board 3 Respond to one of the following questions: Does someone or something have to exist to be perfect? Why or why not? Why does Aquinas not accept Anselm’s ontological argument for God? A universal can be thought of as a definition of what makes something what it is. But what about particular examples that lack something included in the definition? Do universals exist? Explain and provide an example. Is the human will free? Why or why not? Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words). Reflection Paper 3 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Briefly summarize Aquinas’ argument from change, the first of his five ways. Apply one of d’Ailly’s objections to the argument. Do you agree with d’Ailly that human reason is limited regarding proofs of the existence of God? Explain your answer. Discussion Board 4 Respond to ONE of the following questions: Aristotle argues that nature is teleological, in other words, that it has a purpose. However, the “new science” presented by Galileo, Newton, and Hobbes argues that nature is non-purposive. Which view of nature do you agree with and why? If you were in a state of nature, a primitive condition without civil government, would you help people or use your powers to fulfill your desires even if it meant not helping others? Do you think most people would help each other or act from self-interest? Hobbes thinks that the terms “good” and “evil” are relative to the individual. When we use those terms, we mean that good things bring us pleasure and evil things bring us pain. Do you agree with Hobbes that good and evil are relative terms, or do you think there is an objective standard to which the terms refer? Explain your answer with an example. Berkeley thinks that “to be is to be perceived.” But, if you leave the room you’re in and go to another one, do the things in the room you were in still exist? How does Berkeley answer this question, and do you agree with him? Explain. Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words). Reflection Paper 4 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley each write about the human will. After researching those passages, briefly state whether each philosopher thinks the will is free or determined. In your opinion, who is correct? Explain your answer. Discussion Board 5 Respond to one of the following questions: Using the quotation from Immanuel Kant as a cue, explain the notion of enlightenment. In your opinion, is the Enlightenment happening in present-day society? Are people today enlightened? Explain your answer by giving an example. Hume claims that if you don’t acquire an impression of something by the senses, you can’t have an idea of it. Imagine a unicorn. You could say you’ve never seen a unicorn but still have an idea of it. How would Hume reply? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? Do you agree with Hume that moral causation is illusory? Why do think as you do? Explain. Hume suggests that thinking about God, even that God must exist in order to be perfect, does not prove that God exists. According to Hume, only experiencing God proves that God exists. Have you ever seen or felt God in your life? What would Hume say if you told him you had? Explain. Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words). Reflection Paper 5 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Describe what Hume means when he says that reason is the slave of the passions. Do you agree with Hume that passion—in other words, sentiment—motivates people to act morally and that reason is enslaved to those passions? Explain your answer. Discussion Board 6 Respond to one of the following questions: Kant thinks that human beings can know something, like mathematical truth, before experiencing it. Why does he think that? Give an example of what he means. Do you agree or disagree with him? Why? According to Kant, one knows something only as it appears to a human being, but the thing “in itself” lies beyond human consciousness. Is there something “behind” experience that we can’t know? Why or why not? If not, which alternative philosophical standpoint is preferable? Explain your answer. Kant states that only deeds done from duty apart from inclination have moral worth. The implication is that if one gives to charity because one feels sorry for the poor, one has not acted rationally—and therefore morally—from an understanding of one’s duty, but from inclination. Do you agree with Kant that moral deeds should not consider one’s feelings but only respect for the moral law? Why or why not? Explain your answer with an example. If you continually do your duty from respect from the moral law, you’ll be morally good. If you’re perfectly moral, you’ll be happy. But happiness won’t come in this lifetime because you won’t be perfectly moral in this lifetime. If striving for moral perfection isn’t to be in vain, it is rational to believe in God as the guarantor of happiness in a future life. Do you agree with this argument? Why or why not? Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words). Reflection Paper 6 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Kant thinks that everyone has a duty to act from respect for the moral law by obeying the supreme principle of morality. Kant thinks therefore that there is never a right to lie. If you agree with Kant, state why you think he is correct. If Kant is incorrect, give an example that shows that Kant’s position is absurd, in other words, that, in at least one instance, telling the truth would do more harm than good. Discussion Board 7 Respond to one of the following questions: Have you ever desired something that you should not though you thought it would make you happy? If you answer yes, give an example of something you have desired that you should not have. What standards are you appealing to when you say you shouldn’t? If you answer no, do you think it’s okay to desire anything that makes you happy, or do you avoid things you shouldn’t desire? If the latter, what standards do you appeal to when refraining from such desires? Explain. Consider the following hypothetical statement: “If something makes me happy, then it should make everyone happy.” Do you think anything is wrong with the statement? Explain your answer. Imagine that you have the authority to execute an innocent man and that doing so will prevent many more deaths. Now imagine that you kill the innocent man, and most people are happy as a result. Is executing the man unjust according to the utilitarian? Do you think it’s unjust? Explain your answer. John Stuart Mill, though male, advocates for women’s rights. Do you think that someone who will never be able to experience the suffering of another person is qualified to speak up for that person? Would it be better for a woman instead of a man to speak about the struggles women face? Explain your answer. Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words). . Reflection Paper 7 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Think of present-day Western culture: films, music, advertisement. Do you see progress in the attempt to end what Wollstonecraft calls “sexual virtues”? Do you think instead that things are as bad or worse than what Wollstonecraft describes, or do you think that Wollstonecraft is wrong to claim the existence of “sexual virtues” to begin with? Give examples to explain your answer. Discussion Board 8 Respond to one of the following questions: Nietzsche thinks that Greek tragedy helps us to understand our lives—even our setbacks, sufferings, and hardships—as works of art. Do you live your life as though it is a work of art? If you answer yes, give an example of how you do that. If no, what do you think Nietzsche would advise you to do to live your life as a work of art? Explain your answer. Apply Nietzsche’s ideas of the master morality and slave morality to present-day society. Who do you think is an example of the master morality? Of the slave morality? Explain your answer by referring to Nietzsche’s descriptions of the respective moralities. Nietzsche claims that “God is dead.” Do you agree or disagree with Nietzsche? Give evidence either that God is dead or that God is not dead. Alternatively, if you believe that God does not exist and therefore cannot have died, give reasons for why you think so. Reflect on the qualities Nietzsche praises in the overman: health, creativity, poesy, selfishness, and nobility of soul. Are there overmen in present-day society, or are the overmen to be found only in works of fiction? Give a living or fictive example, and defend your claim that that person or character is the overman. Note: This post should be substantial (containing at least 150-200 words)..Reflection Paper 8 Write a 1-page reflection of a minimum of 250 words (Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced). Decide on and write down a plan for how to justify your life by undertaking a meaningful project with others; support your plan by drawing from Simone de Beauvoir’s thought.
