Leibniz: On O3 God

Objection and Argument

Objection:  If there is an O3 god why is there so much evil in the world?

Is there evil in god?

Argument:  The evil in the world is necessary for the greater good.

There is more good then evil in God's world.

John Perry's Dialogue

Beliefs of:

1) Miller

2) Weirob

3)  Cohen

1) Christian

2) Atheist

3) A Student

-The most basic parts of all things

-they cannot be explained

-Something is the sum of its parts

Therefore, nothing can be known that is made of primary elements

Descartes

Meditation I: Doubt

-if one belief is false, others may be false as well

-foundation knowledge: all the things you can't doubt

-Are senses/dreams reliable?

-Existence of demons?

Descartes

Meditation II: The Nature of the Human Mind

-I think, therefore I am

-Also called cognito

-solipsism (only my mind exists)

-"God created me because I have a concept of God"

Grau

Dream Skepticism

Opposed it with the language argument:

Brains in vats cannot say "I am a brain in a vat"

Does it matter if we are in a machine?

-intrinsic value of actions in life

-obligations to others?

-no free will/deceptive

David Hume

Two Kinds of Human Reason

1) Relations of Ideas

David Hume

Two Kinds of Human Reasons

Matters of Fact

everything else we know besides knowledge

-however nature is not uniform

-therefore inference or induction is flawed

-Custom of habit - though irrational the guide to human life, there is no better alternative

-Resemblance, Continuity, and Causation

Blaise Pascal

The Wager

W.C. Salmon

The Problem of Induction

Applies Pascal's wager to Hume's agrument asking which is better?

If we cannot trust induction, is science as much about belief as religion

Philosophy of Mind

Rene Descartes

Meditation II & VI: My mind is real, doubt the physical world

-My body is a part of the magical world

-my body may not be real

-mind and body must be seperate

-CARTESIAN DUALISM

-How are mind and body related?

David M. Armstrong

The Nature of Mind

-physicalist or materialist

-mind is physio-chemical

-emotions are brainstates

J.B. Watson

Behaviorism

-physical behavior is controlled by brain state

-why do people react differently?

Armstrong

"The Nature of the Mind"

Brainstates and behavior are linked dispositions, like the brittleness of glass

-Third vs. First person perception

-Sense perception + Sense behavior

-Selective perception of one's mind

-E.g. Driving on the highway

"The Nature of the Mind"

A.M. Turing

"Computer Machinery and Intelligence"

-Can machine's think?

-the imitation game

-"Machines arent concious" but "How do you know?"(solipsism)

-learning like a child

John R. Searle

"Minds, Brains and Programs"

-understnading narratives is important

-The Chinese Room

-machines can fake human behavior

-Do brains and machines function the same way?

Thomas Nagel

"What its like to be a bat?"

-it feels like a certain thing to be something

-man cannot comprehend what it is like

-solipsism

-subjective phenomenon connected to point of view

-difference between humans as bats and bats as bats

Important: Supports dualism and Robot rights

Peter Van Inwagen

The Power of Rational Beings

"The Mystery of Free Will and Determinism"

Determinism: only one future, pre-determined

Indeterminism:  alternative futures based on choice

Free will is not compatible with determinism

"The No Choice Principle"

Richard Taylor

Freedom and Determinism

Richard Taylor

Soft determinism

1) Human behavior determined

2) I am not constrained

3) Obstacles absent = responsibility

Nothing is caused

Objection: How can nothing have cause?

Roderick M. Chisholm

Human Freedom + the Self

-agent-causation is not compatible with determinism

-indeterminism and determinism

-Nature of god implies determinism

-"would have done otherwise" vs. "could have"

-moral responsibility is not equal to sufficient and efficient causes

Harry G. Frankfurt

Alternative Possibilities & Moral Responsibility

Principle of Alternative Possibility

The Jones Example

-Whether Jones decides to commit the crime or not, Black will make him

-However, if Jones would have committed the crime he is morally responsible, but if he would not have he wouldnt have been morally responsible.

Harry G. Frankfurt

Freedom of the Will + The Concept of a Person

Persons may have second order volitions

Wantons only have first order volitions

Free will: -persons may not have free will if their second order volitions conflict with their actions

-wantons lack second order volitions, thus lack the ability to have freedom of will

-the view is compatible with determinism

The Problem of Personal Identity

John Perry Dialogue

3 Criterion

1) Soul

2) Body

3) Memory

John perry Dialogue

Qualitative Identity Exa mple

John Perry Dialogue

Numerical Identity Example

Bernard Williams

"The Self + The Future"

Do you choose mind and body?

Williams supports the Body Criterion

-claims that his experiment shows that no matter what happenes to the mind, the body is more connected to the person

Derek Parfit

Personal Identity I+II

The Nature of Identity and its importance

If you replace all the parts in the tractor is it the same tractor --> says its a stupid question

-The idea that identity = survival is self-interested

Derek Parfit

The Wiggin's Case

fission: do I survive if split into two people?

If half of me survives a car crash and I live

But if I am split to I live as two people?

No, but do I survive? Yes

-preservation of identity is not necessary for survival

-Identity is one-one relation

-Claims survival is "relation of degrees"

Derek Parfit

Criterion Support

Supports the Memory Criterion

-Can only be one to one

-Says it must be the Memory criterion because of psychological continuity

-fusion is an example of why survival happens to a degree

-psychological connectedness vs. psychological continuitiy

Moral Objectivity & The Meaning of Life

J.L. Mackie

The Subjectivity of Values

No Objective Values

Moral Skepticism

First order: rejects moral standard

Second order: negative doctrine

Moral Subjectivism

First order: "everyone out to do what they think is right"

Second order: no objective moral values

*Values can be objective relative to their standards, but standards are not objective

value statements are neither true nor false

Objection: what about widespread agreement on morals?

Mackie

The Argument from Relativity

-Diversity of moral code = no way to say what is correct

-Morality is custom

Objection: Diversity of scientific theories?

Mackie

The Argument of Queerness

Mackie

The Argument of Queerness

Queer 1: Epistemology

People feel that things are right or wrong, but how?

Not by senses, so how?

Objection:  How do we know mathematics are correct?

Mackie

The Argument of Queerness

Queer 2: Metaphysics

How can moral properties be affected by physical properties?

What are moral properties?

Intrinsic = queer

Mackie

The Argument of Queerness

Conclusion

We shouldn't say there is wrongness and rightness, only that we react to things with these feelings.

Gilbert Harman

Ethics and Observation

Argument from Inference to the Best Explanation

Can moral questions be tested?

moral intuitions

car accident vs. body harvesting

Harman's argument

1) Best observation of moral observation does not appeal to moral facts.

2) We should believe best explanation of phenomenon

C) We should not believe in moral facts.

The Best Explanation:  an explanation does not merely describe an event, but is a unified, coherent account

coherent/simpler explanation = the best explanation

Harman

Observation

Harman

Moral Observation

Scientific observation vs. Moral observation

an observation of a certain sort

Scientific (what is observed in the external world must be true) vs. Moral (the assertion does not need to be true; reflects personal theory, based on upbringing)

Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus

Richard Taylor

The Meaning of Human Experience

"the image of meaninglessness"

A meaningful life is truly noble/good purpose creative but are we hard wired to feel good about this?

Is it really different?

Susan Wolf

The Meaning of Lives

-A meaningful life must be actively engaged in activities that *strive toward positive value and are successful

-A meaningful life is not necessarily equal to happiness/morality

-Can we have meaning without God? It is good to want a meaningful life, otherwise an individual is behaving like like they only matter