Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
fasfasf
Citation preview
1
Sculptor: Neil Dawson "Horizons"
What is philosophy?
2
What is philosophy?
How are we going to answer this question?
3
What is philosophy?
How are we going to answer this question?
1. Reading samples of philosophical texts
2. Contrasting philosophy with other areas
3. Doing philosophy
4
380BC 1077 1274 1641 1955 1970 2008 Aristotle 384 BC
Hume 1776
Kant 1785
Clifford 1877 Dennett 1978
Some of the works we’ll read
5
Level of difficulty of the readings
Rachels [long]
Descartes [short but difficult]
Clifford [a bit long]
Dennett [fun short story]
Churchland [a bit long]
Flew & Mitchell [short, but a bit difficult]
Nussbaum [long]
6
This week
General goals and methods of philosophy
Why study philosophy?
Course requirements
7
History of Western Philosophy
Ancient (6th BC – 5th AC)
Medieval (5th - 14th Century)
Modern (16th–today?)
8
Things that have changed throughout the history of philosophy
9
Things that have changed throughout the history of philosophy
Objects studied Methods used Relations among different disciplines Priority of some questions
10
Philosophical tasks that will always be important
11
Philosophical tasks that will always be important
Analyzing important concepts Examining basic assumptions Evaluating sources of beliefs Understanding questions about values Exploring connections among different
areas of research
12
Conceptual analysis
13
Conceptual analysis
Basic goal Clarify our concepts by defining them in
terms of simpler components
14
Importance of Conceptual Analysis
Before debating We need to clarify the terms used in a
debate
15
Importance of Conceptual Analysis
Decision-making Important decisions depend on how we
define our concepts Examples: Happiness, freedom, love,
justice, democracy, knowledge, evidence
16
Questions for later
What are concepts? What is to analyze them? What tools can we use to analyze them?
17
Examining our beliefs and sources
18
Examining our beliefs and sources
Basic questions Do I have good arguments and enough
evidence for my basic beliefs? Is my belief system coherent?
19
Questions for later
Why examine our beliefs? How far should we go?
How can we begin to examine our beliefs? What is knowledge, opinion, evidence?
20
Questions about values
21
Questions about values
Not the same thing: Describing Explaining Evaluating
22
Questions about values
Example: What happened? How did it happen? Is what happened right?
23
Example: What kind of education do students get in different countries? What kind of education is more efficient, valuable, etc?
24
Terms related to values
Normative Related to values and evaluations
Normative statement An evaluation according to some standard
25
Normative terms
Examples Ethical vs. unethical Rational vs. irrational Efficient vs. inefficient Artistically valuable vs. no artistic value
26
Questions for later
Are all evaluations just a matter of opinion?
What makes ethical statements true or false?
27
Connections among different areas
28
Connections among different areas
Beyond a particular problem Implications of a result outside its
discipline
29
Connections among different areas
Examples Technology and ethics Neuroscience and personal identity Biology and politics
30
Consistency between belief-systems
Example Are the teachings of religion X compatible
with science? Are my political beliefs compatible with the
findings of psychology and sociology?
31
Areas of philosophy today
32
Theoretical philosophy
Epistemology: What is knowledge? How do we know?
Ontology: What kinds of things exist (e.g., minds, numbers, gods)?
Philosophy of mathematics, science, mind, language, etc.
33
Practical philosophy
Ethics Political philosophy Philosophy of religion, art, law, technology,
etc.
34
Recap
Philosophical tasksAnalyzing important conceptsExamining basic assumptions Evaluating sources of beliefsUnderstanding questions about valuesExploring connections among different areas of research
