Fall 2015 Proseminar Browsing Exercise

I found this article on Buddhist philosophy particularly interesting, particularly Sarvastividian Realism, and how it relates Anaxagoras'/ the Atomists' ideas of divisibility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_philosophy#Sarvastivadin_realism

Heres an interesting article discussing the possibility of pre-traumatic street, and whether or not mere anticipation of trauma is enough to cause serious damage. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/waiting-for-the-bomb-to-drop/#more-157677

A surprise appearance of the Socratic Elenchus reassures us that philosophy is alive and well! http://www.philosophynews.com/post/2012/06/08/The-Supreme-Court-and-Philosophy.aspx The audio is worth a listen as well: http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2011/2011_11_210 (Tof)

Another practical and fascinating use of philosophy. (Tof) https://www.ted.com/talks/damon_horowitz_philosophy_in_prison

I looked into the philosophy of competition and sportsmanship because I think some of the controversies that have emerged and the debates that follow can be a microcosm for myriad ethical issues in our world. The second article is an opinion on what the ideal coach (in this case football coach) should look like. It's interesting to actually break down athletics to a philosophical level because so many times we don't actually think about why sports are such a big deal to our culture. https://charactercounts.org/sports/Olympic/olympic-report-ethicssportsmanship2.htm http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/developing-a-successful-coaching-philosophy (Max)

Austin's Browsing

Sections 3.1 discussing music and emotions is really interesting. It's a bit long, but explores some interesting questions of why we can experience emotions from music and the theories surrounding this. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/music/#3.1

This shorter article discusses ghosts and while I didn't follow his name-dropping, the basic ideas are simple enough. While I don't believe in ghosts, I think this article was a fun and interesting read. http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2007/11/metaphysics-of-ghosts.html

hailey's browsing

https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_philosophy/v050/50.2.mori.html article about an anonymous letter sent to descartes on the meditations, author argues Hobbes was the penman.

a lot of my research is feminist oriented, but here's an interesting article about a feminist phenomenology http://feministkilljoys.com/2014/06/04/practical-phenomenology/

https://www.ualberta.ca/~lgotell/OB_Articles/masters.pdf Feminist Levinas applied to cyborg soldiers

http://www.egs.edu/faculty/donna-haraway/articles/donna-haraway-a-cyborg-manifesto/ harraway, cyborg manifesto, the mother of socialist feminism in the late twentieth century

http://benjaminthomasjones.com/?p=44 does simone debeauvoir still matter? idk, find out, read the blog.

relevant as college students, interesting claim about moral nihilism http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/why-our-children-dont-think-there-are-moral-facts/

then, i have to admit that i've had kind of a weird week in terms of browsing. I've been thinking a lot about cannibalism http://www.theawl.com/2011/03/cannibals-seeking-same-a-visit-to-the-online-world-of-flesh-eaters this article kind of dug the rabbit hole i fell into. but, this is where i arrived: http://phaenex.uwindsor.ca/ojs/leddy/index.php/phaenex/article/view/4094/3171

Matthew Pancoe's browsing

I am double major in math and philosophy, and while I don't often think about their relationship, people often ask how they fit together, because such a combination seems so foreign, so I did enjoy surfin' the web on this topic: http://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-mathematics

Beauty is something that has always interested me. Questions like, what makes something beautiful?, is there objective beauty?, why do people respond so strongly to it?, etc, fill my mind, I think because beauty has moved me in powerful ways throughout my life, either through art, literature, music, people, actions, nature. So it was interesting reading more about the philosophy of beauty and seeing the technical side of it: http://faculty.philosophy.umd.edu/jhbrown/beautyintro/

I am a Roman Catholic and love the Church in all of her teachings, especially concerning theology. I have, however, always been a little unclear about the relationship between philosophy and theology, namely, where one ends and the other begins. In my Christian Metaphysics class, our textbook has a quick session, which I only read within the last week, this too helps define the distinction: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/aquinas_on_the_relationship_of_philosophy_and_theology/

I like languages, speaking them, learning them, writing them, discovering a new world and culture, in doing so I've gained an appreciation for English, and often recognize my limitations with it, as far as expressing an idea is concerned, and what certain things imply. So: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Philosophy_of_language

I took History 112 from Dr. Cunningham last fall--blew my mind--fantastic course. I highly recommend it. He showed me that history just isn't dates and names of events and battles, but much more which really peaked my interest: http://www.iep.utm.edu/history/

Christopher McKinnon

CS Lewis provides a brilliantly non academic reason for the existence of evil in the world today. One of my all time favorites: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/437424-god-created-things-which-had-free-will-that-means-creatures

For six years of my life, on and off, I have found myself fascinated with the development of the human body towards what I believe to be an aesthetic ideal. This fascination has led me to follow professional bodybuilding and physique divisions in order to derive inspiration and direction in terms of what an aesthetic physique truly looks like. In the article that I read tonight, a philosopher defends what is often considered a taboo activity in society, that being the sport of professional bodybuilding. Often time the bodies that are developed to step on competition stage are overly muscled and thus many people simply write this development off on steroids and make the assumption that "anyone can do that with steroids." The article goes on to discuss how these people are viewed as "athletically anorexic," or in other words; they are simply going overboard with their pursuit of developing their physique to the point where they are equivocated to someone with extreme anorexia still trying to lose weight. The article goes on to discuss how in fact this sort of lifestyle represents a pursuit toward a perfect expression of an art piece, in which the body is each man's canvas, and his genetics coupled with his resources constitute his tools. The philosopher who wrote the article then goes on to describe the monk-like dedication often exhibited by these individuals, in their pursuit of building their "temple." I have often seen myself sharing his point of view when it comes to analyzing the physiques of bodybuilders. For example, I personally believe that Frank Zane has the most aesthetic physique of all time, a body that took over 25 years to develop. This being said, this pursuit of aestheticism draws interesting issues into the forefront of the art expression because the potential result one may accomplish in terms of aestheticism is largely determine by one's genetics. This being the case, it would seem that some people are more adapt to be able to succeed in this expression of physical beauty than others, a belief that Aristotle would agree with. http://www.broadstreetreview.com/cross-cultural/bodybuilders_and_the_rest_of_us

Michael Barbarossa's Browsing

Philosophy of Walker Percy

Recently, I have been interested in the philosophy of Walker Percy as articulated through his novels. I just finished reading "Love in the Ruins", which highlights the dislocation of man in the modern world and the efforts of the main character to heal the Cartesian split of body and mind (soul). Another theme he often treats is the "malaise" of modern man. This link is to an interested (albeit long) interview in "the Paris Review" conducted with Percy himself via letters. [1]

Here's another Percy article, this time from NPR on his book "Lost in the Cosmos." Although still fiction, this work contains a series of twenty questions and thought experiments which help the reader explore the concept of selfhood, abstraction, self-knowledge, etc. I would highly recommend the book itself. [2]

I also stumbled upon this other topic within Percy's body of work: his integration of the study of semiotics with the other themes in his novels. Especially in "Lost in the Cosmos," Percy delves into semiotics in relation to the self's abstraction and search for communion. The section from that book, entitled "A Short Semiotic Primer of the Self," is both fascinating and super confusing. Here are two articles: [3] [4]

Reconstruction of Desmond's Article on the Semiotics of Percy and Peirce (Link #3):

In his article “Walker Percy’s Search for Community,” John Desmond claims that Percy’s strength as a writer is his synthesis of Peirce’s semiotics with his Catholic faith and his focus on the possibilities of semiotic communication between humans and God. Desmond supports his claim with two inductive arguments. First, he identifies Percy’s use of the theosemiotic as evidence of his connection to Pierce. Percy rejected Cartesian thought as abstract and dyadic and instead embraced Pierce’s concept of thirdness: a triadic relationship between man, word, and God. Desmond also supports this claim with inductive evidence from Percy’s six novels, in which the conclusion is always a powerful affirmation of this theosemiotic vision. Each protagonist ultimately comes to recognize some real sign of God’s presence in human history and contemporary society. Also, each protagonist ends the novel having developed a critical relationship with another person, which can then be broadened to others. Desmond also supports his main claim with an inductive argument that Percy’s awareness of the tension between solitude and community in the human condition exhibits his synthesis of Peirce. His one premise for this argument is literary evidence from each of Percy’s six novels that shows the protagonist’s attempts to read the “asynchronic overlapping of signs from past, present, and anticipated future, and the flow of triadic interactions between these signs.” Overall, Desmond demonstrates inductively a strong synthesis of Peirce’s semiotic theories in Percy’s fiction work.

Philosophy of the Poetry of St. John Paul II

I have recently been focusing on an integration of my intellectual and spiritual life, and part of that task has involved prayerful reading and reflection on great figures in the Catholic tradition. In particular, I have recently immersed myself in the poetry of St. John Paul II and I have found it to be a deep blending of philosophy, theology, and art. Here is a link to an article from the Catholic journal "First Things" which provides a strong analysis of his collection "Roman Triptych." It particularly focuses on the epistemology presented in the poems. [5]

Concerning that same poem, here is an article from the website Catholic Culture that attempts to draw parallels between JPII's poetry and the then-current state of affairs in the world, especially the situation in the Middle East. [6]

Thomism, Phenomenology, and Personalism in St. John Paul II

Broadening my scope a bit, I found an interesting piece on the question of whether JPII should properly be identified as a Thomist or a Phenomenologist. [7] This second article discusses the relationship of Thomism and Personalism as articulated in his work. [8]

Philosophy of Greek Mythology and Other Related Questions

Pursuing a different interest of mine (I am also a Classics double-major), here are several interesting articles I found relating to the religion and myths of ancient Greece.

This article concerns the "ethics of belief," which it defines as a "cluster of questions at the intersection of epistemology, philosophy of mind, psychology, and ethics." The article is a bit lengthy, but even skimming it is interesting. [9]

Here's another random find from my search of the Stanford Encyclopedia for anything relating to mythology. It is actually about Transcendentalism, but it makes a few short references to certain figures' roots in Greek stories. [10]

Jonathan Snow

I really enjoyed this article by J.R.R Tolkien explaining his philosophy on stories and mythology. http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/fairystories-tolkien.pdf

Another good resource on the philosophy of stories is this article giving a broad overview of some of the more influential thought in the area. http://cafephilosophy.co.nz/articles/human-beings-are-inextricably-entangled-in-stories/

I have recently been reading Milan Kundera's book The Unbearable Lightness of Being to explore his ideas about Eternal Recurrence and Fate. I want to explore these ideas more in relation to Nietzsche's ideas on the same topics.

Article for reconstruction: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2184393?origin=crossref&seq=10#page_scan_tab_contents

Reconstruction of “The Eternal Recurrence” by Alexander Nehemas

Nietzsche’s ideas are not frequently called sensible; he “tears at the fabric of common sense.” Nietzsche himself insisted that his thought was unique, and in so doing gives justification for dismissal of his ideas, particularly the idea of eternal recurrence, which is the idea that all of existence is repeated in an identical manner over and over again infinitely. This cosmological hypothesis may not have actually be held by Nietzsche because he never provides a proof for it, but what matters is the question of whether eternal recurrence occurs or not, and the endless, meaningless unfolding of the universe that this theory supports. The idea of eternal recurrence only means to assert that if it is true, that all things—good or bad—occur again infinitely. This gives a weight to every moment in our lives. Nietzsche is not concerned with the truth of cosmological eternal recurrence, but with the internal attitude one must have to respond with joy if this hypothesis were true. We can either respond to this weight with joy, and live a fulfilled life, or be crushed under this weight. Nehemas offers an interpretation of recurrence: 1. Life will recur in an identical fashion. a. Response is utter resignation and indifference or indifferent joy in doomed effort. 2. Life may recur in an identical fashion a. Still, the response is utter indifference and resignation, either with joy or despair. 3. If life recurs, it will recur in an identical fashion. a. The response to this is metaphysical, because it asks why life recurs in the same way and not differently. i. This is because of Nietzsche’s belief that “the-thing-in-itself” does not make sense, because something is only itself in relation to other things. If these relationships are removed, the thing itself does not exist. ii. Therefore, if life recurs, it will recur in an identical fashion because the recurrence of life implies the recurrence of the relationships between all things in that life. “A different life would constitute a different person.” 4. Therefore, the only responses to the question of eternal recurrence is total exhilaration or total despair. The only way to respond with exhilaration is to live a life that is worth living again for all eternity, and so act as the Ubermensch. All events in our past are prerequisite to who we are today, and as such, if we can even for a moment be a person we would want to be again, we can justify the past as requisite for being who we want to be, and thus reconcile the past moments that we wouldn’t want to live again. In creating a present we would want to live again, we justify the past moments that we wouldn’t want to live again. Therefore, the significance of the past remains an open question.

Kyle Poje's Browsing

Aristotle and John Paul II on the Family and Society: A Reply to John Hittinger - Walter J. Thompson http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9590aa82-e54d-41e3-aff3-18adc7450f37%40sessionmgr4003&vid=35&hid=4209 The Theology of the Body by JP2 is the most wonderful topic in the world

Toward an Aesthetics, Ethics, and Pedagogy of Wonder -Laura-Lee Kearns https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_journal_of_aesthetic_education/v049/49.1.kearns.html This topic intrigues me, especially lately as we have brought up the reality of attraction being essential to education in my Ancients class with Socrates teaching method. Wonder and attraction are interchangeable to me.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201412/study-wonder

http://theconversation.com/love-wisdom-and-wonder-three-reasons-to-celebrate-philosophy-34477

http://canononline.org/archives/fall-201/on-wonder/

These three short articles have expanded my view on what Philosophy is by the fact that Philosophy begins with Wonder, as Aristotle famously says. It is the starting point that naturally catapults us into philosophizing.

Reconstruction of “Why You Don’t Really Have Free Will” by Jerry Coyne http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-01-01/free-will-science-religion/52317624/1

In his article “Why You Don’t Really Have Free Will”, Jerry Coyne asserts that humans do not have free will. He defines free will as “When faced with two or more alternatives, it’s [our] ability to freely and consciously choose one, either on the spot or after some deliberation”. Coyne uses two lines of evidence to support his claim. The first is that we are biological creatures that are made up of molecules that must obey the laws of physics, the same laws that determine the behavior of every molecule in the universe. Because these molecules make up our brains (the organ that does the “choosing”) everything we think, say, or do, must come down to molecules and physics. His second line of evidence is from recent experiments that show a person making a decision that can be predicted (using crude imaging techniques based on blood flow) by brain activity seven seconds before the subject is aware of having made the decision. He states that these decisions are really unconscious. With these experiments proving the reality of unconscious decisions and some of these decisions even being determined before a person has made them, Coyne concludes that there is no free will. Coyne addresses where the illusion of choice comes from by turning to evolution. He concludes that the illusion of choice is a product of natural selection perhaps because if people didn’t feel responsible for their actions, our ancestors wouldn’t thrive in harmonious groups, “the conditions under which we evolved”.