2010 Fall Proseminar Class Notes

Return to Philosophy Proseminar

August 31, 2010

Introductory Class:

• Student Introductions: Prompt:
• General awareness and curiosities about history of philosophy (pitch for timelines)
• Philosophy Problem 101
• What If . . . Searle's Brain Replacement

Student Interests (in no particular order):

• Eastern Philosophies -- Daoism
• Postmodernism
• Applied Ethics / Env. Ethics / Business Ethics
• Political Philosophy
• Descartes / Scientific Revolution
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy NOW
• Aesthetics
• Philosophy/Econ - Game Theory
• Lonergan
• Analytic
• Feminism
• Existtentialism
• Kant

September 7

Investigating Philosophy as a Discipline

Question for investigating Philosophy as a discipline

1. What is philosophy?
2. What are the major fields of Philosophy? See this wiki list.
3. What are some basic concepts, issues, and methods of each? Browse.
4. What are the major temporal epochs of Western philosophy?
5. Is philosophy a global phenomenon? What is comparative philosophy? How do you identify philosophy in other cultures? (See course unit)
6. What is the difference between continental and analytic philoosphy? (Course unit)
7. What are: existentialism, postmodernism, positivism, romanticism, enlightenment philosophy, scientific revolution, renaissance, neo-platonism, scholasticism, game theory, cognitive science, moral psychology, ...
8. How does philosophy relate to literature and religion?
9. What are contemporary philosophers saying about art & politics?
10. Why did language become so important in 20th century philosophy?

Major Sub-fields

• See this wiki list of major fields in Philosophy.

Discussion of Hadot, "Spiritual Exercises"

"Spiritual exercises can be best observed in the context of Hellenistic and Roman schools of philosophy. The Stoics, for instance, declared explicitly that philosophy, for them, was an "exercise."n In their view, philosophy did not consist in teaching an abstract theory - much less in the exegesis of texts'n, out rather in the art of living.n It is a concrete attitude and determinate life-Style, which engages the whole of existence. The philosophical act is not situated merely on the cognitive level, but on that of the self and of being. It is a progress which causes us to be more fully, and makes us better.'n It is a conversion'n which turns our entire life upside down, changing the life of the person who goes through it.n It raises the individual from an inauthentic condition of life, darkened by unconsciousness and harassed by worry, to an authentic state of life, in which he attains self-consciousness, an exact vision of the world, inner peace, and freedom." 82

86: "For the Stoic, then, doing philosophy meant practicing how to "live": thatis, how to live freely and consciously. Consciously, in that we pass beyond thelimits of individuality, to recognize ourselves as a part of the reason-animatedcosmos. Freely, in that we give up desiring that which does not depend on usand is beyond our control, so as to attach ourselves only to what depends onus: actions which are just and in conformity with reason."

• Philosophers as therapists / Philosophy as therapeutic.

• In Epicurean thought -- the tetrapharmakos; also in Phaedrus.

88: "For the Epicureans, in the last analysis, pleasure is a spiritual exercise. Notpleasure in the form of mere sensual gratification, but the intellectual pleasurederived from contemplating nature, the thought of pleasures past and present,and lastly the pleasure of friendship. "

• Prosoche -- attention.

• Learning to Die -- It's role in defining philosophy.

• Plotinus - sculpting your statue.

Begin Review of Theory of Argument and Explanation

We'll work from the following three documents for this line of instruction:

• Philosophy Proseminar Instructional Notes on Method

• General List of Philosophical Methods

• Philosophical Methods for Philosophy Majors

Discussion of Haidt, "The Divided Self"

- If one wants to understand consciousness, does one have to understand the brain? Yes or No: choose a position

No - Traditional philosophical Dualism (Platonic, Cartesian, etc.); Ideas are incorporeal

Yes - Phil of Mind: consciousness is an illusion. Premise: the brain is a necessary condition of consciousness. Consciousness is related to physical environment.

- Bodies/Persons - Vocabularies for talking about bodies and persons: divided; consciousness seems to be on the 'person' side

- Epiphenomenon! too complicated to explain... (Sorry about that. Could someone post/report next week on epiphenomenalism next week? It would have been a huge digression at this point, and I don't think I'd have done a precise enough job of it. (Alfino)

- Consciousness seems subjective

Four Areas of Separation: (uncontroversial) Good Places to start understanding the Human Mind

Mind/Body: Plato's Emo Horse/Reason Horse vs. Rider on an Elephant. Embedded consciousness - thinking with the whole body.

Left/Right: confabulation. is reason happening in language? or does our ability to think well depend on the physiology of our brain? unsure of the logic center in the brain. Philosophers' traditional picture of thinking as an isolated activity called into question.

Old/New: Old Brain - parts in the middle. New Brain grew around the Old Brain. Reason is a recent addition to the brain (new brain).

Controlled/Automatic: huge area of research - Daniel Gilbert's "Stumbling onto Happiness". Philosophers have had too much faith in our ability to control thoughts. We have been unaware of how controlled we are by physiological factors.

- Philosophy has to be informed by what we know.

Nice notes! Thanks (Alfino)

== How much attention should Philosophers pay to Science? ==

September 14

Topics to browse and possibly report back on for this week: the field of genetic engineering, transhumanism, torts, the field of Philosophy of Law. Additional scholarship on Hart & Honore's view. Research on HLA Hart.