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September 6, 2011

Readings by Hadot, Wiredu, de Botton, Dillard, and Golding

(I'll post some questions here to prompt some of you, but don't limit yourself to these in considering responses and postings. - Alfino)

Hadot

1. Identify some of Hadot's main theses in "Spiritual Exercises"?

2. What questions do you have about Stoicism and Epicureanism in light of this reading?

Favorite quote: When Antisthenes was asked what profit he had derived from philosophy, he replied: "The ability to converse with myself." 91

3. What is dialectic? 92

4. How was Christianity able to present itself as a philosophy, according to Hadot? What is the other possibility?

Laura Fitzgibbon Stoicism vs. Epicureanism

Epicureanism: belief that pleasure is the ultimate good, but virtue is necessary to help us differentiate higher from lower pleasures. Techniques of doing so is meditation and "detach our thought from the vision of painful things, and fix our eyes on pleasurable ones. We are to relive memories of past pleasures, and enjoy the pleasures of the present" (Haidt 88). Epicureanists theological values are not atheist but rather feel that if there are gods they do not concern themselves with the affairs of man. "Gods have no effect on the profess of the world and that death, being complete dissolution, is not part of life" (Haidt 87).

Stoicism: belief that virtue is the ultimate good. A virtuous life is a happy life. Felt philosophy was an exercise and was an art of living. Must attain self-consciousness. Stoics achieved virtue by spiritual exercises such as attention (being fully aware in each instant and wills actions fully). "Practice negative visualization (praemeditatio malorun) we are to represent to ourselves poverty, suffering, and death...they can help us accept such event, which are, after all, part of the course of nature" (Haidt 85). In order to meditate must read, listen, research, and investigate. "We pass beyond the limits of individuality, to recognize ourselves as a part of the reason-animated cosmos" (Haidt 86). To train soul must stretch itself tight. Their theology is pantheism (god in all nature); metaphysics is the belief in rationality of universe.

September 6, 2011

A contemporary utilitarian on our international obligations, a recent argument for rethinking aid, and, is there a universal moral sense?

Moyo, Dambisa. "Chapter 3: Aid Is Not Working." Dead Aid. Dambisa Moyo. New York: Farrar, Straus and Griroux, 2009.
---. "Chapter 4: The Silent Killer of Growth." Dead Aid. Dambisa Moyo. New York: Farrar, Straus and Griroux, 2009.
Singer, Peter. "Chapter 1: A Changing World." One World. Peter Singer. Australia: Yale University Press, 2002.
---. "Chapter 5: One Community." One World. Peter Singer. Australia: Yale University Press, 2002.
---. "Is There a Universal Moral Sense?" Critical Review (1995): 325-39.

Student Posts

Sparky Garcia - Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion

So, I have actually read one of Paul Collier's other books, The Bottom Billion. Since he was quoted extensively in this week's reading I thought I might post a "book report" of sorts that I have pieced together from what I read in the packet and what I had previously written on this book.

Paul Collier’s book, The Bottom Billion describes the plight of the billion poorest people on earth. The fate is not sealed for these fifty-eight countries, but we must act now to rehabilitate these clearly stagnant nations. Collier outlines four main traps that these countries have fallen into and proposes four corresponding instruments for these traps. The book both promises hope for the future if something is done, and despair if nothing changes.

In essence, The Bottom Billion is long problem-solution essay, with the problems defined as traps and the solutions as instruments. Collier outlines the four traps, has a brief intermission to talk about globalization, talks about the instruments then ends with a call to action. The traps include the conflict trap (elaborated on in our second packet essay), the natural resources trap, the landlocked with bad neighbors trap, and the bad governance trap. The instruments are aid, military intervention, laws and charters, and trade. Collier’s discussion on globalization makes an argument both for and against its helpfulness to the bottom billion but ultimately decides not to include it as an instrument.

Early in the book, Collier states that more aid is not the answer to the problems of the bottom billion. In fact, he calls developmental aid, “the headless heart.” He essentially argues that for aid, which was the subject of our first packet essay, that more than more giving is more effective giving. He outlines processes that could be taken to rehabilitate aid so that the money given is put to good use. His argument, then, is not for more aid but for better administration and distribution of aid.

One interesting aspect of this book is that Collier refuses to provide a list of the 58 countries that make up the bottom billion. His reason for not presenting the reader with the list is out of consideration for the countries. He argues that when a country is damned to be on a list of the poorest countries, it tends to live up to that prophecy instead of rise above it.

The final chapter is definitely worth reading for anyone in class who has an interest in developmental economics. It would be an effective essay almost all on its own, if not for the assumption that the reader has read the one hundred and seventy pages preceding it.It precisely outlines his argument, including the traps and instruments clearly and what needs to be done. Despite some vague descriptions earlier in the book, or maybe because of them, Collier is incredibly specific during this final chapter. He briefly outlines the traps, states how countries can escape the traps using one or more instruments, then talks about how to and who can implement these solutions. And even what ordinary people can do, which is slightly disappointing but realistic. Once all the evidence has been presented, the arguments have been made, and it is all brought together masterfully; which makes the final call for action seem pressing and hopeful.

Hope that was helpful!!

Elle Ossello - NATGEO: "Population 7 Billion"

Although I realize that this will inevitably be a controversial point I wish to raise (Thank you, "Social Dynamics of Philosophical Reflection"), I think that the more I have read into our reading for the week, the more I think that the key to managing the exponential growth of our population is a shift in consciousness and new management our self-awareness. While, obviously there is no way to regulate or institutionalize any of this, I think that a change in the way we view child-bearing and raising a family would be invaluable to our ever-growing global population.

Here is a link to an article from the January 2011 issue of National Geographic entitled: Population 7 Billion. Throughout this article, the author frequently mentions "replacement fertility" as more and more people around the world are viewing child bearing as a way of replacing themselves rather than child bearing as a status symbol or as a way to increase an individual family's economic stability. I think that while it is key for people living in developing countries to be educated on birth control, it is also of equal importance to help families change the ways in which they view childbearing.

It is becoming more and more important, in my opinion that there be a shift in consciousness in our own country as well. While many of us grew up with big, loud families and the American Dream leaves us fantasizing about having a bunch of little ones of our own running around in 10 years, we can't ignore the ever pressing problems of population growth in this country and what it would mean for every couple (or even a good portion of couples) that arises from our generation to embody something other than a mindset of 'replacement fertility.'

Like I said, there would be no way to properly regulate this and I think that it would be a terrible idea on almost all fronts to get the government involved, so I propose that the most effective way to raise awareness of this idea and to help our generation shift our self-awareness would be to create independent and private campaigns to travel to colleges around the country. While there would undoubtedly be much opposition to the suggestion that people re-think the American Dream, one of the biggest generations that this country has ever seen needs to have a really good idea of the road that we could possibly be headed down if every one of us graduates, buys a house and fills it with 3.24 children [1].

Some interesting quotations pulled from the article:

"The bad news is that 2030 is two decades away and that the largest generation of adolescents in history will then be entering their childbearing years. Even if each of those women has only two children, population will coast upward under its own momentum for another quarter century."

"In 1952, just five years after it gained independence from Britain, India became the first country to establish a policy for population control."

"The Indian government tried once before to push vasectomies, in the 1970s, when anxiety about the population bomb was at its height. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay used state-of-emergency powers to force a dramatic increase in sterilizations. From 1976 to 1977 the number of operations tripled, to more than eight million. Over six million of those were vasectomies. Family planning workers were pressured to meet quotas; in a few states, sterilization became a condition for receiving new housing or other government benefits. In some cases the police simply rounded up poor people and hauled them to sterilization camps."

"The excesses gave the whole concept of family planning a bad name. “Successive governments refused to touch the subject,” says Shailaja Chandra, former head of the National Population Stabilisation Fund (NPSF). Yet fertility in India has dropped anyway, though not as fast as in China, where it was nose-diving even before the draconian one-child policy took effect. The national average in India is now 2.6 children per woman...The southern half of the country and a few states in the northern half are already at replacement fertility or below."

Let me know what you all think!

MacGregor Hodgson 9/12/11- Peter Singer on Euthanasia

I read quite a bit of Singer in my ethics course and enjoyed picking up on his work in this week’s literature. Specifically in his excerpt “Rich and Poor”, Singer offers some elaborative and thought-provoking ideas that deal with extremely complicated ethical dilemmas such as our responsibilities towards others. But this chapter isn’t necessarily what I’m posting about. Singer alluded to a previous discussion of euthanasia that immediately caught my attention as some additional reading I wanted to pursue. Especially in the context of Singer’s discussion on “The Obligation to Assist”, euthanasia is a nice topic branch that I want to elaborate a little more precisely on. I found his Chapter 7 from Practical Ethics and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Before I get into my response of his chapter, I will briefly describe what the article has to offer to our class:

For any student interested in a health care related profession, this chapter is an interesting look at the relationship of obligations between a physician, his/her patient, and anyone else involved.
A descriptive background differentiating between three different types of euthanasia. If you aren’t too familiar with euthanasia, Singer summarizes it clearly and provides some very, very interesting situations involving euthanasia.
Well-defended arguments in support and against different types of euthanasia.
Discussion of the fundamental differences and qualities of a being that is self-conscious versus a being that is merely conscious.
In-depth discussion of infant-related euthanasia.
Euthanasia as a first step down a slippery slope that ends in genocide.

Anyways, another reason why I particularly chose this chapter was because of the fundamental ethical issues euthanasia raises. As rational, self-conscious beings we have the capacity to acknowledge our existence and at the same time acknowledge that we have the power to end it. When faced with the situation of incurable and extremely painful medical conditions, I ask myself how aught am I supposed to make sense of such a terrible but real dilemma? In response to this, one can’t help but fall into a somewhat depressing investigation of the rightness and wrongness of taking away one’s life.

With this being said, I want to specifically respond to Singer’s section “Justifying Voluntary Euthanasia”, particularly the part on autonomy. This section was of great interest to me mostly in part of my grandfather’s recent passing. His terminal illness ended in his refusal of life support and as an aspiring philosophy student I was/still am faced with some hard questions that Singer addresses. I find his most convincing justification of voluntary euthanasia to be the respect for autonomy. As Singer describes, “if rational agents should autonomously choose to die, then respect for autonomy will lead us to assist them to do as they choose” (Singer, Ch.7). What this statement tells me is that the respect for autonomy allows rational agents to live their own lives according to their own autonomous decisions and in this regard I must assist them in doing so. As I was informed of my grandfather’s refusal of life support, the question of how to understand the correctness of his decision wasn’t mine to ponder. Instead, I found myself fulfilling the role as “one who assists” by respecting my grandfather’s right to make his own uninterrupted decisions. With this, if all else fails I find that the respect for autonomy is an appropriate ethical idea to use in making sense of tough euthanasia-related situations. It brings up the value of human existence as an individual, but also contrasts it on a plurality level.

The respect for autonomy is an interesting look at addressing voluntary euthanasia. I invite any other classmates to respond to this chapter because indeed death is something we all know for certain will happen. Building from this knowledge is the interesting case in which one’s desire to exist is surpassed by one’s desire to not exist.

Ben Ferguson - Aid Is Not Working

Sparky mentioned above Paul Collier's, The Bottom Billion. and seeing as I too have read it, I think it is incredibly relevant to the first few articles in our week's packet of reading and I think it addresses many of the problems with '3rd World Countries' and the need or lack of need to give them foreign aid. In the first few paragraphs of "Aid Is Not Working" it mentions that geographical determinists believe a countries wealth and success are reliant on having a good geo and topographical environment. To some extent this is true; if your country doesn't have any initial resources, it is hard to get the metaphorical 'ball rolling' in terms of economy. On the other hand, it is also one of Collier's many traps that developing or underdeveloped countries can fall into.

The first reason the natural resources end up harming the country is that the country itself will have all the money it needs, meaning there will be almost no reason to tax it's citizens at the start making the government financially independent; which in turn makes the citizens less likely to look into government spending. This is a perfect breeding ground for corruption in which fascist government leaders pocket the countries wealth instead of giving it back to their country (Egypt and Mubarak anyone? After 3 decades of ruling Egypt it was found, after he was ousted, that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family had somewhere between $30 and $70 Billion dollars).

In addition, natural resources generally lead to increased foreign interest which leads to more conflict instead of economic prosperity. Colonization took place in many of the current 'bottom billion' countries in which the colonizing country reaped and extracted all the valuable resources the country had, and when finally overthrown and independence is attained for the host country, they find their natural resources stripped and gone, which compounds on their already discombobulated population that is putting temporary rulers into place.

The last reason having an abundance of natural resources is bad for developing countries is what is referred to as 'Dutch Disease' which occurs when a countries economy relies so heavily on one industry (say, the extraction of diamonds or oil) that all other industries become less competitive, which, due to the revenue inflation because of the one resource, makes the currency lose its value.

This trap is incredibly important, and it is easy to see how this trap could easily lead to others such as bad governance when someone gains control of the country through militaristic means and pockets the majority of the countries money. Collier agrees that giving countries money does nothing but suck the bottom billion further into chaos. The money isn't used how it is supposed to, is often given as loans which have rules and regulations on how it is to be used, and eventually leads to so much debt from interest the country has no chance to pay it back. Aid can be spent by the government on rigging elections and increasing their military arms so that there is no way for them to be ousted by revolutionaries or natives who want their country back.

The issue of bringing the standard of living to a universal level for all humans is one that will plague our generation for years to come. You can't take control and do it for the nor can you give them the resources to do it themselves because bad governance squanders it.

Ted Pinkerton 9/12/2011-----

http://www.nysun.com/arts/putting-practice-into-ethics/69595/ This is a link to short article that I thought gave a little more insight into why Singer thinks the way he does about ethics. He talks more about the difference between feeling something to be right and something actually being right. I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right section or not but alas, the deed is done.

Laura Fitzgibbon Aid is Not Working

I found this article extremely interesting because I took a political science class last semester that was determined on helping decrease poverty and promoting female equality. While this article focused primarily on African countries many of the ideas are applicable to all third world countries. In this article, the author described three types of economies: Resource-poor/landlocked, resource-rich, resource-poor/coastline. I can completely understand why those who are resource-poor and landlocked are the worst off economically because trade is difficult and they have nothing to export or import. In Pakistan they were unfortunately both of these things and the only thing they really had to trade was opium thus making drug-use prevalent. I agree with the author's main idea that the only way to help a country is to cut off aid at a certain point in order to make the country's leaders create programs that can actually help the people sustain their own economic well being. An analogy i found particularly effective in portraying this idea was on page 44 where a mosquito net maker in Africa makes nets and employs ten people who provide for about 150 dependents total. A local celebrity gives away 100,000 nets and as a result these African employees no longer have jobs and their dependents are unable to survive economically. I think the main reason why aid does not work is because it does not motivate leaders to initiate programs that can help the microeconomics of the country. The key is to building up a country is through education; it can solve problems such as lack of exports, can decrease the population (most women who are educated drop their child rate from 6 to 2.5), and can create an army of skilled workers. In my politics class we learned that by educating females in Pakistan their educated community changed from 250,000 to about 6 million, and it helped reduce population. Overall i found the reading extremely interesting but i do agree that to a certain extent aid stops helping and starts hurting if nations become passive in helping themselves.

2011 Fall Proseminar Class Notes A

Contents

September 6, 2011

Hadot

Laura Fitzgibbon Stoicism vs. Epicureanism

September 6, 2011

Suggested posts

Student Posts

Sparky Garcia - Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion

Elle Ossello - NATGEO: "Population 7 Billion"

MacGregor Hodgson 9/12/11- Peter Singer on Euthanasia

Ben Ferguson - Aid Is Not Working

Laura Fitzgibbon Aid is Not Working

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