Philosophy Club's first meeting

For all the details: here.

Is there free will?

The principle of free will has religious, ethical, and scientific implications. For example, in the religious realm, free will implies that God does not assert its power over each one of our choices. In ethics, it holds implications whether persons can be held morally accountable for their actions. The question of free will has been a central issue since the beginning of philosophical thought.

The basic philosophical positions on the problem of free will can be divided into two questions:

1. Is determinism true?
2. Does free will exist?

(Keep reading here)

T, 5:40pm

TR, 11:15am

MWF, 11am

MWF, 10am

MWF, 9am

MWF, 8am

Geniuses

Meet the 2010 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Award Winners.

Philosophy of Mind, part 2

We had left at the point of Functionalism and the counterarguments leveled against it.

A theory that tries to avoid the reductionism of Identity Theory and Behaviorism is Property Dualism, which is a form of "non-reductive physicalism." Property Dualism relies on the idea of emergence.

Emergence involves a layered view of nature, with the layers arranged in terms of increasing complexity and each corresponding to its own special science. Some philosophers hold that emergent properties causally interact with more fundamental levels, while others maintain that higher-order properties simply supervene over lower levels without direct causal interaction. For example: Water has a new property when Hydrogen H and Oxygen O combine to form H2O (water). The emergence of the transparent liquid emerges would not have been predicted by understanding hydrogen and oxygen as a gas. This is analogous to physical properties of the brain giving rise to mental states.*
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*Recall that intentionality is the capacity of mental states to be directed towards (about) or be in relation with something in the external world. This about-ness (or of-ness) of mental states entails that they have contents.

Check the Philosophy Club new site!

Check the new site for the philosophy club. They will hold their first meeting soon under a new directorship. Please, sign in, become a friend. Participate. I'll keep you posted.

T, 5:40pm

TR, 11:15am

MWF, 11am

MWF, 10am

MWF, 9am

MWF, 8am

Philosophy Club: Update

Daniella, president,
Leo vice-president,
Yaney and Florencia, secretaries.

Congratulations!

Now, you should meet one another. Make some flyers and planning for your first meeting.

The mind or the body?

What do you value more, the mind or the body?

Well, my question is loaded. And Descartes is to blame. Why not seeking a balance between the two?  Here is a nice advice from philosopher/boxer Gordon Marino, professor of Philosophy at St. Olaff College, in a recent piece in the New York Times:

Western philosophy, even before Descartes’ influential case for a mind-body dualism, has been dismissive of the body. Plato — even though he competed as a wrestler — and most of the sages who followed him, taught us to think of our arms and legs as nothing but a poor carriage for the mind. In “Phaedo,” Plato presents his teacher Socrates on his deathbed as a sort of Mr. Spock yearning to be free from the shackles of the flesh so he can really begin thinking seriously. In this account, the body gives rise to desires that will not listen to reason and that becloud our ability to think clearly.

In defense of his hobby, he explains:

And let’s be clear, life is filled with blows. It requires toughness and resiliency. There are few better places than the squared circle to receive concentrated lessons in the dire need to be able to absorb punishment and carry on, “to get off the canvas” and “roll with the punches.” It is little wonder that boxing, more than any other sport, has functioned as a metaphor for life. Aside from the possibilities for self-fulfillment, boxing can also contribute to our moral lives.

(This post is not for comment).

Did you know that the meat you eat contains antibiotics?

From the NYTimes:

Dispensing antibiotics to healthy animals is routine on the large, concentrated farms that now dominate American agriculture. But the practice is increasingly condemned by medical experts who say it contributes to a growing scourge of modern medicine: the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including dangerous E. coli strains that account for millions of bladder infections each year, as well as resistant types of salmonella and other microbes.

Why?

As drug-resistant strains of microbes evolve on the farms, they are passed along in meat sold in grocery stores. They can infect people as they handle the uncooked product or when eating, if cooking is not thorough. The dangerous strains can also enter the environment via manure or the clothes of farm workers.

We have a philosophy club going!

 Click here and learn the details.

T 5:40pm

T,R 11:15am

M,W,F 11am

M,W,F 10am

M,W,F 9am

M,W,F 8am

Animals and extintion

I don't think it makes sense to talk about moral values to apply exclusively to humans when the planet is in danger! Here is a list of UN endangered species. How about the tuna?

Here a Times gallery on 10 species near extintion.