click here for my intro to moral norms,
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Friday, November 7, 2025
Thursday, November 6, 2025
Monday, November 3, 2025
Paper proposal sample (this Thursday)
1- Heading (in Times New Roman, point 12). On the left side, write your name (last name first), "Philosophy Paper Proposal."
2- Write the title in bold letters, middle alignment.
3- The first paragraph has your thesis, followed by a brief explanation supporting it. The second paragraph has the counter thesis and contains a short explanation supporting it. So and so depends on your paper topic, i.e., Second Amendment advocates, Climate Change skeptics, or advocates, etc.
4- Try to mimic the model below.
______________________________________________
Rodriguez, Juan
Philosophy Paper Proposal
Phi 2010 Honors
Even in factory farms, animals should be protected against abuse
In this paper, I argue that animals being raised in factory farms in America deserve better treatment. My argument shows the public health risks associated with unregulated factory farming, while stressing that animal cruelty is ethically wrong.
Factory Farms advocates disagree, stating that despite animals' suffering during slaughter, our present regulations are necessary to offer much-needed food products at competitive market prices.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Friday, October 10, 2025
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Students assistants for PHI 2010 HONORS (revised)
Samir Amor Leyva.
Mathyas Cerda-Siezar.
Jesús Miguel Regalado.
Melany González (as her time permits)
Misky Díaz.
Sebastian Romero.
Juan Subero.
Camilla Cardoso.
Daniela Durruthy.
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Friday, October 3, 2025
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Some excellent introductory math texts I recommend
Mi libro favorito de cálculo 1, 2 y 3. Tom Apostol Vol. 1, & Volume 2 (PDF).
Lynn Loomis and Schlomo Sternberg, for Advanced Calculus. What a mind, Svi Sternberg!
A great Linear Algebra Introduction (PDF).
Introduction to Abstract Algebra, by Michael Artin (2nd Edition).
Differential Equations, PDF, by Paul Blanchard. Professor Blanchard is an authority on the Mandelbrot set.
Applied Partial Differential Equations, David Logan, PDF.
Introduction to Set Theory, by Herbert Enderton, PDF.
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Logical and causal possibility (think of mind experiments)
Logical Possiblity:
Something is logically possible if and only if it violates a law of logic.
Here is one logical possibility: "President J. F. Kennedy was not killed by Larry Oswald in Texas on November 22, 1963."
He was indeed killed that day. So, why is it still logically possible? There's no contradiction in assuming Larry Oswald missed his shot or that Kennedy was hurt but survived.
Causal Possibility:
Something is causally possible if it does not violate law of nature.
Law of non-contradiction:
Nothing can have and lack property at the same time.
Examples: "A triangle of four sides," "2 + 2 = 5", "A married bachelor," etc.
Conceivability:
1. If p is conceivable, it is imaginable (imagination is a mental faculty linked to rationality). An example of that is mind experiments in physics and math.
Is Superman logically possible? The first step in the evidence that p is possible is to be able to conceive it. Just that.
We say p is conceivable if its implication can be drawn without it being contradictory, i.e.,
Can Superman be conceived?
Yes, that's why we talk about him and can even watch him in a movie.
Now, Clearly, not everything that is conceivable is possible. For example, Superman, dragons, gremlins, and succubi are all conceivable but not possible.
Why not? They violate laws of nature.
Remember: If p is conceivable, then from 2. It's logically possible.
finally,
3. p is causally possible if it doesn't violate a law of nature.
3. p is causally possible if it doesn't violate a law of nature.
Now, let's talk a little bit about LAWS OF NATURE:
Laws differ from scientific theories in that they do not posit a mechanism or explanation of phenomena; they are merely distillations of the results of repeated observation.
A law's applicability is limited to circumstances resembling those already observed, and the law may be found to be false when extrapolated.
How do logical possibility (LP) and causal possibility (CP) relate?
If something is logically impossible, it is causally impossible.
If something is causally possible, it is logically possible.
LI → CI
CP → LP
LI → CI
CP → LP
Clearly, LI is sufficient for CI. Is it necessary? It would be if CI cannot exist without LI. Let's pursue this point further.
Something cannot be and not be at the same time.
But time is a causal variable, not a logical one. If time is outside us, then "same time" is sort of cheating for a logical category.
Logic is aprioristic. And yet, Kant has argued that time is not outside. Of course, being a physicist, you will swear that time is outside since you can work with it mathematically. But that doesn't contradict Kant's point (though we don't have time to pursue that here).
¿Qué es un experimento mental? (mind experiment)
DEF: The description of a possible situation in which a concept should apply or a condition should be met if the theory in question is true.
Es decir, un experimento mental es un recurso de la imaginación empleado para investigar la naturaleza de las cosas. La mente es el laboratorio del filósofo. Mind experiments nos ayudan a ver y concebir las condiciones de posibilidad de las cosas.
Varias teorías o posturas filosóficas se fundan en los resultados de experimentos mentales:
el dilema del tranvía, en ética,
la tabla de Carneades, en ética,
la habitación china, en filosofía de la mente,
la tierra gemela, en filosofía del lenguaje,
el cuarto de Mary en filosofía de la mente.
¿Qué es la verdad?
En clase les he dicho que la verdad es complicada. Y lo es, pero eso no significa que la filosofía no haya definido el concepto de verdad.
En general tenemos tres definiciones:
1. Correspondence Theory of Truth (la verdad como correspondencia),
A proposition is true by its correspondence with reality.
Ejemplo: Un vertebrado es un animal que tiene un esqueleto con columna vertebral y cráneo, y cuyo sistema nervioso central está formado por la médula espinal y el encéfalo.
2. The Coherence Theory of Truth (la verdad como coherencia con lo que ya se cree).
Truth is what best coheres with our existing knowledge.
Ejemplo: En cosmología, se entiende por Big Bang, o Gran Explosión, al comienzo del universo, es decir, el punto inicial en el que se formó la materia, el espacio y el tiempo.
3. The Pragmatic Theory of Truth (la verdad pragmática).
Truth is, whatever best does the job at hand.
Ejemplo: El cuadro Guernica de Picasso es una obra maestra de la pintura del siglo XX.