PHILOSOPHY PAPER FIRST ASSIGNMENT (HONORS CLASSES)

topics for philosophy paper here.

proposal sample for your final paper here. 

Our Philosophy Club board + members!

Board
Sebastian Gallo, President
Sebastian Perez-Espina, Vice President
Alenys Jimenez, Treasurer
Mayra Ona,  Secretary 

Members
1. Akeem Anglin
2. Sebastian Duque
3. Glen Camilo
4. Marcos Manuel
5. Karina Rivadeneira
6. Jormailin Valdes
7. Victor Ramirez
8. Natalie Ortega
9. Abraham Elmir
10. Yaqueline Jimenez
11. Carolina Fernandez
12. Salua Rivero
13. Juliane Patricia Alvarado
14. Nataly Gonzalez
15. Brigitte Iglesias

(more members will be added as they sign up)

Examples of conclusions from recent phi 2010 papers

for your conclusion you don't have to say "In conclusion." That's pretty stale. HERE YOU HAVE SOME EXAMPLES:

The conclusion should be assertive, but also deferential. You believe what you say but you don't sound bombastic.

or this,

On the distinction between number and quality when talking about ourselves

aLfreDo tRifF

Because of our discussion yesterday, and some of the comments put forward just before the class ended, we talked about how a white person is not qualified to speak for a black person (and vice versa), a man for a woman (and vice versa), a heterosexual for a homosexual (and vice versa), a non-transgender for a transgender and vice versa). At first, these qualifications may seem limiting, indeed overbearing. After all (as Roberto pointed out), even amongst blacks, a black person may say (referring to another black person), "this black person is not qualified to talk for me."

Let us take, for example, Samuel Horace, a black person, age 21, born in Haiti; an only child, honor student, living in Miami, attending MDC.

We advanced that he belongs in a club all by himself. That's his number. Then comes the qualities (characteristics) he shares with others, let's see: sex (man), race (black), gender (male), age bracket (in his 20s), health features (if he has diabetes, or if he's myopic, or if he's 6 tall, or if he's a math wizard. Even less obvious ones: being an orphan, or having traumatic social memories for being different, etc.

So,
one's own club (SH)
Black person club (..., SH, ...)
Haitian club (..., SH, ...)
Only child club (..., SH, ...)
20-year-old people club (..., SH, ...)
living in Miami (..., SH, ...)
going to MDC (..., SH, ...)
6' tall (..., SH, ...)

And so on...

Each of Samuel Horace's characteristics automatically makes him a member of an infinite number of clubs. What does this mean? Samuel is qualitatively identical to many people. The next question is, how does one evaluate these clubs? Which are the clubs that make up for essential characteristics?

The club race is more important than being 6' tall. Yes, there are both substance clubs, but culturally, one matters more than the other. I, Triff, don't belong to the black club (that doesn't mean I may be admitted to it later). Race is sort of biological; it's a substance. I don't share Horace's "black experience" (meaning culture). Historically, Homo sapiens has been embedded in cultures. Cultural practices and cultural presumptions generally precede our social interactions.

As a white person, can I have opinions about blacks? You bet (this was Athenais' point). That's quite different from the assumption that I can speak as a black, which I'm not. "But I'm a human being." Sure, but to talk about Samuel, I'd have to move up to the human-being club. 

What can I say as a human being to Samuel? All the stuff we share, all the OTHER clubs he and I both belong to! For example, I'm also myopic, live in Miami, and go to MDC. I could also speak about "having been in my 20s" (which I was), or "having been a student" (which I was), etc. I could speak of "being a minority" (which I am) or "being an only child."There's plenty, Samuel, and I share. And yet, not enough.

This will require deliberate, careful threading through the deep. We have a tool: Understanding.

Let us explore the deep: "Under," one must go below the foundation: "the standing": layers of different clubs, horizons of information.

We must get to the task: Not quickly, peremptorily, carelessly, hastily, no. Carefully, deliberately, patiently. The more we try, the more we bridge. We thread the cultural divide, learn the language, cook the food, travel to Port-au-Prince, befriend college students and professors, etc.  The more I do this, the closer I come to understanding Samuel. He'll come to see it.

Can I speak for Samuel now? Sort of. Understanding takes threading the deep, but there is always more to understand. One never understands fully (this is the point Zion made). Infinite number of clubs, many of which --surprise!-- Samuel himself does not understand.

Although in principle I will never "fully" understand Samuel, over time (and with effort), I can understand more and more, even to the extent of others who are in the black club. And that's plenty.  

Government and Philosophy Club constitution

We already have a Philosophy club government.

Here is our Philosophy Club constitution!

We have a president for the MDC Wolfson Philosophy Club!

Sebastian Gallo is the president of the MDC Wolfson Philosophy Club.

He has the names of the students that got in tough with me. Further elections are forthcoming.

Thanks,

Why is 7+5 =12 analytic apriori?

Find the answer here.

A brief history of epistemology (IMPORTANT)

PLATONISM:   Plato believes that reality is always changing, senses are illusory. Knowledge (episteme) needs to be permanent and unchanging. 

For Plato, knowledge is acquired through anamnesis, which is an innate form of recollection, a sort of hardware we come with (for example, humans come with a memory function already built-in by our brain evolution).

Here comes the idea of Forms. Forms exist independently of us: Think of math, logic, geometry, etc. Plato believes these Forms are "universals." A universal is a property that can be possessed by many things at once. Examples of universals: "goodness," "beautiful," "extended," "redness," "human," etc. See that each applies to many things at once. Take "beauty", it is not a physical concept. So, how do we know it? It's a concept that applies to many different things.¿

Hay mucha discusión sobre realismo e idealismo. 

¿Dónde están las formas?  La palabra griega que Platón usa es εἶδος (eîdos), y también ἰδέα (idéa). Ambas están estrechamente relacionadas y suelen traducirse como «Forma» o «Idea». Pero ojo. La «Idea» platónica no significa lo que normalmente entendemos hoy por una idea. 

1. Eîdos / idéa • εἶδος (eîdos) viene de una raíz relacionada con ver (ideîn, «ver»). • Originalmente significa algo como aspecto, figura, forma, aquello que se ve. • ἰδέα (idéa) tiene la misma raíz y también significa originalmente forma, aspecto, apariencia. Platón toma estas palabras y les da un sentido filosófico extraordinariamente preciso. Cuando habla de Idea de Belleza (to kalon), por ejemplo, no está hablando de: mi concepto de lo bello. Platón se refiere a aquello que hace que las cosas bellas sean bellas, una realidad inteligible que no depende de que alguien la piense. 

2. La diferencia con nuestra «idea» Hoy decimos: «Tengo una idea para una película.» Aquí idea significa un contenido mental, algo que ocurre en la mente de alguien. Para Platón la Idea no está primero en la mente; la mente debe llegar a conocerla. ¿En las cosas? No. Entonces la Forma sería simplemente una propiedad. En nuestra mente → tampoco: entonces dependería de nosotros. En un ámbito inteligible → ¡Caliente! Es un ámbito, no físico.

 Take a look at Plato's allegory of the CAVE.

__________________________________________

OTHER SCHOOLS

Skepticism: An attitude of suspension to the possibility of knowledge or absolute knowledge.

It comes from Pyrrho of Elis (c. 365–275 bc). Pyrrhonists, while not asserting or denying anything, attempt to show that one ought to suspend judgment and avoid making any knowledge claims at all. The Pyrrhonist’s strategy is to show that for every proposition supported by some evidence, there is an opposite proposition supported by evidence that is equally good.


Rationalism:  (Spinoza, Leibniz, Descartes) rationalism is the view that regards REASON as the chief source of knowledge. Rationalism is also a methodology or a theory in which the criterion of the truth is not sense-based but instead deductive.

There is a connection between Skepticism and Rationalism.

Descartes uses skepticism in his Cartesian method. Doubt requires further rational proof. There are three parts: 1- the Dream Argument, 2- the Evil Demon argument and the 3- the Cogito argument (... I can't doubt that I doubt. Therefore I think, therefore I am). The conclusion is that Descartes believes that scientific knowledge can be derived a priori from "innate ideas" through deductive reasoning. Where these "innate ideas" come from? GOD.

Empiricism:  (John Locke, George Bishop, David Hume) Empiricism is the idea that experience as the main source of knowledge. It emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception.

Here's an interesting video. 

Empiricists believe in inductive reasoning (making generalizations based on individual instances) in order to build a more complex body of knowledge from these direct observations. This is the basis of modern science, and the scientific method, is considered to be methodologically empirical in nature, relying as it does on an inductive methodology for scientific inquiry.

There are two schools: Locke's Representative Realism and Berkeley's Phenomenalism.

(Primary and seconday qualitites)

For Locke, the world is divided into two qualities: primary qualities, which exist in the object independently of our perception (solid, movement, shape) and secondary qualities, which are dependent of our sense perception (sight, taste, hearing, touch, smell).

Berkeley believes that all qualities are secondary. The result is that there is no world independent of our perceptions, except what he calls unperceived perceptions. These are a bundle of perceptions caused by God.

David Hume's skepticism about cause an effect. Hume is an empiricist, so he believes that only experience gives us knowledge. Ok, this is why he remains skeptical about the idea of causation (every effect has a cause that makes it happen). 

He goes: "Of two events, A and B, we say that A causes B when the two always occur together, that is, are constantly conjoined. Yet, we don't experience A causing B. We take the conjunction for a fact and have a certainty that this conjunction "will continue to happen."

This is known as Hume's problem of induction.  

Causality is a posteriori, based on experience. We use induction to justify it. Now, can you conceive of yourself dropping a ball on earth that doesn't fall? YES YOU CAN! So, Hume says: "the contrary of every matter of fact never implies a contradiction." We are left with a weak notion of causal necessity.

KANT

Take a look at this video.

Kant's synthesis between Empiricism and Rationalism. Kant takes Hume's challenge. He proposes the following:

a priori: analytic propositions are a priori (independent from experience): "all triangles have three sides," "all bachelors are unmarried males,"

a posteriori: synthetic propositions are a posteriori (based on experience): "Water boils at 100º C," "All creatures with hearts have kidneys."

then he adds another one: synthetic a priori: for example, "7+5=12" or "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line."

KANT's CATEGORIES

LAS CATEGORÍAS KANTIANAS Cuando percibimos algo, ¿qué tiene que hacer nuestra mente para poder pensarlo como un objeto? 

Comencemos con algo sencillo: «El vaso se rompió porque cayó al suelo.» 

¿Qué tenemos ahí? 

1. Algo: el vaso. → sustancia 

2. Algo ocurrió: se rompió. → causalidad 

3. Algo existió: el vaso existe. → existencia 

4. Hay una determinación: el vaso es un vaso particular; tiene ciertas propiedades. → categorías de cualidad, cantidad, etc. 

Kant no dice que inventemos esas relaciones. Lo que dice es que sin esas (categories of understanding) categorías del entendimiento no podríamos organizar los datos sensibles como experiencia objetiva.

the synthetic apriori is a marvel!

1. Every event has a cause.

It's synthetic: the concept event does not logically contain having a cause.

Now, why is it a priori? Kant holds that causality is a category of the understanding, a condition for experience.

2. 7 + 5 = 12

Synthetic: the concept 12 is not simply contained in the concepts 7, 5, and addition. You could get 12 by endless processes of addition. 

Addition: 7 + 5 = 12

Multiplication: 3 × 4 = 12

Substraction: 15 − 3 = 12

A priori: we don't need to count twelve objects in experience to know it. 

3. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Synthetic: the predicate adds something to the concept of a straight line: two points.

A priori: its truth doesn't depend on measuring physical distances. This is probably the classic Kantian example of synthetic a priori knowledge.

KANT'S MIDDLE POINT BETWEEN RATIONALISM AND EMPIRICISM

RATIONALIST SIDE: Kant believes there are categories that we bring with our perceptual apparatuses. They are part of our reason capabilities. Ex: time, space, causation, quantity, quality, relation, modality, etc. He agrees with Hume that these properties are not experienced. They are not in the world. Instead, THEY ARE INNATE, HARDWIRED.

EMPIRICIST SIDE: Kant believes that experience is a posteriori: what the empiricists called SENSE DATA obtained through our senses, which is fundamental for the physical sciences. 

So, Kant's synthesis proves that both Empiricism and Rationalism hold.

STANDARD ACCOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE: Knowledge is justified true belief. 

K = JTB 

Phi 2010 syllabus

alfredo triff, ph.d.

room 3604-28 (Building #3, 6th floor)
tel. 305.237.7554
email: atriff@mdc.edu (math buff,  student-shrink, parodist, cook, music lover, design lecturer, cigar smoker, cat lover, part-time hedonist)
office hours: posted

text: Philosophy Here and Now, by  Lewis Vaughn (Third Edition).

goals
* become familiar with contemporary trends in philosophy. *learning how to problematize issues. basically philosophy seeks truth and honesty. the issues are pursued regardless of PC assumptions. *stimulate the philosophical spirit (curiosity & perseverance), *ethics of dialogue, which is the art of conveying your point & finally, * philosophy for life, which is Sophia's advice to the neophyte.

evaluation

1. grades "A," "B" and "C" stand for outstanding, good and average respectively. "D" is below average. "F" means not enough work to justify credit for the course.

2. we have 4 exams and a paper. all exams are worth the same. the final paper is about 15 pts of the final grade, punctuality and participation the remaining points.

the breakdown is a qualitative approximation (my grades are generally curved).

3. attendance is mandatory. 3 non-excused absences are permitted. each absence thereafter will lower the participation grade by a 1/3 of a grade. missing exams must be justified by a doctor’s note or the equivalent. under no circumstances a student will take two exams in my office!

4. homeworks are important but they are your duty. the routine is that we start each class with a HW-review. 

schedule of classes

Chapter 1: Philosophical and You

Chapter 7: Epistemology

Exam #1

Chapter 4: Mind and the Body

Chapter 5: Free Will and Determinism

Midterm Exam

Chapter 3: The Moral Life

 
Chapter 8: The Just Society

Exam #3

Chapter 7: Aesthetics

Chapter 2: God and Religion

Final Exam

i reserve the right to make changes in the order or chapters, provided i let you know in advance.

____________________
missing tests: if a student has valid reasons for missing an exam, i will grant a makeup (with proper justification). once justification is provided, the student may take the exam in my office. however, there is only one such opportunity. a student will not be allowed to take two exams in my office (or else they forfeit the result of the second test taken for a "C"). 

are there aesthetic facts?

 picasso's Guernica, 1937

is there aesthetic knowledge?

this is a very important question.

without aesthetic knowledge it becomes quite difficult to evaluate why we like what we like other than begging the question on our taste. "

It's good because I like it"? (kind of circular)

I propose this soft formula

aesthetic judgments  = aesthetic facts + aesthetic norms

aesthetic norms evolve through a process of trial and error in time (hundred of thousand of years). there is an evolutionary argument to be made for aesthetic norms (since late homo erectus and homo sapiens). they already had internalized certain facts pertaining early medicine, early cooking, moral norms (which we already discussed), early art, early religion. 

why do we enjoy certain colors? the smell of firewood? the sight of a sunset? why did we have to make this figurine?

Willendorf Venus, circa 30,000 BC

Our paleolithic ancestors are telling us what matters: THE GODDESS OF FERTILITY.  The figurine conjures at once beauty and magic. 

homo sapiens could not have built civilizations without aesthetic norms (Lacaux paintings)

look at the Karnak Temple in Egypt. the construction requires a degree of consensus pertaining planning, measuring, transportation of materials, construction methods, manufacture, masonry technology, etc. yet, from the anthropological standpoint it's difficult to establish which comes first, the norms or the society (since any society comes with norms in it).

NOT ONLY IN ART and ARCHITECTURE, BUT ALSO IN THE CULINARY ARTS.

are there aesthetic facts in the chicken broth? 

you bet.

in the long evolution of the production of the stock (we call it CULINARY SCIENCE) we get the right method. it's right because it tastes better, it tastes better because of the facts of the matter of the preparation. YES, SLOW IS MUCH BETTER. 

why? MORE COLLAGEN EXTRACTED FROM THE BONES. this is a chemical property, which translates into TASTE. this is a CULINARY FACT.

there are culinary facts, musical facts, political facts, etc:

what makes an aesthetic "fact"? 

aesthetic facts = aesthetic norms + facts

here is a diagram about the construction of consensus:

see that the info is negotiated via cause/effect inter-subjectively from the outside into consensus and from consensus into best consensus. best consensus' main property is that it's more reliable, more resistant to to and fro from the outside

take picasso's GUERNICA above. we'd examine the painting's formal qualities, the new style it represents  (Cubism & Surrealism), as well as the painting's reception (Spanish pavillion 1937 and all the people that have written about the painting) and its influence in subsequent 20th & 21st century art (the intersubjectivity explain the consensus, which takes time to build: best consensus cannot be produced overnight).

the best consensus provides the best explanation for these "notes." this slow layer-upon-layer of reasons through the centuries become a formidable value accumulation. the term "masterpiece" simply describes the process.    

this is when i made a distinction between saying:

1. I hate Guernica and 2. Guernica is a mediocre painting. 

there differences here to note:

1. is a personal opinion, which one is entitled to; 2. is a statement of "fact" going against the best consensus.

 2. is actually quite difficult. to prove 2. one would have to produce an argument to defeat 81 years of consensus; not impossible, but unlikely.

from 1. to 2. there is an enormous value/gap, which the counter would have to defeat.

Guernica is a masterpiece because of the "facts" pertaining Guernica, which is why it is in the CANON.

consensus is NEVER static. it's a dynamic process where each Guernica reviewed and written about, discussed, is different than the previous one. numerically speaking there is only one Guernica, qualitatively there are many.

this is how the work becomes canonical (or part of the canon of a civilization).

consensus lends itself to best consensus. best consensus is just the best of the previous consensus. "best" is important because it is more reliable. less subject to negotiation with plain info.

best consensus is not what makes Guernica a masterpiece. Guernica is a masterpice because of "facts" in Guernica. what the best consensus does is flesh out these "facts".

have gotten only one email about the philosophy club... c'mon, make this happen, it's yours!

triff office hours @ 3604-28

M,W,F: 8-9:40am
T, R: 9:50-11:05am, 
M: 3:30-5:30pm,
R: 12:30-1:30pm,

are you interested in leading a philosophy club?

the philosophy club (PHICLUB from hereon) at wolfson campus & it's ready for business.

if you're interested in becoming a president, vice, secretary, treasurer and eliciting philosophical discussions with the support of your professor and student union, etc, come to me, first-come, first-served.

PHICLUB points.

1- the responsibility of the PHICLUB: elect a president, secretary, treasurer, etc.

2- to stimulate a democratic environment,  the president conducts issues to be treated and assigns issues to be discussed in future meetings. based on suggestions and/or criticisms, he/she stipulates what to do next.

3- it's advisable to have an agenda that the president will provide. at least, the agenda must be announced at the beginning of the meeting.

4- since much of philosophy is about arguments, all disagreements be treated in a civilized manner. there should be a box for suggestions to be examined by the president and the secretary & suggestions should be aired and confronted.

5- the PHICLUB should meet weekly, preferable inside a classroom (accommodations are possible & the president could arrange it).

6- it's good to keep minutes of each meeting. they are the club's proof of direction.

7- the PHICLUB should try to expand and reach out to other students.

8- it's advisable to come up with some kind of calendar for the rest of the term served by the president.

9- events should include presentations, debates, field trips and others.

are you ready? send me an email!! election is next week.

triff's interests

1. math (pure beauty, f: topology)
2. science (our best methodologies, f: neurosciences)
3. music (non verbal complexity, f: jazz)
4. reading (philosophy for the most part)
5. nature (the power things in themselves, f: trees, baobab )
6. writing (check miami.bourbaki)
7. good wine (the closest to taste earth in its complexity)
8. cats (elegant, fickle and self-sufficient)
9. food & cooking (should be 4)
10. teaching (keeps me young)

biological naturalism: consciousness is a systemic property of the brain

this is a theory defended by philosopher John Searle.  (The Rediscovery of the Mind)

For Searle, consciousness emerges at certain levels of anatomical organization.

Certainly, the human brain with its approximate 100 Billion neurons (100x10⁹) and 125 Trillion synapses = 125x10¹² (just in the cerebral cortex alone!) has the complexity to generate consciousness.

This is probably true of the brains of nonhuman primates, which also have lots of neurons and neural connections. It is also true for other non human animals. It may not be true of snails, because they may not have enough neurons and interconnections to support (much) consciousness. It's not true of paramecia, because they don't have any neurons at all. And it's certainly not true of thermostats.

According to Searle, the mind (consciousness) is a systemic property of the brain. a biological phenomenon, a property of the brain, but not a purely functional property.

Systemic properties are very common in science, and some can seem quite unexpected just looking at the parts of the "system." For example, water is liquid, even though none of its parts, its molecules, are liquid. Liquidity is a systemic property. But we can explain why water is liquid in terms of its parts and their causal interactions. Another example is transparency – molecules aren't transparent; what makes glass transparent is the way the molecules are organized. In each of these cases, we can explain the "new" systemic property in terms of micro-level interactions.

Again, the mind is a systemic property of the brain. It is the brain as a whole that is conscious, even though its individual parts – neurons – aren't. Consciousness is caused by micro-level brain processes, and if the brain and its causal powers and processes were reproduced, so would consciousness be.

Consciousness cannot be eliminated from scientific discourse because objective, third-person descriptions of brain processes necessarily leave out the first-person subjectivity that lies at the core of phenomenal experience.  

First and foremost, consciousness entails first-person subjectivity. This cannot be reduced to brain-processes because any third-person description of brain-processes must necessarily leave out first-person subjectivity. For that reason, every attempt to reduce consciousness to something else must fail, because every reduction leaves out a defining property of the thing being reduced -- in this case, the first-person subjectivity of consciousness.

phi 2070 final exam topics

click here.

The essence of Bushido

Tsunetomo Yamamoto (1659-1719) was a samurai of the Saga domain in Hizen Province, under his lord Mitsushige Nabeshima. For thirty years Yamamoto devoted his life to the service of his lord and clan. When Nabeshima died in 1700, Yamamoto did not choose junshi because Nabeshima has expressed a dislike of the practice in his life, so Yamamoto considered it better to follow his lord’s wishes. Yamamoto renounced the world and retired to a hermitage in the mountains. Late in life, he narrated many of his thoughts to a fellow samurai, Tsuramoto Tashiro. These commentaries were later turned into the Hagakure (Hidden behind the Leaves).

___________________
(Selection)

I have found the essence of Bushido: To Die!

In other words, when you have a choice between life and death, always choose death. If you die before you hit your target, then it will be the death of a dog. In order to master this essence, you must die anew every morning and every night.

The way of advising others must be carried with utmost care. It’s quite easy to see the evil in others… Get intimate, refer to your own weaknesses and failures, then let him discover your point without mentioning his weakness. How can you reform others if you disgrace them?

On the previous night… make plans for the next day.

Don’t go where you’re not invited.

In order to be called a samurai, you must offer your life to Tao. There is no difference between high and low.

It’s difficult to carry acts of justice.

Onlookers see more than the players. Find your own faults through speculation. Consult others. Read books. Learn from the previous generation. You must throw your own judgment.

There are levels in the course of mastery. At the lowest level, you think of others as poor (needless to say, at this level you’re not useful). At the high level, you pretend to know nothing. You go ahead only with the idea of mastery. You go forward without pride and without humility. Your life you build every day. You’re better than yesterday and but not better than tomorrow.

Think of serious matters in a light manner, but think of trifles in an earnest and thoughtful way.

Those who never make mistakes are in danger.

If your eye is able to see good qualities in others who apparently are (you see as) inferior to you, then they can be your masters, even though they have shortcomings as well.

On your way, you meet a shower. You dislike get wet, so you hurry along the streets under the eaves. Still you get wet the same. As long as you accept that you will get wet, you won’t suffer from being wet.

Normally, most people rely on you when they are in trouble. But they will not think of you once they are out of their trouble.

On a low level, it’s unsatisfactory if you remain unfrightened when you find yourself with disaster and difficulties. On a higher level, you ought to go through troubles with courage and elation. “If the water rises, the ship rises too.”

However gifted you are, people refuse to see it if you are a greenhorn. Build your brightness and give it restrained play; “The slower the better.”

The way to excel above others is to have others talk about and judge you. To consult with others is a spring-board to a higher level.

After a year had passed, everyone said: “He looks a tired and sick man.” A took this as the beginning of my service.

There are many in the world who are eager to give advice. There are few who feel glad for being given advice. And there are still fewer who follow the given advice.

the zen teaching of bodhidharma

The Zen teachings of Bodhidharma here.

The Bloodstream sermon is particularly powerful:

Buddhas don't save Buddhas. If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won't see the Buddha. As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha. Don't use a Buddha to worship a Buddha. And don't use the mind to invoke a Buddha. Buddhas don't recite sutras. Buddhas don't keep precepts. And Buddhas don't break precepts. Buddhas don't keep or break anything. Buddhas don't do good or evil. To find a Buddha, you have to see your nature.

zen techniques

1- Talking silence (Dogen):

"Avoid unnecessary words.
Speak with your mind.
Read people’s minds."

2- Being a fool (Master Ikkyu):

"How to reach out?"
Listen… ask.
"How can I obtain wisdom?"
Be a fool.
....

"What is Zen?
Nothing special."

A monk asked Ummon: "What is Buddha?" Ummon answered him: "Dried shit."
....
3- Gentle Face (Shin-Hiu)

"Gentle face means a happy spirit,
Let people know it.
Let people see it.
What if they resent it?
Since they need it, they will come to love it."

4- Compelling mind (Ryokan)

"The compelling mind is peaceful."
....

"How can I feel my mind?
Look at the mountain…"
.....

"Read minds and look at the mountains.".....

"Beathe with your mind and think with your heart!"

5- Cultivate Poetry (the koan as a device for enlightenment)*

Language is evoked by the present occasion itself; it is not merely a mapping of the present in terms of learned structures. thus, language has more of a poetic than a discursive dimension. poetry proper is never merely a higher mode of everyday language. it's rather the reverse: everyday language is a forgotten and therefore used-up poem, from which there hardly resounds a call any longer.

6- Doing Nothing

"Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water."

"When you seek it, you cannot find it."

"After enlightenment, the laundry."

___________
*Here a long list of Zen koans.

Metaphysics Conceptual Map

Ethics Conceptual Map

regarding your final papers

dear phi 2010 classes: final papers are to be handed the day of your respective final exam. 

however, you are not to do that unless you have my approval. I have told only a few students that they can go ahead and submit their final drafts, which means most of you need to see me during these two weeks we have left to finish this thing. 

if you don't you actually risk losing 20 pts. of your final grade.

so, please, see me. my room number is 3604-28 and my office hours are here.  

FINAL EXAM: Tuesday Dec 13

FINALS SCHEDULE

MWF 10am   Wednesday Dec 14

MWF 11am   Friday Dec 16

TR 9:50am    Tuesday Dec 13

T 5:40pm      Tuesday Dec 13

Regarding the Analects your turn #8

pick any topic from our reading. go ahead.

Taoism: five into 5

Dmytro Didora, via Juxtapoz

chinese civilization would have been utterly different if the Tao Te Ching had never been written. even confucianism would not have been the same, for like buddhism, it did not escaped taoist influence. 

one cannot hope to understand chinese philosophy, religion, government, art, medicine –or even cooking- without a real appreciation of the profound philosophy taught in this little book. 
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1- Tao (the Way) is the ONE.  

Natural, eternal, spontaneous, nameless and indescribable. 

ying yang represents the binary structure of the universe

this reflect the YING YANG principle. 

Yang is the cosmic energy of Heaven, male, aggression, firmness and brightness. Ying is the cosmic energy of earth, a female element that is receptive, yielding and dark. Harmony in nature is achieved through these two cosmic energies. They are both equally important. 

2- Being/Non-being, is a duck/ rabbit relationship. Ziran/Wuji meaning the dialectic aspect of the universe. Ziran is the irreducibility of Tao, which cannot be referred back to anything else. Wuji (limitless, infinite) is the ultimate nothingness. 

Know whiteness, maintain blackness, and be a model for all under heaven. By being a model for all under heaven, Eternal integrity will not err. If eternal integrity does not err. You will return to infinity. 

3- Tao moves in cycles Wu Xing. But the life cycle is an unchanging truth. While everything in nature and all sentient beings follow their respective cycles, so do worldly events. The main lesson here is that there is no rule by which one can foresee the future.

4- if one has Tao, then one becomes Te (virtue). The ideal life for the individual and the ideal order for society and government are based on and guided by it. 

Te = harmony with the natural environment.  

One who understand the the dominating character of the male yet keeps to the passive nature of the female, behaves properly. Te "produces but does not possess, cares but does not control; it leads but does not subjugate." 

5- Tao has a 5-point method: 

1- Simplicity: "the ultimate good is like water"

& silence:

"Those who are quiet value the words." 

"Behave simply. Hold on to purity." 

2- Spontaneity: "blaze the trail not often followed" 

"Even at the verge of erring, err honestly."  

3- Tranquility: "moon illumines the crystal blue water"

"The quiet horizon amidst the noise. Levelheadedness in crisis."  

4- Flexibility: "be a blade of grass" 

"Dare let the weather lead."  

5- Non-action (wu-wei): "when nothing is done, nothing is left undone"

Because of its importance, I intend to explain wu-wei in more detail in my next post.

learning how to meditate (think of breathing)

Analects (excerpts)

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. "Have no friends not equal to yourself. "When you have faults, do not fear to fix them."

Tsze-kung asked what constituted the chun-tzu (superior man). The Master said, "He acts before he speaks, and speaks according to his actions."

The Master said, "The superior man is universal and not partisan. The mean man is partisan and not universal."
The Master said, "Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is dangerous."

The Master said, "Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it; -- this is knowledge."

The Master said, "If a man is without the virtues proper to humanity, why would he need rites of propriety? If a man is without the virtues proper to humanity, how would he manage with anything in particular?"

The Master said: "Things that are done, it is needless to speak about; things that have had their course, it is needless to remonstrate about; things that are past, it is needless to blame."

The Master said, "Those who are without virtue cannot abide long either in hardship or enjoyment. On the other hand, the virtuous rest in virtue."

Continue reading here

your turn #7 (the dhammapada)

by oneself evil is done; by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone; by oneself one is purified. purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another.

didn't want to leave the dhammapada without a proper comment session. please, participate.
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just to refresh some themes:

1- the insistence of the causal connection of evil & life. in the twin verses of 1:1."we become what we think."  then, 1:5: "hatred can never put an end to hatred". this is a novel way of looking at ethics. wrong actions carry moral (causal) consequences = you reap what you sow is not a metaphor, it's cause & effect! of course, 9:119: "the evil doers may be happy as long as he does not reap what he has sown, but when he does sorrow overcomes him." yeah, there's no way out of paticca samuppada.

2- the control of the mind: "hard is to train the mind, which goes where it likes..." 3: 35
the importance of self-governance of the mind. ..."those who can direct thoughts are freed from the bond of mara" (3:37).

and this one: "make your mind a fortress to conquer maya with the weapon of wisdom".

i doubt something this deep has been said with this simplicity.

the beautiful chapter 4, "on flowers". this stands out: "do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do, give it to what you do or fail to do" 4:50.

3- a central lesson in the dhammapada is that good is objective,  it can be perceived: "the fragrance of the good spread everywhere..." 4:54.  good is an essence.

4-  the importance of self-governance. the self is a refuge, not a place to waste. so, we must keep our house in order. these three are key:

"do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do." 4:50
"if you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone". 5:61
"a solid rock cannot be moved by the wind, the wise are not shaken by praise or blame." 6:81

(that doesn't mean we don't try to build our own sangha):

"make friends with those who are good and true, not with those that are bad and false." 6:78

Confucianism

Confucius molded Chinese civilization in general and judging by the Analects, one can see that he exerted great influence on Chinese philosophical development. There is a humanistic tendency in Confucius’ thought. He did not care to talk about spiritual beings or even about life after death. Instead, he believed that we can make the Way (Tao) great.

Confucius concentrated on man. His primary concern is a good society based on good government and harmonious human relations. Confucius believed in the perfectibility of all men and in this connection he radically modified a traditional concept, that of the “superior man” or chün-tzu. How can one be chün-tzu?

One can broadly sum up Confucius system in a handful of principles:

1- T’ien (or heaven) is purposive, the master of all things. Confucius idea of T’ien is that of immanence: “Heaven sees through the eyes of the people, Heavens listens through the ears of the people.” Not necessarily anthropomorphic but anthropogenic. Heaven is embodied in the people and exemplified by the people. Heaven is a principle and that relates to human as that of part/whole relationship.

2- The Mandate of Heaven or T’ien Ming consists of a Supreme Being who institutes a moral principle to operate by itself. That’s the principle of Heaven, T’ien Tao, later on called T’ien-li.

3- Jen (also pronounced as “ren” means indistinctly, altruism, humanity and fairness). “Jen” appears more than 100 times in the Analects. Jen also requires compassion: “Do not impose to others what you don’t want.” This negative form of the golden rule is essential in Confucianism for it tells people what not to do. “If you want to establish yourself, establish others. If you want to promote yourself, promote others.” To be able to apply the golden rule one has to follow a method

4- “Shu” which means to be empathetic, i.e., to be able to understand the circumstances. Shu is the right method to achieve jen. There are certain important virtues that can help in the process. They are:

respectfulness (gong), 

reverence (jing), 

leniency (quan), 

beneficence (hui), 

being quick in action (ming), 

reliability in words (xing) and 

cultivating slowness to speak (yan ren). 

Gong can be best explained as self-respect, self-worth. The Confucian self needs to be cultivated holistically (the mind is as important as the body).

Next there is jing, or reverence, but a better term is estimation. It’s a public virtue. How can one esteem something or someone? When one avoid the short-sightedness of the moment and ponders the far reaching implication of our actions. One becomes socially productive when one leaves pettiness and jealousies behind.

Quan is a principle of charity. It means magnanimity, being able to being thorough with oneself and the others, but suspending judgment until one has all the possible evidence. Quan doesn’t rule out criticism, only that it analyses it more and applies it to oneself. Quan presupposes self-awareness.

Xing relates to the idea of moral coherence between intentions and words, which amounts to honesty: One is reliable if one is trustworthy.

Yan ren is very close to our idea of prudence.

5- Shu needs “Xue” or learning. Not an achievement verb, but rather a stronger sense of affecting oneself whether by improving one’s sensitivity, understanding or ability. With xue one appropriates what’s learned, a process of becoming transforming. Xue is accompanied by,

6- “Si,” that is, reflecting. “Learning without thinking, one will be perplexed, thinking without learning, one will be in peril.” (A, 2:15).

7- An important theme in Confucian ethics is The Doctrine of the Mean or “Zhong-Yong.” It means centrality, non-deviation: not to be “one-sided.” It doesn’t mean staying in the middle no matter what: “Excess is as bad as deficiency.” (A, 20:1). Enduring, undeviating behavior that includes genuineness on one hand and steadfastness and persistence on the other. Implies non-deviation from this way.

8- There is also Rectification of names (Pinyin). This essentially means that for every action, there is a word that describes that action. The belief is that by following the Rectification of Names you would be following the correct/right path. By calling things what they are, we avoid confusion. RON also presupposes the idea of honesty in our speech acts.