• Really old stuff

• Ethics midterm

• Taylor midterm review - Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 16 3:10-4:00PM Room A211 Taylor midterm review materials 1819
• Lecture/Discussion - Finish Taylor 10
• Review Taylor 1-10

• Journal: In several bullet points, describe the problems with Baxter's anthropcentric approach to environmental ethics
• Last minute questions for tomorrow's midterm?
• Lecture/Discussion - anthropocentric enviromental ethics

• No School

• Lecture/discussion - Strengths and weaknesses of egogism

• Lecture/discussion - Aristotle's virtue ethics

• Taylor 10

• Lecture discussion - Arguments for and against egoism

• Lecture/Discussion - Character based ethics - introduction

• Lecture/Discussion -Taylor 8

• Lecture/Discussion - finish chapter 6
• Questions on the PA?
• Lecture/Discussion - Mill: Distinguishing between higher and lower pleasures and the concept of dignity (Mill 5-6)

• Last minute paper qs?
• Lecture/Discussion - Finish Mill

• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor 7

• Collect Taylor 6
• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor 4-5 finish + questions
• PA consultation time

• Journal - In what ways do Mill and Bentham seem similar? In what ways do they seem different?
• Lecture/Discussion - Mill and the varieties of happiness

• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor 6

• Lecture/Discussion - Wrap up Taylor 4
• Journal - Is Omelas a good society? On what basis is the previous question answered? Are we Omelas?
• Whole class discussion of Omelas

• Journal/in small groups - Answer the following questions:
  • Are Bentham’s ideas intended to be descriptive or normative? Explain.
  • What is the principle of utility?
  • According to Bentham, what constitutes right and wrong? Why?
  • Identify what your group considers to be the key difference between Kant and Bentham.
• Lecture/Discussion - Bentham's utilitarianism

• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor 5

• Hand back PA proposals - preview Wednesday work day.
• Finish Taylor 3 - Self determining freedom and totalitarianism
• Journal - the SEP defines phenomenology as "the study of structures of experience, or consciousness. Literally, phenomenology is the study of “phenomena”: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience. Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from the subjective or first person point of view." Given this - what is the phenomenology of encountering the other?
• Lecture/Discussion - Levinas

• Unit 9 reading packet
• PA work and consultation day

• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor 4

Monday

Whole class discussion - Omelas

• Is Omelas a good society? Why or why not?
• What would Levinas and Kant's assessment of Omelas be? Explain.
• Ar we Omelas? Explain providing specific examples

• With your group - Make a list of what you consider to be strengths and weaknesses of Kant's theory. Be prepared to share and explain
• Lecture/Discussion - Strengths and weaknesses of Kant

• Journal: What role does reason play in Kant's system of ethics? Is this a strength or a liability? Explain.
• Lecture/Discussion - Levinas

• No School

• No school

• Journal: Recall in our section on Human nature that when we discussed Kant we discussed a paradox involving reason and freedom? What was this paradox and how does it related to Kant's metaphysics of Morals?
• Lecture/Discussion: Perfect and imperfect duties

• Journal - In small groups: What would Kant's response be to the issue of torturing a known terrorist to prevent a future terrorist attack? Support your observations with quotes from the document. Is Kant's position on this issue correct, from your perspective?
• Lecture/Discussion - Kant's Second version of the Categorical Imperative
• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor 3

• No School

• Discussion of HW examples

• Substitute
• Read Taylor 3 and complete the Taylor 3 study guide

• Collect Taylor 2 study guide
• Read the post modernist excerpts. What is the position regarding ethics implied by the post modernism excerpts?
• Lecture/Discussion - Subjectivism and post modernism

• In your groups - How do the ideas discussed by Kant in section A relate to issues raised by Taylor in chapter 1? Try to provide specific examples and quotations from both documents to illustrate you points.
• Lecture/Discussion - Kant and the good will

• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor chapter 2

• Collect Taylor 1 study guides
• Journal: Think of an action that is right in our culture but wrong in other cultures. Likewise, think of an action that would be wrong in our culture but acceptable elsewhere. Do you believe that whether or not such actions are right or wrong is determined by culture, or do you believe that whether they are right or wrong can be objectively determined. Are there any actions that challenge your beliefs on this issue?

• Get into color groups. What are the major objections to cultural relativism? Which of these do you think is the most significant?
• Lecture/Discussion - Assessing cultural relativism
• In small groups - Post modernism/subjectivism activity

• Lecture/Discussion - Taylor chapter 1
• New Yorker article on Charles Taylor from 2016

• No School

• Journal: What did the Maxman article illustrate about ethics and culture? Support your answer with examples from the article and other examples you develop on your own.
• Whole class discussion - Are ethical decisions relative to the culture in which we live?

• No School

• Second semester plan

• Journal - What does Hume mean when he refers to the idea of the persistent self as a grammatical fiction?
• Lecture/Discussion - Hume

• FFF - Ethical principles

• Elderly killer activity
• Core theme 5 - the problem of personal identity - readings packet

• Lecture/Discussion - The problem of personal identity: introduction
• Journal - Consider the following: A great and powerful djinn offers you the following bargain: When you wake up tomorrow, you will be the world's richest and most powerful person. The only catch is you will have no memory of your past life and no possible way of recovery those memories. Do you take the djinn's offer? Why or why not?
• Discussion of journal

• Journal: Based on the social self reading and your own ideas, answer the following questions:
  1. What are the social/historical factors that push us toward a definition of self that is individual or contained within us?
  2. How does the article argue for a social rather than an individual definition of self? What are the major points of this argument?
  3. From your perspective, which is more important in defining the authentic self - the self or social and cultural factors?
  4. Are the following aspects of our identity generated internally (by our thoughts or our biology) or socially:
     • Political attitudes
     • Ethics
     • Gender
     • Sexuality
• Lecture/Discussion - Self and culture
• Journal - What is Hume's argument? What questions do you have regarding the Hume reading?
• Lecture/Discussion - Illusion theory of personal identity

• Lecture/Discussion - Strengths and weaknesses of Kane

• No class

• No school - Have a great Break!

• Final exam stimuli
• Lecture/Discussion - Classical compatiblism

• Lecture/Discussion - Libertarianism and Chisholm

• Lecture/Discussion - Kane's Libertarianism

• Journal/Discussion - What is it about our use of language that makes language difficult for computers to use naturally?
• Lecture/Discussion - Counter arguments to Turing's position.
• Unit 4 reading packet

• Journal - In small groups, answer the following questions:
  • What struck you about the article? What questions do you have (try to identify a quote to support this observation)
  • Put d’Holbach’s argument into standard form (numbered premises and a conclusion). What evidence does d’Holbach present for each of the components of this argument? Be specific and use quotations from the document.
  • What counter arguments does d'Holbach respond to? What are his responses?
• Lecture/Discussion - d'Holbach's argument for hard determinism

• Journal - Answer the following questions in writing with your group based on your reading of Stace:
  • Questions on Stace?
  • What Does Stace mean when he says on p. 420 that the “dispute (over freedom) is merely verbal”? In this vein, explain what Stace means by the five legged man example.
  • Explain what Stace means when he says that the question of whether the world is deterministic or indeterministic is “wholly irrelevant to the problem of free will.”
  • Based on Staceʼs definition of free will, what makes an action free?
  • According to Stace, is punishment compatible with determinism? Why or why not?

• Discussion of Stace and soft determinism

• Journal: How does Singer propose to broaden the circle of respect? Explain
• Lecture/Discussion - review Singer

• Journal - What is the HOT theory of consciousness? What role does it play in Carruthers' theory of animal minds?
• Lecture/Discussion - Finish Caruthers

• Journal: What is Turing's argument? How is this argument similar to and different from the argument made by Descartes?
• Lecture/Discussion - The Turing test
• Mitsuku conversation - Have a brief conversation with Rose. To what extent is she convincing? What is it about her use of language that makes it clear she is not human?

• No School

• Midterm

• Wrap up Descartes
• Journal/In small groups - To what extent are Singer and Descartes in agreement? What are the major differences between these two thinkers?
• Lecture/Discussion - Singer

• Substitute - Read Descartes (unit 3 packet)/Work on midterm outlines.

• Journal: Review Sartre - What questions do you have regarding this reading? What similarities do you see between Sartre, Nietzsche and Kierkegaard?
• Lecture/Discussion - Sartre

• Review human nature and plan for exam

• Lecture/Discussion - Lecture/Discussion - Four keys to understanding the thought of Soren Kierkegaard

• Journal (in small groups) 1) What questions do you have regarding Nietzsche? 2) How does Nietzsche reflect the themes of existentialism? Identify specific examples. 3) What similarities/differences do you see between Nietzsche and Kierkegaard?
• Lecture/Discussion - Nietzsche

• Lecture/Discussion - Finish Nietzsche
• Fall midterm stimuli - Online only - if you need a hard copy - ask.
• Unit three reading packet
• Journal: 1) What questions do you have regarding Sartre? 2) To what extent is Sartre similar to or different from the two other existentialist thinkers we have examined? 3) How does Sartre reflect the themes of existentialism?
• Discussion of Sartre

• No School - Parent Conferences

• Lecture/Discussion: Themes of Taoism and The Tao and human nature
• Taoism sorting activity

• Journal: 1) Based on what we discussed yesterday what is meant by the "crisis of the modern?" 2)Note down two questions you have regarding the Kierkegaard reading - then propose answers to each. Rate your understanding of the reading on a scale of 1 (least) to 10 (most)
• Questions regarding Kierkegaard?
• In small groups - What examples of the themes of existentialism can be seen in Kierkegaard? Identify as many as you can and be prepared to support your assertion with quotes from the document.
• Brainstorm examples of the themes of existentialism from Kierkegaard
• Lecture/Discussion - Introduction to Kierkegaard

• Journal: What is the essential aspect of the Buddhist Conception of Human Nature? What questions do you have regarding this document?
• Lecture/Discussion - The Buddhist Conception of Human nature

• In small groups:
  • Read your assigned chapter(s) of the Tao Teh Ching.
  • Discuss the chapter with your group and decide what you think the meaning of the chapter is.
  • Using this link, look up your assigned chapter(s) and read through the three additional translations. How do the translations differ in terms of meaning? Which translation seems clearest? In light of the four translations together, how has your assessment of the meaning of the chapter changed?
  • Be prepared to share 3 observations and pose one question regarding your chapter
• Group share out - 3 observations and a question

• Sit in the circle with your group members
• Taoism and the paradoxical nature of humanity - Discussion - each group should explain one of their contrasting pairs. What does Taoism seem to be saying with this contrast? Is there a paradox in this pairing? Explain (Does Taoism share the societal assessment (or Confucian assessment) of the relative value of each concepts in this pair?) What is the meaning of the seeming paradox?
• Lecture/Discussion - Taoism and human nature

• Journal: What, from your perspective, was the most significant argument made regarding the problem of evil on Friday?
• Lecture/Discussion - Theodicy

• Sit in color groups
• Small group scored discussion of Wilson

• Journal: What questions do you have regarding the Buddhist documents?
• Lecture/Discussion - Buddhism and human nature

• Journal: For Kant, what is the relationship between reason, freedom and responsibility?
• Lecture/Discussion - Kant's conception of Human nature

• Lecture/Discussion - History of W. Monotheism

• Whole class debate/Discussion of Logical problem of evil:
  • Discussion theme: Does the problem of evil logically disprove the existence of God? How might the problem of evil be repaired (think ACAR)?
  • Group presentations followed by questions and discussion after each presentation
  • Keep in mind we are discussing ideas, not beliefs. Questioning an idea is not the same as questioning a belief
• Journal: What is Augustine's argument regarding the logical problem of evil? Do you agree?
• Lecture/Discussion - Theodicy

• Journal: In you groups brainstorm/discuss and record answers to the following questions:
  • What is essence of humanity? What characteristic is most critical to establishing what it means to be human?
  • Are humans inherently inclined toward good or evil?
  • What, if anything, is the purpose of humanity?
  • What are the central conflicts, ironies or paradoxes that define the human condition?
  • What makes us who we are? Nature v. Nurture.
  • What are humans not?
• Whole class brainstorm/discussion of human nature questions

• Lecture/Discussion - Plato's conception of Human nature

• Journal/Discussion - To what extent does Kant build upon and develop the ideas of Plato? Explain.
• Discussion of Kant's "What is Enlightenment"
• Lecture/Discussion - Assessing reason as the basis of Human nature

• Journal - Questions on the Dennett reading?
• Lecture/Discussion - Dennett and the illusion of the hard problem

• Unit 1 exam review and work time

• Journal: What is human nature?
• Lecture/Discussion - Human nature
• Unit 2 reading packet

• Journal: Based on your reading and our discussion on Friday, describe how Searle claims that the Chinese room though experiment demonstrates the impossibility of artificial minds. Do you agree or not? Explain
• Lecture/Discussion - Wrap up functionalism
• Unit 1 exam stimulus and instructions

• Journal - Begin theory review template on your own. (10 minutes)
• Lecture/Discussion - Introduction to the problem of consciousness: David Chalmers: hard and easy problems of consciousness

• Read and annotate Dennett readings (15 minutes)
• Lecture/Discussion - Dennett and the illusion of the hard problem
• Review for unit 1 exam

• No School

• Substitute
• Read and annotate Churchland, packet page 26-28 (due tomorrow)

• Lecture/Discussion - Problems of functionalism/Searle's Chinese room

• Journal: In your journal make a T chart. List and briefly explain what you consider to be the two most significant arguments for and against substance dualism
• Discussion - wrap up dualism
• Lecture Discussion - Introduction to materialism

• Slow motion bear attack
• Lecture/Discussion - finish logical behaviorism
• Journal: Based on your reading, how does identity theory seek to address the problems posed by behaviorism? Do you have any questions regarding this section?
  
• Lecture/Discussion - Mind-Brain identity theory (reductive materialism)

• Read the WAPO article on voter participation amongst young people, Then discuss the following in your table groups:
  • How are attitudes about politics and social issues amongst young people generally different from that of older people?
  • Why don't young people participate more vigorously in civic affairs?
  • What can be done to increase this participation?
  • How do adults that talk about this issue misunderstand the nature of the problem (or young people in general)
• FFF - How do we get young people more civically involved?
• On-line voter registration and pre-registration
• Republican involvement opportunity
• Democratic involvement activity

• Journal - Read the unit 1 packet from 1.2 to 2.4. What is the "problem" at the center of the mind-body problem? Explain your answer and then answer the ten true-false questions on 2.4
• Lecture/Discussion - Ontology

• Journal: In a paragraph, explain how Descartes uses the concept of doubt to arrive at certainty. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this argument?
• Lecture/Discussion - Descartes and systematic doubt

• Without consulting the reading packet, what counter arguments could you raise against Descartes' theory of substance dualism?
• Lecture/Discussion - Arguments for and against Descartes' theory
• Discuss journal responses (before looking at the packet)

• Journal: In your table groups, discuss and record answers to the following questions in your journal:
  • What stood out about Friday's discussion? What could be improved as we do Socratic discussions in the future?
  • What questions do you still have regarding Russell?
• Lecture/Discussion - Key ideas from Russell and how they relate to the rest of the year
• Mind body project reminder

• Find people whose theories are most similar to yours (6 max). In these groups identify what your key similarities are. Then construct a 180 character statement that concretely describes your group's theory on the relationship between the mind and the body (including key definitions). Your theory must address what composes the various elements. Write your completed statement neatly on the template provided.

• FFF - Has the internet made the world better? Read the short article from the economist and brainstorm 3 arguments on each side of the question (these arguments may or may not relate to the issues discussed in the article).

• Welcome!
• Sit with the other people who share your train card color
• Doing philosophy activity

• ACAR/Impromptu philosophy
• Lecture/Discussion - Bertrand Russell
• Getting ready for Friday's discussion
• Annotating philosophical texts
• Russell Reading time (time allowing)

• Russell Discussion
• In your groups -10 minutes:
  • Share what passage most struck you in this document. Explain why this passage struck you? (B)
  • What questions arise from this document? (A)
  • Why is this this document relevant in 2018?
• Large group - Using the document and your small group discussion address the following question, "What is the value of philosophy in 2018?