164 m.p.h.

The fun never stops with the 10 week quarter system. We can't just slow back down, or we might crash. We have to keep going 164 miles per hour.

I hope the exam wasn't too terrifying and that it helped you nail down some of your thoughts about Greek philosophy. I will return them to you on Monday.

Oh by the way, speaking of Greek philosophy... it's all wrong. So says Descartes, your new friend for the weekend. (Check out his Halloween costume. Lame! Oh wait, that's just what he usually wears. Nevermind.)

I thought it would be too mean to bring this stuff up before or after you were taking the midterm, but you need to read ALL of Descartes' Meditations this weekend. That means pgs. 47-103 of the turquoise Cress translation if you bought the standard bookstore copy. Not only do I think the six meditations can't be excerpted, but I think the whole thing doesn't make much sense without the preface and the synopsis. And you absolutely cannot miss the dedication... watch how weasely he is.

And of course, your working draft of paper #2 is due to the EEE dropbox Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to read.

I promise you

That you will do better on the exam than this...

Class #13 Review and Reminders

-Monday would be a good day to ask any questions that arise about Essay #2
-We can also discuss the midterm if you guys want, or we can save that for Wednesday
-Ideas draft #2 due Monday 9am
-Post your dialogue homework if you didn't get a chance... but no more found money problems
-Office hours continue to be interesting... this afternoon Christine & Rosemary & I discussed what situations would ethically justify eating: tigers, dogs, monkeys, people

Have a nice weekend... and by nice I mean a weekend that actualizes your arete, of course!

Class #12 Review and Reminders

I hope that I-spy was as helpful to you guys as it was to me. Every now and then I have a good idea... and you asked excellent questions.

Mari asked another great question after class: which is more "important," a car or a tree? Perhaps the tree because it has an organic soul that seeks nutrition, perhaps the car because it has a very useful function and has been actualized by the souls of human craftsmen. But we have to leave aside the question of utility, because we're being teleologists and not utilitarians. Which is more wonderful, shall we say. Which is more substantial Aristotle might say. And there is a single test you can always apply in Aristotle, whether you're talking about ethics, politics, physics, metaphysics, logic, or whatever. The test is which thing is more self-sufficient? Which thing is more of a mover and less of a move-d. (Catholic Aristotleans would say, which is a creator and which is a created thing, though A. himself believes the universe has always existed and therefore wasn't "created.") Which is more actualized, and actualizing of other things? By this test it's the tree, since the tree can live and reproduce on its own whereas the car must be maintained, serviced, driven by people.

REMINDERS... write a dialogue on ontology, ethics, or both. At least two characters representing different philosophical positions. At least 15-20 lines of dialogue, but the more you do, the more you're preparing for your mid-term.

The major positions on ontology are:

-Plato (dualism shading into pure idealism)
-Aristotle (hylomorphism / teleology)
-Democritus (materialism... you could also use any modern scientist)
-Gorgias (nihilism / skepticism)
-I guess common sense or craft could be considered ontological theories, albeit ones with obvious defects

The major positions on ethics are:

-Kant (deontology, often via categorical imperative)
-Aristotle (individual teleology -> eudaemonianism / cultivation of virtue, often via golden mean)
-Epicurus (individual teleology -> hedonism)
-Mill (social teleology -> universal hedonism)
-Iannucci (164 miles per hour -ism???, via non-golden mean / golden non-mean... by the way, this is a very apt statement of the ethics of capitalism)
-I guess a conventional ethics, what Schwab called normative, is an ethical position, albeit a pre-philosophical one... following the letter of the law or following social custom)

IF YOU WANT A HEAD START... the ideas draft for paper 2 (due Monday at 11 a.m. to the EEE dropbox) will be answering the "four tasks" of this prompt in any way you find useful. We'll probably start task 1 in class on Friday. I may also add another not-essay component, like doing a Theophrastian character sketch of the courageous man (or alternately the cowardly man or the rash man.)

Oh, and the prompt recommends you read the Course Guide chapters 4, 6, and 10. Which would be quite helpful for you to read in general, so I highly recommend doing that sometime before Monday.

Class #11 Review & Reminders

Post your ethical analysis of the voting propositions in the reply. It's going to get rather complicated, but I think it will be a good demonstration of how Aristotle, Kant, Mill, and Epicurus would reason through some different concepts. And the added benefit is it might help you make sense of some of the more confusing aspects of the California ballot.

Oh, speaking of that... here's the complete Voter Information Guide

And here's the rest of the Armando Iannucci comedy sketch on the non-golden mean... is this a fifth ethical system?

Class #10 Review

Thank you for actualizing my teacherly potential today.

REVIEW:

I. Deontological ethics
-I should do the act that is right, regardless of situation or consequence.
-Example: Immanuel Kant
-Kant's Criterion: "Categorical Imperative"... would I want every other person to act in such a way?

II. Teleological ethics
-I should do whatever will produce the best consequence in this particular situation.

A. Social Teleology
-Example: John Stuart Mill
-Mill's Criterion: "Utilitarianism"... what will produce the most pleasure and the least pain for the greatest number of people?

B. Individual Teleology
-Example: Aristotle
-Aristotle's Criterion: "Eudaimonian(ism)"... what will develop my virtue to its greatest excellence and therefore make me happy?
-Conflicting Example: Epicurus
-Epicurus's Criterion: "Hedonism"... what will bring me the most pleasure and the least pain?

More
-Note how Mill and Epicurus agree that the end of ethics is pleasure, but disagree about whose pleasure... utilitarianism has been called a "universal hedonism"
-Note how Aristotle's premise that the cultivation of virtue/excellence is equivalent to happiness seems to require further proof. Do you think it can be proven?
-Can you think of any other combinations of these methods and criteria for making ethical choices? Can you think of any wholesale alternatives?


REMINDERS:
-Final Draft #1, Sunday 9 p.m. here
-Read Theophrastus sketches in Course Guide pgs. 4-5

Class #9 Review and Reminders

First, I want to emphasize something I've said before, which is... we'll rarely have time to truly finish discussions and activities in class although we will sure as hell start a lot of them. To finish something like today's thesis exercise, you need to continue with your partner after class, even if that just means exchanging emails. To finish the philosophical discussions we start, you need a regular partner from this class or one of the other (non-trailer) classes to talk through the ideas a couple of times a week.

REMINDERS:
-read Nichomachean Ethics (1.4, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.5-2.7, 3.6-3.8)
-chart three virtue sliders for Obama & McCain w/ specific reference to tonight's debate
-do quotations exercise for Obama & the Hills
-post Turtle/Ghandi/Descartes exercises from Monday in reply to this post