Robert Stufflebeam Philosophy 101 online class itunesU

1. Intro to Philosophy
University of New Orleans

2. What is Philosophy
• Bertrand Russell
Philosophy is an intermediary of theology and
Science
• Philosophy is not a world view
• Etymology of the Word
“Love of Wisdom”

3. What is Philosophy
• Definition of the Word
Investigating underlying reasons for reality
Understanding based on logical reasoning rather than empirical
methods
• Analogy
Psychology is a science that studies mental processes and
behaviors
Philosophy comes from reason
Just like psychology, philosophy has subfields

4. What is Philosophy
• Philosophical Questions
Fundamental, open questions that cannot be solved through
experience
What must or mustn’t be the case based on preconceptions
What is mind vs Nature of the Mind
Not Philosophical
Philosophical
• Conflict between ideas creates fundamental questions
View that mind is different than brain
View that mind is brain
View that mind is controlled by brain
Which is most reasonable to believe

5. What is Philosophy
• Must use reason to resolve
Scientific evidence can be used, but answer must be based on reason
Critical Reasoning
• Need to communicate on equitable terms
Philosophy is finding the truth
Must use common meanings
• Philosophy is settled through argument
• Two Parts of Every Argument
Claim  Anyone can make
Supporting Evidence  Difficult
E.g.
God is not perfect because his creation is imperfect
Claim
Evidence

6. Subfields of Psychology
• History of Psychology
Study of the emergence of Psychology
Compare and Contrast
Plato vs Descartes, importance of dualism, etc…
• Philosophy of Religion
Nature of God
What is God
• Epistemology
Epi- Has to do with knowledge
Nature and origin of knowledge
Knowledge is special
Different than belief
How to acquire, innate knowledge, rationalists, empiricists, etc…

7. Subfields of Psychology
• Metaphysics
Questions about existance
Does God exist?
Reasons for and against
Essence of the Mind
What makes a person a person
What makes a person the same person over time
If different, is it just to punish you for something you did
yesterday?
• Socio-Political Philosophy
Justice, Order, and Authority
Idealist
How it ought to be

8. Subfields of Psychology
• Philosophy of the mind
Different than psychology
Predates
• Philosophy of Language
Nature of language
Syntax is necessary
Organization
Syntax refers to the form, semantics the content
Can we have thoughts without language
• Philosophy of Science
Assumptions of the limitations of Science
• Aesthetics
Principles of Art forms
Purpose and importance of Art
What is Art?

9. Subfields of Psychology
• Logic
Good Reasoning vs. Bad Reasoning
What makes an assumption dubious
• Ethics
Study for what we should do morally
Concepts and permissions for what is morally permissible,
impermissible, and obligatory
• Normative Disciplines
Logic and Ethics
What we should do to get a desired result
• Descriptive Discipline
How to do/Why
All other subfields of Psychology

10. Misconceptions of Philosophy
• You have to be wise to be a philosopher
Philosophy is reason, not spewing witticisms
• Assertion makes you a philosopher
• Everyone’s opinion is equal to another's
An experts opinion is worth more than yours
• You will always get the truth
Truth is aim, but it may boil down to an educated
guess
• It is critical
Philosophy is critical of Views, not people

11. Reasons for Philosophy
• Independent thinking and tolerance increases
• Awareness of ambiguities and fallacies in
arguments
• Compels to take a reason for what others
believe is self-evident
• Compels to think, rather than memorizing
definitions

12. Arguments
• Main use for reason is arguments
Logic is devoted to the art of arguments
• Arguments are everywhere
• Formal Language
No artificial language or symbols
• Informal Language
Powerful

13. What is an Argument
• What someone offers through language to show
truth
• Consists of a claim supported by evidence
• Standard Form Argument
Explicitly number
Conclusion at the bottom next to therefore symbol
Line separating evidence from claim
Easy to evaluate, reveals logical structure
• Prose
More difficult to recognize

14. How to Recognize an Argument
• Indicators
Claims
Therefore, accordingly, so, hence, etc…
Evidence
Because, first, from, since, etc…

15. Useful Generalizations About
Arguments
• May occur anywhere in a passage
• Evidence and Claims are relative terms
Depends on role in an argument
• Every premise/evidence is an assumption
Don’t explain evidence
Truth is presupposed
Implicit Assumption
Hidden assumption
Explicit Assumption
Shown Assumptions
Dubious Assumption
Wrong assumption

16. Assumptions
• Because no academy award winning actor has ever won a
Noble Prize, Kevin Spacey has never won an academy
award
Underlined is explicit
Implicit assumptions
Kevin Spacey has won a noble prize
It is possible to win a noble prize
Noble Prize exists
• Cats Love Tuna
Implicit assumptions
Cats exist
Cats eat tuna

17. Assumptions
• Some conclusions can be assumed
All cheaters are dishonest, and you are a cheater
Conclusion is that you are dishonest
• Rhetorical Questions
Questions can never be conclusions, because
they can never be true or false
They have no truth value
Avoid when offering evidence

18. Background Information
• Not every statement has to be evidence or a
conclusion
Background information can be used
The iPhone, which was created by Apple,
introduced the concept of a multi-touch
interface, completely revolutionizing the phone
industry.

19. Evaluating Arguments
• For an argument to be good, it must not
violate the principles of good reasoning
• Cogent Argument
Good argument
• Fallacious Argument
Bad argument

20. The RIFUT Rule
• For an argument to be cogent, it must be:
Relevant
Independent of the Conclusion
Free of Dubious Assumptions
Unambiguous
True and Consistent

21. Truth and Consistency of Argument
• Can’t know anything if it is untrue
• Definite refutation if evidence is proven false
• Consistency
Set of statements that can all be proven true
Inconsistent if all cannot be simultaneously true
Definite refutation
Killing is immoral, killing in selfdefense is moral

22. Independence of Argument
• Cannot show claim is true by assuming claim
is true
• Cannot restate claim as evidence
God created the world, and therefore he exists
Circular Argument
• Not all valid arguments are good arguments
• Never assume the truth of conclusion when
providing evidence

23. Free of Dubious Assumptions
• Fallacy of presumption
Assume something unproven and unreasonable is a truth
• Fallacy of Composition
Because part of ___ has ___, all of ___ has ___
Assumes what’s true of part is true of the whole
• Fallacy of Division
Assumes what’s true of whole is true of parts
Cannot go from whole to part or visa-versa
• False Dilemma/Black and White Fallacy
Oversimplifies complex issue by stating fewer sides than there
are and demanding a decision
“If you don’t support gay rights, you are a homophobe”

24. Relevance
• Fallacy of Relevance
Does an argument commit a non-sequitur
Claim does not follow from evidence
• Ad Hominem
Person A attacks Person B to discredit argument
“Don’t attack the messenger”
• Ad Populum
Appeal to people to win support for claims
Do something because other people do
Evoke emotions
• Appeal to Ignorance
Claim true because hasn’t been proven false, or visa-versa
• Appeal to Inappropriate Authority
Appeal to expert regarding something other than area of expertise
Michael Jordan wears these sneakers, so you should too

25. Relevance
• Genetic Fallacy
Attribute validity on basis of origin
“Planned parenthood was founded by a racist,
so the organization is racist”

26. Other Fallacies
• Straw Man
Exaggerate/Misrepresent than attack the exaggerated version
• Slippery Slope Fallacy
Distorts view and claims one thing will lead to undesired
consequences, therefore it is invalid
• Irrelevent Conclusion Fallacy
Catch-all
“Sophie is a cat who likes tuna, so the full moon eats people”
• Red Herring Fallacy
Where something unrelated to the topic at hand is used to divert from
it
“I don’t want to go to school, the gas price is too high and driving there
would be expensive”

27. History of Philosophy
• Four periods of Western Philosophy
Ancient Period
Medieval Period
Modern Period
Contemporary Period

28. Ancient Philosophy (6th century B.C.)
• Begins in Greece
• Presocratics
Philosophers before Socrates
First people to give non-religious answers to fundamental questions in
Western Philosophy
Malaysians
Dealt with Cosmological Questions about the nature of the
universe
Pythagoras
Coined the term Philosopher
Xenophanes
Created Epistemology, Rational Theology
Anaxagoras
Charged with impiety

29. Ancient Philosophy (6th century B.C.)
• Sophists
Itinerant teachers who taught common people
how to argue
• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

30. Medieval Period (11th-14th century)
• Dominated by Catholic Church
• St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas
• Jewish and Muslim philosophers reintroduce Roman
culture to the world
• Achem’s Razor
Simpler of two arguments, with all else being equal, will more
likely be correct
• St. Francis Bacon
Designs Scientific Method
• Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan explains how society emerges from nature
Socio-Political Philosopher

31. Modern Period (16th-18th Century)
• Rene Descartes
Father of Modern Philosophy
• Major philosophies of the time were Rationalism
and Empiricism
• Baruch Spinoza
Key Rationalist
• John Locke
Key Empiricist
• Immanuel Kant
Moral Theory; based on duty

32. Contemporary Period (19th centuryModern Times)
• Continental Philosophy
Existentialism, Socialism, Feminism, etc…
Marx, Heidegger, Nietzsche, etc…
Mainly on European Continent
• Anglo-American Philosophy
Analytic Philosophy
Utilitarianism, Pragmatism
William James, Bertrand Russell, Camus
Mainly England and America

33. Socrates (469-399 B.C.)
• Wrote Nothing
• Against empirical knowledge
• Associated with justice, morals, ethics
• Socratic Method
Question and answer method
• Taught Plato, who taught Aristotle

34. Plato
• Father of idealism, rationalism, socio-political
philosophy
• The Republic
Dialogue concerning ideal state
• Founded the Academy
Prototype of all Western Universities
Included Mathematics
Lasted 900 years

35. Plato’s Apology
• One of Plato’s many dialogues
Socrates is main character
• Athens trial in 399
Athens was true Democracy, all citizen participate
fully
• Accusers
Meletus , Antius bring charges
Corrupting youth, impiety
Socrates criticizers
Many people slander him

36. Socrates’ Defense
• Claims he doesn’t deal with physical matters
• Claims he is not a teacher
He knows nothing, does not travel, does not take money
• Origin of trouble
Asked Oracle if anyone was wiser than he
Oracle says no
Sets out on religious quest to find someone
wiser than him
Goes to people who claim to have
wisdom
Through Socratic Method, embarrasses
them
Politicians, Poets, Artisans

37. Socrates’ Defense
• Meletus
Represents poets
Claims everyone besides Socrates elevates youth; and
eventually that Socrates intentionally harms youth
Socrates says no one intentionally harms himself, so
why would he harm children if it would hurt him by
association
If Meletus truly cared about the youth, he would’ve
tried stopping Socrates before
Claims Socrates was an atheist
Socrates says Oracle’s mission was God’s command

38. The Vote
• 31 vote margin makes Socrates guilty
• Over 500 jurors
• Accusers recommend death penalty
Socrates recommends no punishment, full room
and board at a luxurious job
“Concedes” to 1 mina fine, then eventually 30
mina
Condemned to death after his
recommendation by an over 100 vote margin

39. Philosophy of Religion
• Study of the nature of religion
• Many types of Religion
• Does God Exist?
Monotheistic God of Islam, Judaism, Christianity
• How is belief in God justified
Appeal to faith
Belief independent of evidence and
thought

40. Theology
• Study of God and attributes in relation to the
world
• Natural Theology
Can be established by reason
• Revealed Theology
Revelation
• Theists, Agnostics, Atheists

41. Definition of God
• A person with divine attributes
Not necessarily a human
Person
Basic concept in ethics
Responsibilities, rights, free will
A rational, autonomous, moralistic being
• A perfect person
Infallible
Divine Attributes
Omniscient, omnipotent, immutable,
omnitemporal, omnibenevolent

42. Problem of Evil
• How can evil exist with an all good God
• Arguments
Nothing can be intrinsically evil
Done for greater good
Doesn’t allow arguments to the contrary
Circular Definition
• Appeal to free will
God doesn’t cause evil
Comes from people, who are autonomous
Are natural disasters evil?
Evil can only arise through choice
Is eternal damnation evil
If God is omniscient, how can we have free will
God knows but doesn’t intervene?

43. Arguments for God
• Called Proofs
• A posteriori Proofs
Proofs known through experience only
• A priori Proofs
Isn’t justified though experience

44. Cosmological Arguments
• A posteriori proof
• Prove God’s existence using commonly known
facts of the universe
• St. Thomas Aquinas
The Five Ways
Second way; Argument from Efficient
Cause to First Cause

45. Argument from Efficient Cause to First
Cause
• Cosmological Argument
• Things are caused
• Things cannot come from themselves
• There cannot be an infinite regress of causes
• There must be an uncaused first cause
• God is the uncaused first cause
• Therefore God exists
• Refutation
Inconsistency Fallacy; #2, 5
#5 does not show God still exists

46. Teleological Argument
• A posteriori proof
• Argument from end product of nature to
prove intelligent design
• William Paley
Watch Argument
Given complexity and purpose, assume
creator

47. Watch Argument
• Human artifacts represent intelligent design
• Universe resembles artifacts
• Therefore universe resembles intelligent design
• Universe is complex
• Therefore, must be powerful designer
• Refutation
Inductive Argument
Certain degree of probability, doesn’t prove
Doesn’t prove God exists today
Indirectly circular (#1)
Does purpose follow from design?
Is complexity proof of intelligent design
David Hume
Strength of inductive argument is dependent on its relevance; most things
don’t have a strong relevance

48. Ontological Argument
• A priori proof
• God’s existence follows from the idea of God
• St. Anselm
Scholasticism
What was taught concerning universals based
on St. Thomas Aquinas
Faith and reasoning, etc…
Is life a trait?
We don’t use it as such

49. Anselm’s Argument
• God is something which nothing greater be conceived
• Nonbeliever knows what God is
They understand something which nothing greater be conceived
• If it existed in the mind alone it wouldn’t be something from which nothing greater
can be conceived, because existence in reality is greater than existence in the mind
• Therefore, God exists by virtue of his definition
• Refutation
Reductio ad absurdum
Deduce contradiction from opposite of what must be true; e.g. rocks must
have weight otherwise they’d float
Immanuel Kant
The idea alone is different than actually having it
Guanillo
Same logic can be applied to an island; so there must be a hidden island

50. Brain In A Vat
• If our brain was removed and placed in a vat
where it was controlled, and we experienced life
as if we had a body, did it happen?
• How do we know if this is all real
• Can we rely on our senses?
• Epistemological and Metaphysical conundrum
• Rene Descartes laid foundation for this
• Objectivity vs. Subjectivity; which is more reliable

51. Epistemology
• Anybody can believe something; knowledge,
however, is something special
The philosophical study of knowledge is
Epistemology
• Two types of knowledge
Performative Knowledge
How to; I know how to _____
Propositional Knowledge
That; I know that_____

52. Propositional Knowledge
• A Priori Knowledge
Can be justified by reason alone
E.g. 2 is greater than 1
• A Posteriori Knowledge
Can be justified by experience alone
• S(omeone) Knows that P(ropositional Knowledge)
Way to remember Propositional Knowledge
E.g. I know that I am human
• Three conditions for Propositional Knowledge
S has to believe P
S has to be justified in that belief
P must be true

53. The Truth Condition
• Truth must be consistent
People used to “know” that the earth was flat
In retrospect, they didn’t know that, they just believed
that
• Truth is a property
• Subjectivist Theory of Truth
Everyone has their own truth
• Relativist Theory of Truth
Truth varies by the beliefs of the time
• Objectivist Theory of Truth
Truth is objective and a property; either it’s true or it’s not

54. The Truth Condition
• Bertrand Russell
Stated that truth can only be applied to beliefs and statements
Requirements for a Theory of Truth
Allows Falsehood
Truth can be a property of beliefs
Wholly dependent on connection to outside world
• Coherence Theory
Belief is true when it coheres with our other beliefs
There can be more than one true set of beliefs
Rebuttal
Presupposes Law of Noncontradiction
Just because it coheres with our other beliefs doesn’t mean
it’s true

55. The Truth Condition
• Correspondence Theory
Our beliefs must correspond with the world and
facts
People believe facts are dubious entries; truth is
a necessary condition for knowledge
We must look outside our beliefs to know
something

56. Epistemological Theories
• Modern Period begins with Rene Descartes
Period rises from skepticism
• Rationalism
Reason is a fundamental means of acquiring knowledge
Requires certainties for knowledge
Innate Knowledge
Based on mathematical thinking, deduction
• Empiricism
Experience is a fundamental means of gaining knowledge
No innate knowledge
Tabla Rosa; blank slate
Based on Scientific thinking

57. Rene Descartes
• Renaissance Man
• Wrote The Meditations
Six in all
First Meditation is on doubt
Attacks the senses
Claim they deceive him, and that it is
not prudent to follow wholly that which has
previously deceived us

58. Meditation 1
• Descartes determines all of his prior beliefs are wrong,
and is in search for a new foundation for knowledge
Wants to discover one thing that is impossible to doubt
Can deduce other things from this which are
indubitable
• Cartesian Doubt
To doubt all belief to find something impossible to doubt
• Senses cannot be indubitable, according to Descartes
Applies reason only

59. Meditation 2
• Discovers something impossible to doubt
I think, therefore I am
Foundation for Descartes philosophy
Even if he were deceived by some malevolent being,
something must exist to be deceived
Doesn’t know who he is or what he is, but
knows that he is
He deduces that he is a thing that thinks
• Foundation for Dualism
Believes in two different substances, corporal (body) and mind
(Immaterial)

60. John Locke
• Empiricist, Academic, Government Official
• Major work was An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding
• Hugely influential on colonies in America

61. An Essay…
• Systematically identifies the origin of human knowledge
• We need ideas
Gives us knowledge
How do we obtain ideas?
• Believes we should not try to question things to certainty because you cannot
know everything
• Principle of Identity
Things are themselves
• Shuns the idea of innate knowledge
Just because everyone believes something doesn’t mean it’s innate
Cannot find one belief that is commonly held by everyone
• What is an Idea
Whatever the mind perceives in itself
Basic Building Blocks of Knowledge
Sensation
Reflection; when the mind considers itself

62. An Essay…
• How are simple ideas produced (Colors, Sounds, etc…)
We don’t obtain them prior to experience
Obtain through qualities in bodies
Primary Qualities-In the things themselves
Shape, etc…
Secondary Qualities-Sensible Qualities
Feel, taste, etc…
Tertiary Qualities-Qualities that change primary
qualities
Melting, etc…
• Nothing can exist without ideas
Words, actions, etc…

63. An Essay…
• Intuitive Knowledge
Must perceive two different ideas without any outside influence
Highest, most sure knowledge
• Demonstrative Knowledge
Mind employs intermediary ideas
Less certain
E.g. Humans are mortal, Socrates was human, therefore Socrates was
mortal
• Sensitive Knowledge
Mind perceives external objects
Most limited type of knowledge
Comes from senses

64. Philosophy of Mind
• Personal Identity
• Fundamental Questions about the mind
• What is a person
An autonomous, rational, moral agent
Has rights, responsibilities
What makes a person the same person over time
The soul? The brain? Traits?
Sameness is more powerful than similarity

65. What Makes a Person a Person
• A person is a bearer of rights and
responsibilities
• Needs to be rational
• Needs to be autonomous
• Needs to be a moral agent
Capable of Inflicting Harm
• A person doesn’t have to be a human being
• A human being isn’t always a person

66. Does a Soul Make a Person the Same
Person Over Time?
• As long as the soul exists, we exist, hypothetically
Soul exists post mortem
• Sameness of Soul Criterion
As long as you have the same soul, you will be the same
person
• Criteria for a Soul
A soul must be immaterial
Doesn’t abide by the laws of mechanics
Everlasting
Cannot be quantified
Is not the body

67. Cartesian Dualism
• There are two things that make a human being
The mind (Immaterial) and corporal substance (Material)
• Consistent with most theories of human life (Like religion)
Something about beliefs is immaterial and unexplainable
Something like vision requires an awareness of what exists
• Metaphysical View
Second Meditation; I think therefore I am
What am I?
Not primarily a corporal substance
The essence of the body is extension
Occupies space, can be perceived, quantifiable
If you melt wax is it still the same wax?
Descartes believes it is
You don’t get awareness from a body

68. Cartesian Dualism
• Descartes believes we are primarily thinking substances
A thing that thinks, feels, and argues
A mind, a soul
Properties
Immaterial
Essence of minds is thought
Makes us who we are
• Machines and animals can’t think because it is the soul that thinks
Animals are automatons, machines with soft tissue
• Absolute separation of the mind from the body
Descartes’ Analogy
We are the pilot of a ship that we are strongly linked to

69. Cartesian Dualism
• Problems with Dualism
Using doubt for property divergence
I cannot doubt I have a mind, I can doubt I have a body,
therefore Body and Mind aren’t the same thing
Mind/Body Problem (The Problem of Causation)
How can the mind affect the body and visa-versa so intimately
if they are different
Drinking alcohol can impair the mind, even though it is
physical
Where is the locus of interaction
Descartes believes the pineal gland
The “Third Eye,” likely controls sleep cycle and
dreaming

70. Monism
• Belief that only one type of substance makes everything up
• Subjective Idealism
Everything made has the qualities of mind; all we have is ideas
of things
Nothing is corporal
• Pantheism
Everything that exists is part of God
• Materialism
Denies the existence of thinking substance
Refined version is Physicalism
Everything can be reduced to something
studied by Science, such as energy, etc…

71. Identity Theory
• A form of Physicalism
• Reductionist View
All mental states are identical/reducible to physical states
E.g. pain IS the firing of C-Fibers
• Token Identity
Tokens are a particular event
States are identical, but not directly
Everyone experiences a token differently; if they experienced it the same way, they’d
be the same person
• Type Identity
Types are a a broad categorization of tokens (E.g. pain can be anything from being punched to
falling down)
All pain produces the same state
All mental types are physical types; reduces everything to physics
• Token vs Type in linguistics; saying “Flower flower flower flower” has one type of word, four
tokens (individual instances) of the word

72. Identity Theory
• Refutation
Hilary Putnam says it is too narrow-minded
If an alien with a completely different
chemical makeup feels pain, how would it feel pain
if it has a different brain?
Putnam states when thinking of something
like pain, we should think more of the psychological
state than the physical state
The output is what matters, not the
input
Eventually leads to Multiple
Realizability and Funtionalism

73. Gilbert Ryle
• Wrote The Concept of Mind
Attacks Cartesian Dualism
“The Ghost in the Machine”
Mind and body are polar opposites, every being is
both, mind is the pilot of the ship
• Believes Descartes commits a category mistake
Fallacy when you confuse something that’s part of one logical
category and put it into another category
E.g. going to a university, looking at the individual
buildings, then asking where the university is
States Descartes applies physical words to something
unobservable

74. Sameness of Body Criterion
• We are the same person over time because of
our body
• Brain is part of the body
Therefore, as long as we have the same brain,
we have the same person

75. Embodiment of Self
• Body identifies the person
As long as you have the same body, you will be the same
self
• David Hume
Believes there is no constant immutable belief
Denies the idea of a self
The closest thing to a self is a stream of ideas
“The self is nothing but a bundle or collection of
different perceptions which succeed each other with
inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux”
We are constantly improving and changing

76. Phineas Gage
• Foreman in railway construction company
Many positive qualities, efficient, hardworking,
etc…
Had an accident where a pole destroyed part of his
brain, but survived retaining all of his memories
After accident, many of his traits changed, so
much so that he was called “No Longer Gage”
Indifferent, capricious, irreverent, etc…

77. Transorbital Lobotomies
• Dr. Egas Moniz
Portuguese Doctor who invented the lobotomy
• Dr. Walter Freedman
Invented Icepick Lobotomies in U.S.
Used hammers to drive an icepick into someone’s
brain through their eyelids
Performed all over the U.S.
• In a Transorbital Lobotomy, a part of the frontal lobe is
destroyed to make people behave in socially
acceptable ways
Really made them zombies

78. Continuity of Memories Criterion
• Are we the person we are because of memories
• Need some or most memories to be the person
• John Locke
What makes a person a person?
Thinking being, consciousness separate from thinking, awareness of
who we are, sameness of rational being
• Under this, we can be multiple people in the same life
Gallant Officer Objection
If A=B and B=C then C=A; identity should be transitive
Someone steals an apple at five years old
50 years later, he wins the medal of honor, but still remembers the
apple
20 years later, he remembers winning the medal of honor,
but forgets the apple
In this case, A=B and B=C but A=/=C

79. Psychological Continuity Criterion
• We are the same person because our bundle of traits,
desires, beliefs, qualities, etc…
• Conditions
A=B if A is psychologically continuous with B, and A isn’t
psychologically continuous with anyone else
• What if we were cloned, and our real body died
Would our clone still be us?
What if we survived, and the clone and individual went
their separate ways
If they met again 20 years later, would they be the
same person?

80. Nature of the Mind
• Can something nonhuman have a mind?
• Mind/Body Problem
• How do we know something has a mind?
• Cognitive Sciences
Study of the Mind and Intenlligence
Intelligence System
Something that can potentially be
intelligent

81. Bertrand Russell
• Analogy Argument
We look within ourselves and know what causes us to
behave how we do
When we see others behaving similarly to us, we
put our reasoning behind them
• We assume higher intelligence has the same
experiences as us
E.g. Tigers feel pleasure, dogs feel pain, etc…
• Machines don’t think, but have the ability to do things
that require thought for us
Russell says that machines are missing purpose

82. Functionalism
• What are functions?
Two senses
Purpose of a thing
Equivalencies
y=2x and 2y=4x are different functions, but with the same
purpose and are equivalent
• Functional Description vs. Physical Description
What is purpose vs. the architecture of it
An example would be is an artificial heart a legitimate heart, because
even though it is made differently, it serves the same purpose?
• Anything that satisfies a function is a computer
In the mind of a functionalist, our minds are computers
• Is Cognition computation?
If so, there is nothing biological about thinking

83. Functionalism
• Theory of Mind
• Mental States are explained in purely functional ways
Defined by input/outputs
Follow a rule to go from one thing to another
• Gives rise to computer metaphor
Mind is to man what software is to computer
• Multiple Realizability
Multiple different types of architecture can realize the
same function
• Functions are inherently equivalent
• Nothing biological about the mind

84. Functionalism
• Simulation vs. Emulation
Are they equal
• Can a Machine think?
• Learning
Change in behavior that rises from experience
Do machines Learn and evolve?
• Machines must follow rules. Machines must
be rational and are incapable of irrationality

85. Alan Turing
• Founding father of computer sciences
• Enigma Project
Decoded German Cyphers
• Created the Turing Test

86. The Imitation Game
• Three Participants
Male, Female, and Interrogator
Interrogator must determine which is
which
All are in different rooms and
communicate in writing
Either the male or the female must imitate what
the other would say stereotypically

87. Turing Test
• Same concept as imitation game, but rather
than a male and a female, it is played between
a machine and a human
Interrogator must determine which is the
machine
Machine tries to be human
• Tests whether or not a machine is intelligent
Is fluency in language equivalent to intelligence?

88. What is a Machine
• Three parts
Memory
Central Processing Unit (CPU); carries out orders
Control; Order is obeyed
• All digital computers are equal in the same
sense all humans are equal
All computers can implement any algorithm

89. Turing’s Prediction
• By 2000, machines will be indistinguishable
from humans and there will be a gigabyte of
storage in machines
We aren’t close to making machines
indistinguishable from humans
1 gb is next to nothing today

90. John Searle
• American Philosopher and Teacher at Berkley
• Chinese Thought Experiment
While Searle believes in weak AI, he doesn’t believe in Strong AI; AI with a
mind
If given instructions on how to transcribe Chinese letters, after ten years of
practice, will he know Chinese?
He can do it, but won’t understand it
• Cognitivism
Take the analogy “Mind is to Human what software is to machine” literally
• Searle believes the key to the mind is understanding
Producing the right behavior is not equal to knowing the right behavior
• Conclusions
As long as programs are defined as operations, they cannot comprehend
Has Syntax but no Semantics

91. John Searle
• Robot Reply
If a computer is in a robot, and it did something
similar to perceive its environment rather than
perform operations, can it think?
If equipped with video camera and storage, and it
sees a pig, can it understand the pig it sees?
• Searle believes that a machine can simulate a
human, but cannot emulate a human
With no meaning, it won’t do anything but produce
sequences

92. John Searle
• Reductionism
Belief we can reduce higher level stuff to lower level stuff
Mental states reduce to physical states
• Consciousness is defined by Searle as the subjective
character of experience
Problem is we only have access to our own minds
We cannot understand what others perceive
Believes we cannot explain consciousness through biology
E.g. Bats have echolocation
We understand how it works, but we
don’t understand what it’s like to have

93. Ethics
• Study of morally permissible, impermissible, and
obligatory
What we should do, shouldn’t do, and must do
• Normative discipline
How it ought to be rather than how it is
• Ethical issues
Gay rights, abortion, etc…
Always at least one big ethical issue in the
media

94. Anatomy of Moral Theories
• Ethics is concerned with enabling us to know what we ought to do
• Moral Principle
Moral rule
Articulates what makes it moral
• Rational Principle
What we can follow to make sure we follow the moral principle
• Moral Objectivist Theories
Some actions are always permissible, impermissible, obligatory
No exceptions
• Moral Nonobjectivist Theories
No actions are black and white
Case-by-case basis

95. Moral Objectivist Theories
• Divine Command Theory
God delivers morals
Actions must accord with God’s will
• Virtue Based Ethics
A thing is right depending on the virtue
We must used reason to find the virtuous thing to do
Aristotle defines it as “The mean between the
extremes”
• Duty Based Ethics
An action is only moral if it coincides with our duty

96. Moral Nonobjectivist Theories
• Moral Subjectivism
Relativism
An action is right only if the person decides it is
Varies person to person
Moral Relativism
Morals determined by society
Varies society to society
• Moral Nihilism
There is no standard, everything is permissible
• Consequentialism
A thing is right only if the consequences are good
End justifies the means
Moral Egoism
We do that which makes us happiest
Utilitarianism
We do that which makes society the best

97. Relativism
• Cultural Relativism
Some things are permissible in some cultures,
impermissible in others
Objective fact
Has nothing to do with morality
E.g. slavery was permissible in the antebellum south,
eating certain foods is impermissible in some societies
• Moral Relativism
How it ought to be
E.g. is female circumcision moral?

98. Ruth Benedict
• Draws distinction between abnormal and normal
behavior
Should abide by normal behavior in a society
Abnormal behavior falls outside of cultural norms
How much is influenced by our culture
Is it biological?
• Concludes normality is culturally defined
Most individuals are plastics who are molded by our
society
• Is there something more to a society than societal
norms?

99. James Rachels
• Claims the plasticity of society doesn’t determine morality
• Cultural Differences Argument
People claim there is no objective morality due to cultural relativism
Rachels claims that this idea is not cogent and is unsound
Some societies believed in a geocentric view, others in a
heliocentric view; does this mean that there was no objective truth regarding
the matter because there are disagreements?
Moral relativists cannot defend that genocide is objectively
wrong
Reformers always advocate something immoral under this
• Customs are not equal to values
• Universal Values according to Rachels
Protecting infants
Truth Telling
Valuing of Life
No murder

100. Egoism
• Ayn Rand’s Philosophy
Objectivism, perception is reliable, we can
obtain knowledge through senses, etc…
Criticism is that the pursuit of happiness of ones
own selfish desires is advocated
Predicated on unabashed selfishness
• There is both a descriptive and normative
dimension of egoism

101. Psychological Egoism
• Descriptive dimension of Egoism
• Empirical view of why people act how they do
People act selfishly
• Is it true?
Problem is we can spin anything to be selfish
E.g. if someone jumps on a hand grenade
to save his comrades, we can say he did it out of
a desire to obtain honor

102. Moral Egoism
• Normative dimension of Egoism
• Individual Moral Egoism
People must do what they do in order to make x happy
X can be a family member, a friend, etc…
Example would be the friend who has to control everything
Everything centers around him
Go to his movie, eat his food, play his game,
etc…
• Universal Moral Egoism
People ought to do that which maximizes his/her own
interest/pleasure

103. Plato’s Origin of Justice
• From the Republic
Glaucon and Socrates (Voice of Plato) are the
main characters
“The mean and compromise to do that
which is the best of all (To do injustice and not
be punished) and the worst of all (To suffer
injustice without retaliation); justice, the middle,
is tolerated”
Defends using the Story of Gyges

104. The Story of Gyges
• A warrior in a Greek City-State
Discovers a ring that makes him invisible
• Behavior personifies moral egoism
Can do whatever he wants without punishment
i.e. the best life
• Conspires against king and kills him
• Plato says no one would be able to resist this
temptation

105. Hobbes’ Origin of Justice
• From The Leviathan
All men are equal at the core
All men think of themselves as wise
Delude themselves on the extent of their knowledge
In nature, humans do that which make them happy
Every man for himself, no standard for right and wrong
“When there is no rule, there is no low; when there is no law, there is no
justice”
In order to achieve civility, two things are needed
Social Contract
Unrestrained freedom in the state of nature must be
constrained by laws and mutual covenants
Strong Authority
To prevent violation of social contract

106. Lewis Pojman
• Personal/Psychological Egoism
Selfish by choice; descriptive view
• Individual Moral Egoism
Person who expects everyone to conform to his happiness
• Universal Moral Egoism
What makes me happy
• Attempted refutations of Egoism
Publicity Argument
Self-defeating for the egoist to push an egotistical philosophical theory
If everyone is an egoism, my individual happiness will suffer
However, says an egoism can privately support egoism, but publicly condemn it
Solipsistic Argument
Egoism assumes I and only I exist
Paradox of Egoism
In order to reap the benefits of egoism, one must give up egoism and become
altruistic

107. Richard Dawkins
• Socio-Biologist
Draws parallels from nature to human behavior
• “Morality is a successful strategy for gene replication”
Only occurs in society
• Uses Bird Colony Example
Suckers (Altruistic)
Will groom any bird that presents itself for grooming
Cheaters (Egoists)
Bird that will present itself for grooming, but won’t groom
Grudges (Reciprocal Altruists)
Will only groom a bird that grooms it first
In colonies of suckers, everyone thrives
In colonies of cheaters, everyone loses
In a mix, cheaters rely on the suckers
Determines selfishness is not good for society

108. Aristotle
• Tutored Alexander the Great
• Believed in a hierarchy of knowledge
^ Metaphysics (Most contemplative)
v Ethics (Most practical)
• Unlike Plato and Socrates, had no disdain for empiricism
• Wrote The Nichomachean Ethics
What is our aim?
Happiness
What is Happiness?
Masses “Do not give the same account
as the wise”

109. Aristotle’s Definition of Happiness
• Life of Pleasure (Happiness=Pleasure)
Masses mostly subscribe to this (The “uneducated and vulgar”)
Seek momentary, fleeting pleasures as happiness
The sensual life
• The Political Life (Honor/Status=Happiness)
Pursuit of honor and wealth
Upper classes
• The Moral Life (Knowledge=Pleasure)
The “Chief Good”
Contemplative Life
Knowledge and virtue
Happiness is an end, not a means to an end
Result of a compilation of activity of the soul and a complete life
Happiness is not fleeting

110. How to Achieve Aristotle’s Happiness
• We use reason to learn what we ought to do
• External Things
Need a moderate amount of material objects
Required for happiness
• Action
Must practice a passion
Must know actions are virtuous
Right thing for the right reason
Deliberately choose to do the right thing for its own sake
“By performing brave acts we become brave”
• Use of Reason
• Virtue

111. Virtue
• Intellectual Virtue
Attained through learning/teaching
• Moral Virtue
Attained by doing virtuous things
What you ought to do is the mean between the extremes
Some actions have no mean
Murder, adultery, etc… are always wrong
Some do have a mean
We use reason to find the mean
Fear
Courage(Virtue) Overconfidence

112. Immanuel Kant
• Critique of Pure Reason
Epistemology
• Kant’s Ethics
Deontelogical Ethics
Based on Duty

113. Duty Based Ethics
• What are duties
Things we ought to do, but don’t have to do
“You don’t get an ought from an is or an is from an ought”
Ought to eat right, but not everyone does
There is slavery, but isn’t right
• Consequences are irrelevant
The wrong thing for the right reasons are moral
• How to determine our duties
Can’t defer to authority or religion
Use reason as a rational agent
• Categorical Imperative
Rule to discover our duties
Act on an action if, hypothetically, it would be a good universal law
Must allow everyone to do it
Everyone should be obligated to do it
• Duties must be autonomous, and there are no exceptions

114. Duty Based Ethics
• Hypothetical Imperative
Actions you perform for the sake of something else
Not moral or immoral, since it’s for an end
E.g. studying for a test, which is a means to
the end of the duty of fulfilling one’s own potential
• Problems
Ignores consequences
Duties vary person to person
Absolutely binding

115. John Stuart Mill
• Conventionalist (Nothing is ever true)
• Did not invent utilitarianism, just pushed it
His essay, Utilitarianism, gives a concise
definition of utilitarianism

116. Utilitarianism
• Greatest Happiness Principle
What is moral is what causes the greatest amount of happiness
• What is Utilitarian Happiness?
Maximizing pleasure while minimizing pain
• Consequentialism
Weight consequences and choose best option
• Commonly attributed to the sensual life
Mill states this is a misconception
• Definition of Greatest Happiness Principle
Not happiness for the agent, but greatest happiness altogether
Individuals happiness is irrelevant
Some pleasures are greater than others
“Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”
Uses Aristotle’s hierarchy
Sensual pleasures are lowest, knowledge is greatest

117. Utilitarianism
• Act Utilitarianism
Mill’s Utilitarianism
Weigh each cost individually
Consequences of A vs. B, do that which maximizes happiness
Issues is that it is very time-consuming
What if the time for action passes while contemplating
Is the Greatest Happiness simply a majority?
E.g. if 51% of people are against Gay Marriage, does that mean it
should be illegal?
What if the majority is wrong?
• Rule Utilitarianism
Act on rule of that which maximizes greatest happiness
Create conceptions of rules ahead of time
• Issue with utilitarianism is that it is argumentum ad populum