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fandomhigh2005-10-20 08:00 pm
brambless.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2005-10-20 08:00 pm
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Philosophy, Week 1. Thursday, 2-4pm
The philosophy classroom is comfortably appointed, with large, soft armchairs arranged in a circle, each with a wooden insert on one arm to lean on while taking notes.
"Welcome to 'The Philosophers'. The idea of this course is to explore the theories of history's greatest thinkers, and to make meaning of them by attempting to apply them to ourselves. In this environment, the difference between theory and reality takes on a whole new twist, and we'll be exploring things like the implications that precognition and time travel have for free will as the course goes on. Course credit will be gained primarily through class discussion, supplemented by a number of small assessments.
Today, however, we're going to start with possibly the most famous of philosophical statements: Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am.
Rene Descartes, posed this question: what if the world around us is an illusion? What if it was all created by an evil demon (his words)? For a more modern parallel, which some of you might be familiar with, I cite to you The Matrix. The premise of this film, for those of you who have not seen it, is that we are all plugged into a machine, which feeds sensation directly into the brain, causing us to see, smell, taste, touch and hear. It is only when a being becomes unplugged from this machine that they realise everything about their life is a lie.
Descartes sought to identify what could be unequivocably known. He decided that he could not trust the things his senses told him, because he had no way of guaranteeing whether they were being tricked by a superior external force. He could not be sure whether any of his life experiences had happened, or whether he was brought into existence the moment before, complete with a lifetime's worth of memories. What he could be sure of was that he existed. The mere act of questioning his existence meant that there was someone to do the questioning. I think, therefore I exist.
Today's task is to identify what you can prove about yourself, and about the world we live in. Do I exist? Do you? How do you know?Are we all just fictional characters?
I turn these questions over to you for discussion."
"Welcome to 'The Philosophers'. The idea of this course is to explore the theories of history's greatest thinkers, and to make meaning of them by attempting to apply them to ourselves. In this environment, the difference between theory and reality takes on a whole new twist, and we'll be exploring things like the implications that precognition and time travel have for free will as the course goes on. Course credit will be gained primarily through class discussion, supplemented by a number of small assessments.
Today, however, we're going to start with possibly the most famous of philosophical statements: Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am.
Rene Descartes, posed this question: what if the world around us is an illusion? What if it was all created by an evil demon (his words)? For a more modern parallel, which some of you might be familiar with, I cite to you The Matrix. The premise of this film, for those of you who have not seen it, is that we are all plugged into a machine, which feeds sensation directly into the brain, causing us to see, smell, taste, touch and hear. It is only when a being becomes unplugged from this machine that they realise everything about their life is a lie.
Descartes sought to identify what could be unequivocably known. He decided that he could not trust the things his senses told him, because he had no way of guaranteeing whether they were being tricked by a superior external force. He could not be sure whether any of his life experiences had happened, or whether he was brought into existence the moment before, complete with a lifetime's worth of memories. What he could be sure of was that he existed. The mere act of questioning his existence meant that there was someone to do the questioning. I think, therefore I exist.
Today's task is to identify what you can prove about yourself, and about the world we live in. Do I exist? Do you? How do you know?
I turn these questions over to you for discussion."
no subject
"I think it's hard to prove the esistence of a single person or idea because things are always changing. Even scientists have had to do many re-writes of what proof they thought they had."