Philosophy class #5, Thursday, 2-4pm

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Tara looks exhausted. She snaps straight into business, without any of her usual smiles for incoming students.

"Still on free will, folks. The principle of alternate possibilities, also known as the could-have-done-otherwise principle.

"In a nutshell: if I cast a spell on you to make you, oh... hop on one leg - that's not free will, right? It was a spell, not your choice.

"Now that's a trivial example. Let's take a more extreme one. At this moment you are sitting there, not attacking me. I'm very, very grateful for this, by the way, and I urge you all to maintain that state of affairs. However - is that free will? The events of your life and personality have led you to this moment in time. In this moment do you have the ability to make another choice? Or is it so far beyond who you are and what is appropriate in this forum that it is not a choice? What if I cast a spell on you to prevent you from attacking me? Does the fact that you're not still remain your free will, or have I removed that?"

[ooc: And many thanks to Wilson, both for improving my somewhat emo mood, and pointing out that I posted in this the wrongest possible place.]

Comments

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Last week I gave you your first out of class assignment. Please leave them on my desk before you leave.

Your task is to have one conversation this week that exists purely in the now. Make no references or assumptions to anything other than that precise moment. What can you communicate in that way? How does it change your processing of the world? Hand in a written report.

Class discussion

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Those of you who have not been commenting? I remind you that this class is graded primarily on discussion. If you don't talk, you will fail. I reserve the right not to warn you again.

[shane-mcc.livejournal.com]

Shane chews thoughtfully on the cap of her pen. "I think... a lot of it is my life and personality but... it's society, too. Or...the society... in the world I came from, at least. Violence wasn't a solution, it was a problem. We were always taught that... you do bad things and hurt other people, you have to be punished for that. Or, I guess maybe... the way Professor Tick would say... is... they have to... answer to justice."

"So... if you cast a spell on me... to do something that I know is wrong and that I, personally, wouldn't want to do anyway...?" She trails off, scratching a hand through her hair as she shrugs. "I don't know."

[demonbelthazor]

Belthazor approached Tara before class. "Phoebe won't be in class today," he said, handing her the doctor's note. "Or Ethics tomorrow. She's got the flu and she needs to rest."