October 2010
2 posts
June 2010
2 posts
RITHMOMACHIA →
The Philosophers’ Game
About the Philosophy for Secondary Students... →
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May 2010
1 post
Socrates and Glaucon on the Home Shopping Network
SOCRATES: Good evening, Glaucon. You look troubled.
GLAUCON: I am, Socrates.
SOCRATES: What worries you so?
GLAUCON: Look at my kitchen floor. That brown scum is the stain of fowl livers. I spilled them earlier today and cleaned them up, but the stains remain.
SOCRATES: I see.
GLAUCON: The stains are attracting countless pests with their foul odor and bacteria. There is no way to clean them up.
SOCRATES: Are you sure of that?
GLAUCON: Yes. To do so, I would need some convenient means of cleaning and sterilization.
SOCRATES: And you are convinced such a means does not exist?
GLAUCON: Socrates, I have lived in this city for the majority of my life and, knowing the things I know, I do not think it is possible for something to clean and sterilize at the same time.
SOCRATES: Tell me, Glaucon, what does "clean" mean?
GLAUCON: Why, it means the opposite of dirty, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Surely it must mean something more than that.
GLAUCON: I don't understand, Socrates.
SOCRATES: If "clean" means the opposite of "dirty," then to clean is to rid a space of dirt or plague, yes?
GLAUCON: Yes, Socrates.
SOCRATES: So cleanliness is the complete obliteration of dirt, bacteria and unsightly stains. Am I right?
GLAUCON: Yes, Socrates.
SOCRATES: So to effectively clean, one must also sterilize, as a sterile surface is one that is also not dirty?
GLAUCON: Yes, Socrates.
SOCRATES: But an ordinary mop will not do this?
GLAUCON: No, Socrates. Look what a hassle it is for me to use! And none of the stains are coming off!
SOCRATES: Yes. It is quite impossible to get one's kitchen satisfactorily clean with an ordinary mop. But one could add Dirt-Fighting Technology™ to an ordinary mop, could he not?
GLAUCON: It depends on what sort of technology it is.
SOCRATES: It would consist of the elongation of the mop's bristles and an internal motor that causes the mop's head to swivel conveniently with the flip of a switch.
GLAUCON: Then yes, I agree that one could add such technology to an ordinary mop. But would it still be an ordinary mop, Socrates?
SOCRATES: Very astute, Glaucon. It would not. For convenience's sake, let's call it the EZ-Klean Mop™. Now answer me this: would the EZ-Klean Mop ™, given that it has the Dirt-Fighting Technology™ I've just described, be able to more effectively rid spaces of dirt or plague?
GLAUCON: Yes.
SOCRATES: So you agree that it can clean better than an ordinary mop?
GLAUCON: I believe so.
SOCRATES: You're not fully convinced?
GLAUCON: I see that it can clean, but how will I sterilize my kitchen floor with it, Socrates? I need to get these stains out.
SOCRATES: I will answer your question with a question, Glaucon. What do you suppose the good men at Monsanto have been doing for the past fifteen years?
GLAUCON: I don't know, Socrates.
SOCRATES: They've been developing a Dirt-Fighting Formula™ that is stronger than any soap. This formula is safe to use in the home, and it can sterilize any surface. Do you suppose such a formula could increase the cleaning power of the EZ-Klean Mop™?
GLAUCON: Yes, Socrates.
SOCRATES: And you've already admitted that, with its longer bristles and swiveling head, the EZ-Klean Mop™ can clean far better than an ordinary mop, have you not?
GLAUCON: I have.
SOCRATES: And I've just said that the Dirt-Fighting Formula™, which is sold with the EZ-Klean Mop™, can sterilize any surface, have I not?
GLAUCON: You have.
SOCRATES: So it seems to me that such a thing exists which can both sterilize and clean: The EZ-Klean Mop™.
GLAUCON: Why, you're right, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Are you satisfied now, Glaucon?
GLAUCON: Well... not just yet, Socrates. I'd like to own such a mop.
SOCRATES: You can, Glaucon. How much are you willing to pay for the EZ-Klean Mop™?
GLAUCON: Sixty dollars.
SOCRATES: But the mop only costs $49.99, Glaucon. As this is less than you were originally willing to pay, I assume you would willingly pay this amount.
GLAUCON: Yes, Socrates!
SOCRATES: Call the number at the bottom of your screen, Glaucon, and the EZ-Klean Mop™ will be shipped directly to your home. And if you call now, you'll receive a free can of SprayOn Hair™. Bald to fab in minutes!
GLAUCON: Thank you, Socrates! This will make my life so much easier!
SOCRATES: Do not thank me, Glaucon, for I have merely demonstrated to you what you already know about the EZ-Klean Mop™.
(via McSweeny's.)
April 2010
5 posts
Mike Anthony Wages a Cold War on Stalinist...
This paper raises and defends three classes of objections to Ted Sider’s argument from vagueness in his recent work, Four-Dimensionalism. The first class argues that Sider’s case for four-dimensionalism is superfluous, that is, “mereologically promiscuous three-dimensionalists” can accept his argument yet maintain a compatible variety of three-dimensionalism that accepts the existence...
March 2010
21 posts
Why Some Horror Films are Immoral
Dr. Scott Woodcock:
Are horror films immoral? Gianluca Di Muzio argues that horror films of a certain kind are immoral because they undermine the reactive attitudes responsible for being disposed to respond compassionately to instances of victimization. Specifically, he claims that it is immoral to produce, distribute or view “slasher” films in which narration is focused on the graphic depiction...
Arundhati Roy: "Walking With The Comrades" →
“The ideal, as we conceive of it, is unshakable. You can’t step outside it....”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
PSU Movie Night!
“Faust” · Germany · (1926) WITH LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT
Date: Friday, March 19, 2010 Time: 9:15pm - 11:30pm Location: Cinecenta (UVIC Student Union Building)
COME JOIN THE PSU AND WATCH FAUST, MAN
Enormously imaginative and epic in its scope, Faust is the archetype of all fantasy films and a beautiful rendering of Goethe’s tale of God and Satan’s wager over the fate of Dr....
Some Conference Updates!
Here are some updates on the schedule for the Conference: Revised Schedule
8:30 - 9:30 Breakfast! 9:30 - 10:40 Introduction and Undergraduate Presentations (#1 & 2) 10:40 - 10:50 AM Break! 10:50 - 11:40 Undergraduate Presentation #3 11:40 - 12:40 Lunch! 12:40 - 1:40 Keynote Address: Dr. Mike Raven on “There is a Problem of Change” (Click for the...
Laura Marino Rugeles' Abstract
Here is Laura Marino Rugeles’ (VIU) abstract for “Libertarianism without Luck”:
In this essay I will critically examine M. Almeida and M. Bernstein’s answer to Robert Kane’s solution to the “luck principle” (LP) challenge to libertarianism. In “Responsibility, Luck and Chance,” Kane questions the connection between indeterminism and luck. Kane’s position is that indeterminism...
Angella Yamamoto's Abstract
Here is Angella Yamamoto’s (University of Alberta) abstract for “Could Reasons for Belief Undermine Earl Conee and Richard Feldman’s Evidentialism?”
In this essay I focus on Earl Conee and Richard Feldman’s version of evidentialism. In particular I attempt to distinguish between evidence and reasons for belief and then attempt to assess the consequences of this...
Alexandra Mogyoros' Abstract
Here is Alexandra Mogyoros’ (University of Guelph) abstract for “The Ethics of Bio-banking”
As scientific research and biotechnologies continue to advance at an unprecedented pace, it is of the utmost importance that we critically and actively explore which ethical frameworks will be the most appropriate to govern these technologies.
Biobanks, that is, repositories used to...
Sam's Abstract
Here is the Abstract for Sam Girmwarnauth from Grand Valley State University:
This paper aims at briefly sketching, first, the foundations for the possibility of having an ethical theory. My overarching concern and argument is that the foundations of ethics is metaphysical; we must understand the principles of human nature before we can theorize about human action and place value upon those...
LETS GET META-METAPHYSICAL
Are you complacent with your ordinary relativistic Physics?
Has your Metaphysics lost that spark?
Why not try getting META-METAPHYSICAL
with Dr. MIKE RAVEN at
THE WESTERN CANADIAN
UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE
IN PHILOSOPHY
all day SATURDAY, MARCH 13th
in the DAVID LAM AUDITORIUM (MACLAURIN BLDG)
...
February 2010
3 posts
January 2010
9 posts
PMS, Conference, Colloquia, Cocktails?
Dear Philosophically Minded Students, Some events for you this week: PMS! Tomorrow at 8:00PM! Pierre will be hosting another P.M.S. night tomorrow night at 8:00 in Felicitas. I gather that the last go was a success so if nature is uniform and the past is a reliable guide to the future, this one should be a lot of fun as well. The concept is to have an informal discussion, rant, rave, or a...
Klaus Cafe now a Billingsley Affair
PLURALISM - REASONABLE?
Just an update for those who were looking forward to the much anticipated Klaus Cafe. Due to miscommunication on my part we will have to postpone our close readings of the critique of practical reason to some later date. But, we do have the next best thing for this Thursday at 2:30. Our own James Billingsley is giving a talk over at UBC this Saturday and we thought we...
CLUB DAZE, PMS, KLAUS CAFE
Dear Philosophy Students! Lots of news for you with the start of this new semester. Before we get to business, Sean Harrison provided a humourous disclaimer to a Metaphysics class which might be helpful for those of you looking to take Mike Raven’s Intro to Metaphysics 200 class. For your viewing pleasure at http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~ronald/310-Disclaimer.pdf . Also, stop by our website,...
Formal Ontology →
“I’m gonna pull a Frege on you.”
– E.H. Kluge
December 2009
10 posts
“Die Welt hat eine feste Struktur.”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ancient Goods
Dr. Brad Inwood
University of Toronto
“Go on, then, if you want, make your classifications and lay out your fancy distinctions of goods into three or four or many kinds! These categorizations have no bearing on the issue and this isn’t the way to bring us over to Plato.” This complaint from the Platonist Atticus reflects a long history of debate about the good. Is there just one kind of good or are the complex classifications we find in later ancient texts closer to the truth? One naturally thinks of Plato’s Form of the good or the Stoic idea that only virtue is good, but also of the Stoic claim from the second century BC that it was Plato’s position that only the *kalon* (which to a Stoic meant virtue) is good. At the same point in the second century BC, the Peripatetic Critolaus seems to have galvanized debate about the way virtue and other goods (of soul, body, and external circumstances) relate to happiness and so sparked the intense debate on this topic which seems to have dominated the first century BC, as we see from Cicero’s *De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum*, among other sources.
In this paper I try to reconstruct the history of the doctrine that there are goods of the body, goods of the soul (virtue, of course), and external goods, along the way pointing to the moral of the story; that such technical classifications can sharpen debate about the good life, but can just as easily undermine it if taken too far and provoke a philosophical ‘backlash’. Platonists, Peripatetics and Stoics were all involved, but the positions taken do not align with school affiliations; the philosophical inclinations of individuals seem to play a greater role. Whether this historical exploration has any relevance to those concerned with value theory today is a question I leave to the audience to decide.
When: 1:00 PM, Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Where: Clearihue B315
Who: Everyone Welcome!
“If the basic principles of existing communities really embodied a decent...”
– Allen Wood
“I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history....”
– Martin Luther King
Dr. Macleod explains the Difference Principle.
BIV Trolley Problem
Consider the following case:
On Twin Earth, a brain in a vat is at the wheel of a runaway trolley. There are only two options that the brain can take: the right side of the fork in the track or the left side of the fork. There is no way in sight of derailing or stopping the trolley and the brain is aware of this, for the brain knows trolleys. The brain is causally hooked up to the trolley such...