Philosophy: The Big Questions Review

The Big Questions What is a human? A person? Who Am I? Ethics: Good and Evil? What is happiness? What is the good life? Aesthetics – What is art? What is beauty? What is government – What’s the best way to organize society? What is a just society?

What is a Person? What are the characteristics of a person? What criteria matters? Is there a checklist? – Animals, Robots, Coma patients, Children? Why does this question matter? – Technological advancement, abortion debate, euthanasia, voting,

Who am I? What is the concept of the ‘self’ or ‘I’? Descartes – “I think therefor I am” (cogito ergo sum) – nature/mind/rationalist Locke – “Mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) – nurture/senses/empiricist Plato – three parts of the soul (snowman diagram – Reason (head), Spirit (chest), Appetite/Desire (belly) Nature vs Nurture – Twin study, genes, epigenetics, psychopaths, heart transplants, media’s influence (Cool Hunters), gender (what is a real man/womyn),

Ethics: What is Good/Evil? How do we determine what action/who is good or evil? – Nature/Nurture debate – Myths on the origins of good/evil Ethical Normative Systems (set of ideas/beliefs that help determine what is an ethical action) – Categorical imperative/ Duty Ethcs (Kant) – Can the action be made a universal law? Am I respecting the person(s) as an end in themselves or as a means to an end. – Utilitarian (Bentham/Mill) – greatest good for the greatest number – Pragmatists – look from many perspectives, and continually try to get better based on experience – Divine Command – Whatever the Divine (God/Religion) says is right/wrong (10 Commandments) Psyhcopath video (elevator), Harvard video (trolley tracks),

What is happiness? What is the good life? Are there particular characteristics, instructions for happiness or the good life? – Plato/Aristotle – “The Golden Mean” - goldilocks and the three bears – looking for the perfect balance to achieve virtue (excellence). The more virtuous you are the better your life is... – Meaningful vs Happy life (clip from Heroes) Vice (Too Little)VirtueVice (Too Much) CowardCourageRash, Arrogant, MeaningfulHappy - Becoming (always changing) - Must worry about past and future which distracts you from the never ending present. -Being (eternal, stays the same) -Found in the present, the now,

Epicurus – Give me pleasure, keep pain away (worry about who you eat with) Media influence on what we think is happiness/good life Tuesdays with Morrie Bucket Lists, experiement getting rid of distractions in our lives (tech, money, homework), TED talks – is freedom good for happiness, What is happiness? What is the good life?

Aesthetics – What is art? What is beauty? How can we determine what is art, beautiful? Hume – “In the eye of the beholder” Plato – Representation – does it represent truth? Aristotle – Expressionism – does it express something for the artist or audience? Kant - Formalism – does the artistic form itself say something? Art World – do those who are apart of the art world say it is? Animal art, crotched coral, golden ratio, Fibonacci sequence, the Parthenon, curated art show, Body Worlds, Tilley the Dog, House of Fire/Art World, Human Faces/attractiveness,

What is government – What’s the best way to organize society? What is a just society? Ideology – a set of beliefs about how the best way to organize/control society. – The story about how humans should be controlled/governed… the story will give an explanation as to who should rule and who should follow and the reasons for it. – Political Spectrum – Different forms of Government