Recently in Philosophies Category

IS IT WRONG TO LIE?

"First, do not harm!"

In the episode of House we saw today, Dr. House decides to lie in order to get his patient a heart transplant. In the process, he saves his patient's life. But Dr. House even asks himself, "I want to know what is right!" -- the issues and choices involved are far from clear.

What is your opinion? Did Dr. House do the right thing? The wrong thing? Why? EXPLAIN!

This blogsite comes due on Friday morning September 10, 2010 at 8:00 a.m.

A HEART TRANSPLANT

A new lease on life. Deserved? Or not?

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

Nick thinks so hard he gives himself a nasty headache.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Philosophy (and its close cousin "ethics") is always a complicated yet very personal matter. Our values, our belief systems, the way we see the world - what we consider to be "wrong" and "right." A belief in God or not. An orientation towards the spiritual and the ephemeral (idealism) or a focus on the material and empirical (realism). A belief that we can pursue and know the truth, or the idea that "truth" is only a figment and tool of flawed and isolated human minds - that there is no such thing as "Truth." Or the orientation towards ignoring airy debates on truth in favor of pragmatically arriving at solutions that benefit the greatest number towards the greatest good.

All those different beliefs cover much ground.

In conjunction with your results from the Ross-Barger Philosophy Inventory, please take this blogsite posting as an opportunity to take stock of your own personal belief system. Explain how you personally see ethics and what is your belief system. Please be as candid and honest as possible in sharing your beliefs with your peers and instructor. There is no right or wrong answer to such a question, and please be respectful of the opinions from students who might see the world differently than yourself.

This blogsite posting comes due Wednesday September 10th, 2009.

Audry wracks her brain in another difficult intellectual task - explaining her belief system!

THE WISDOM OF KING SOLOMON

"The 'Solomnic" decision."

A TOUGH CALL

Mr. Geib cruelly put you in the position today in class of having to choose between unpleasant choices, and then you wrestled with the options. In this blogsite posting briefly explain what you chose to do and why, as well as the reactions and comments of the other students in your group. You have the terrible misfortune to have an infant still in the womb diagnosed with severe Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, as in the case examined in class today. What do you do? Why? Explain yourself.

There is of course no "right" or "wrong" answer Mr. Geib is looking for. Just explain yourself and your reasoning, and that will be fine.

This blogsite posting will come due on Friday August 27th, 2008. Good luck!

"THE BOOK OF LIFE"

NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP
Cheryl and Michael Haggard cradle their son, Maddux, before he died at six days old in 2005.

ARISTOTLE AND THE SENSES

DESCRIBING AND CATEGORIZING THE WORLD:
"Knowledge is derived by examining worldly objects."
Aristotle

We have now looked at some of the problems associated with an excess of Idealism -- namely, its all too easy slide into fanaticism. If nowadays Plato would be called a political activist or spiritualist, clearly Aristotle would be a scientist, researcher, and/or a professor. It seems we live more in the spirit of Aristotle when every commentator prefaces their comments with, "Research indicates..." Numbers, polls, data, statistic, reports -- we live in the age of science. Research universities get out respect and money. No theory or "idea" gets far without being backed up by a research-grounded study with numbers to back up assertions. Aristotle would be proud, Plato outraged. British scientist Lord Kelvin once claimed, "When you cannot measure, your knowledge is meager and unsatisfactory." Is that true? Is it so simple?

An era of science and numbers. The scientific process reigns supreme over religious/philosophic insight. What do you think of this? What are your "gut" opinions about Realism?

This blogsite posting will come due on Wednesday morning September 12, 2007.

ARISTOTLE:
"All men by nature desire to know."
Aristotle
Nicomachean Ethics

PLATO AND SPIRITUALITY

FROM THE DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE INTO THE LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE:
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
Plato

THE IMPORTANCE OF IDEAS AND IDEALS

In the past few days we have examined Idealism through the character and thoughts of Plato. We have seen how important he saw human intellect and the quest for truth by use of human reason and intellect. It would be hard to overestimate the influence Plato and Idealism have had on Western philosophy over the past 1,500 years and the guiding metaphor of search for the truth and emerging from the darkness of ignorance into the light of truth. In fact, the philosopher Lord Alfred Whitehead even went so far as to say the following: "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."

After having examined his thought and looked at in the context of abuses of the Hippocratic oath over the past century, what are your initial thoughts about Idealism? Do you admire it? Think it something indispensable for any ethical doctor? A bulwark against abuses such as performed by Dr. Mengele?

Please feel free to explain your "gut feelings" and as of yet opinions that are not fully fleshed out. Although your grade will depend on the complexity of your thinking and depth of analysis, the point of this assignment is to provide a vehicle to move towards an opinion -- not necessarily to have one completely developed (yet). Feel your way towards your beliefs without sounding simplistic or cocksure.

This blogsite posting will come due Wednesday morning September 5th, 2007 at 8:00 a.m.

KANT AND THE MORAL LAW
"Two things fill the mind with ever increasing wonder and awe. The more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness."
Immanuel Kant