Still Trust Your Senses?

Julian Beever creates sidewalk art that looks three-dimensional when viewed from a certain angle. Here's one of his creations:

More pictures of his stuff are available here and here. It's pretty hard to tell that these are two-dimensional drawings. Oh, senses! Why won't you stop deceiving me?!?

ALSO: Here's a very special trailer for my very special Mt. Laurel class.

Innate Ideas? I've Had a Few

Here are a couple articles by Steven Pinker that offer some psychological insights on the innate ideas debate we've been discussing in class:

The Brain’s Versatile Toolbox (1997)

Grammar Puss (1994)

But hey, why read when you can watch a video? With that in mind, here's his appearance on The Colbert Report (the second part is particularly relevant to innate ideas):

Pinker has a few books on this stuff, and a lot of other interesting articles, too. Not everyone agrees with Pinker, though. Here's an article about a South American tribe that might be a counterexample to the claim that there are innate aspects of language development.

The Interpreter
(The linguist researching the tribe explains his case more here. Steven Pinker and others respond to him here.)

One more link. Here's an advanced survey article on the rationalism/empiricism debate from my favorite free online philosophy encyclopedia:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Rationalism vs. Empiricism

Yes, there is more than one free online philosophy encyclopedia.

Link-Tested, Keanu Approved

Here's a trio of links. The first one is a guide to reading philosophy that might help you if you're having trouble understanding the assigned readings.

Jim Pryor's Guide to Reading Philosophy

The next two relate to epistemology and skepticism. The first is about the philosophical implications of the movie The Matrix. If Neo read it, he'd say "whoa."

The Matrix: Dream Skepticism

The last link is an interesting take on skeptical scenarios (or what our textbook fancily calls universal belief falsifiers). Most of us think it's pretty unlikely that we're in a computer simulation like the Matrix. After all, these skeptical scenarios seem so weird. But Nick Bostrom provides some compelling reasons to think that these scenarios may be highly probable, after all.

What's the Probability that We're Living in the Matrix?

(A more advanced version of Bostrom's argument is available here, and a dinosaur comic on this issue is available here.) By the way, if you have any links you think I or others in class might find interesting, let me know. And feel free to comment on any of these posts.

Cherokee Class Cancelled

Cherokee class: we are not having class on Monday, February 18th. Cherokee High School is closed for Presidents Day. Our next class will be Monday, February 25th.

This means that the reading response is NOT due on the 18th. Instead, it's due on the 25th. Also, our quiz will be pushed back to after spring break.

Enjoy!

Reading Response #1

Reading Response #1 is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, February 12th for the Mt. Laurel Class, or Monday, February 25th for the Cherokee class. In a 250- to 500-word essay response, answer the following question:

What does Descartes say he cannot be certain of? What does Descartes say he can be certain of? What are his arguments for these? Do you agree with Descartes? Why or why not?

The response is based on the Descartes reading from pages 58-71 of the textbook.

Deductive Args

Here are the answers to the handout on deductive arguments that we went over in class.

1) All bats are mammals.
All mammals live on earth.
All bats live on earth.

Valid, Sound

2) All students in here are mammals.
All humans are mammals.
All students in here are humans.

Invalid, Unsound (because it's invalid)

3) (from Stephen Colbert)
Bush is either a great prez or the greatest prez.
Bush isn’t a great prez.
Bush is the greatest prez.

Valid, Unsound (questionable premises)

4) Sean either went to school or something kept him from going to school.
Nothing kept Sean from going to school.
Sean went to school.

Valid, Sound

5) Some people are funny.
Sean is a person.
Sean is funny.

Invalid, Unsound (because it's invalid)

6) If Sean sings, then students cringe.
Sean is singing right now.
Students are cringing right now.

Valid, Unsound (false second premise: I'm not singing right now)

7) It either rains or Sean swims.
If it rains, then Sean gets wet.
If Sean swims, then he gets wet.
I get wet.

Valid, Unsound (false first premise: sometimes it isn't raining and I'm not swimming)

8) If Sean sings, then students cringe.
Students are cringing right now.
Sean is singing right now.

Invalid, Unsound (it's invalid, and false second premise)

9) All email forwards are annoying.
Some email forwards are false.
Some annoying things are false.

Valid, Unsound (questionable first premise)

10) If Sean sings, then students cringe.
Sean isn't singing right now.
Students aren't cringing right now.

Invalid, Unsound (it's invalid)

11) All bats are mammals.
All bats have wings.
All mammals have wings.

Invalid, Unsound (because it's invalid)

12) If Sean sings, then students cringe.
Students aren't cringing right now.
Sean isn't singing right now.

Valid, Sound

13) All dads have beards.
All bearded people are mean.
All dads are mean.

Valid, Unsound (false premises)

(More on Sisyphus)

Understanding Args

Here are the answers to the group work handout on understanding arguments.

1. (P1) Fairdale has the best team.
(C) Fairdale will win the championship

2. (P1) The housing market is depressed.
(P2) Interest rates are low.
(C) It's a good time to buy a home.

3. (P1) China is guilty of extreme human rights abuses.
(P2) China refuses to implement democratic reforms.
(C) The U.S. should refuse to deal with the present Chinese government.

4. (P1) The revocation of the 55 mph speed limit has resulted in an increased number of auto fatalities.
(C) we must alleviate this problem with stricter speed limit enforcement.

5. (P1) The results of the Persian Gulf War were good.
(C) The U. S. military is both capable and competent.

6. (P1) Scientific discoveries are continually debunking religious myths.
(P2) Science provides the only hope for solving the many problems faced by humankind.
(C) Science provides a more accurate view of human life than does religion.

7. (P1) Jesse is one year old.
(P2) Most one-year-olds can walk.
(C) It follows that Jesse can walk.

8. (P1) I'm very good at my job.
(C) I deserve a raise.

9. (P1) Freedom of speech and expressions are essential to a democratic form of government.
(P2) As soon as we allow some censorship, it won't be long before censorship will be used to silence the opinions critical of the government.
(P3) Once we allow some censorship, we will have no more freedom than the Germans did under Hitler.
(C) We must resist all effort to allow the government to censor entertainment.

10. (P1) Maebe didn't show up for work today.
(P2) Maebe never missed work unless she was sick.
(C) Maebe is probably sick today.

11. (P1) The United States, as the most powerful nation in the world, has a moral obligation to give assistance to people who are subjected to inhumane treatment.
(P2) The ethnic Albanians were being persecuted in Kosovo.
(C) It was proper for the U.S. to become involved in the air campaign against Kosovo.

12. (P1) The last person we hired from Bayview Tech turned out to be a bad employee.
(C) I'm not willing to hire anybody else from that school again.

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Hat tip: I took examples 1-8 (with some revisions) from Beth Rosdatter's website, and examples 9-13 (with some revisions) from Jon Young's website.