Sunday, January 18, 2009
Join the Club!
So, I'm trying to start up a school club -- the "Owning Our Ignorance" club -- devoted to fun and logic, in that order. I've put up a blog for it over here.
Check it out. Please join if you're interested.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Own Our Ignorance
Other sincerely awesome stuff from them is available at Maximum Fun.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Final Exam
For the Cherokee class, our final is 6:30 (normal time) on Monday, May 12th.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Kwakiutl-Doo
Here are some more links related to our discussion of ethical relativism:
- The Kwakiutl from Northwest America [Google Kwakiutl!]
- The Dobu of Melanesia
- Ruth Benedict and Herodotus
- Cannibalism!
- An argument against the DIVERSITY THESIS: cultures morally agree more than they disagree
- A webcam dialogue on morality, psychology, and religion
Monday, April 28, 2008
Links Worthy of a Swine
The second is a slightly optimistic take on our ability to change our baseline level of happiness. This is important to know for an ethical theory that values maximizing happiness:
The next link deals with a famous moral thought experiment, the trolley problem. This gets brought up a lot when evaluating Utilitarianism:
The last link is an advanced overview of consequentialist ethical theories. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, since it only looks at the consequences of an action to figure out whether an action is morally good or bad:
So what makes you happy? WaWa? Ping pong? Cookies?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Relative to You, But Not to Me
Here are some links on ethical relativism. The first is an interview with a moral psychologist who supports a sophisticated version of ethical relativism.
The second one is an advanced overview of various versions of moral relativism:
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Reading Response #4
Reading Response #4 is due May 5th for the Cherokee class, and May 1st for the Mt. Laurel class. The assignment is to write a one- to two-page (250- to 500-word) response on the following:
Explain and critically evaluate the ethical theory of utilitarianism. First, briefly explain the theory in your own words. Then spend most of your response evaluating the theory. Discuss objections to the theory, and tell me your opinion on whether you think it's a good or bad theory. Be sure to defend your opinion with reasons.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Bad Things to Good People
The first link is a collection of resources all about the problem of evil, including criticisms of several different responses to the problem. I mean, wow.
The NPR program Fresh Air has an audio interview with Bart Ehrman on the problem of suffering.
Next is a discussion of the "God works in mysterious ways" response: do we have enough evidence to believe that there is a reason for all the suffering in the world, but humans aren't smart enough to understand what that reason is?
Finally, does everything happen for a reason? This cartoon dinosaur has an interesting take on that question. (T-Rex also occasionally wonders why bad things happen to nice people.)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Extra Credit
The extra credit assignment is due at the beginning of class on Monday, April 21st, for the Cherokee class, or Thursday, April 17th, for the Mt. Laurel class. Your assignment is to write a reading response (about 250-500 words) on the following topic:
This assignment is potentially worth the value of a reading response (up to 50 points).Explain and evaluate your thoughts on God now that we've gone through the philosophy of religion section of the course. In particular, focus on any changes in your thoughts. Have you changed your beliefs about God? Have you changed your reasons for your beliefs? Why or why not? Ultimately, do you think doing philosophy is a useful method in exploring this topic? Why or why not?
Also, just a reminder: the 3rd reading response is a freebie. You don't have to write one, and everyone will get full credit for it.
You're welcome!