Flourishing = Death?

I don't see how Plato can say that his telos is happiness or human flourishing if he thinks happiness can only be attained when the soul separates from the body. Human flourishing is, in essence, living. One can not be fulfilling what it means to be humans if her mind and body are not one. This dualism within ourselves is what makes us who we are and once they are separated we can no longer be human and we cannot flourish.

Religious or Fanatic

I do not understand why it is that Abraham is considered a man in the religious state of being. Yes, he is in a one to one relationship with his good which is God's will, but he blindly and unquestioningly follows this good. Is not the definition of a fanatic person someone who blindly follows their religion (or their skewed perception of religion) without the thought that what they are doing could be wrong? I would have to argue that Abraham planning to kill his son for his Christian god is not religious. This is an act of fanaticism. It would only be religious if he was in dialogue with his god in order to understand why what he is doing is not murder.

The Ubermensch

Something that moved me in class was when we discussed that the decisions you make in your life are only good if you would make them over and over in other lives. This made me really contemplate if the decisions I am making in my life are ones I would repeat if i could do it all again. To be honest, my mind checked out after she said that because I was thinking so intently about how that applied to me in my life. I feel like if people kept this idea in the back of their minds fewer bad decisions would be made.

Horizons

When Dr. Layne asked the class if we had any preconceptions
when Nietzsche's name was brought up I didn't raise my hand,
but there were a few things going through my mind. I didn't
really know anything about Nietzsche, but I thought of a
tyrant and an unreasonable, hateful person. As the
lecture went on, however, I found that I agreed with many of
his ideas, other than the thought that atheism is a plague. I
especially liked the idea that a healthy culture is one that
is unafraid of other world views and that can embrace other cultures.

"The Earth is Flat"

I have been thinking a lot about what we discussed in class involving Mill's Liberty. I thought the part about how invalid thoughts must also be heard was very intriguing. I hadn't really thought much about it before, but the point Dr. Layne made in class about listing to all opinions, even if they are blatantly wrong, to make your own arguments stronger integral to belief of anything.

Cage of Masculinity

In class on the 9th Dr. Layne used the analogy of a dog in a cage as a metaphor for virtue. I related this to my paper about Plato suggesting that women cannot be successful or powerful without neglecting their feminism and accepting a veil of masculinity and asexuality. Woman cannot flourish and fulfill her purpose of being human in finding happiness if she is trapped in a patriarchal and sexist cage.

Class scribe 1-26-11

In class Wednesday we discussed philosophy in cosmology. We examined the word cosmos and fond it to mean something extra like jewelry or cosmetics. Dr. Layne them brought up the question “why something rather than nothing?” We went over the term arche, and related it to architect or original craftsman. This is what makes up all things in the universe. we studied different philosophers’ arches, or what they thought to be the origin or first building block of the universe. Thales was an epistemological optimist and believed the arche of the universe was water. He found unity in all things by relating them to water. He believed this because all things need water to live, it makes up most of the world, it makes up most of us as people, it has different states (gaseous, solid and liquid), it is naturally malleable and you cannot destroy it. I believed that the mind and soul flowed like water, and if you truly know yourself, you know all things.
Anaximander is an epistemological pessimist. He believes that the arche is infinite and cannot be defined or articulated. He believes when you describe someone you are doing them a disservice, because people are constantly changing their identity and all that they are could never be put into words. Like the arche, people are infinite, and indefinable. “My identity does not precede me, for I am constantly creating it”. He appreciates mystery in people and relationships.
Anaximenes is an epistemological optimist. He believed the arche is air, and he believed in measurable certainty, and not relying on just “wisdom” to state facts.
Pythagoras is an epistemological optimist. He believes the arche is numbers. He did not feel that there is a material arche but an abstract one. Knowledge is mathematical certainty and all things can be understood (even the workings of the human brain through waves) mathematical formulas. He finds unity in numbers.
Xenophanes believe there are no anthropomorphic gods. They believe that god has nothing to do with anything that we think he does. Monotheists believe that god things as a whole, sees as a whole, and hears as a whole. We cannot have complete knowledge, because that is only for God.

Synergy

In class I found the idea of the social contract theory vs. transcendence a very interesting subject. The example used in class about reasons for marrying another person is something I have thought of before. The way Dr. Layne presented that argument gave me another a different perspective on something i had already put much thought to. I believe that different people have different reasons for entering into a marital contract, but I mush take an optimistic view on this and say that I think it, for the most part, is because two people sharing a deep trust with one another. It is because of synergy found with that person that makes you more than just yourself.

The Ficad of Truth

"Did you know that the word "person" comes from the Latin word "persona", which means mask? So maybe being human means we invite spectators to ponder what lies behind. Each of us will be composed of a variety of masks, and if we can see behind the mask, we would get a burst of clarity." This is a quote from the movie War Inc. that has always intrigued me. It came to mind in class when we were discussing what makes a person themselves. I am fascinated by this idea of not being able to pinpoint something that makes us who we are. I had no interest in philosophy until the first day of this class. I am positive now however that this class is going to keep me on my toes this semester and keep me thinking. I look forward to it.