Week 11

The Individual and the State

I would disagree with Mill, because we are forced to pay taxes, and we are also forced to serve as jurors.  If you decide not to pay taxes in the long run the IRS will catch up to you and then you will be penalized by adding taxes on the taxes you already owe, I think this is not an option.

As for Jury Duty, if you decide to skip jury duty they eventually catch you, the government states that it is a privilege to serve as a juror, and an experience of a lifetime, this is not optional.  No freedom here.

I can agree with Marx, we do need to be able to make our own economic choices, but I disagree that the government whether it is city, state, or federal should intervene in your economic growth, if you make it or fail should be on the individual.

Week 9

This week has been a horrible week, the discussion of GOD leaves me empty.  There are 3 things I do not like to discuss with no-one and those three things are:
1. Religion
2. Sports
3. My life
This has been a week that as a believer I feel hurt when I here someone say that God has no feelings, that he does not exist, that he allows things to happen because he does not feel.  I hope that the coming week is a better one.

Week 9

The Problem of Evil, and Asian Religions

Buddhism may be right in some aspects, to say that we are “preoccupied” with our own desires”.  Generally, when we want something in life and are unable to get it we tend to suffer, we are humans with feelings, are we selfish in wanting what we desire No.  Wanting something in your life is not being selfish, for example:  I want a brand new car, am I being preoccupied with this NO, if this makes me selfish than sobeit, can I afford it NO, not yet.  Will I detach myself from my desires, NO; I need to have desires to be able to accomplish my goal of buying a brand new car. 

I belief that sometimes our suffering is not self centered; it can be other things such as the death of your friends love one.  Buddhism teachings may or may not be right for everyone, we all have different beliefs and society has established its rules and regulations that we must follow, Buddhists must follow their own rules and regulations in their society.

Do I think it is possible to learn according to the teachings of Buddhism; everything in life is possible, we learn to love, to hate and to be.  Some of the teachings of Buddhism can be followed in society; we can try to live in peace, yet we have not succeeded.

Week 8

Cosmological and Design Arguments

Because philosophy is explained more by knowledge and experience, and religion is mostly faith, what is felt by the heart, what man has proposed as being real, such things are explained in a holy book to be real.

Although, written by man, and translated by man, we know that in translating from Hebrew to English and other languages, we know that you can lose some of its value of what is truly being said. 

I was raised with Pentecostal beliefs, we were educated that there is a greater being in this universe; we were told of the Holy Trinity, have I ever experienced a miracle “NO”.  There are scientists trying to deter people from their belief, they explain or try to explain the BIG BANG THEORY that may put doubt in anyone’s heart.

To belief a scientist theory or to belief what you have known all along is a struggle in it self.  I belief that you should not have to struggle if your faith is stronger than your doubt.   I personally think that humans need to belief in something just because.  Those who belief in this greater being have never seen or touched him, yet we belief that he is present in our daily life’s.

Week 6

Another day another 50 cents, it has been hard for me this week between the deaths of 3 patients, not even the machines that kept these patients alive worked, they were just machines. Then we have school, it makes me wonder if this is the right thing to do, but despite everything I am going to continue until the last day.
Now to a lighter note  I saw a movie I Robot, I think that was the name, with Will Smith I liked alot, its sort of what we are learning in class, AI and humans, how they can react to your questions, professor has critiqued some students not all. Oh well just another week.

Functionalism and Artificial Intelligence

Week 6

This brings back memories of a true story written by John Colapinto, “ As Nature Made Him.”  This is a story of a young boy who because of a freak accident lost his identity and was brought up as a girl as part of a cruel experiment. We are made to believe from childhood that we are who we are. We are being taught to do every task as a women would do or as a man would, as a women we are told that it is ok to show emotions and man are told that they should show strength and not emotions (cry), we teach our children how to talk, walk, dress and so on.  We are given the opportunity to decide what is best for us.  Sometimes our decisions may be wrong by other people’s standards, but are correct for us.  We can also make wrong decision right,

Intellectually, we are similar to computers they are programmed to do exactly what the programmer has intended it to do, as humans we are also programmed to do as our parents intend.  If computers are not programmed they are just metal objects without data .  Can the computer have the ability to think, love, and to feel on its own? I can only say that they do not, in order for a metal object to love it must have a human heart and a human mind. As humans we know that we are capable of many things, we have freedom to do as we wish, even if what we do is not right in the eyes of our society.

Week 5

I can't believe this week has past me by so quickly,  there is so much reading and writing to do that I feel exhausted.  Although this weeks class I enjoyed very much, it was creative to say the least, and many of the students did such a good job with their lesson plans, that it brought me back to when my son was in school, where he came home excited because that days lesson was fun and he was able  to participate.  Anyway, week 5 is upon me.  Got to go and read.

Dualism and Physicalism Week- 5

Dualism and Physicalism:

I disagree with Descartes’ where he argues that we are made out of two different substances, he goes on to demonstrate that 1. The body has property A and 2. The mind has property non – A.   We are one a whole mind and body together.  If we had the ability to transplant a brain (mind) to a different body then I would agree that they are two different substances, would this thinking organ be the same in a different body that knows.

I have to agree with being purely physical beings because the brain cannot function without the body or vice versa.

Consciousness  is to be able to think, to be able to write this blog, one cannot work without the other. Consciousness to me is real time.  

Week 4

We have concluded the study of Epistemology, and the last thing I wrote on was Pragmatism and Feminist. Not an easy subject. Women have gone through so much and we have overcome a lot of prejudices. Although it is not 100% equality there is still hope for the young girls who are now finishing college and headed to the real world.  Good Luck Ladies!

Pragmatism and Feminist Epistemology - Week 4

Pragmatism and Feminist Epistemology

I disagree and agree that Pragmatism and Feminist Epistemology are detached intellectual activity.  An individual can have knowledge without experience, and experience without knowledge just as long as they can substantiate their statement.

My definition of knowledge is having the ability to define specific information, I personally feel that in some instances you do not require that specific information to have knowledge, you can take a writing class to be eligible for graduation from BMCC, you can have the ability to write yet not have the knowledge needed to pass.  In other words you can be a great writer but for this class you need specifics to pass. Therefore you may need experience in order to state that you have knowledge. Not all individuals are born with the capabilities of being great writers thus making it seem simple to collaborate without needing experience to write.  

Knowledge equals information with or without experience.

Empiricism -Week 3

I agree and disagree with what the Empiricism claims “The Only Source of Genuine Knowledge is Sense Experience.

I feel that without sense we as humans will not have the ability to appreciate life in this society.  We have our sense for a reason, for example: if we never consumed Puffer fish, and you have heard that it can kill you if it is cooked wrong, are you willing to take the risk or will you pay attention to the advised given to you.  Although, we have not tried this delicacy we can all agree that in this instance we do not need experience.

We all have different belief’s, and were taught those belief’s when growing up, we were also taught to respect everyone’s belief, whether your belief is in the big bang theory or in that great super natural being., Can we proof the Big Bang Theory or that there is a GOD,  no we cannot, has anyone of us touched or seen him No? Do we doubt yes we do, whether you choose not to believe or to believe. This is called free will.

What areas support this theory? Taste, touch, and smell.

Are the Empiricist correct in stating that “when we are born the mind is a blank tablet” I disagree, because there must be something that will trigger our senses, thus giving us knowledge of the world as it is.

If man can create a mathematical problem that can be solved then we will need knowledge and experience to solve it.

“Kant concluded that both reason ad experience play a role in constructing our knowledge.”

Week 2

It is getting somewhat hard for me, it does not feel like an intro to philosophy as some students have greater   thoughts and opinions,  some post are too confusing for me, that I have to leave alone.  I am able to follow some post thus understanding  what the student are trying to say.  This weeks discussion was on Skepticism and Rationalism,  we were asked to view either the Matrix or Inception, both of which were  for a lack of a better word "confusing." I will continue to do the best I can, at my age that is all I can do.

Descartes Methodological Skepticism - week 2

What do you think about methodological skepticism? Do we ever follow this procedure in our daily lives or do the opposite.

Descartes Methodological Skeptism, I think we do follow, and we also do the opposite, I guess what I am trying to say it depends on the different perspective of each individual, we ask ourselves can anyone see themselves examining in detail their beliefs just to prove a point, I for one cannot put myself in this type of situation. 

I believe that many things cannot be proven, therefore there will always be room for skeptics, from childhood we are taught to believe in a super natural being, and as we grow older and hear different opinions based on incomplete information, we start either staying strong to our beliefs or  having doubts.

 In our society this is true in the way we think about jury duty, we must believe that the person being charged is innocent until proven guilty.  But from the minute the DA opens his mouth and starts telling you why this individual is being charge we will make an assumption that they are already guilty, without having heard all of the evidence.

Another example would be; who does not believe in the air that we breath, we know for a fact that without it we are non-existing, we cannot see it, smell it, but it can be scientifically proven it exist. I have never encounter any skepticism on this subject.

“Skepticism can range from disbelief in contemporary philosophical solutions, to agnosticism, to rejecting the reality of the external world.”

Week 1 Philosophy

Hi everyone,

I hope that when I respond to the black board assignment I don't sound harsh,  please forgive me if I do and I hope no one takes my postings personally.

Week 1 Philosophy

My first week seems to be going ok, I have posted  in blackboard my assignment for the week, It makes one feel good to see that the other students are also reading my work, even if  they agree or disagree it is nice to read what opinions other students have of what I have written.

Allegory of the Cave

Week 1:

 In the Allegory of the Cave, Socrates suggests that, without philosophical education, we are all like the prisoners in the cave. What are your thoughts on this? How is philosophy supposed to be liberating? Do you think Socrates is right to be so pessimistic about life without philosophy?

My interpretation is that the individuals in the cave had no notion as to what was going on in the outside world, in the cave those who where chained up could not see the light of day, or the real world but only the shadows that the fire brought to them, their brain was being fed what the puppeteers wanted them to see.

They were blind to the realities of the world outside of the cave; they were unable to think, to grasps ideas, unable to express themselves. They were unable to distinguish reality from what they were used to seeing. 

Socrates paints a vivid scenario, like the people of the cave we have very little knowledge of what is reality and what is not. We allow others to think for us, we accept what is giving to us and we do not question or argue when we know that they may be wrong in their interpretation.

I think it is liberating to be able to think on our own, to make our own decisions, our own choices, to belief in the realism of what is. We are nothing in our own bodies if we are not allowed to belief and express how we feel, what we feel and why we feel.

Do I agree that Socrates is right to be pessimistic about life without philosophy, I agree, if we did not have philosophy we would not be able to examine the basics of life in the society we live in, we would live in a lie just to appease everyone.

What If's in Life

I would like to learn of the "What If's in Life". I always wondered what can we as a society do better in our life that would change the outcome of those we love.


I always ask myself questions such as: 
a.  What if parents gave their children everything they asked for in life?
        Why not hold some of it back, let them earn it.
b.  What if we suffocated our children with love while they are growing up?
c.   What if it was too much, what if it was too little?
d.  What if we do more, what if we do less?
e.  What if we do better?


Frankly, I don't see the solution, you have parents who sacrifice their livelihood  to give their children a safe, nurturing life, a secure home, education and with everything their little heart desire. Then they grow up and don't exactly turn out to be what their parents and society expected.  


What if these children grew up without the luxury of having two parents who not only gave them love but gave them everything, how would these children turn out? Would it have made a difference? Could these children have turned out to be better citizens? I guess there are a lot of what if's in life that maybe will never get answered.


Can we do more, so our children don't become another statistic in the what if's in life.

cmnblog

My name is Carmen and I am new at blogging.  Excited about this class.