Category: Philosophy

FAILURE TO RESPOND DIRECTLY TO THE TOPIC BELOW WILL RESULT IN A SCORE OF 0. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SIMPLY WRITE WHATEVER YOU WANT ON WHAT WE READ. THIS TOPIC IS HERE TO HELP YOU LEARN.
Instructions: You are to respond to the topic below using the ideas and concepts we have been discussing in this course. Your response should be between 200 and 300 words. You MUST cite something from within the course (textbook, course pages, discussions, etc.) AND another source you find from outside the course (the Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyLinks to an external site., the Internet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyLinks to an external site., another book, a journal – check out our library’s online resourcesLinks to an external site., Wikipedia, YouTube, a TV show, etc.) when crafting your response. You might want to write this in another application (Google Docs, Word, Notepad, etc.) and copy and paste it.
Paragraph #3 Topic:
The year is 2077 and your roommate just bought a brand new fancy human copy machine. They want to test it out, so they wait for you to fall asleep and put you in it. Here’s how it works: it splits your body exactly in half (top/bottom, so around the waste or stomach for most people), regrows the missing half to each of those, and then copies over the contents of the original brain into the newly grown one. The result is two identical copies of you, one with the original bottom half of your body and the other with the original top half. “You” wake up in the morning. Which one is you? Why? Why is the other one not you? Or why are they both you? Or why are neither of them you? What criteria are you using for identity? Why are you using that criteria and not some other criteria for identity? If you say anything about souls, how do they work in this situation? Why? You look at the clock and see you have to be at work in thirty minutes. Which one goes to work? Why? And finally, your roommate says, “Since there are two of you now, you have to pay for 2/3 of our apartment.” Is that fair? Why or why not?
(Make use of the course materials in crafting your answer.)
https://goldenwestcollege.libguides.com/az.php 
https://plato.stanford.edu/ 

Welcome

File attached below is the textbook

In this chapter we are considering how one’s worldview determines his or her views on other aspects of their lives. The text discusses this in terms of religion because religion “provides a framework for human life, helping us address the most profound and challenging questions that we encounter as existing beings.” Read pages 383, starting at the section “Religious Beliefs Require Sufficient Evidence: Clifford,” (By a picture of Clifford) to 398 (End of chapter) to gain understanding of how some great thinkers have approached the interaction of faith and reason. Consider their approach as you critically examine your personal worldview and how it actually plays out in your daily life. Here are some questions to help guide your thinking. Do not answer these questions.They are here to help guide you in finding the issues that are important to you. Consider things like:
– What is the meaning and purpose of my life?
– What is my destiny, both as an individual and as a member of a community of individuals?
– How I ought to conduct my life? What values should I live by?
– What happens to me when I die? What is the relation of death to life?
– Can we prove the existence of God? What is good? What is evil?
Write an overview of your examination reflecting your current thoughts. Pay careful attention to where your stated worldview is inconsistent with your thoughts, actions, and beliefs as these are the areas that will cause you the most difficulty as you navigate life. I am not looking for anything overly personal (consider everything, but only write what you are comfortable with), and I will only be grading how well you understand and apply the philosophical concepts you discuss.
The assignment must be submitted through Canvas and should be 1 ½ – 2 pages long, typed, double spaced, and submitted in Word format. [lastname_firstname_Homework 3]
PURPOSE: The purpose of this assignment is to help you to identify the areas of your life where your actions do not match your worldview and the issues that that can cause.

Write a 2500-word critical position essay on one of the topics given below. Your assignment should be double spaced. Make certain that your documentation is complete and that you take every effort to acknowledge intellectual indebtedness. 
Both Socrates and the Buddha talk about the idea of self. Socrates seems to stress the importance of self, and the Buddha seems to focus on “no-self” (or de-self). Did Socrates try to teach people to be more self-centered or egoist by emphasizing the self? Did Buddha try to say that we should not take moral responsibility for our behaviour? Might it be possible that they are teaching the same thing about self through different approaches? (Hint: self as a moral agent; self as an ego—these are two different things.)

YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XltuOU1A8Sk
As you know by now, utilitarianism is not only a moral philosophy intended to guide one’s  personal behavior, but also a theory of justice that was developed with the intention of          reconfiguring political systems and rethinking the basis of justifiable laws and policies.      One of   the many questions that utilitarianism must deal with then, is deciding what to do     with  people who have committed serious transgressions. This leads us to the issue of        capital punishment (the death penalty). 
Directions: 
Watch the video, “The Death Penalty Debate”  YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XltuOU1A8Sk
Create a discussion board post responding to the following prompt: 
Perform a utilitarian analysis to determine whether or not capital punishment is a morally permissible practice. In analyzing the practice of capital punishment, be sure to evaluate the issue from the perspective of utilitarianism, integrating.     references and quotations where relevant to help support your position.  

Look the questions and instructions in the picture that I attached.
please do some research, but do also according to the document.

FAILURE TO RESPOND DIRECTLY TO THE TOPIC BELOW WILL RESULT IN A SCORE OF 0. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SIMPLY WRITE WHATEVER YOU WANT ON WHAT WE READ. THIS TOPIC IS HERE TO HELP YOU LEARN.
Instructions: You are to respond to the topic below using the ideas and concepts we have been discussing in this course. Your response should be between 200 and 300 words. You MUST cite something from within the course (textbook, course pages, discussions, etc.) AND another source you find from outside the course (the Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyLinks to an external site., the Internet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyLinks to an external site., another book, a journal – check out our library’s online resourcesLinks to an external site., Wikipedia, YouTube, a TV show, etc.) when crafting your response. You might want to write this in another application (Google Docs, Word, Notepad, etc.) and copy and paste it.
Paragraph #3 Topic:
The year is 2077 and your roommate just bought a brand new fancy human copy machine. They want to test it out, so they wait for you to fall asleep and put you in it. Here’s how it works: it splits your body exactly in half (top/bottom, so around the waste or stomach for most people), regrows the missing half to each of those, and then copies over the contents of the original brain into the newly grown one. The result is two identical copies of you, one with the original bottom half of your body and the other with the original top half. “You” wake up in the morning. Which one is you? Why? Why is the other one not you? Or why are they both you? Or why are neither of them you? What criteria are you using for identity? Why are you using that criteria and not some other criteria for identity? If you say anything about souls, how do they work in this situation? Why? You look at the clock and see you have to be at work in thirty minutes. Which one goes to work? Why? And finally, your roommate says, “Since there are two of you now, you have to pay for 2/3 of our apartment.” Is that fair? Why or why not?
(Make use of the course materials in crafting your answer.)
https://goldenwestcollege.libguides.com/az.php 
https://plato.stanford.edu/ 
https://iep.utm.edu/
File attached below is the textbook

In at least 500 words, answer the following questions:
Are you a Hobbesian or a Lockeian? 
Discuss your own political beliefs; are they more influenced by the beliefs of Hobbes or Locke?
HELPFUL HINTS: 
This week we discover political philosophy. As you read on pages 379 and 380 in our textbook, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke had two very different views on basic humanity and from their views, they each developed distinct reasons and methods for government. If you look closely at our American political arena, you can find both Hobbesian and Lockeian philosophies at work. Which philosophy do you believe and why? Give at least one specific example of a situation that is happening today, either in local or national government. Is the situation more agreeable with John Locke or Thomas Hobbes’ point-of-view? You might like to take that one modern situation and imagine how that situation would end up from Locke’s philosophy, and then do the same from Hobbes’ philosophy.
VIDEOS to HELP: (any personal belief or bias depicted is from the creator of the video and not from the instructor or college)

TOPIC:
You are to take ANY ONE of the paragraph topics (the questions/scenarios that you responded to for your paragraph assignments) from PARAGRAPHS 1-3 ONLY (I will include the paragraphs I did below) and write an extended response to any one of them, making use of the ideas from AT LEAST TWO readings/Lessons and citing TWO external sources, according to the following instructions and guidelines. You can use what you wrote in your original response to the topic however you want or you can start over, it’s up to you.
If you plan on using any type of AI on your assignment (which includes Grammarly), read the Syllabus for instructions on how to use it properly.
FAILURE TO RESPOND DIRECTLY TO THE TOPIC BELOW WILL RESULT IN A SCORE OF 0. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SIMPLY WRITE WHATEVER YOU WANT ON WHAT WE READ. THIS TOPIC IS HERE TO HELP YOU LEARN.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Papers are to be NO MORE THAN 600-800 WORDS and turned in right here on Canvas.  Remember to draw on arguments and examples used in class and from the readings. Make sure to cite any quotations or references to other works (IN A WAY THAT I CAN TRACE YOUR SOURCE). ANY form of plagiarism will result in an F and appropriate reporting. Don’t do it. If you’re unsure what constitutes plagiarism, look it up or refer to this web page for more information: Information on Plagiarism and Academic HonestyLinks to an external site.. If you are thinking of cheating, please just talk to me before you do it and we could work something out so that you don’t cheat.
You are to cite AT LEAST 2 SOURCES obtained from outside this course. While I want you to go out and use more sources, keep in mind that you do only need 2 external sources. This paper is NOT meant to be a complex research paper, but more of an analysis on the topic. However, this research is meant to help you in your analysis, which is part of the reason I am requiring that you do it. Wikipedia is not an ideal source, but you may use it appropriately as a source, mostly for factual descriptions. However, you should always try to approach Wikipedia as a great place to start some research, but it’s best left there. An easy place to begin is by looking at the articles cited in the course readings. You can also locate sources using the Internet (ie, Google Search, Google Scholar, philpapers.org, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, etc.), your own books (I wish!), or any of the numerous research engines available to you through the GWC Library (http://www.goldenwestcollege.edu/library/Links to an external site. ), like the EBSCOHost (and other) Databases (http://www.goldenwestcollege.edu/library/databases.htmlLinks to an external site.), especially the Religion and Philosophy Collection and Academic Search Premier. You can even talk with real-life people! Talk with me or a librarian if you need any help finding sources.
Paper tips/guidelines: The most important thing to do is back up your arguments with good reasons. Create a clear thesis in your paper and make clear, reasoned arguments supporting your thesis. Try to keep your thoughts on point and just say what needs to be said – don’t add “fluff” unless it helps get your point across.
Example of a thesis statement: “I agree with Socrates that Philosophers should rule us.”  If you want to add more, then put your strongest and most important reason into it as well, such as by saying, “I agree with Socrates that Philosophers should rule us because they are so amazingly brilliant and kind.” These would be reasonable thesis statements in response to a question like, “Do you agree with Socrates that Philosophers should be rulers? Why or why not?” THEN you would go on to elaborate in good detail giving good reasons supporting your thesis statement.
Part of your grade will be based on how well you recognize the important philosophical aspects of the topic presented in light of what we have read and discussed in the course. You should first identify these aspects – doing so will help you organize your thoughts and make your arguments. When you proofread your work (and you should do this) you should always think that the person grading it will be constantly asking “Why?” and you should be sure you have answers to these “Why?” questions. If you need more help, read your paper aloud to a friend (seriously, despite how bad of an idea this sounds) – you’ll get some good feedback and notice problems for yourself.
Make sure you CONNECT all of your ideas to each other and always be sure that everything you say leads back to your thesis. If something you are saying doesn’t help you make your case, then you should probably leave it out.
Remember that this is only supposed to be a 600- to 800-word assignment (NO, works cited DO NOT count in this limit), so only present what is necessary for making your arguments. Be sure to properly cite any references. The most important things to accomplish in this paper are making your position and arguments clear and well-reasoned. While you will state your opinions, you must be sure to back them up with arguments. An argument is NOT simply stating something – you must say WHY it supports what you say it does.
Example of a very simple successful paper format: State your thesis. Say why you like it. Give your reasons that support your thesis and then support these reasons clearly using relevant sources. Keep it on point and use the best arguments and counterarguments you can. If you’re unsure how to structure or start your assignment, try this format.
https://www.goldenwestcollege.edu/library/index.html

Academic Honesty

Below the file “IntroductiontoPhilosophyReader2020.pdf” , Please ONLY USE CHAPTERS 1-10. from the reading

Explain in what ways the shadows,and/or puppets, and/or cave in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave are Bullshit using material covered in “ON Bullshit” given by Harry Frankfurt. Once you’ve done this, imagine you are the prisoner who was freed and given your response to the cave and tell the other prisoners and what would you say to convince them if you did? If you don’t think you should go back and tell them after you’ve been frrrd and learned the “truth” justify your reasons for not going back. 

People sometimes kill or cause significant harm to others. And at least sometimes, we think that they are morally responsible for what they have done. But as we learned, thinking this is problematic. What is the problem (I attached my notes from the lecture for answering this, points from the lecture HAVE to be referenced) with thinking that sometimes, people are morally responsible for what they have done? To present the problem, offer an argument with premises and a conclusion and explain why its premises are thought to be plausible. Does the work of Frankfurt, in his “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility,” show that the argument fails? Explain.