Philosophy - What's Your Question?

The goal for today is simple: to identify the question you will work with for your project.

Now, I'll admit, it's not exactly easy to do this, so there are some steps I'll suggest for today.  Before I even get to those, I'll add a few things:

1. Although your question proposal is due at the end of the period, this is your preliminary question.  This means it is a starting point for your journey.
2. You will still both widen and sharpen the focus of your question as you move forward and explore various aspects of it.
3. If you find another question you'd rather answer, you can still switch - it is your project, after all.

Here is a set of suggested steps to follow today.  You don't necessarily need to do all of them but I think you'll find it to be a good use of your time.

Also, I'll say this frequently, but I highly recommend doing all of this in writing - in whatever format you like.  If you want to create a blog to use for this project, I'll be happy to help you set one up - it takes minutes!

1. Brainstorm a list of potential questions.  These can come from a variety of sources, including:
1. Your previous writings for this class - think about all of the great issues you've already addressed and thought about for your essays.
2. The lists I provided you with on the handouts - open and read "Some basic philosophical questions" and "Forming philosophy questions."
3. Browse around through the websites you've linked to: the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Philosophy Pages, and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
2. Do some preliminary research of your question.  I'll do a short demonstration of this at the start of class today.
1. Scan through what other writers and thinkers have said about your issue.
2. Think of a variety of different words associated with your topic (we'll spend a lot of time on this next week) and try them in your search.
3. Try taking this quiz - if it's working.

Lastly for today, complete the "Philosophy Question Proposal" - you'll find it under the "handouts" tab on the blog.  Please note that you are not turning in a paper version of this.  Instead, once you have completed the form and saved it in your "my documents" file, you will upload it to TurnItIn.com.

Good luck!  A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step!

Philosophical discussions and first thoughts towards your question

For today you have two tasks that will move you towards naming your question.
As the bottom of this post you will see the homework for Monday.

1. Find a partner.  You will have a typed conversation about one of the issues that came up during our discussions of Man's Search For Meaning.  It can be from the final section of the work you did on Tuesday, or even from one of the opening set of questions we addressed.  You can find that earlier handout by clicking here.
1. For your conversation - which will essentially be a practice run for the dialogue section of your project - you should start out with an opening statement that goes something like this: "Frankl raises the question of ... and he claims ...." 
2. You'll follow this by talking about your beliefs in relation to the issue: "I agree / disagree / am not so sure because..." then add in an explanation of your thoughts about it.  Try to use a specific story or example to illustrate your point.
3. Switch computers.  Read what the previous person had to say, and then respectfully respond to their points.  It should start with something like, "I agree / disagree / am not so sure about what you are saying because..." then add in an explanation of your thoughts about it
4. As the conversation continues, both of you should work towards gaining a fuller understanding of your point and what the other person has to say.  To get there, use some of the questions we used on Tuesday: 
1. What the other person's assumptions and premises?
1. What is s/he assuming to be true?
2. What conditions is s/he assuming to exist?
3. What is s/he suggesting about the different people involved?
2. What are its implications?
1. If this is true then what else is true? Why?
3. What different types or contexts exist?
1. When does / doesn’t it work?
4. What do the specific terms mean?
5. Who else shares this belief or perspective, and why?
1. Are there other people who this does / doesn’t apply to? Why?
5. Go for about 15 minutes.  Save your results.
2. Choose a new topic from the list below.  Choose a new partner.  You and your partner must have different topics.  Repeat the process detailed above for these two new quesions, with each person starting off one of them with a personal statement.  These do not need to connect with the book.

1.      On bodily death, a person continues to exist in a non-physical form

2.      The ultimate goal in life is to live as pleasurably as possible.

3.      Democracy is the best form of government.

4.      God exists.

5.      I am now the same person as I was when I was 5 years old.

6.      I am always responsible for my actions.

7.      To allow an innocent child to suffer needlessly when one could easily prevent it is morally
         reprehensible.

8.      Ghosts exist.

9.      One day there may be computers that understand Shakespeare better than I do right now.

10.  It is wrong to impose the death penalty.

11.  There are universal moral standards that apply to all human beings regardless of where they live.

12.  The best way to treat depression is to inject chemicals into the brain.

13.  If I had been born into a different environment, I might have become a professional killer.

14.  It is impossible to know anything with absolute certainty.

15.  The future is fixed; how one’s life unfolds is a matter of destiny.

16.  The life of a young child is more valuable that the life of a 22-year-old college student.

17.  If God does not exist, then there are no moral obligations.  In this case, no action would be right  
       or wrong.

18.  It is impossible to be truly happy if one is an immoral person.





Hopefully all of this thinking today gave you a lot to think about!  For Monday, please refer to this handout - it discusses how to move towards creating your question.

By the end of class Monday, you will complete this form which describes your proposed question.

The Philosophy Project

Here is a link to the handout describing the philosophy project.

Here is a link to the power-point I shared in class today, showing 13 essential philosophical questions.

Man's Search For Meaning - Developing Philosophical Questions

For our work with Frankl's book today, please refer to this document.

Man's Search For Meaning - opening thoughts

On Monday we started the final book we'll read together, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning.

To get us thinking about the Holocaust and what we already know about it, we shared stories then read this quotation from Elie Wiesel's Night, a book many of you have already read:

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

 

We noted how in this brief excerpt Wiesel raised issues about his faith, his beliefs, the actions and inactions of those around him, and what it means to go on living after such an experience.

 

Today we'll start reading Frankl's book to see how he raises and explores these questions, in addition to a few others.

 

Here is a link to the calendar for the unit.

Here is a link to the handout, including questions, we'll use for our initial reading.

Existentialism

Here are the PowerPoint slides I shared in class when I introduced the philosophy of Existentialism:

The Stranger - Six Word Stories

Today in class you wrote a 6-word version of the relationship between Meursault and different characters in chapters 4 and 5 of part 1.  Here they are;

Chapter 4 - Meursault and Marie

• no emotional commitment - a physical desire
• physically attached but not emotionally attached
• Marie's clingy; Meursault's distant.  They're awkward

Chapter 4 - Meursault and Raymond

• Casually ignoring elephant in the room
• Raymond uses Meursault for meaningless friendship
• Raymond dictates and confides; Meursault compies

Chapter 5 - Meursault and Marie

• She's desperate; he couldn't care less
• He's just not that into you

Chapter 5 - Meursault and Robot Woman

• In love with someone like him

Chapter 5 - Meursault and Salamano

• Old man rambling about old memories

Chapter 5 - Meursault and his boss

• wants to obey but no obligation
• they aren't close and don't care