Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with philosophy

Great papers in ethics?

oddman — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:03:48 -0800

I'm looking for paradigmatic ethics papers. Specifically, I'd like papers that are as clear and influential as Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" and Thomson's "A Defense of Abortion." The papers do not have to be on charity or abortion, in fact, it would be nice to have a paper on some other problem in ethics. Also, I would like the paper to eschew too much theory talk (as the Singer and Thompson papers).

Also, could you offer a brief description and a comment on why you like the paper?

What is the Norwegian Dream?

parmanparman — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:54:06 -0800

Rather than go into the American Dream or the New American Dream, I would like to find out about the real or philosophical "...Dream" of other countries, like what is the New Dutch Dream and the Chinese Dream? Note: don't tell me about sagas! dreams only, please.

How do Kant's metaphysical and transcendental deductions differ?

limon — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:45:34 -0800

In Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, what's metaphysical about the metaphysical deduction (of the categories), and what's transcendental about the transcendental deduction?

PhilosophyFilter: The burden of choice- When did choice come into play?

ISeemToBeAVerb — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:22:27 -0800

I was thinking today about the idea of choice. The existentialists talked about choice all the time- How every human has the "burden of choice". In other words, we all have the "burden" of free will, the choice to do something or to not do something. I know my philosophy knowledge is rudimentary at best, but I guess my question is: when did this idea of choice emerge? Primitive man had no luxury of choice, everything was about survival- So at what point did humans develop the idea of having a choice?

How strange it is to be anything at all?

mjewkes — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:41:36 -0800

Where did the universe come from in the first place? Is there any framework, scientific, philosophic, or religious that addresses where the universe came from in the first place? i.e. where god, the singularity, or the infinite cycle of birth and death arose/came from?

Most readable translation of the Critique of Pure Reason?

limon — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:10:07 -0800

What is the most readable translation of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason? So, I'm just about done with the Prolegomena, and I think I might be ready for the Critique. The problem is that I have difficulty concentrating, so I know that this is going to be a tough battle. So I am willing to sacrifice a bit of accuracy for the sake of readability.

I figure that if I find the Critique is compelling, I will eventually slave through the German anyway, and if I don't, it wouldn't be so horrible to have an imprecise understanding of it.

If possible, I'd also like an edition with clear print, bright pages and broad margins.

Christian Apologetics Podcasts

snap_dragon — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:30:21 -0800

Looking for some good christian apologetics podcasts. I listen to Stand to Reason but was curious if anyone liked or could recommend others.

I did just read Accelerando. Why do you ask?

prunes — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:38:47 -0800

What kind of computing power would be needed to simulate consciousness? My question to you all is inspired by the news of Roadrunner smashing the supercomputing record. Roadrunner, of course, will simulate the behavior of the weapons in the first fraction of a second during an explosion. We also have supercomputers designed to simulate the global weather systems. All this surely is quite complicated.

And so I wonder: what type of computing power would be required to simulate human consciousness (or, perhaps if we wish to avoid walking before we can run, the consciousness of a lesser mammal/primate? In so doing I mean creating a nearly perfect physical model of every atom, its momentum, etc. of both the subject and it's environment.

Of course, actually determining the composition, location, and momentum of every atom poses its own challenges. This feeds nicely into my second question. What about something more simple: building a physical model of human egg and sperm, or a zygote, plus the surrounding environment and then growing the simulated embryo to maturity?

What is "living life to the fullest"?

mintchip — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:12:00 -0800

What is "living life to the fullest"? How to do it? Sometimes I get bored by my life. I am not in the habit of doing a lot of activities outside the home (partly because of a limited budget). Also, it's easy to get stuck in a routine and get too busy with life's responsibilities. I am always thinking about future goals and often forget to enjoy the moment. This seems to be in large part a symptom of modern life. Sometimes, too, I feel pressured to make the "responsible" choice rather than the enjoyable one. For example, I probably could do a more traveling, but that would mean I might not get to save enough for retirement.

Recently I was wondering what I would do if I knew I only had one year left to live. The only thing I could really think of was traveling! Probably I would also watch less TV since I don't think it really enriches my life.

This is a two part question:

1. What is YOUR definition of living life to the fullest? What activities would you be sure to add to your life? What would you change?

2. How can someone get out of a routine/rut and discover new, fun and interesting things to do?

How to do things with JL Austin

limon — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:04:29 -0800

What's the big deal with JL Austin's "How To Do Things with Words"? I'm about fifty pages into this torturous book. I don't see what the big deal is. So some utterances are performative. Why were people as far apart as John Searle and Judith Butler so excited by this? What can be done with this discovery?

Who am I?

hadjiboy — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:03:39 -0800

A Crisis of Identity? All my life, I've been the sort of person to avoid my faith to a certain extent (I would pray and try and be as good a muslim as I could, but there was always so much more I could do, and I knew it). Recently, I've met someone who's awakened that desire in me to finally make the commitment, and it feels great to have begun to do so, but there's another side of me that feels like I'm (I don't even know how to say it...) cheating on it... It feels really weird to be in this sort of position. I feel like I'm being pulled in two different directions, and I don't want to give up on either one of them completely (although I do feel very strongly about my faith now) I have this huge guilt of letting that part of my life go which has been with me for the past 28 years.

What should I do? Do I bury the past and move on with the future, or do I try and create some kind of balance between the two--which would be extremely hard and kind of mentally torturing in a schizophrenic sort of way. I already have enough mental problems as it is so I don't want to be adding to the pile, but I would like some reflection on this subject by people who have been in a similar position and have had to deal with these kinds of feelings of loss and confusion.

Thanks in advance.

I really want to stop wanting things.

phrontist — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:16:59 -0800

In Buddhist philosophy, how is one supposed to do anything? The first noble truth is that life is dukkha. suffering.

So desiring, craving, or Taṇhā are the source of this suffering. So far this is all intelligible.

Where I get confused is the third noble truth. If craving results in suffering, to end suffering (through fourth noble truth) you have to deal with craving, no?

But how do you do anything without desire? You wake up in the morning and you crave food. You want to get up and go do things. You want to learn things, make the world a better place, meditate, or any number of other things.

It seems like if you got beyond craving, you would contentedly waste away. And to even get there in the first place, you'd surely have to desire to follow the eightfold path. This seems paradoxical, and clearly Buddhists do not simply sit around doing nothing. So how does one act without desire? What else is there to act on?

What should I do with my life?

Anonymous — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:12:06 -0800

20-something INTP, bored to death in his corporate gig, asks: What should I do with my life? I'm in my mid-20's. I studied philosophy at a very good school. I'm now working in a corporate job that would probably be a great job if I didn't completely hate it. It's well-paying, humane, and I'm surrounded by smart people. I think the problem is just me. I find I'm unable to work hard on stuff that I don't find intrinsically interesting. I get bored quickly, and I'm not motivated enough by money or approval to overcome it. Some people are able to profitably rent out their minds; I'm not.

I spend most of my time reading papers on the Internet, dwelling on philosophical, social, and scientific problems, and writing lengthy emails to friends and acquaintances about Big Ideas. I don't purport to claim any of this is productive or valuable. But what's clear is I'm not a good fit for my employers, my employer isn't a good fit for me, and I'm just wasting everyone's time and money. It's been this way in my last two or three jobs as well. The stuff I'm good at -- deep thinking, complicated problem solving, coming up with new ideas and working out their implications -- just doesn't seem to overlap much with the job requirements of most jobs.

The question is what to do instead. I've applied to law school for the fall and have gotten into some great programs. I think I'd be good at law. I'm an analytical thinker and I actually take pleasure in working through dense thickets of language. But I'm afraid if I wind up in law, I'll run into the same problems I face in my current job, only worse: I'll be stuck in an office all day (and all night), working on problems I don't find interesting, wishing I could just write and think and work on interesting problems instead. I don't know though -- if I totally hate the practice of law (I'm pretty sure I'll like law school), I could always practice for a few years, pay off my loans, then get out, with a lot more "options" available to me than I have now.

Alternatively, writing/journalism and academia both seem like decent choices. At least with those, I could write, think, and have a lot more control over my work day and the projects I pursue. But they both have their drawbacks: while I'm not out to get rich, I don't look forward to a life of instability, unease, and relative penury that seem to await many people in those fields. I do value security and comfort.

As you can see, I also tend to talk myself out of things. I'm a thinker and an over-thinker. In the process of trying to figure everything out, I just wind up taking the path of least resistance. Hence my current situation. So, before I plunge $180k into debt, please advise me: what should I do with my life?

I want to write for interesting online magazines

0bvious — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:16:42 -0800

I am looking for online magazines to submit art/literature/experimental/fun articles to. I think 'The Believer' magazine is a good example of the type I crave. UK based would be best, but not completely necessary. Any ideas?

Looking for articles on a particular philosophy of education

tzikeh — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:25:54 -0800

I'm writing a monstrous paper on the "cross-curricular" teaching method for middle school and high school. I have searched ERIC, JSTOR, and psycINFO with all kinds of keyword combos, and I'm still not coming up with decent theoretical or empirical articles. I really need the help of the Collective BrainFilter. I'll explain further inside... This philosophy of this method suggests that relating the subject matter you teach (math, history, etc.) to other subjects that the students are studying (literature, science, etc.) and to the "real world" (current events, local news) is a smarter way of teaching than simply concentrating on your subject and your subject alone I can't find anything that explains *why* this theory is a good one; it feels like common sense, but I need to back that up with articles. It's a theory discussed and practiced in many schools, but as far as I can find, there's no data on why we should teach this way -- why it's positive, why it's better than not, etc. I'm looking for both empirical, peer-reviewed studies, and/or articles on the theory itself ("theory suggests that..."). I'm at a loss. Why did I think grad school was a good idea, again?

correct pronunciation of "Pogge"

verisimilitude — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:31:14 -0800

How do I pronounce POGGE? ...as in Thomas Winfried Menko Pogge.

I've heard various versions. Which is correct?

Rorty etext

auralcoral — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:32:28 -0800

I have read Richard Rorty's "Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity" and I find it fascinating. I would like to read "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" but I can't find it in e-text format. Help me out green!

Help me persuade a small philosopher's 'circle' to use the Philosopher's Research Network to distribute papers given at our annual meeting.

anotherpanacea — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:14:06 -0800

Help me persuade a small philosopher's 'circle' to use the Philosopher's Research Network to distribute papers given at our annual meeting. Objections include:
1. Young scholars cannot risk the loss of reputation associated with a flawed article appearing publicly. (Possible answer: papers are vetted by older scholars at the acceptance phase, the circle as a whole during their reading, and anyway, need not be posted until they are judged ready by the author and the circle.)
2. Online publication of drafts will decrease the likelihood of publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
3. Online access promotes plagiarism.

Anyone who has used any part of the SSRN or other online draft repositories successfully, I'd appreciate your anecdotes and advice on swaying the group. I'm especially hoping for refutations of the above points, and anyone who can say that SSRN-like sites have helped their careers or scholarship.

We owe a cock to Asclepius

Navelgazer — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:58:47 -0800

What is the relevance of Socrates' last words? "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Do pay it. Don't forget." I know the story as plato recounted it, and I've seen all or part of the quote reffered to many times, most recently here. Still, I feel like I must be missing some sot of meaning, whether intentional or "found" after the fact, that Im' just not getting here.

I studied philosophy at one of the country's top schools. What am I so blind to be missing here?

Youtube Comments Don't Count

sonic meat machine — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:57:24 -0800

I am interested in finding a good, interesting online academic community—discussion boards, chat rooms, and the like. I am primarily interested in Literature and Philosophy. Do these places exist, or are internet fora pure lulz?

Methods to achieve better tactical and strategic thinking?

DetonatedManiac — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:41:58 -0800

Lately I have been playing many strategy board games and not winning that much. I feel I need to become a more adept strategic / tactical thinker. What books, mental exercises or other things could help me? I noticed it especially in the middle of a 10 hour game of Twilight Imperium, and then the next day in the middle of an 11 hour long game of Axis and Allies. I suffer from strategic bog down, where I can see a number of diverging paths forward and cannot commit to one over the other and execute a unified strategy effectively.

I have also been playing many, much shorter euro games etc, and I have chalked up my lack of winning to the fact that I am playing most of them for the first time... but the more I lose the more I fear my losing streak is due to my lack of good strategic analysis of situations.

I'd say I am reasonably good at tactical decisions, but I know that I let tactical elements influence my strategic decision making too much (ie being too conservative and not knowing when a strategic risk is necessary). Also I have a tendency to get "psyched out" and make silly play errors due to trying to keep the game going and such.

So basically what could I do to improve the speed and strength of my strategic and tactical mind?

Books?
Philosophies?
Exercises?
Logic Puzzles?
computer software?

any ideas welcome. Thanks in advance!

How Things 'Become': The Infinity of Definition

0bvious — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:18:41 -0800

I am looking for writings on the infinity of definition. I am interested in the exponentially divergent curve that is definition.

We create writings and art to better define the world, yet true definition is infinite.

We mediate the universe by erecting borders of definition, i.e. all striped, four-legged, hooved mammals are probably zebras. We categorise the universe into hierarchies, but the more we examine the more pronounced and expansive these hierarchies become.

Language is our greatest defining tool. Yet, the metaphors we evolve to expand the potential of language can themselves only be made to refer back to the language which created them. An infinite loop emerges in most definition.

As new technology emerges we use it to 'add' meaning to artifacts which are already partly defined. By looking at the world with ever more refined microscopes we bring reality into greater clarity. This metaphor can be expanded to refer to texts, art, archaeology, culture etc.

Who has written on the problem of definition? What critical theory has been written on the emergence of infinity?

This question adds on to past questions I have asked at MeFi including (in reverse order):

- Art and artifacts experienced through technology
- The mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts
- Examples of 'The Infinite' in Myth and Their Effect on Conditions of Truth

Here's hoping you have some ideas...

Existential coffee

Mocata — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:35:15 -0800

Does anyone speak Heidegger? If so, which of his terms might be used to describe coffee drinking? I recently had coffee with someone who's written on Heidegger. I tried to turn down a third cup, saying that he must be busy. He replied: 'Take your time, take your time! Heidegger has this wonderful, untranslatable word: [insert untranslatable German word]. It means a sort of flowing. And that is how it should be with your coffee.'

What the hell could the word have been?

Ethics for the Selfish?

agentofselection — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:13:10 -0800

What's an easy-to-read introduction to ethics? My friend wants to learn about ethics. I've taken a course on it in undergrad, but I'm by no means qualified to give him a solid basis in it. Do you know of a book (preferably not a full-sized textbook) which will give an introduction to the theory of ethics and some major schools of thought (i.e. Kant, Hume, Aristotle, whomever else you think is important?)
The friend in question is a businessman, and is into self-interest and capitalism. He is also, however, familiar enough with evolutionary theory to understand inclusive fitness. What he's probably going to be attempting to construct is a personal ethical framework that will tell him how selfish he ought to be (like utilitarianism, but with bigger coefficients for himself and the people he cares about.)
Nonetheless, He'd like to start off with a good solid across-the-board introduction. Ideas?

Philsosophy book with King Lear in the intro?

etoyasu — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:03:18 -0800

Philosophy book that mentions King Lear in the introduction? Some years ago, I came across a book on philosophy in a Borders. Reading the introduction, I remember the author mentioning King Lear and Regan, one of Lear's three daughters.

For the life of me I have no idea what the book's title was. I remember finding it rather interesting, but I forgot why I found it interesting.

Philosophical bookworms, please help me!