Discussion Fuel

Hello.

Post your philosophical paradoxes and puzzles here.  

For instance, the liar paradox: "The next sentence is false.  The last sentence is true."

Now that your mind is blown, check out the authority that is Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox

Let's talk about it this Thursday, 6pm in Gibson.  I think we've had enough of the victimless crimes / legal rights conversation, so this will be a switch of the ol' gear box.

Let's do come up with some more interesting nuggets.

Throw down!

Intrinsic Value

Hey everyone!
Something came up in class today that I thought started an interesting discussion, that unfortunately was cut short, and I thought you all may find some interest in this.

The overall topic that I was interested in was the idea of 'good' and 'evil' only being valuable in comparison to one another. We started talking about the Stoics and possible objections to the Stoic's view on God. Of course, the usual problem of 'how is there evil in the world?' came up.

Many students agreed with the Stoic explanation that vice or 'evil' was not intentionally created, rather, it was not the purpose of the the all good God, but that it was more like a 'by-product.' That because of the reltionship of opposites evil came into being because good was created. This was found to be a pretty good argument for why there is evil; however, I thought that it would also be in the God's power to negate the relationships of opposites as to diminish evil in the world and that they would do this if it is for the sake of humans that we were created. The Gods could have also created humans in a way that would have our value-judgements be based on something other then the relationship of opposites (which I think may be the case).

It was asserted that this is the way we make value-judgements about our experiences, by comparing them to alternative experiences. That even if there was all good in the world we would take the least amount of good and use it to compare to the rest and would then call this 'evil.'

Before I say what I think about all of this, completely, I am curious what everyone else thinks about the following:

Are 'good' and 'evil' intrinsically valuable, or do they rely on consequences to have value?
Does a religious account of 'good' and 'evil' require that they be intrinsically valuable?
Are our value-judgements based on comparisons?


Start philosophizing!


-A

Loving It

First off, I just want to thank Josh for setting this blog up. I'm really excited to have the option of discussing philosophy ALL THE TIME. Just to to note, we will be posting what's been discussed at meetings, so even if you can't come, you'll be able to contribute, or at least see what's been rattling around in our minds.

Last Thursday, March 13th, we met and had a mix of administrative and philosophical discussion. I sent out an email to the listserv that should give you all an idea about the administrative stuff we discussed. That's not fun, though. So let me recount what we discussed of purely philosophical interest. I apologize if I get any of this wrong. Please correct where necessary.

***

Luke started off by asking whether we were familiar with Ship of Theseus. The idea is that, as Theseus travels down a river in his wooden ship, its planks are replaced one by one with with metal ones, until the ship is all metal. Is this still the Ship of Theseus? Imagine these wooden planks being replaced are at the same time being put together another ship that is identical to the original. Is this actually the Ship of Theseus?

What do you think?

This lead us into discussing the nature of existence in time. I think actually saw Matt glow when we came to this subject. Think about it this way: Does yesterday exists? How about tomorrow? How about two seconds ago? If you say no, you'd be a presentist. Otherwise, we'd be dealing with a 4-dimensional universe, in which time exists as an actual existing dimension, just as space exists. Eternalists see all time as equally existing, that is, past and future and present. This is called the "block universe." Now, maybe you don't think the future exists, but that past time exists; this would be a growing block universe, meaning existence is always increasing with each passing moment. Some hold that the past doesn't exist, but the future does. Hmm. I have zero training in this area, and you may be in a similar situation, so what does your common sense tell you?

I'm curious to hear your responses to these questions!

Best,

Peter

Free Inquiry for All: Right Here!

Friends of Philosophy,

Here is our domain where we may converse in the topics of the philosophical and address the perennial questions that we find incessantly haunt our conciousness, when it never seems to be a Thursday night at 8:00pm.

Make any post you wish. Encourage your friends to do so as well(even if they are not members of VPS). This is a place of dialogue: both appreciated and respected (and wanted!).

Intellectually Yours,
The VPS

"The unexamined life is not worth living."
-Socrates