Reading and Study Questions

  • 4/7: 
    • Descartes argues that he cannot be certain that his beliefs acquired through his senses are true. He proposes two different possible scenarios that explain why he could be wrong about these beliefs. What are the two skeptical scenarios he describes?
  • 4/11:
    • According to Grau, how does Nozick's "experience machine" work? What does it do?
  • 4/14:
  • 4/18:
    • Try to explain, in your own words, what Hume means when he says the following: "[T]he effect is totally different from the cause, and consequently can never be discovered in it. Motion in the second billiard-ball is a quite distinct event from motion in the first; nor is there any thing in the one to suggest the smallest hint of the other."
  • 4/19:
    • Greene claims that "the idea that you perceive with your mind actually contains two ideas inside it." What are these two ideas?
  • 4/21:
    • Moore considers a common argument skeptical argument, and says that the "first part of the argument is a consideration which cuts both ways." Why does he say this? What does he mean when he says this?
  • 4/25:
    • According to Long, in order to faith to be morally acceptable, two important conditions must be met. What are these two conditions?
  • 4/28:
  • 5/3:
    • As discussed in the Korcz article, the word 'possible' has multiple meanings. When we say that a miracle consists in God doing something "impossible", what exactly do we mean?
  • 5/9:
    • What, according to Gracia and Sanford, is "the task of metaphyiscs"?
    • According to the article, what is a "dualistic metaphyiscs"?
  • 5/16:
    • According to chapter 9 of the Diamond Sutra, there is "no such condition as that called 'perfective enlightenment'." Why is this, exactly?
    • In chapter 17, the Buddha states, "I must liberate all living beings; yet when all have been liberated, verily not anyone is liberated." What do you think he means by this?
    • Why, according to Baur, doesn't it make sense to talk about anyone achieving "ocean consciousness"?
  • 5/23:
  • 5/24:
    • What, according to Chalmers, is the difference between the "easy problems" of consciousness and the "hard problem" of consciousness?
  • 6/6:
  • 6/7:
    • What is the 'causal account' of personal identity, and how does Kinghorn refute it?
    • Do you agree with Kinghorn's 'relational account' of personal identity? Explain.
  • 6/13:
  • 6/14:
    • Read Camus and Taylor
    • According to Taylor, there are two ways in which Sisyphus' work could become meaningful. What are these two ways?
  • 6/15:
    • Read Nagel 
    • Nagel argues that a sense of absurdity arises as a result of a collision between "two inescapable viewpoints". What are these two viewpoint
  • 6/16:
    • Read Wallace
    • Describe, in your own words, the kind of "freedom" that Wallace calls "the really important kind".
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