Block 1 Synopsis

• Determinism 1

• Introduction: what is philosophy?
• Philosophy a rag bag
• Philosophy and the clash of systems of thought
• A first problem: do human beings have freewill?
• Ordinarily we think human beings have 'free-will'
• Science and the Principle of Causality
• The Principle of Causality and 'free-will'
• Is the issue of determinism important?
• Introduction to the clip from Back to the Future
• Introducing the notion of the a priori
• Is it possible to think of an 'observer' as outside time?
• The theory that time is a projection
• Some have believed in the possibility of time travel
• Review Quiz

• Determinism 2

• cognitive science
• evolutionary placement of the human being
• could autonomy have emerged?
• mechanisms and autonomy
• the turing test
• emergence
• historical materialism
• some theories of 'social evolution' on a grand scale
• Herbert Spencer
• Auguste Compte
• Popper's criticism of 'historicism'
• Marxism
• introduction to clip from War Games
• review quiz

• Determinism 3

• introduction
• compatibilism - one version
• three examples of contrasts
• digression: importance of analysis and clarity in philosophy
• types of constraint
• 'free' doesn't mean 'uncaused'
• compatibilism related to other views
• hard determinism v. compatibilism
• examination of compatibilist argument
• making a distinction and meaning
• argument for 'free' not meaning 'uncaused'.
• an argument against compatibilism
• hypothetical 'could'
• the anti-compatibilist response
• introduction to clip from Hamlet
• a further issue: do causes compel?
• review quiz

• Determinism 4

• introduction
• aside: questions of the meaning of words are always problematic. why?
• causality - two broad approaches
• causality: first approach.
• nothing-behind-the-scenes-ism
· can there be patterns in events, but nothing bringing those patterns about?
• nothing-behind-the-scenes-ism applied to causality
· when you observe billiard balls colliding, what you see is a sequence of events, but not any actual 'push' or 'force'.
• David Hume on causality
• · one tempting conclusion: causes are not observable.
• · David Hume's conclusion: 'cause' means something that can be observed -
· the concept of cause to be understood as making a remark about patterns among events.
• The challenge of 'indeterminate' physics
• Introduction to the a priori
• Kant on causality
· (a) the principle of causality is true a priori (b) causality makes it possible to think of an 'external' world.

 

 

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