Intro To Philosophy Final

Front 1

In Terry Bisson's piece "They're Made Out of Meat" he argues this?

Back 1

That the brain and the mind are intimately connected.

Front 2

What is an argument regarding the difference b/w the brain and the mind?

Back 2

1. The mind is subjective and private. It does not have physical properties.

2. The brain is objective. It is located in space and has physical properties.

Front 3

What is the overall mind-body problem?

Back 3

How to specify in a plausible way how the mind and the body are specifically related, yet seem different.

Front 4

In discussing correlations b/w brain and mental phenomena Chalmers says that correlation is not this?

Back 4

Explanation

Front 5

According to Nagel the only correlation b/w a mental state and a physical occurrence is this?

Back 5

One's own individual experience

Front 6

The skeptic of their being other minds would say this?

Back 6

The only experiences you can actually have are your own and thus wonders how there are any minds at all other than ones own

Front 7

This if true argues that the brain is constructed of a physical organism but there exists a soul that is mental and therefore the mind is distinct from the brain (You are a body plus a mind)?

Back 7

Dualism

Front 8

This says that we consist of nothing but physical matter and that mental states are just states of the brain (the mind IS the brain, one thing)

Back 8

Physicalism

Front 9

This type of argument says that maybe your aren't have a color experience but a sound experience?

Back 9

Radically Different Minds

Front 10

This argument says that maybe there is only one mind that exists?

Back 10

Philosophical Zombies

Front 11

What is Nagel's knowledge argument "What Is it Like to Be a Bat" an argument for?

Back 11

Dualism

Front 12

How is Nagel's bat argument constructed?

Back 12

1. If we know all there is to know about the physical nature of bats.

2. However, it would seem that would not know what the subjective mental experience of bat's is like

So, facts about what is means to be a bat are not physical and are thus mental facts and the same could be applied to the human mind in support of dualism

Front 13

Nagel's bat argument is based on this principle?

Back 13

If something is purely physical then you have complete knowledge of that phenomenon period and if you don't then it is not purely physical but contain an mental component.

Front 14

What is a challenge to the concept of physicalism?

Back 14

If the mind and the body are the same why do they seem so different (seeming difference)?

Front 15

What is a challenge to the concept of dualism?

Back 15

If they mind and body are so different, then how do they interact and why are they so intimately connected? (problem of interaction)

Front 16

What is Carruthers' causal argument for physicalism constructed?

Back 16

1. Any mental state/event can be teh cause of a physical state/event (Pain causes a call to the doctor) I.E. belief causes action.

2. Every physical event/state has a physical cause (Calling the doctor was cause by a complex brain event)

3. Typically physical states/events do not have two causes

So, mental states/events just ARE physical states/events.

Front 17

What is the causal argument for physicalism?

Back 17

Any mental state/event can be the cause of a physical sate/event.

Front 18

This argues that one kind of mental state can be realized by multiple kinds of physical states?

Back 18

Multiple Realizablilty

Front 19

Carruther's conculdes that all mental states are identical to physical brain states and that the mind is just this?

Back 19

The Brain

Front 20

The computer analogy says this?

Back 20

1. The mind is like a program (software)

2. The brain is the hardware that runs the program.

Front 21

What was the Turing Machine?

Back 21

A theoretical machine able to perform complex operations using simple symbols on a tape.

Front 22

What is the Imitation Game/Turing Test?

Back 22

Consists of 3 players (an interrogator and one human and one machine). Without access to anything other than their answers, can you correctly guess which one is the machine?

Front 23

How does a machine pass the Turing test?

Back 23

If it can trick the human interrogator about as often as an intelligent person. This proves the computer's intelligence.

Front 24

For Turing, a computer passing the test is not a necessary condition for intelligence but this?

Back 24

A sufficent one.

Front 25

What are some worries concerning the Turing test?

Back 25

1. Who gets to be the judge/interrogator?

2. Who gets to be the other player?

3. Isn't the machines intelligence really just the intelligence of the programmer?

Front 26

What is Dennett's Jukebox Concern about the Turing Test?

Back 26

Possibilty that one could construct a conversation jukebox that is able to pass the test by sheer computing power and memory storage. Though he doesn't think such a jukebox is plausible.

Front 27

This says that every event in the world is sufficiently cause by a prior event or events (i.e. everything has a cause)?

Back 27

Determinism

Front 28

If determinism is true then it can seem that our actions are determined by?

Back 28

Outside Forces

Front 29

This the view that we do not have free will, whether or not determinism is true or false?

Back 29

Pessimism

Front 30

How is the argument for pessimism constructed?

Back 30

1. If determinism is true, your actions are sufficiently caused by your mental nature.

2. Your mental nature is ultimately cause by factors outside of your control.

So, if determinism is true, your actions are ultimately cause by factors outside of your control, and are thus not free.

Front 31

If determinism is not true, then you are actions are not sufficiently cause by your mental nature, but are partly caused by?

Back 31

Chance, and thus are not free either.

Front 32

This states that some events do not have sufficient causes and is a part of the pessimistic view?

Back 32

Indeterminism

Front 33

What is the difference b/w Determinism and Fate?

Back 33

1. Determinism says that what will happen depends on what you do. The exact path of one's past does matter.

2. Fate says that no matter what you do you will end us at the same point.

Front 34

This seems to be necessary for moral responsiblity?

Back 34

Free Will

Front 35

This says that free will and determinism can be (and probably are) true?

Back 35

Compatibilism

Front 36

Unfree actions are those have a certain kind of cause known as? States that causation is not the enemy of free

Back 36

Constraining Cause

Front 37

This claims that free human actions are caused by the agent/person,not by an event involving that agent/person?

Back 37

Libertarianism

Front 38

According to Libertarians a free action has a cause, but this cause is not an event but is an?

Back 38

Undertermined Agent

Front 39

This is a special type of causation beyond all normal sorts?

Back 39

Agent Causation

Front 40

Taylor says that Sisyphus' life is meaningless because?

Back 40

It consists of entirely of pointless activity

Front 41

What makes an objectively meaningful life according to Taylor?

Back 41

A life where one pursues a worthy goal and where the realization of this goal is ENDURING

Front 42

One can experience this but still have an objectively meaningless life that isn't eduring?

Back 42

Fullfillment

Front 43

What are some arguments against Taylor's proposal?

Back 43

1. Why must achievements be enduring to be objectively meaningful?

2. Would things be different if we lived forever?

3. Can religion give life meaning?

Front 44

Nagel asks if religion or something bigger can provide meaning?

Back 44

Fulfilling God's plan and spending eternity in heaven has ultimate meaning for some.

Front 45

What are the different types of ethics covered in class?

Back 45

1. Value Theory (well-being/welfare)

2. Normative Ethics (right and wrong)

3. Meta-Ethics (source of morality/motivations behind moral actions)

4. Applied Ethics (contemporary, practical moral issues)

Front 46

This provided fullfillment through experiencing enjoyment through doing what one desires, thus creating a will to live?

Back 46

Subjective Meaning

Front 47

What does Nagel argue that we cannot achieve objective meaning through something larger such as religion?

Back 47

Because that bigger thing doe not have objective meaning either, we can continue to question its meaning/existence as well.

Front 48

What is the central question of value theory?

Back 48

What makes for a good human life worth choosing

Front 49

What are instrumental goods?

Back 49

Those that a good/valuable only b/c of the good they bring about.

Front 50

What are intrinsic goods?

Back 50

Those that are good/valuable in themselves/self-contained.

Front 51

What is Hedonism?

Back 51

The view that happiness/pleasure if the only intrinsic good.

Front 52

Hedonism is the basis of this?

Back 52

Mill's Utilitarianism theory.

Front 53

What are some virtues of hedonism?

Back 53

1. Many paths to good life

2. Happiness for those we care about

3. Happiness improves life, whereas misery hampers it.

Front 54

What is an objection to Hedonism?

Back 54

It says that life has no higher end than pleasure and this doctrine is worthy only of swine. Human are able to experience higher and lower level pleasures.

Front 55

What are lower-level pleasures?

Back 55

The pleasure that comes from acts such as sleeping, eating, intercourse, etc. that both animals and humans can experience.

Front 56

What are higher-level pleasures?

Back 56

The positive attitude of enjoyment that one gets from mental pleasures such as reading, listening to music, certain physical activities that are all uniquely human.

Front 57

What does Mill conclude about higher and lower level pleasures?

Back 57

What brings pleasure to humans and pigs is very different and ultimately higher-level pleasures are of greater quality than lower-level pleasures.

Front 58

What are some vices of Hedonism?

Back 58

1. The possibility of one doing evil because it brings pleasure.

2. LIfe's trajectory

3. Nozick's experience machine

Front 59

What is Nozick's objection to hedonism?

Back 59

He suggests a hypothetical experience machine that derive maximum pleasure/happiness just by plugging in.

Front 60

What are some reasons not to use the experience machine?

Back 60

1. We have a desire to actually do things.

2. We care about the kind of people that we are and how our actions impact others.

3. We do not want to be limited to a man-made reality.

Front 61

This argues that there are a number of things that contribute to the good life and these things matter for a good life regardless of whether we thinks so or appreciate them (examples include knowledge, agency, freedom, friendship, happiness, and more)?

Back 61

Objective List Theory

Front 62

This is the part of ethics that is concerned with determining the principles of moral action. Which actions are morally right and which are morally wrong?

Back 62

Normative Ethics

Front 63

This is a theory of normative ethics?

Back 63

Hedonistic Utilitinarianism

Front 64

What type of theory is hedonism? utilitarianism?

Back 64

1. Well-being

2. Right and Wrong

Front 65

How is hedonistic utilitarianism defined?

Back 65

An action is morally right if and only if it does more to improve overall happiness/pleasure than any other action you could have performed in the circumstances.

Front 66

What is a central point of Hedonistic Utilitarianism?

Back 66

One's own happiness does not count more than others' happiness.

Front 67

This says that right and wrong matter and affect overall well-being no matter how far down the road?

Back 67

Consequentialism

Front 68

What are the virtues of hedonistic utilitarianism?

Back 68

1. Impartiality: all people count equally.

2. In principle can straightforwardly solve moral disputes.

3. It provides moral flexibility because it denies absolute laws which seem to always have exceptions (i.e. lying)

Front 69

What are some vices/objections to hedonistic utilitarianism?

Back 69

1. Impartiality--sometimes we want to be impartial

2. Says nothing other than happiness/unhappiness is intrinsically right/wrong

Front 70

What is Divine Command Theory?

Back 70

Says than an action is morally right or wrong b/c God says so, he commanded it as such.

Front 71

What is an argument against Divine Command Theory?

Back 71

If an action is right just b/c God says so then any action could have been morally right. But that is false, so it is also false than an action is morally tight just b/c God says so and this can be applied to any action good or bad.

Front 72

What is cultural relativism?

Back 72

Says that culture is the source of morality and that moral claims are relative claims not objective claims, therefore what is right and wrong is relative to culture.

Front 73

What is the difference b/w objective and relevant claims?

Back 73

1. Objective is true or false independently of what any person/group thinks.

2. Relative is true or false dependent on or relative to what a group or person thinks.

Front 74

What are some objections to cultural relativism?

Back 74

1. If true then minority opinions are always incorrect b/c the majority is always right.

2. Moral education only should consist of teaching their own culture's moral beliefs as correct.

3. Moral progress cannot occur b/c the culture is never wrong on moral issues.

Front 75

If neither God nor culture is the author of morality, where does it come from?

Back 75

Perhaps it is simply a consequence of the way the world works, it just IS.

Front 76

What is Psychological Egoism?

Back 76

The descriptive view that we only act for selfish reasons (such as to feel good about ourselves and our actions).

Front 77

What is Norcross' argument that eating factory farmed meat is wrong?

Back 77

1. Fred's behavior is seriously morally wrong because he is needlessly torturing puppies for gustatory pleasure.

2. You as a meat-eater are essentially behaving in the same way b/c you do not need meat to remain healthy.

So, you are (like Fred) behaving in a way that is seriously morally wrong.

Front 78

What are some objections to Norcross's argument and his responses?

Back 78

1. Fred tortures puppies himself, FF eaters are not responsible.

Response: You are if you responsible once you know about what is happening.

2. If I stop eating meat FF will continue anyway.

Response: You have the power to talk to people about it and slowly bring about change that can eventually have far reaching impacts.

3. Puppies count more than farm animals.

Response: Who is to say which animals deserve special treatment. Shouldn't they all be treated well?

Front 79

What is a Moral Agent?

Back 79

A being capable of being or failing to be morally responsible.

Front 80

What is a Moral Patient?

Back 80

A being deserving of moral consideration.