ch1
1. What do the Greek letters (Phi Beta Kappa) mean? 2
2. (add yours in comments)
3.
DQs
- Have you ever followed Marcus Aurelius's advice about what you should say to yourself "before you get going in the morning..."? Will you? 1
- Could Marvin the paranoid android have been programmed to be happy? Was it cruel of his programmers not to have done so?
- Do you think of philosophy as "the principal guide for life"? 2 How might our society be different, if more people did?
- COMMENT on anything posted currently on The Daily Stoic ...
- Have you read Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full? Can a real estate tycoon be a good stoic?
- (add yours please)
ch2
1. Why do some scholars question Marcus Aurelius's Stoic credentials? 18
2. (add yours in comments)
3.
DQs
- Should only "professional philosophers" be considered legitimate contributors to a school or tradition of philosophy? Is there anything disreputable about "popular philosophy"?
- (add yours please)
Oct 3
ch3
ch3
1. Why did Plato think "a benevolent and providential divinity" created the world? 27
2. (add yours in comments)
3.
DQs
DQs
- Should Socrates (or anyone, for that matter) be "placed on a pedestal"? 27 Do we need an icon of intellectual integrity?
- (add yours please)
ch4
DQs
1. Which pre-Socratic philosopher identified four basic elements or kinds of stuff in the universe, and which post-Socratic philosopher did he influence? 39
2. (add yours in comments)
3.
DQs
- Should a Platonist be expected to reject atomism? 40 Given what we've learned about atoms in the past century or so, do we also have good reasons to reject the atomism of the ancients? Are our reasons the same as, or different from, Plato's?
- (add yours please)
Stoic pragmatists epicureans @dawn, Oct 1 - LISTEN.
Stoics & epicureans and the return to life @dawn, Oct 2 - LISTEN
Chapter 1 QQ
ReplyDelete1. The first complete work of Stoic philosophy wasn't written until when? (10)
Chapter 2 QQ
1. When did Marcus Aurelius' book take its place alongside Epictetus and Seneca? (21)
2. Seneca was popular in what three countries? (24)
I forget to add my name, these are my questions.
DeleteStoicism Ch 1-4 Quiz Questions and DQs
ReplyDeleteCh 1
1.) What does Socrates say about those who do wrong, and how should we deal with their actions? Pg. 5
2.) What was the divine gift to man which makes them kin, according to Marcus Aurelius? Pg. 6
3.) What did Stockdale say “is stoicism”?Pg. 8
4.) Who founded the school of stoicism? Pg. 13
Ch 2
1.) What do non- philosophers (laymen) turn to philosophy for? Pg. 19
2.) What documented stoic author was the first to have nearly complete corpus of his works survive? Pg. 22
Ch 3
1.) What idea is Plato most strongly associated with? Pg. 28
2.) What examples of Plato’s Forms are provided within the text? Pg. 28
3.) For the Stoics, what has no causal efficacy whatsoever? Pg. 29
4.) For the Stoics, what were some examples of the incorporeal which were necessary, yet lacking in corporeal power? Pg. 32
5.) Without forms, what could be used to account for the meaning and content of discourse? Pg. 33
6.) What were three parts of the Stoic philosophy? Pg. 34
DQ: What do you think of the ‘philosophy of an egg’ analogy? Do you agree with the ascribed functions within the metaphor, or do you think they could be better placed? What do you think is the most important part of an egg?
Ch 4
1.) How did the Stoics’ view of the divine’s role in the universe differ from Aristotelean & Platonic traditions? Pg. 41
2.) What is the optimistic streak in Stoicism? 54
3.) For Stoics, what are the only real good(s) and evil(s)? Pg. 58
4.) For Demetrius, what seems most unfortunate? Pg. 60
DQ:Have you ever followed Marcus Aurelius's advice about what you should say to yourself "before you get going in the morning..."? Will you?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have thought that way early in the morning but I have thought that way when having a negative encounter with someone. At the very least it helped me get a better perspective of the situation, but it almost seems belittling to the other person by basically referring to them as "not knowing any better." I'd rather see them as having a rough day than that assumption.
DQ:Could Marvin the paranoid android have been programmed to be happy? Was it cruel of his programmers not to have done so?
ReplyDeleteI think that they could have programmed him to express happy emotions but elected not to due to having a higher element of "realistic" emotions implying that mot people are unhappy. I think it was cruel for them to have chosen the depressed emotional state for the robot to live in due to it being limited to only that emotion rather than giving it the ability to be happy.
To take the question another way: Would Marvin think the action is cruel? He would never know what he was missing since he never had the capacity for it in the first place. The programming did not inflict suffering since Marvin never could tell.
DeleteShould we presume that Marvin, "brain the size of a planet," is strictly defined by his initial programming, and incapable of developing an emergent subjective awareness? Or, that he might not develop an awareness of happiness in others and regret its absence in himself? Or is it that a machine, unlike an organism, has no emergent (unprogrammed) capacity to care, no desires, no preferences? Can we be so sure that these are exclusive to biological organisms?
DeleteI feel like when we speak about artificial intelligence and consciousness we project some human form of self awareness on technology as if it would be the same and I feel like this is probably a mistake.
DeleteRegarding Marvin developing subjective awareness: It is very likely that he will learn how to express himself beyond what the programmers originally intended, but Marvin--like the rest of us--is limited in some capacity by his programing. There is some physical phenomena that humans are incapable of experiencing (certain frequencies of light and sound, for example) because our organs are only designed to experience limited aspects of that. We envelope new experiences because we are able to experience them in the first place. I would argue that emotions/feelings might behave in a similar fashion (not they are intrinsically tied to our physical experience, but that the human psyche has ingrained ‘traits’ that only give us the capacity to experience a portion of the spectrum of feelings). I Marvin is programmed to never experience our biological version of happiness, then he can never know that his state--which, from the outside, is obvious to us--is deplorable simply because he experience a smaller portion of the emotion spectrum. We never feel gypped because I cannot see infrared, Marvin would not feel gypped if he can’t feel happiness (at least, our version of happiness).
DeleteQQ: What French philosopher believed that philosophy from the ancient world is indispensable from our way of life? pg.3
ReplyDeleteQQ:
ReplyDeleteChap. 1
1. Stoic philosophy teaches one “the art of — —...” p.2
2. What was the fourth thing Marcus Aurelius said to himself each day: “ Kinsmen in — are built to work together.” p. 7
Chap. 2
1. Who actually wrote Epictetus’ philosophies to preserve them for antiquity? p.19
2. Aristotle says in the “Sophist”: “things which are are nothing but a —.” p. 31
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChapter 1 QQ:
ReplyDelete1. What is part of human nature? (6)
2. What is the most common approach to Stoicism in our society? (9)
Chapter 2 QQ:
1. Who gives the best insight currently on ancient Stoicism thought? (25)
2. Why was the fact that Stoicism was a popular debate item for Christian thinkers? (21)
Ch 1:
ReplyDelete1. What do Hadot and Stockdale have in common? (9)
Ch 2:
1. To Seneca, what is essential to the ultimate goal of making human life better? (18)
Ch 3:
1. Without Forms, how could the stoics account for the meaning and content of discourse? (33)
Ch 4:
1. The stoic cosmos has a god that is not external but is what? (42)
I'm excited for the Nietzsche presentation because I've heard a few different things about him, like the German Philosopher Thomas Metzinger refered to him as more of a racist writer than a Philosopher but then I hear from others about how influential he was just not during his time. I'm just excited to hopefully get some clarity on him and his views.
ReplyDeleteCh 3
ReplyDelete1. The _____ must be material, even though it is invisible and intangible? (32)
Ch 4
1. What is the sole staring point and raw material for the world, according to Stoic cosmology? (57)
2. Recognized by Stoics, ______ is the smallest of footnotes in their physical theory. (62)
DQ: Should Socrates (or anyone, for that matter) be "placed on a pedestal"? 27 Do we need an icon of intellectual integrity?
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think that having Socrates or anyone for that matter up on a pedestal. It doesn't serve us much good to have a singular icon for intellectual integrity. Its much more practical to have multiple figures that we could look up to and cherry-pick each of their best qualities to aspire to have.
Also, if someone is on a pedestal, often we overlook other schools of thought. For instance, in our books there is always the other schools of philosophy rejecting and demonizing other schools. In general, the should be numerous schools of thought that one should attempt to understand or gain knowledge about. If one only follows the one on the pedestal, they will be ignorant and closed off when it comes to attempting to debate and understand other schools of thoughts.
DeleteCh 3 QQ:
ReplyDelete1. For Posidonius, ethics and physics were like what? (36)
Ch 4 QQ:
1. What element continues to increase until it exhausts itself? (43)
Ch. 3 QQ: The Stoics were in strong agreement with what famous philosopher? (27)
ReplyDeleteCh. 4 QQ: Who were the founders of atomism (39)
DQ for Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteWhat is then end goal of philosophy? Are the fields of science and philosophy mutally exclusive/conflicting or they intrinsically related?