Values, Self & Knowledge: Tutorial 1

Philosophicalthinking

Plan Thinking process Reading process Assessment Practice puzzle

Thinking process Think of

something that’s clearly morally wrong in your view

Why is it morally wrong?

Thinking process Think of something

that’s clearly morally wrong in your view

Why is it morally wrong?

Principle

Application of principle

Specific context

Search & examine the principles

Why should I be moral?

Only because it benefits me

I should do something only if it benefits me

General principle

Particular application of principle

Counter-examples?

Search & examine the principles

Why? Because…

Underlying Principle

Abstraction

Example

Why should I be moral?

To avoid feeling guilty

Why should I do something?

To avoid feeling bad

Why should I repeatedly shower?

To avoid feeling bad

How to start?

Abstraction

What is the cause of this infection?

1 42 3 N

Abstraction Start by considering ‘obvious’

cases Track patterns Form initial theory Consider a wide range of cases Revise theory if needed

Constructing experiments Whether gas X prevents fire. The only time virus V harms humans

is when they have high blood pressure.

Euthanasia is wrong only because it saddens the family of the euthanised person.

Testing a theory

Theory

Hypothesis/Prediction

Observation

Compare

Observation Explanation

AbstractionAre moral judgments

absolutely true?

Judgmt1

Judgmt4

Judgmt2

Judgmt3 JudgmtN

No disagreement

exists Reflection Thought experiment

What is the criterion to use in evaluating?

Thought experimentWhen he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

Thought experiment“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

Possible responsesThen Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

“The man in the story is a fictional character!”

“The action is wrong, but only in that story!”

Thought experiments Logically possible

scenarios Constructed, then

considered to test philosophical claims

Typically imaginary, highly-artificial and ridiculously extreme

Ring of Gyges“…If you could imagine any one obtaining this power of becoming invisible, and never doing any wrong or touching what was another's, he would be thought by the lookers-on to be a most wretched idiot, although they would praise him to one another's faces, and keep up appearances with one another from a fear that they too might suffer injustice.”

Testing a philosophical view

Philosophical View

Hypothesis/Prediction

Observation/Reflection

Compare

Guidelines Have a hypothesis Eliminate

complicating variables

Make theory-free judgment

Overview of process

AbstractionDistinction

Thought experiments

Current view

Distinctions Would & should Instrumental & intrinsic

value Absolute & relative Situational, descriptive

& meta-ethical relativism

…

Reading a philosophy essay Method– Understanding reasoning– Examining principles– Considering thought

experiments– Grasping distinctions

Big picture– How all sections are linked

Suggestion:

Start by understanding the overall structure of the essay

Then proceed to examine specific parts.

(“What is the author trying to do here?”)

Additional suggestion

Try to anticipate responses– What might the

author say– Check again what the

author in fact says

Essay (10% + 40%) Check ‘Assessment’

page Check access to

eReadings Submit via Turnitin Check for plagiarism Note deadlines– Penalty for late submission: 0.5%

or 2% per 24hrs overdue

Practice puzzle

Either:

Existing unicorn = A unicorn that exists

Existing unicorns exist

Existing unicorns do not exist.

or

Existing unicorns exist.

Practice puzzle(A)If blue pens exist, then pens exist.(B)If expensive cars exist, then cars exist.(C)If blue unicorns exist, then unicorns exist.(D)If existing unicorns exist, then unicorns

exist.

(1)If existing unicorns exist, then unicorns exist.

(2)Existing unicorns exist.(3)Therefore unicorns exist.