Philosophy

[Larry!]

^Isn't uchicago's unofficial motto "where fun goes to die"?

Anyways, high school philosophy course, paper on Nicomachean Ethics. Magnanimous is really annoying to spell out.

[mpcec]

I'm taking intro to philosophy now, I'm not too too serious about it, but I don't really fall into the "whoah cool man" group. I'm majoring in Anthro so theres alot of other classes that I want to take over philosophy, but I hope to have room for some more in the future.

Oddly enough, we just did ethics tonight, and we did Kant last week but I missed it. Ethics was probably one of the more interesting ones to me, I also like Marcus Aurelius and Epicurus alot.

I've never really enjoyed writing papers but for this class they are really interesting and fun to write.

[monochrome]

^Isn't uchicago's unofficial motto "where fun goes to die"?

Yes. Coincidentally, I am now pulling another all-nighter writing another paper for a different class. Hooray for finals week.

[pavlova cakesworth]

i'm a philosophy major, just finished my first year. university of queensland, but that might change to university of sydney this summer. for whoever it was hadn't read much epistemology, i feel it would be remiss of me not to shove david hume at you, though i guess you might have got to that by now.

[enatoka]

just took my third philosophy test on G.W. Leibniz, and managed to get an 85 which is amazing for me considering i did horrible on my last two test on Descrates. it felt good to have gotten an 85, haha, sounds mediocore but whatever, i passed. the class can seem boring though and at times in the sessions can go so in depth that i get lost zone out or fall asleep, which is not good. well i got my grade up and hopefully it stays like that.

[monochrome]

just took my third philosophy test on G.W. Leibniz, and managed to get an 85 which is amazing for me considering i did horrible on my last two test on Descrates. it felt good to have gotten an 85, haha, sounds mediocore but whatever, i passed. the class can seem boring though and at times in the sessions can go so in depth that i get lost zone out or fall asleep, which is not good. well i got my grade up and hopefully it stays like that.

oh god....leibniz and descartes....I took a class on those two and it was very painful.

[culturalmulatto]

while my formal BA degrees were in anthropology and environmental studies, I agree with some of the people in here that philosophy is an area i intend to pursue lifelong.

that being said, i also get into environmental ethics and bioethics but am more focused on the work of Foucault and the resulting impact he has had on GLBTQI (gay, lesbian, bi, transsexual, queer, and intersexual) theory.

I am actually reading an out-of-print book now called Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism by Mary Daly.

[culturalmulatto]

p.s. I also have a close friend who is getting his masters in applied philosophy (i think) at U. Chicago

[viv1984viv]

Been reading this - kinda philosophy I guess, kinda. Cultural Critique.

Full Metal Apache: Transactions Between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America (Post-Contemporary Interventions)

by Takayuki Tatsumi

Im finding it very very interesting, really sheds some light on the less obvious facets of japanese occidentalism and american orientalism, and the messy osmosis between..... kinda the most relevant book for this forum that ive read for a while.

[isoform]

i also get into environmental ethics and bioethics but am more focused on the work of Foucault and the resulting impact he has had on GLBTQI (gay, lesbian, bi, transsexual, queer, and intersexual) theory.

I am actually reading an out-of-print book now called Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism by Mary Daly.

can u tell us/me more about both subjects? did you study here in chgo?

[thomparetta]

currently writing a paper on laplace's absolute determinism and how we can deduce a morality from a human existence that is causally determined and no action or instance can occur by 'blind chance'

using hobbes to imply a morality but also thinking there's an intrinsic morality to laplace also...

any thoughts?

[culturalmulatto]

Sure. Michel Foucault is a French post-structuralist (formally), though in his latter years and through all his interviews he clearly negates any categories. Posthumously, people now pit him as a historian/post-modernist/anthropologist/philosopher.

In his later works he really gets into the idea of sexuality and its origins in the western mind as it relates to discourse. How we think of sexuality today is not how it has always been- especially homosexuality. in his book, history of sexuality vol. 1he outlines the dominant ways acts of homosexuality were perceived and talked about in different societies and how this has translated into how these acts are thought of today.

Before the Victorian era, the word "homosexual" did not exist and how society categorized an individual's sexuality was not based on their gender preference but based on the acts themselves. It wasn't until the ethics of the church merged with the interests of early psychiatrists that sexuality was deemed "of the soul" and part of an individual's personality (and also labeled a diease). This thought still exists today in the sense that we generally think of a gay/ straight/ bi individual’s sexuality as inextricable from their personality or essence. For example some one says, "I am gay" or "I am straight" not "I do gay acts" or "I do straight acts."

What is important about his latter works was that, to him, words structure our frame of reference. Without a term, "homosexual," no such person can exist because we will not think of an individual in that light- however this does not suggest that without the term the acts do not exist. It also definitely does not suggest that the terms are meaningless either. It is quite the opposite as we see today. Many individuals today proudly self-identify as "queer" or "homosexual" and have formed strong sub-cultures out of a shared experience of marginalization; similar to the ways that blacks have used the n-word.

What this has opened up, in terms of other philosophers, is a debate between whether sexuality is innate or culturally constructed. In layman terms: Nature v. Nurture. Foucault, and almost any other follower (esp. Judith Butler), will state that it is culturally constructed- that sexuality is not only defined by the particular society you grow up in, but also by the discourse that frames it.

This is a very big generalization but gives a decent picture of what I was talking about. I do not study at U.C. (though thought of), I opted for an essentially free ride at Seton Hall University near NYC but now I live in Brooklyn and read.

[equip555]

"He who speaks does not know. He who knows does not speak."

-Screech

[thomparetta]

culturalmulatto, that was interesting. it sounds a lot like symbolic logic. does anyone know more about symbolic logic?

[pavlova cakesworth]

currently writing a paper on laplace's absolute determinism and how we can deduce a morality from a human existence that is causally determined and no action or instance can occur by 'blind chance'

using hobbes to imply a morality but also thinking there's an intrinsic morality to laplace also...

any thoughts?

they named Lapras after pierre-simon laplace

[/philosophy]

[home]

with the right (read: wrong) people in here, this thread has the potential to be sufu's largest.

fuck i hate philosophy.

[pavlova cakesworth]

with the right (read: wrong) people in here, this thread has the potential to be sufu's largest.

fuck i hate philosophy.

tell me about it. me, i really fucking hate pictures. don't even get me started.

[ilovefriedchicken]

Sometimes I juggle solipsism.....

But other than that, aside from a handful of other reads, I haven't really gone beyond Nietzsche. I am still young though.

yes solipsism is the way to go

[linkejeuk]

with the right (read: wrong) people in here, this thread has the potential to be sufu's largest.

fuck i hate philosophy.

Actually, I agree. I often wish I never got introduced to philosophy. But it's like a loss of innocence that you can not regain. I know i'll finish my studies, but I'll be happy to do work in an other field than philosophy, sometimes I seriously feel it just has had a negative effect on my personality. It certainly hasn't made me a nicer person, and it won't give me any practical goods either.

So, if you hate philosophy, Good for you! Stay away from it!

[HisPiffness]

I have a Philosophy degree and frankly I should've studied something else when I was in school. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of interesting stuff to read in that field--I liked Bertrand Russell a lot--but this is more about my personal tastes and career path, neither of which involve philosophy to a major degree. I'm guess what I'm trying to say is major in something that you like (and preferrably, love).

[Corbin Law]

the glass isn't half empty, it's half full.

unless it is milk.....and you are lactose intolerant.

[pavlova cakesworth]

i have my first lectures for aesthetic philosophy, political philosophy since hobbes, modal logic and ethics this week.

[thomparetta]

sounds interesting pavlova cakesworth i took a course in aesthetics and loved it. the philosophy behind art is an intricate and fascinating creature full of contradictions and ever expanding. let me know what you think of it.

[buspar]

Hmm, the only formal philosophy courses I took were intro to ethics and modern japanese aesthetics... Ethics was okay, but not very interesting, but aesthetics stimulated to delve further into the field. It was a very unique class, since we traced the timeline of japanese aesthetics from its roots in Europe (mainly Heidigger) to the present day... That class was wayyyy out there but it really gave me some insight about what people consider beauty to be in different cultures. It was really interesting to see the amount of focus on the ephemeral, which can be another giant topic on its own.

I also like to read a lot of cosmology books, and of course, metaphysics cannot be avoided when the universe is involved.

I was wondering if anyone would recommend some books on metaphysics. TIA

[pavlova cakesworth]

sounds interesting pavlova cakesworth i took a course in aesthetics and loved it. the philosophy behind art is an intricate and fascinating creature full of contradictions and ever expanding. let me know what you think of it.

so far i like it, but admittedly we've only gone through plato and kant.

I was wondering if anyone would recommend some books on metaphysics. TIA

three dialogues between hylas and philonous by george berkeley is my favourite.

[thomparetta]

pavlova once you get to (if you get to) wittgenstein or heidegger it gets REALLY interesting. I'd suggest you check out the wittgensteinian game model and apply it to aesthetics, just to see what you think.

it was where i found the most solace regarding the enigma of aesthetics

[thomparetta]

buspar, how about richard taylor's iconic Metaphysics as a starter. it's easy to read, comprehensive, and unpretentious.

I read it for philosophy of mind

[buspar]

thanks for recs, pavlova and thomparetta! Will check those out this weekend

[snickersnicker]

buspar, how about richard taylor's iconic Metaphysics as a starter. it's easy to read, comprehensive, and unpretentious.

I read it for philosophy of mind

I felt the need to bump this thread from the stone age to support this post. Taylor's style is great.

[thomparetta]

yeah i'm glad you did, snicker, although it seems no one really gets too interested. if you feel you'd enjoy a more analytic, historical perspective on philosophy Bertrand Russel released an updated version of A History of Western Philosophy. good beach reading!

also check out Derek Parfit Reasons and Persons to seriously confront a lot of human preconveived notions about life. he may arguably be the best living philosopher.

so, enjoy! and if anyone ever has any questions, feel free to ask! i won't have an answer but i may know something about it, or a philosopher to point you toward.