...Massachusetts Lowell Philosophy Department Introduction to Philosophy Philosophy 45. 201.201/02S Spring 2013 Syllabusi Conference Time and Location Tu & Th 3:30-4:45PM Class meet at SOU 403 NC Instructor: Andrés Paniagua andres_paniagua@uml.edu Office Hours T&R 3:00-3:25PM & W. 6:00-6:25 Office TBD Course Description. The practice and study of philosophy constitute one of the most distinctive strands of Western intellectual tradition. In order to understand-even simply recognize-the deepest assumptions we make as a culture we must turn to philosophy and to those thinkers whose ideas have shaped our assumptions. We will approach the study of philosophy as a conversation among the greatest thinkers of all the time, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre. Our focus will be on each philosopher’s ideas and their impact on Western Civilization. We will also delve briefly into the cultural and historical context of each philosopher, evaluate weather their ideas are still relevant and some of their argument remain compelling. Course outline. The approach of this class is hybrid. The first part following an historical and chronological sequence, the second part follows a topical approach. Part I (a), Ancient philosophy, with our main focus on Plato and Aristotle. Part 1 (b) Late Renaissance and to Kant. Part II Empiricism and Positivism and part II (b) Existentialism. We will wrap the class pointing to some recent issues in philosophy:...
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...A selection of questions to be discussed: * Scientists: are they discovering or are they making it up? * Do the facts dictate our theories? * Is there any secure basis for our future expectations? -- or is it just a matter of crossing our fingers and hoping for the best? * Does science explain -- does it help us to understand anything? or does it merely describe? ------- * Is everything relative, or is there always something absolute behind what is relative? ------- * How do or should scientific revolutions affect our view of science? * Scientific theory choice: is it objective? Or does it depend on cultural, historical, or subjective factors? * If historical factors do play a role, can science still be a search for truth? Texts: 1. T. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 2. C. G. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science 3. Course Packet #1: Lecture Outline (Includes examples, diagrams, and background material as well as the weekly schedule of readings) 4. Course Packet #2 : additional readings, needed in addition to the textbooks 5. Books on Reserve in Firestone (A list is included with this syllabus) Course Packets are available at Print-It, 15 Witherspoon St. [Go back to top of this course syllabus] COURSE REQUIREMENTS: NOTE 1: Revising your work in response to comments will be central to the requirements. The first and second assignments each consist of two parts: an initial version and...
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...------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- A2 Religious Studies ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- A2 PHILOSOPHY REVISION NOTES ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- The Body and Soul Introduction * Materialism is the view that the mind cannot be separated from the body * Idealism is the view that the mind is the only reality and the body is unreal. * Dualism is the view that the mind and body both exist and are linked in some way. Plato Review Plato’s distinction between body and soul in the foundation unit so that you can make comparisons with the thinking of Hick and of Dawkins. John Hick Philosophy of Religion (1973); Death and Eternal Life (1976) * The soul is a name for the moral, spiritual self formed by the interaction of genes and environment. The human is a psychophysical person with a divine purpose. * The person shall be resurrected through a divine act of recreation or reconstitution in resurrection, rather than reincarnation...
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...study of intellectual currents will be a primary focus in our efforts to understand what people from different civilizations thought about God, society, science, and human nature from a philosophical standpoint. Therefore, this class will run chronological when possible, but it will also run thematic as specific focus is given to the changing mentalities of the human race. The course's potential for the student, lies in the hope of instilling the skills and values of world citizenship and for relating to people different from oneself. Course Requirements - Completion of your exams on time is required. Any involvement in cheating or plagiarism of any sort will result in an “F” as the final grade for this course as well as referral to appropriate disciplinary boards. All reading for each week is to be completed prior to class on Tuesday. You must receive a passing grade on at least 2 of your 4 exams (regardless of your final score) to pass this course. Attendance - Lecture attendance is strongly encouraged but not required. Please keep in mind that there is a strong correlation between class attendance and overall performance. Do not rely on others to take your...
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...Course Statement on Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct is also required reading “before” starting any assignment in this course. Since there is no final exam in this course, your essay assignments need to be treated with the same (if not more) attention and effort that you would give to an in-class midterm or final exam. It takes research,planning, contemplation and above all an adequate amount of time in order to make sure that you have the opportunity to fully engage in these activities before the writing process itself begins. Please bear in mind that your essay marks combined represent almost half of your total course mark, my advice (in advance) is for all students to proportion their effort accordingly in this regard. Make sure that you begin by consulting (or reviewing if we already covered the material previously) the relevant module (both the lecture and readings) before writing on a particular topic. You may consult other readings on the issue (preferably academic journal articles, or scholarly works) but keep your noncourse sources to a minimum (see the basic style requirements document on this). When I say “in your own words” or “sketch out in detail” what I mean by these expressions is that I want you to explain something to a reader rather than blindly quoting an article or reproducing the class notes. Read the relevant material, work out in your own mind what the author is trying to say or convey or argue for, and present that material to...
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...------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- A2 Religious Studies ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- A2 PHILOSOPHY REVISION NOTES ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- The Body and Soul Introduction * Materialism is the view that the mind cannot be separated from the body * Idealism is the view that the mind is the only reality and the body is unreal. * Dualism is the view that the mind and body both exist and are linked in some way. Plato Review Plato’s distinction between body and soul in the foundation unit so that you can make comparisons with the thinking of Hick and of Dawkins. John Hick Philosophy of Religion (1973); Death and Eternal Life (1976) * The soul is a name for the moral, spiritual self formed by the interaction of genes and environment. The human is a psychophysical person with a divine purpose. * The person shall be resurrected through a divine act of recreation or reconstitution in resurrection, rather than reincarnation...
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...Perception | The concept of God | The definition of knowledge | Arguments for and against God’s existence | Where do our ideas and knowledge come from? | Religious language | Key info Exam date: Time: Revision sessions: Revision tasks * Make a revision timetable * Create revision topic summaries * Create flash cards * Test yourself – complete practice questions * Create 15 mark plans * Attend revision sessions Don’t leave it until the last minute…start NOW HOW TO REVISE Before you start revising * Make sure you have all your notes in order * Create a revision timetable - follow this link and sign up to help you do this. http://getrevising.co.uk/ The 10 step revision process 1. Pick a topic to revise (e.g. innate knowledge) 2. Read through your notes on that topic and summarise it onto one side of A4 3. Now summarise onto a revision card (about a quarter of an A4 piece of paper) 4. Now take a piece of A4 and begin writing everything you can remember about the topic. 5. Look back over your notes and write down all you missed out in a different colour. 6. Keep repeating the process until you are able to write down everything from that topic. 7. Now look at an exam question. 8. Complete a plan (5-10 mins) 9. Complete the timed essay in 30 mins / 15 min depending. 10. Hand into me to mark MAKE SURE YOU RE-VISIT THE TOPIC YOU JUST REVISED AT THE BEGINNING...
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...TEXAS COLLEGE 2404 N GRAND AVENUE TYLER, TEXAS 75702 DIVISION OF NATURAL & COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT RESEARCH SEMINAR IN MATHEMATICS MATH 4460 01 THE NUMBER LINE BY George L Williams III Contents * THE NUMBER LINE * Extended real number line * Drawing the number line * Line segmentation * Comparing numbers * Arithmetic Operations * Arithmetic Operations (cont.) * Algebraic properties * Cartesian Plane/Cartesian Coordinate System * An Overview * My words * Applications of the number line * Resources * THE NUMBER LINE Mathematics is one of the most useful and fascinating divisions of human knowledge. In mathematics, a real number is a value that represents a quantity along a continuous line. The real numbers include all the rational numbers, such as the integer – 5 and the fraction 4/3, and all the irrational numbers such as positive square root of 2,√2. Real numbers can be thought of as points on an infinitely long number line. In basic mathematics, a number line is a picture of a straight line on which every point is assumed to correspond to a real number and every real number to a point. Often the integers are shown as specially-marked points evenly spaced on the line. Although this image only shows the integers from −9 to 9, the line includes all real numbers, continuing forever in each direction, as shown by the arrows and also numbers not...
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...the page. You should attempt all questions. All recordings will be played only once. Write all your answers on the test paper itself. After the section is over, you will be given ten minutes to transfer your answers to the given answer sheet. You are not permitted to take this exam booklet out of the examination room. There are 40 questions in this section. They are broken up into four parts as follows: Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Questions 1-10 Questions 11-20 Questions 21-30 Questions 31-40 Test 2 LISTENING SECTION 1 Questions 1-10 (CD3 Track 1) Questions 1-2 Choose the correct letters, A, B, or C. Example: What nursery school registration option does the woman choose? A Half-day B Full-day C Full-day plus after school care 1 What is the woman’s husband’s nationality? A Swiss B Swedish C Swazi 2 How is a child’s personal education number normally received? A By post B By e-mail C Picked up from the school Question 3 Choose the correct letters, A, B, or C. 3 Why is the husband out of town? A Vacation B Work C Family reasons Question 4 Choose three letters, A-F 4 Which THREE pieces of information are required to retrieve the child’s personal education number? A The woman’s Personal Insurance Number B The husband’s Personal Insurance Number C The woman’s National Insurance Number D The husband’s National Insurance Number E The woman’s name F The husband’s name Question 5 Choose the correct letters, A...
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...Abstract Academic achievement of a student is always a main concern for the parents that hoping for the success of their children. In fact, there are factors influencing academic achievement of a student in Malaysia. First of all, social life became a main factor to influence a student in especially from the family, friends and tutors where there might have both positive and negative impact upon the children. Apart from that, the advanced technology in this current era, co-curricular, physical evidence and personality of a student will also play their role in influencing their academic achievement. This article will discuss all the factors in depth for better understanding. Introduction: Technology There has always been a hot topic in news discussing students’ academic achievements every year, and this has become the main concern for the parents hoping for a bright future awaits for their children. Despite the odd, we often see students often panic before the major examination, burning midnight oil to strive their best to achieve flying colours. How do we determine the success of a student? In fact, there are numbers of factors influencing academic achievement of a student in Malaysia. This article will be discussing on every factors thoroughly to discover the factors that are able to cause serious impact upon academic achievements for a student. Personality Social What factors...
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...University of Malawi PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE (Epistemology) Student: OTIENO STEPHEN MBAKA Class Notes INTRODUCTION Fundamental Notions THE "PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE" is that branch of philosophy which tries to determine in a general way what the nature and scope of man's capacity to know are. Precisely what this determi-nation will turn out to be cannot be foreseen at the beginning of our investigation since the very reason for undertaking such a project is to find that out in a methodical and systematic way. Nonetheless, even at this point, we do have a vague sense of what we are after, and, presumably, we have had enough experi-ence of our ignorance and capacity for error to motivate us to take up this arduous task. Our common-sense notion of nature tells us that an investigation into the "nature" of anything means at least that we are ask-ing "what sort of thing is it?" To be sure, this question is none too precise, but it will do for a beginning. Again, our common-sense notion of "scope" tells us that an inquiry into the "scope" of any-thing means at least that we are asking "how far does it extend?" Again, this imprecise query will do for the moment. Notice that we are not asking whether we know anything at all. The reason is, as we shall see in detail later that this question cannot be asked at all, because to have asked it is to have answered it affirmatively. The real issue in any philosophical discussion of human...
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...mTELECOURSE STUDY GUIDE FOR The Examined Life FOURTH EDITION author J. P. White Chair, Department of Philosophy Santa Barbara City College contributing author Manuel Velasquez Professor of Philosophy Santa Clara University This Telecourse Study Guide for The Examined Life is part of a collegelevel introduction to philosophy telecourse developed in conjunction with the video series The Examined Life, and the text Philosophy: A Text with Readings, tenth edition, by Manuel Velasquez, The Charles Dirksen Professor, Santa Clara University. The television series The Examined Life was designed and produced by INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications, Netherlands Educational Broadcasting Corporation (TELEAC/NOT), and Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company (UR) Copyright © 2007, 2005, 2002, 1999 by INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications, 150 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 300, Pasadena, California 91105-1937. ISBN: 0-495-10302-0 Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Lesson One — What is Philosophy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....
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...A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 First American paperback edition published in 2006 by Enchanted Lion Books, 45 Main Street, Suite 519, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Copyright © 2002 Philip Stokes/Arcturus Publishing Limted 26/27 Bickels Yard, 151-153 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3HA Glossary © 2003 Enchanted Lion Books All Rights Reserved. The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier hardcover edtion of this title for which a CIP record is on file. ISBN-13: 978-1-59270-046-2 ISBN-10: 1-59270-046-2 Printed in China Edited by Paul Whittle Cover and book design by Alex Ingr A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 Philip Stokes A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 ENCHANTED LION BOOKS New York Contents The Presocratics Thales of Miletus . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Pythagoras of Samos . . . . . 10 Xenophanes of Colophon 12 Heraclitus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The Scholastics St Anselm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 St Thomas Aquinas . . . . . . . 50 John Duns Scotus . . . . . . . . . 52 William of Occam . . . . . . . . . 54 The Liberals Adam Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Mary Wollstonecraft . . . . 108 Thomas Paine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Jeremy Bentham . . . . . . . . . 112 John Stuart Mill . . . . . . . . . . 114 Auguste Comte . . . . . . . . . . . 116 The Eleatics Parmenides of Elea . . . . . . . 16 Zeno of Elea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Age of Science Nicolaus Copernicus . . . . . . 56 Niccolò Machiavelli...
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...influenced by his teacher's unjust death. Plato's brilliance as a writer and thinker can be witnessed by reading his Socratic dialogues. Some of the dialogues, let- ters, and other works that are ascribed to him are considered spurious. Plato is thought to have lectured at the Academy, although the pedago- gical function of his dialogues, if any, is not known with certainty. They have historically been used to teach philosophy, logic, rhetoric, mathem- atics, and other subjects about which he wrote. Source: Wikipedia Also available on Feedbooks for Plato: • The Complete Plato (-347) • The Republic (-380) • Symposium(-400) • Charmides(-400) • Protagoras(-400) • Statesman(-400) • Ion(-400) • Crito(-400) • Meno(-400) • Phaedo(-400) Note: This book is brought to you by Feedbooks http://www.feedbooks.com Strictly for personal use, do not use this file for commercial purposes. 2 Socrates' Defense How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the speeches of my ac- cusers, I cannot tell; but I know that their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was - such was the effect of them; and yet they have hardly spoken a word of truth. But many as their falsehoods were, there was one of them which...
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...------------------------------------------------- Who is the father of the computer? There are hundreds of people who have major contributions to the field of computing. The following sections detail the primary founding fathers of computing, the computer, and the personal computer we all know and use today. Father of computing Charles Babbage was considered to be the father of computing after his invention and concept of the Analytical Engine in 1837. The Analytical Engine contained an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), basic flow control, and integrated memory; hailed as the first general-purpose computer concept. Unfortunately, because of funding issues this computer was never built while Charles Babbage was alive. However, in 1910 Henry Babbage, Charles Babbage's youngest son was able to complete a portion of the machine that could perform basic calculations. In 1991, the London Science Museum completed a working version of the Analytical Engine No 2. This version incorporated Babbage's refinements developed during the creation of the Analytical Engine. Although Babbage never completed his invention in his lifetime, his radical ideas and concepts of the computer are what make him the father of computing. Father of the computer There are several people who could be considered as the father of the computer including Alan Turing, John Atanasoff, and John von Neumann. However, for the purpose of this document we're going to be considering Konrad Zuse as the father of the...
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