The Tough Questions - from Aristotle to Existentialism

[D-Trix]

Ever wondered what Existentialism really means? Need help applying Kant's Categorical Imperative to your daily life? Want the low-down on Cartesian Dualism? Curious about Platonic metaphyisics? Feel like having a good ol' Socratic dialogue?

You've clicked into the right topic!

I'll be happy to put my ebulient interest in all things Philosophical at your disposal. I wish I could back that up by saying "I have over 20 years of experience teaching this material at an accredited four-year university," or something; but I'm only a sophomore undergrad. So most of my responses may be wrong, or simplistic, or just repetitions of things my professors have said. But on the other hand, it's probably easier to read my posts about Aristotle than to read Aristotle himself.

So bring on the quandries! There's nothing I like better than a full plate of mind-bending dilemmas.

~Ted

[Minosheep]

Now, what exactly is pi? 3.14, I know, but from where does it come? How can such a number stir up such a big scientific ruckus?

Make a calculator with a fuggin HUGE display! Then do it! Sheesh!

[Reverend]

I'd love the low-down on Cartesian Dualism!

[D-Trix]

Demonic wrote:

Now, what exactly is pi? 3.14, I know, but from where does it come? How can such a number stir up such a big scientific ruckus? Make a calculator with a fuggin HUGE display! Then do it! Sheesh!

i said "philosophy," not "math." and there's a very good reason for that, which will become apparent as i try to answer your question anyway.

i think pi is the ratio of the cirumference of a circle to it's area...or something - this is why me talking about math is a bad idea. anyway, it's important because...uh...because it's the only decimal they've ever found that just keeps going without repepetition. and...other stuff. i really have no idea.

please try to keep questions limited to the realm of not-math - er, i mean philosophy - if for no reason other than to keep me from looking this clueless.

~Ted

EDIT: ooh ooh! i totally know how to answer your question while keeping up the facade of intellectualism that i have so painstakingly crafted! prepare to bow to my mental superiority:

go watch the movie "Pi."

that's it! there's more artsy philosophy in that movie than i will probably ever produce in my entire life. you should be inundated with all sorts of trippy philosophical issues surrouding this enigmatic number. just don't ask me what it all means - all i have are the same crazy questions you will, and the movie doesn't give many answers.

[Minosheep]

All the movie says is that it's like God's number or something and the guy has to kill himself when he figures it out.

[Tobias]

i saw that movie, and i have to say, its wacky..and there are weird things in there, that baffeled me...so only those of the abstract (and i mean really abstract) will understand it

[D-Trix]

Reverend wrote:

:demonangel: I'd love the low-down on Cartesian Dualism!

Cartesian Dualism is more commonly known by it's formal title, "A Really, Really Bad Argument" (it sounds more poetic in Descartes' native French). but seriously...

Dualism is the name for the position that mind and bodies are distinct and separable kinds of things. Descartes is credited as the inventor of this position, as laid forth in the Meditations on First Philosophy. he is also credited as the inventor of the coordinate plane used in Analytic Geometry - what we these days call Algebra (you might have recognized the word Cartesian, as in "Cartesian Coordinate Plane," from math class. ack, there it is again - damn that mathematics!). i'll give you the outline of his argument, then my response to it. this wil be fairly lengthy, so i'll break it up into several parts.

First Part of Several

Descartes' Meditations begin with the premise that he is aksing himself, "Of what, exactly, can I be sure in an existential sense? Just how do I know that other things exist, or that they exist as I perceive them? How do I know that I exist?" he decides that over the course of his life, he has been inundated with misguided opinions and mistaken assumptions, to the point where almost everything he thinks he knows is suspect. as he begins to ponder these questions, his first objective is to rid himself of all preconceptions so that he may approach the subject with a clear and unbiased mind.

it is only logical that he should begin with the question: "How do i know that i exist?" this almost appears to be a silly thing to ask - try it out yourself: ask the question and try to give an explicit answer. tough, isn't it? it appears as though you can't give one; knowing that you exist isn't something you have to think about - it's just true! in fact, the very act of knowing that you exist demands that you DO exist, because there has to be something there to do the thinking. without a mind there can be no thought; thus Descartes concludes: a mind is a thing that thinks, insofar as it is aware of its own thoughts. since Descartes is aware of his own thoughts, he concludes that he is a mind. this is a paraphrase of the famous latin statement, "cogito ergo sum" - "i think therefore i am."

so, we've established Descartes' existence. or rather, Descartes has; meanwhile I have established my own, and you yours. none of us can be sure that the others exist (yet). i think that's enough for one lesson. but never you fear; we have but scratched the surface!

End of First Part

~Ted

[Aindriahhn]

What are your opinions of Voltaire's political views?

[D-Trix]

[BWS-1]

Dude, do you happen to go at the same school my gf is going? She has got trough her 4 classes of phylosophy and that looks like pretty much what you are talking about ... o wait, you happen to be a teacher that thought her! Err, o wait, you don`t happen to live in Montreal, now do ya? <_<

I wish I could go on and talk about, let say, Kant's vision of what is moral and what isn't, but I have had no phylosophy classes yet. What I`ve learn is what my gf thought me from her classes, which is a lot of things,but nothing compared to your knowledge. I'd need to get into books if I want to have an interesting phylosophycal talk with you ... not that I will not be interested, but you probably won't be much