Initial Post: [Due Wednesday, July 19th at 11:59pm -- you will receive half cred
ID: 3495678 • Letter: I
Question
Initial Post: [Due Wednesday, July 19th at 11:59pm -- you will receive half credit if late]
Part 1: Take a look at the following questions and offer a true or false answer:
All events are caused.
We are responsible for all our actions.
In some situations, people perform actions but they are not responsible for what they do.
In each and every situation in my life, I could have acted otherwise than I in fact acted.
If we were to roll back time to the year 1950 so that every last detail of the universe was identical to the state it was in then, history would unfold in the same way as it actually did (i.e., President Kennedy would be assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Reagan would have been elected president in 1980, etc.)
God knows what will happen in the future. He knows especially what will happen in my life later on, that is, he knows when I will die and what I will have for dinner tomorrow evening, and so forth.
Nobody (not even God) can know what will happen in the future because the future has not yet happened.
If I had experienced a different childhood, then I would make different decisions right now.
Even if one has a terrible childhood, one still can pull oneself together and make free and responsible choices about one's life.
Some features of a person's character are caused by his or her genes. For example, a person might have genes that make him extremely afraid of heights. In this case the person is not responsible for his fear and the actions that result from this fear.
We sometimes act on desires that are not our own, but which are implanted in us by advertising or peer pressure.
Taken from: Rauhut, Nils Ch. Readings on the Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. 2nd ed. New York: Longman/Pearson, 2007. Print.
[Points: 10, if completed]
Part 2: of the answers given, pick three according to the following criteria—one that you found obviously true, one that is obviously false, and one that was the most difficult to decide on. In these three cases, explain your reasons as to why you chose as you did.
[Points: up to 20 -- graded on clarity and substance]
Part 3: based on your reading and study of this issue, which perspective [indeterminism, determinism, or compatiblism] do you think you agree with most and why? In your answer to this question you must include at least one quote from the readings assigned for the module.
[Points: up to 30 -- graded on clarity and substance. -10 points if no quote or the quote is irrelevant]
Response Posts: [Due Friday, July 21th at 11:59pm -- the board will close at this time]
Find posts from other students in the class where you disagree with a choice made on one or more of the items in the list and offer arguments as to why you disagree with what they have argued. You will need a minimum of TWO responses to receive full credit. Your posts here can also be a response back to a student who has challenged your take.
Also, keep in mind that you will need to offer argumentative responses to other student in the class (or to me). Philosophy is inherently an argumentative endeavor and when you post you ought to be looking for ways to push the discussion forward—argue about things, work out details of your position (in respectful ways), look for different ways to make sense of claims, find evidence to the contrary of a position, etc. Try to avoid merely posting that you like what someone said or that you agree with someone's post--this is nice, but not really all that useful in pushing forward discussion and argument. What you ought to do instead (or in addition to such accolades--I don't want to discourage them) is figure out why you agree with the post, to what extent you agree and what sorts of problems might be hidden in it—again, develop an argument and attempt to offer a coherent defense of your claims. Your job in all of this is to argue—this means that you should avoid merely asserting that something is the case or that you believe it to be the case—rather you should try to prove it or justify that belief and in such a way that others have good reason to agree with you. Please try to keep this civil.
[Points: up to 20 points for each of the two posts. If you post more than two, I will grade the best two. Graded on clarity and substance]
Explanation / Answer
Part 1:
All events are caused. True
We are responsible for all our actions. False
In some situations, people perform actions but they are not responsible for what they do. True
In each and every situation in my life, I could have acted otherwise than I in fact acted. True
If we were to roll back time to the year 1950 so that every last detail of the universe was identical to the state it was in then, history would unfold in the same way as it actually did (i.e., President Kennedy would be assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Reagan would have been elected president in 1980, etc.) . Not sure
God knows what will happen in the future. He knows especially what will happen in my life later on, that is, he knows when I will die and what I will have for dinner tomorrow evening, and so forth. False
Nobody (not even God) can know what will happen in the future because the future has not yet happened. True
If I had experienced a different childhood, then I would make different decisions right now. True
Even if one has a terrible childhood, one still can pull oneself together and make free and responsible choices about one's life. True
Some features of a person's character are caused by his or her genes. For example, a person might have genes that make him extremely afraid of heights. In this case the person is not responsible for his fear and the actions that result from this fear. True
We sometimes act on desires that are not our own, but which are implanted in us by advertising or peer pressure. True
Part 2:
one that you found obviously true:
Even if one has a terrible childhood, one still can pull oneself together and make free and responsible choices about one's life. - this statement holds true for anybody existing on this planet. Many people have had terrible childhoods with medieval upbringings, but what one manages to be at the end of the day, has to be completely his decisions.
one that is obviously false:
God knows what will happen in the future. He knows especially what will happen in my life later on, that is, he knows when I will die and what I will have for dinner tomorrow evening, and so forth.- not being an atheist, but even practically, future is a constantly changing place. As discussed, some of the actions are due to someone else's influence. Unless we have had an interaction with god and ask him what he knows exactly, we cannot assertively state this fact that god knows everything.
and one that was the most difficult to decide on:
If we were to roll back time to the year 1950 so that every last detail of the universe was identical to the state it was in then, history would unfold in the same way as it actually did (i.e., President Kennedy would be assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Reagan would have been elected president in 1980, etc.) . This might hold true or might not as well. As we know time and space keep flowing with time in a parallel universe, this might be the case.