Tag: courses

The Salon

Is greater jealousy a sign of greater love?

Questions like the one above were asked in 17th and 18th century Salons in France in which the upperclass spent their days. The question was posed to me and my classmates by my professor yesterday in my French 50BX class (literature class).

Many people are inclined to say no to the question. I think my opinion is similar, but I do believe that jealousy in moderation reaffirms a great love. Someone said, in class yesterday, that jealousy meant you didn’t trust your lover. I completely disagree with that; it assumes that jealousy gives rise to distrust and I don’t believe that’s the case. What I believe is that a little jealousy is healthy and common. It’s perfectly natural to feel like your love is yours and yours alone. That’s the purpose of marriage after all – fidelity – so why shouldn’t they be all yours? That twinge of jealousy just means you feel a sense of urgency and danger, and we are animals that feel threatened naturally.

Though I’ve never been “in love” so I can’t speak from experience about any of this. All I can ever do is make my best through-introspection guess.

Resistance

Spring quarter is beautiful.

My classes:

  • Swimming
  • Continental Philosophy
  • Philosophy of Freedom/Determinism
  • Advanced Philosophy of Mind
  • Psychopathology

I login only to update my plugins because it irks me when it says something like 7 plugins need updates. Sometimes I’ll feel like blogging, but usually I’m so far away from my computer the words and thoughts aren’t captured. They’re only relevant for so long.

Being 20 is the best thing ever. Last night I made an apple pie. Friends and I decided to get high a few times (lmao omfg let’s not discuss). I love the sun. I have new hobbies. Life is wonderful. Living in a beach town is refreshing.

There is so much to appreciate. (:

I’ll try to keep this updated, at least for my sake.

95/100

Oh Philosophy of Mind is such a piece of cake. We got back our midterms today, which were three take-home essays! Scores: 95, 93, 93. :)

The first question:

1. Explain Descartes’s Evil Genius Conceivability Argument for Dualism. Be sure to explain all relevant technical notions (essential property; Leibniz’s Law), and be sure to make a case for the truth of the argument’s premises. Finally, give an objection to the argument.

My 95/100 response:

Rene Descartes, a famous philosopher and mathematician of the 17th century, authored the famous words, “I think, therefore I am.” In “Meditations of First Philosophy” Descartes goes on to explain and argue for his viewpoint, now called Cartesian Dualism. Descartes asks, in essence, what he is. He believes himself to be a mental substance: a mind or a subject of mental states. Mental substances are then not physical. The body is a physical entity, but in referring to oneself and even in pointing to the body that is not the core of what one is, according to Descartes. Mental states are not physical states; a physical state can be the solidity of water formed into ice.

In order to prove Cartesian Dualism he first ignores all his opinions and releases himself of judgment; he conducts a conceivability argument called The Evil Genius Conceivability Argument. He establishes that he in fact exists, but introduces the notion that an evil demonic creature has set out to deceive him and creates an alternate possible reality. “[T]he sky, the air, the earth, colours, shapes, sounds, and all external things” are nonexistent and mere figments of the imagination. In this thought-world nothing physical exists, not even the body, but Descartes believes to have a body because of the deception of the Evil Genius. However, he is exactly the same as he is in actuality: all his beliefs, experiences, desires, and thoughts, but they too are caused by the ‘Evil Genius’. Using the Evil Genius Thought Experiment, Descartes forms the basis to his conceivability argument.

The argument’s first premise says that he does not have the property of being essentially extended, which must be distinguished as being different from being extended, the emphasis on ‘essentially’. It is not saying that a person lacks extension. This premise originates from the thought experiment, and is a logical possibility. The second states that the body has the property of being essentially extended. This premise is true based on the obvious fact that the body indeed takes up space as any and every physical thing does, making it true that all physical things are necessarily extended. The resulting conclusion from the conceivability argument is that the “I” is not “the body” using Leibniz’s Law.

So to explain this argument the words within it need to be explained. Since the emphasis in the first premise is on the word “essential” what then does it mean? Item A has property B, and property B is an essential property of A by definition meaning that it is logically impossible for item A to exist and lack B for B is the defining property that makes A, well, A. Again, to be extended simply means occupying a portion of physical space. For the body to be essentially extended means that by definition it is a physical thing that occupies space, a logical and obvious fact. By the Evil Genius Thought Experiment it is logically possible for the mind to exist without a body (though under deception of being with a body) and still exist. This makes premise one logical. Using the two premises he concludes with Leibniz’s Law, a widely used proven truth, that if C is identical to D then C and D share all the same properties. Since the mind and body do not share the property of being essentially extended they cannot be one and the same. The conclusion is dualistic in nature because the mind is a non-physical (or rather, mental) substance.

The argument is valid, meaning the logic makes sense and both premises are plausible or conceivable but not necessarily true. So, are the premises true? A valid argument with all true premises is a sound argument, but the truthfulness of the premises can be debated. Conceivability arguments are in fact, not guaranteed to be logical. It is possible that the Evil Genius Conceivability Argument has hidden within it a logical impossibility (in which a contradiction arises). The Lost Bet Thought Experiment proves this point: imagine a world in which you have lost a bet and as a result must accomplish certain tasks as repayment. This is conceivable, so everything is okay… so far. The tasks can include any number of odd tasks; these can be cleaning, walking the dog, or even purchasing an even amount n of CDs where n is equal to the square root of 289. But then the lost bet thought experiment is actually not so logical after all because hidden within is the impossibility of a number n being even and the square root of 289: it’s just not possible in any logical world. Somewhere in the Evil Genius Thought Experiment may be hidden a contradiction to any logical world. The Evil Genius World may not be so logically possible after all, leading to the eventual downfall of Descartes argument because it relies heavily on a conceivability argument, and that does not guarantee logical possibility.

Comment: “This is very good exposition, Adela.” Oh goodness, I feel elated!!! (:

Breathe my spirit, breathe.

Love is in the air tonight so just breathe.

Lovely Blindside lyrics aside, I just got back from my jogging class. After shower numero dos (#2) it still feels like there is a ruptured hole in my lungs. As I got back I was coughing lightly and it was like “zomgzz *heavy breathing*” but now it’s just mild discomfort. Today we did a timed mile. I always just jog 2 miles, but specifically Coach wanted to time us today to see how much we improve by the time the class is over. So yes… I ran. ^^; Maybe I should get myself used to running instead of jogging. -_-; It would have been the smarter thing to do but whatever.

Unfortunate side-effect of losing weight and going out to run at NOON :mad: is that I am now tanned and my jeans are falling off. Hahaha… the latter I don’t mind so much (oooh shopping anyone?) but my tan is AWKWARD! 0:

Ooh so last night I was panicking & stuff wondering when I have my health midterm… it’s on Thursday. *dies* I have so much fucking reading to do for that class it’s not even mildly amusing. ):

Ooooh but we’re getting our take-home midterm for Phil of Mind this weekend and it’s due on the 27th! I am so excited. *dances*

Seriously, I could sit with you and a cup of coffee and talk philosophy, all night long. (; Seriously, I’m surprised at how I remember everything I’ve been taught thus far… 0:

I have a study plan: Later today I’m going to blog about what I’ve been learning in health psych. In conversational form. That always helps me. *sniffles* ‘Cus no one can be bothered enough to bore them to death with details of health psych. So far it’s all this physiological shit and it’s like arrghhh ok whatever. XD That makes no sense whatsoever but eh. ^_^;

As comfortable as my pink bathrobe is it’s time to get ready to go to the very dreaded class I was talking about: Health Psych.

You Will Not Die…

Listening to Blessthefall is pretty great, especially when it’s so loud you know the neighbors can hear it and even better right after you’ve just finished playing artists like TLC, Coolio, R. Kelly, and Michael Jackson. What can I say? I like me some vaaaried genres of music!

Keeping up with reading for classes really isn’t that bad! It’s all about pacing yourself and really getting down to it every day, without exception (uh except Friday and Saturday are my school-work-free days; that’s my law). All my classes are going very well so far. There are some times with I sort of trip out thinking, “Oh which of these classes am I going to fail? Probably Health Psych, or hmm… nah probabaly Stats.” But then! I read the textbook and it’s so easy to read… and I do my stats homework and I remember how well I did in it in high-school that I tell myself it’s *not* a big deal and then I sincerely believe it. Take it a day at a time!

Never thought I’d say this but Philosophy of Mind is going too slow! I’m so eager to learn more that I want the professor to keep giving us material and really I could sit there for a few hours… because one hour is not enough! Seriously… and I thought I had it bad for Phill 100A which was upper-division Ethics. Hehe… ^^;

Wow this weekend I spent more money than I should have… but oh well… I’m happy with everything I got! Tadadadada lalala lalala… *humming* This song is washing some serious serenity over my body. Hah, that sounds all hippie-ish… ^^;

Next song, next emotion. They’re all so transient. From yesterday.

Here’s to some kind of rebirth.