PHIL 103 C, Monday, 11-13-17

Transcript

Philosophy 103C Monday November 13 20 17th check with me after class if you want to make sure your attendance is good okay so I’m going to talk to you about long nine and the Mill essay nobody except the one student in another class talked about how Mill proposes to solve the problem you wrote about the idea of protection you wrote about that well chapter 4 which is what the log was supposed to be about makes the point about liberty and authority in what our actually quite traditional ways of referring to justice where justice involves each person taking care of his own business where the question is what is your own business and what is not your business and please talking not just a person about these two functions liberty and authority so the job of authority is to prevent people from doing harmful things other people that his argument the job of liberty is a better job of the job authorities a job of society notice he’s not talking about government those you’re stuck on an ocean of government is talking about society the job of liberty is the job of the individual that is it that it’s the business of the individual to make up his mind talking about adults of course make up his mind about how to live his life except of course for things that are harmful to others in which case it becomes the business of authority to prevent the person or restrain that kind of liberty now having made that point which is in the way the main point of the book you haven’t said enough to explain how the majority would be persuaded because the majority might say well even if it’s not right to restrain a person’s liver tea unless the person to do something for somebody else we think it’s better to do so because the conformity that we want is conformity to the good things that I’m good way of life and people we all be better off if people conform these ideas that’s the view of the majority that makes them tyrants Bill needs to persuade the majority that they are wrong not enough to tell them that it it is wrong to do that other people what are you have to show the majority is that by restraining the liberty of individuals they are not only harming those individuals they are harming themselves in society right so that the answer to the question how does milk opposed to solve the problem is by persuading the majority that liberty is something much more beneficial than they realized and that although conformity as is important to the extent to which they insist upon conformity virtually eliminates liberty and therefore eliminate all the benefits that come from liberty and what are these benefits to car chapter 2 about benefits of thought and discussion what are the basic benefits of thought and discussion when it is successful what are the benefits that it brings to society truth and knowledge right keep in mind the power of that answer that meal was giving to them you’ll eliminate liberty you will lemonade finding new truth and knowledge can your conformity maybe to what we already know truth we have a knowledge we got you maybe good and keeping know but you will not allow people to find any new ones because you are preventing them from having new thoughts you want conformity not liberty got it similarly he’s saying to the majority if you prevent people from living according to their liberty that is from conducting what amount to experiments in living experiment to living is the equivalent of a discussion it’s a way of taking a new idea you’ve got an testing it when you tested and discussion you’re your testing it against other peoples ideas you come up with an idea and it’s amazing how often other people come up with ideas not only contrary to that the things you hadn’t anticipated hi when you do an experiment in living do not testing it against other peoples opinions you’re testing this idea of how to live against the fax that’s what a scientist doesn’t he doesn’t spare you try something and you see if it works so these methods of discussion and experiment don’t guarantee that you’re ever going to come up with anything very good but you might and if you keep in mind that we’re not just talking about the occasional genius Einstein Newton no Nobel Prize winners what area we all agree that gratitude to people who’ve made discoveries in medicine and engineering in overcoming things that are beneficial to us but we all of our neighbors ordinary people who do of a job and whose life has been wanting which there their abilities maybe not extraordinary abilities out of the out of the ordinary but nevertheless significant abilities have been developed so that that person comes to be able to do things in life beneficial not only to himself or herself but to others as well that’s that’s the the powerful argument I’m not saying there’s nothing to be set against it no questions to be right but you need to recognize that he’s saying to the majority that they’ve they they don’t realize the benefits of the thing that they’re so ready to suppress insistence on conformity is not a good policy if you never want to hear anybody have a different opinion from years once you have I understand there’re a lot of things that people have been make a sick to hear about right but if you never want to hear any opinion of the ones you got what you’re saying is my Learning life is over I’m finished Kelly might be appropriate on your death bed but probably not any sooner okay now those of you sent me an essay logues anybody would send me an SMS as well I think I want to go to SA but maybe didn’t do that point justice right so send any changes send it again do it midnight enough but when you send it again send me a message that says Brother ever read this monarchy a Le’Ron maybe even in capital letters right and I will try it I have downloaded anything yet but I’ve noticed a lot of them waiting for me I will try to read them in this order I mean I will I I’m a try to read the essays of the order in which I receive them but I’ll I’ll look at the messages I’m getting to see if somebody’s giving me one more reason to be right okay but do give me a message don’t assume that I know what it is any question any questions about milk hey me yeah yes Gaye ash cheese more specifically to show that the the argument is that it’s important not to suppress liberty not only for the personal liberty of expressing the benefit to society and that is an attempt to to promote the idea of individuality and liberty so let me finally just see if I can correctly this year yes in Santa Ana well you want to know everything that is clearly if it’s beneficial to allow freedom of discussion but if you allow freedom and justice discussion and prohibit any freedom of action at need you to think anything you want to do some trying to it I so somebody says for example no I want to I Want to go on a low sodium diet heading to my sodium is that my house is the people insisting on conformity might say well okay for you to think that you can’t do it yeah he Desault the restless silly example to keep it as it is a serious example in the sense that you can see how that would deprive you of the up one benefit in the direct benefit of four went thought is working well it gets too truth and knowledge or closer to them or however you want to express it right but that’s all he is direct benefit its indirect benefit is that we try to put those ideas into practice so often that’s what’s really most valuable about the idea that you know something about physics okay might same wonderful I understand the natural world but with engineering what the point of understanding engineering if you don’t feel song in building his action also not just okay forgot about you’re right on point I want to make during majority when I read that phrase contest for dinner remind me that term somebody asked me and one of the other classes is this a send you that you don’t want to write introduction so I said well I never want you to write introduction in my conventional sense of production where are you talking if you’re some kind of expert on the subject I want you to write an introduction in the sense of producing the problem is and only one person in the classes that because this wrangles the condo and she makes an agreement she never breaks it right okay back to the issue you will fine in the Dewey which will get you in a few minutes that his subject is philosophy does anybody know the the subject of the at The title of the book in reconstruction of what no fourth title is reconstruction and philosophy so we are racing and what does anybody know the title of the first chapter is I’m going to sit down already been a long day some beach you somebody checking it out checking it out with Hammond what you can view your missing the word out your right but you’re missing a word changing changing from walk when you change of conception what do you change it from this wrangles the Glendale I don’t think I’ll have when you change your conception of something what do you change it from you change it to a new conception right and from what from an old transaction right so quit your old conception be have been a new wanted some point how far back can we go well I suppose about what we’re talking about right but what what would the world what would the beginning be Will be the first time it was conceived limit Dewey says in the sixth paragraph on page 36Chapter 1 he says that people listening to him this is were originally given as lectures to a live audience may have felt that he was off the subject of his lecture and he says so what I want to talk to about about today particularly since you haven’t read chapter 1 is what how to when you get a new reading like this and it’s on material it’s not easy right and you understand this you understand that but you can’t quite figure out what the authors doing how did try to piece it together and figure out what the authors doing so when the author stops and tells you something about what you doing you should regards that is like you’re driving on the highway but you’re not sure you’re going in right direction or something like that right and you see assign so what are you doing you redesign yeah honey maybe it won’t help or maybe Willie B’s gives information for the sign is like a highway talking about itself is in it I’m away to such and such place that so many miles away one possible piece of information highway can give you here are the author is stopping to tell you what is doing and it even recognizes that you might’ve been confused because what been talking about doesn’t seem to be recently so at that point you should save yourself I’m so glad that he’s going to tell me what the subject is because even though I may not enough thought that the first paragraph where on some other subject I don’t know what the subject is a supposed to talking about any tells you you’re you you may think that I have not been on the subject of the origin on philosophy so what are discussions so far of Dewey and I’m good to come back to the Jerry the majority of it’ll be an interruption of this what our discussions of our duty tells us is by the third page of this 14 page first chapter Dewey is telling us that this chapter is about the origin of philosophy but the title says is about changing conceptions of philosophy so what you can anticipate when you get to the third page of that statement is okay he’s going to tell me what the lawsuit was like wanted began and by the time he reaches the end of the chapter he’ll probably be saying something about what it’s like as he writes his book self pride shoyu that my notes which is your fishing around in the book so the facility but I got I don’t always do this I just did it for this first chapter because I thought you years of assertive useful Ira I’ve written a couple of lines about each paragraph in this first chapter got 28 paragraphs the first one I told you about us. Six) 26 third from the end here’s my summary he’s he meeting doing started with a different conception of the material out of which philosophy arose different from the usual understanding of what philosophy in order to suggest a new idea of the test of philosophy another words here is the 26th paragraph talking about a new a new conception of philosophy but in between the is not doing anything like a thorough history he couldn’t really talk about an pages but in between he makes reference to everything from the ancient Greeks 5th-century for even six century DC to the 19th century he was born in the middle of the 19 century back in the in the same year that on liberty was published in 1859 Dewey was born died in 1952 okay so you begin to see what the whole chapters about when you recognize that it’s a kind of account how philosophy began in the Asian world and how it’s changed into what it is now or what it is becoming now do we things because of the efforts of people like himself to make changes alright therefore the title of the book reconstruction in velocity is reconstructing it still philosophy so it has something to do with the origins but it’s also different back to the journey the majority the connection is this do we’ve didn’t tell you what philosophy is by talking about how it comes about how it came the origins of lost just as we did with Kate in the circle write housing comes into existence tells you something about what it is one way of defining a thing if you’re opening paragraph should be an introduction of the problem not an attempt to show now because that you got online or somewhere else that you know who John Stuart Mill is in the importance of this book and Sean bunch of stuff that you picked up from somebody else not suddenly wrong with you Reading things like that and finding out what people think about it but that’s not your that’s not your understanding your understanding is based only on this book you want to introduce the problem of the book doing Mill says that the problem is the Tierney the majority so the question what what the heck is the Tierney of the majority how does Mill explain that. By telling you how it comes into existence how it came into existence like a cake that’s what your first one was about tyranny of The majority is a tyranny that arises only when you have ruled by the people so representative government democracy whatever you want to call so if you want to understand the theory and the majority you have to understand how rule by the people itself came about out of rule I’ll out of government over the people and inara understand that you have to understand how government came about so that’s why your first log on Millwork six is about three Jeremy why it it is that people without anyone before the over themselves soffit to invent authority and impose upon himself and then as history progress saw 50 try to turn that authority into representative government and then I and not then but now now meaning is Millwright we’re faced with a problem that you’re in the majority so you want to use that history adds your version of how cake comes to be made to explain to the jury majority actually I think Mr. T stands up for it’s okay if it even thinks more because his something the ancient Greeks said that I bet if my back almost every people could lay claim to a similar statement a job well begun is half done my another words if you have a clear conception of what to carry the majority is you’re halfway home to the solution right you understand what it means for there to be at you’re in the majority you then you got the idea of the people who feel that what they think is right and that what’s good is for people to conform to what they think this whole block whenever milk talks about liberty specially got the liberty discussion Basic point is constantly making his it is it is of great benefit to whatever you think is true to hear from people who think differently that’s the way we learn we don’t learn by people saying wow whoa you’re right as nice as it is to hear thoughts words we don’t learn from them we get confidence we get something encourage with which sometimes what we really need no question about it so I’m not I’m not against praising people get something right but if we’re going learn it’s from the person who says something different than of this group totally did you say something different to say and it is our experience of each other that we always do so with this openness we always have something different to say to each other right otherwise be visiting there in silence so with this is openness to new ideas different ideas is a great benefit so even if it’s the majority it’s the people that’s what gives them so much confidence you know they’ll think well we’re just one person with want opinion we are all think this to which Mills says yeah all of you except him or her right and that idea did I tell you about it soon Rick Gibson the great 19th-century playwrights disk this ideas not just meals the 19th-century is a period in which the world is beginning to experience for the first time this thing called the representative government especially guess where know all the all the office I’m referring to our European United States United States was the place where there was a most radical form of self government and other forms of self government elsewhere the French Revolution but it which was he in some ways much more radical but also blew up in flames and went back to Napoleon the English had they’re much more careful slow change towards more inclusive forms of government but the Americans really engages in experiment which we know from our experience was itself very limited women weren’t included we have these wonderful letters between Abigail Adams and her husband DN and a five of course I don’t have to mention that you have to mention place alright so was a mixed picture here too but but with those exclusions otherwise the conception was very very broad and inclusive especially for that time and people began to observe what the effects were an American life of this new powerful influence call people and Pete Pete like the French observer Alexis to talk fill democracy in America and who influenced me a lot in Mill and began to observe how the tendency was for the people instead of rule by the people fostering liberty as with thought freedom from the tyranny of the rulers of the Kings wrist instead of fostering liberty it became of wearing widespread source of conformity is what we think is what everybody should thing can do so it’s an express it in a kind paradoxical form which is less way Milton express himself Gibson said in I can’t remember the place but he famous statement the majority is always wrong another is the very opposite of the ideas that you know you’ll get a good decision if the people joined in governing themselves and eventually we’ve take a vote and find out what the majority thinks made always be right but it tends to be right but what if send is pointing out is that the majority will 10 to be right about to stuff that people already know and when somebody introduces a new idea they’ll always be wrong because it is a new idea it’s not something that anybody else knows except some creative person are or whatever right and maybe hundred years later every the majority will support it or maybe even sooner but not initially those are examples that support the case and that he does a lot of that yesterday right and two of the biggest examples familiar to us Socrates who the scenes with the data that remembers out that even a perfectly ordinary guy light user for when he years Socrates explained the charges against him and that’s what we should be concerned about because he influences on them are crucial older people if you you bad influences don’t have much of an effect Younger people Camelot so that’s what we should be concerned about analysis is right to be concerned about what the young people are talk but we haven’t out where the Athenians. It is the death we now think of Socrates no educational system the other example he gives Jesus who will another person I was put to death and then became the founder of the great world religions