Erik Chu

Dr. Brown
PHI2010
04/26/2015
Unit 12 Assignment (Essay)
During the course of my studies in PHI2010 this semester I reinforced a lot of
things that I had previously learned in other classes, but I also learned a plethora of new
things about philosophy and the greatest thinkers to ever have been documented in our
history. This course started off by teaching the history of philosophy and how curiosity first
triggered us humans to ask Why? People learn through philosophy that they have been
holding on to beliefs that are inconsistent or even outright contradictory to one another.
Usually when I talk about philosophy, Im thinking more along the lines of Socrates and
Plato. However, when other people use the term philosophy, they are usually talking about
a state of mind such as my philosophy has always been to takes things one day at a time.
Having a good idea of exactly what philosophy is as a concept has been extremely important
throughout the course of this semester.
Philosophy has great value both at the individual level and to society as a whole.
Robert Paul Wolff said, philosophy is an activity whose guiding principle is reason and
whose goal is a critical self-understanding. I think philosophy can teach a person to think
outside of the box and criticize ones self and can have the same effect on society. If we
were forced to be a philosophical society then I think more people would have the confidence

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to think for themselves and analyze their own actions every once in a while. I think people
sometimes forget why they do some of the things that they do. Most folks think very little
about philosophy. Of those who do many have some erroneous ideas about the discipline and
its history. One of the most troublesome, for philosophers, of these mistaken ideas is that it is
about opinions. This is because this idea, when followed by the ideas that opinions are all
humans have with which to think, and all opinions are pretty much of equal value, these two
ideas run directly opposed to what philosophers are attempting to do. Philosophers seek to
take positions on the questions, issues and problems faced by the most critical of thinkers
examining the most basic concerns that humans can entertain with thoughtful reflection
(Pecorino 1:8).
Another important subject in philosophy is theology and the philosophy of religion.
Theology is the study of religious beliefs in a rational manner and presumes faith.
Philosophy of religion is rational thought about religious issues and concerns without a
presumption of the existence of a deity or reliance on acts of faith (Pecorino 1:3). Some of
the questions that philosophy of religion deals with are as follows: Is the subject of a
religious experience justified inferring from the psychological experience to the existential or
the ontological reality of the object of that experience: the supernatural being? Is anyone else
justified in reaching the conclusion that a supernatural being exists based upon the report of
the individual who has made the claim to have had the religious experience? Does the
accumulation of reports from such witnesses to religious experiences justify the claim that a
supernatural or spiritual being, a deity, a transcendent reality, exists? (Pecorino 1:3).
Some of the common characteristics of religion are: the notion of a deity or
absolute, that which is of ultimate concern and importance; ideas on the nature of human
beings; the idea of divine providence, destiny, fate; the idea and meaning of human history;

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problem of evil explained; description of the central problem of human life and suffering idea
of an afterlife-life after death; a concept of the world; ideas of human community and ethicsa moral code. There are several philosophical problems that are associated with the
philosophy of religion. In western religious traditions there are problems with any single
being having all the properties traditionally assigned to the deity of the Western religions:
First, if the deity is all-powerful, would it not have the power to create beings that would
know what good was without knowing or committing evil? If this is not possible then that
means the being is not all-powerful. Secondly, if the being must make evil in order to make
good, then how is the being all good? Lastly, if the being is all-knowing then it would know
in advance that there will be a use of free will that produces evil and then goes and creates
free will then the being has made evil and is not all good (Pecorino 1:5).
There were also a few important concepts that we learned which were associated
with religion and its philosophies. Theism was one such concept and defined as the belief
that one god is separate from the creation. Monotheism is a belief that there is but one god
and pantheism is the belief that there is but one god existing in the creation-i.e., world=god
(Pecorino 3:5). Panentheism is the belief that there is one god and the world is part of god
who is greater than creation. Polytheism is a belief that there are many gods. Finally, another
important term is agnosticism which is believing that there is no clear or definitive
knowledge of whether there is a god or not.
There were a few arguments we studied in the philosophy of religion which I felt
were important. The ontological argument uses reason alone and examining the very concept
of god as a perfect being. This is the a priori argument: prior to considering the existence of
the physical universe. This is reasoning without bringing in any consideration of the
existence of the universe or any part of it. This is an argument considering the idea of god

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alone (Pecorino 3:8). Nextly, the cosmological argument considers the existence of the
universe. If existence were to be considered an attribute then the universe exists. Since the
universe exists then God must exist since it is more perfect to exist than not to. Teleological
argument - considering the apparent order of the universe (Pecorino). The Teleological
Argument or proof for the existence of a deity is sometimes called the Design argument. All
of the sophistication and incredible detail we observe in nature could not have occurred by
chance and therefore there must have been a creator or designer of the universe.
Another major concept that I feel is important in philosophy is that of metaphysics.
Metaphysics deals with what is real. What is meant by reality? What does it mean to be real?
Is there a reality? How would we know it? When someone dies and a survivor wonders
whether or not souls are real they are entering into metaphysical thinking as soon as they
begin to think about what exactly it means to be real (Pecorino 4:3). Metaphysics refers to
what is reality according to a persons views. To call one a metaphysician in this traditional,
philosophical sense indicates nothing more than his or her interest in attempting to discover
what underlies everything. Old materialists, who said that there is nothing but matter in
motion, and current naturalists, who say that everything is made of lifeless, non-experiencing
energy, are just as much to be classified as metaphysicians as are idealists, who maintain that
there is nothing but ideas, or mind, or spirit (Pecorino 4:4). Popular metaphysics relates to
two traditionally contrasted, if not completely separable, areas mysticism, referring to
experiences of unity with the ultimate, commonly interpreted as the God who is love, and
occultism, referring to the extension of knowing (extrasensory perception, including
telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, retrocognition, and mediumship) and doing
(psychokinesis) beyond the usually recognized fields of human activity (Pecorino 4:5).

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Rene Descartes thought he had proven that we have minds and that they are not
material and that we do not need to have a body to have a mind.

He arrived at the following

idea as his first indubitable idea or clear and distinct idea or obvious truth (Pecorino 6:3).
Descartes was a very famous philosopher and also important in philosophy this semester.
According to Descartes there are two very different sorts of things that exist or substances:
the physical and the spiritual or non-physical (Pecorino 3). Brains are part of the physical
realm and minds are part of the non-physical realm. The belief that two realms make up all
that is real is called Dualism (Pecorino 6:3). Descartes thought that it was the Pineal Gland
that was the master control unit where the soul contacted the brain (body) because it was
singular and not doubled as are other parts of the brain (Pecorino 6:3). Scientific
investigation has now proven that the pineal gland does not function as a central control unit
for the brain (Pecorino 6:3). The major obstacle to the Pineal Gland theory is that the
Pineal Gland is still a physical thingso how does the mind excite it? How do our senses
which react to the physical world, excite our non-physical mind? Suppose you would think
that it is through a Harmonic Vibration! PROBLEM: How does a non-physical thing,
Vibrate? PROBLEM: How do we explain the interaction of the mind and body? (Pecorino
6:3).
Another important concept that I feel everyone should know is the notion of free will
and freedom. Free will is defined as the ability of agents to make choices unconstrained by
certain factors. Factors of historical concern have included metaphysical constraints (for
example, logical, nomological, or theological determinism), physical constraints (for
example, chains or imprisonment), social constraints (for example, threat of punishment or
censure, or structural constraints), and mental constraints (for example, compulsions or
phobias, neurological disorders, or genetic predispositions) (Pecorino 7:1). The need to

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reconcile freedom of will with a deterministic universe is known as the problem of free will
or sometimes referred to as the dilemma of determinism. This dilemma leads to a moral
dilemma as well: How are we to assign responsibility for our actions if they are caused
entirely by past events? (Pecorino 7:1). Freedom does not always mean there wont be
undesirable consequences as there may be repercussions for our actions so that a person
might want to say something like "I am not free to rob a bank and by that mean that if they
did they would be pursued and captured and imprisoned. If persons have free will well then
that might mean simply that they can make the choice to rob a bank and flee capture. So
"freedom" does not mean the ability to make decisions and to act without undesirable
consequences. Freedom in this context of the freedom versus determinism issue has a
meaning that identifies it with possessing free will or being able to make choices for ones
self (Pecorino 7:1).
Political philosophy is another important aspect of philosophy which I feel should be
included in this assignment. The first question to be answered is part of social philosophy and
asks the question of Who gets what? (Pecorino 10:1). Then the next main question is a
considered political philosophy, which simply asks, Who says so? (Pecorino 10:1). Other
examples of questions asked by political philosophy are: What is the best form of
government? Why should individuals obey the law? Is taxation legitimate? What is the
relation between the government and individuals? How should the distribution of goods and
services be arranged? (Pecorino 10:1). Political philosophy has its beginnings in ethics
answering questions such as, what kind of life is the good life for human beings? Since
people are by nature sociable, though there are some exceptions of course, the question
follows as to what kind of life is proper for a person amongst people. The philosophical

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discourses concerning politics thus develop, broaden and flow from their ethical
underpinnings ("Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
In conclusion, we have covered a vast amount of information in this course over a
short period of time. We studied many aspects related to philosophy and the famous
philosophers whose different ways of thinking help us expand our minds and logical
reasoning. I have discussed the areas in philosophy which I felt were the most important this
semester although there are books upon books of literature one could read just on the topic of
Plato and his The Republic and this essay merely touches upon some of these ideas.

Works Cited
Pecorino, Ph.D., Philip A. Introduction to Philosophy, an Online Textbook. Bayside, N.Y.:
Queensborough Community College, CUNY, 2000. Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/default.htm>.
"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 16 Apr.
2015. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/polphil/>.

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Web. 5 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/.../pom_behaviourism_introduction.htm>.
Gietmann, Gerhard. "sthetics." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1907. 16 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01174c.htm>.
Zangwill, Nick. "Aesthetic Judgment." Stanford University. Stanford University, 28 Feb.
2003. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetic-judgment/>.