1. Be sure to place your entire midterm on your website and when youare finished send a link of yourtest to your teacher directly at neuralsurfer@yahoo.com (don't sendit to any other email address, except that)
2. Make sure that it is YOUR OWN work and that if you use otherauthors please be sure toquote and/or cite the material appropriately. Plagiarism will not betolerat1. Be sure to place your entire midterm on your website and when youare finished send a link of yourtest to your teacher directly at neuralsurfer@yahoo.com (don't sendit to any other email address, except that)2. Make sure that it is YOUR OWN work and that if you use otherauthors please be sure toquote and/or cite the material appropriately. Plagiarism will not betolerated and you will receivean "F" automatically for the examination.
3. The test is due NO LATER than ----------------------------------
4. What is your real name? Rebecca Fogg
5. What is your "user" name? bec12foggy
6. What is your email address that you use for this class? Bec12foggy@yahoo.com
7. Name and address for your website. Philosophy 5 Rebecca Fogg
8. Have you done all the reading for the first three weeks? yes
9. Have you watched each of the films that were required? yes
10. Please place here all of the postings you have done for thisclass (you can copy and paste them)
. Why does Lisa Randall believe that there may be many moredimensions than we presently know in current physics? Is there anyevidence at this stage for her beliefs? Lisa first mentions the string theory, although I am a little baffled by the idea behind the string theory, it is thought that even though other dimensions exist branes, which do not spread, are stuck onto lower dimensional surfaces. Because these objects are stuck we are unable to account for other dimensions. Lisa proclaims that although dimensions cannot be pictured there are objects visible that suggest existence of other dimensions. For example, Lisa Randall talks greatly about gravities weakness and believes that there is a 5th dimension that answers the question of gravities weakness.
12. What are Pythagoras' philosophical views in a nutshell? Pythagoras philosophical views are based primarily through a mathematical outlook. According to Pythagoras “ Things like health relied on a stable proportion of elements; too much or too little of one thing causes an imbalance that makes a being unhealthy.” This clearly relates math to science. Without the knowledge of numbers and mathematical equations a lot of confusion can take place. Besides mathematics, pythagoras believed in reincarnation, to the degree that souls were seen again through humans and animals.
13. Do you think science and religion are compatible? Be sure toexplain your answer by GIVINGTHE EXPLANATIONS given by philosophers who side with your positionfrom the Socratic Universe (cite and quote whenappropriate). I’m on a limbo here. I believe in god as spirit. I feel that god is a form that guides not controls my life. I’ve always thought of god as being the sole creator of all kind and the universe. My background of science in its simplest form is not of great detail. I’ve been awakened to science through this course. I have not been completely persuaded that science was the creator not god, however I can see how the two worked together. Adams (U.C. Los Angeles) “ There are a lot of scientist who are religious,” this is probably an accurate assumption, leading me to believe that these scientist base their theories according to their own religious beliefs, regardless of the belief. I believe it is safe to say that the findings of science are religiously projected, having a starting point with religion. How can the two not be compatible?
14. Why was Socrates put on trial? How did Socrates defend hisposition? Socrates belief in god differed from the gods approved by Athens. He made this known to the youth and it was frowned upon. He noted that his intentions were not to corrupt the youth, but he merely had a different kind of wisdom, Human wisdom. Throughout the trial Socrates defended himself by suggesting that, first, the jurors were poisoned by his enemies and secondly, he came to conclusion that politicians were imposters, and he would not fall to that, therefore he chose to be himself speaking for the oracle.
15. Give a brief history of philosophy using just 300 words (nomore). You may use an outline format, but be sure tocram as many "factoids" (facts) as possible (key names, ideas,dates, etc.). Remember, it must beyour own words and not merely a series of quotes. First to understand philosophies history, one must first have an idea of what philosophy is. I understood that philosophy merely consist of one’s opinion, thoughts and ideas of ethics, existence of all forms, and reasoning to name a few. To continue with the history, I found that there were at least four different main philosophies with each of them containing at least three sub categories. The first, western philosophy was the time in which Plato made known his existence as well as, Socrates and Aristotle. Plato was a student of the philosopher Socrates. Socrates was put to death defending his belief in gods other than those believed by the Athens. Plato went on to help in the building of the western culture. The second major area is eastern philosophy. Most of the philosophy during this time came form Asian countries, such as china, Japan and Persia. Within these countries many cultures existed therefore many different philosophies were acquired. The third is abrahamic philosophy. This particular philosophy deals with religion. Some religions mentioned are Jewish, Islamic and Christianity. And finally there is African philosophy. Throughout all these times and different philosophies, theories of our existence, theories of mathematics, science have surfaced. Theorists throughout this time have included Charles Darwin, known for the theory behind Natural Selection, Albert Einstein and Pythagoras, who in general suggested everything was related to some form of mathematics. Theories include but are not limited to, The big bang theory and the general relativity theory.
16. Explain the big bang and the inflationary universe. Why is itimportant to know astronomy in order to dophilosophy? I’ve grasped that the big bang is a cosmological model of the universe, which deals with galaxies. This model suggests that the universe expands and still does. I believe inflation suggest that two objects move apart from each other at an accelerated speed. In order to theorize on the universe one must first be familiar with astronomy, which is defined as the study of celestial objects such as galaxies, stars, and planets. Without the study of astronomy it would be difficult to draw theories regarding the universe.
17. How do Heisenberg's views on philosophy and science DIFFER fromEinstein's? How are they similar? Similarly, they both have an aspect of mathematical involvement.
18. What is meme theory and do you find it plausible? Explain yourreasoning. Meme theory simply stated suggests that information is passed from person to person (brain to brain) through imitation. As I understood this information is not passed on identically, but in a way in which one can build off of. The passing of information is done in a natural way, suggesting that it is plausible.
19. Why is understanding biological evolution so important inunderstanding human thought and behavior. Be sureto cite Wilson and Dawkins and Darwin when appropriate. Biological evolution gives us an understanding of inherited traits from one generation after another. It is important to have knowledge in this area because a certain behavior a person or any specie for that matter portrays can be answered for in the previous generation and can give an in sight to what may lie in the next generation.
20. In one of the films you were required to see, the narrator argued that fundamentalism was a mental disease. Why? According to the film, “ evolution is a devastating critique of the book of genesis. And Christianity tries to shoehorn god back into biology, however in evolution god does not have to explain anything because he has been exempted from the creation.” Do you agree or disagree and please detail your rejoinder.
. Where do you think Owen Gingerich "parts company" (fundamentallydisagrees with) Edward O. Wilson? Who do youthink is more persuasive in their reasoning about religion, Owen orEdward? Explain. Because of better understanding of his position, I have to agree with Edward Wilson. He talked of saving the planet and that because evangelical religion has a kind force that it would work in hand with science to save the planet.
22. What does Francis Fukuyama mean by the "end of history." Do youagree or disagree? Explain. I completely missed this when I first seen the video, but I understand now that because groups of great disagreement are stabilized that there are no more outfalls that history has ended. I really haven’t been drawn in either way to agree or disagree I am still trying to grasp the idea.
23. Explain Nicholas of Cusa's philosophy of "unknowingness." I understood that if we can come to terms that we do not know everything there is to know, we wouldn’t be considered ignorant however if portray our selves as knowing all there is to know we are ignorant.
24. According to Nietzsche, how did we actually "kill" God? Thinkbefore you leap on this one. Literally we did not kill God however it is the belief of god that has taken second seat to science. People are being persuaded by the scientific theories and since there is more proof of sciences existence, god is becoming less of a belief.
25. In the movie, Little Things that Jiggle, physics is explained bya series of slogans. Why, then, is physicsimportant in the study of philosophy? Substantiate your answer. The two relate because physics is said to be an experimental science and philosophy consists of opinions and theories, which can be considered an experiment itself. Why is it important, well physics provides a lot of answers and therefore a philosopher can base their theories off of physics.
26. How do you explain the following line, "To have freedom OFreligion one must also have freedom FROM religion." There are many different religious beliefs. My understanding is that freedom from religion is in regards to cultural religious beliefs. I believe that some point in life one creates their own culture, follows there own beliefs, therefore I can simply say that one should not be bound to one specific religion if it does not fit their life.
27. Why does Dawkins believe that believing in God is delusional? God is a delusion because there is not sufficient evidence of his existence.
28. Can science offer a sense of mystery comparable to what certainreligions offer? Science probably presents more mystery than religion. There are a lot of theories circulating in the science field, which some have been deeply explored while others haven’t, but commonly answers have not been confirmed, leaving us in a state of mystery. Religion however is merely accounted for in the sense of believing or not believing.
29. How does an understanding of celluar automata suggest a "newkind of science".... according to Stephen Wolfram. A new kind of science, wolfram is taking cellular automata and relating it to many fields of science rather than an isolated area. With cellular automata, wolfram says that things can start out simple and become complex.
30. What were the key turning points in Darwin's life? I truly believe that because Darwin’s father more or less put down his interest in nature (to sum it up), he was able to take that negativity and explore his interest. Secondly, if it weren’t for the beagle journey his theory of natural selection might not exist. During the 5-year beagle journey, Darwin discovered fossils and organisms in which he sent to Cambridge along with his notes to be examined. During this voyage Darwin continued to journal about his findings. While on voyage Darwin read the writings of Lyell. These writings helped in the idea of natural selection theory.
EXTRA CREDIT: make your own 3 minute movie on meme theory and postit on google.com VIDEO. Be sure to provide me with a link.DOUBLE EXTRA CREDIT: Take your favorite movie that you saw listed onthe syllabus and give your own interpretation of its meaning (200words minimum).
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