• What is Philosophy? Why do we do it?• What is Ethics/Morality?• Thought Experiment/Hypothetical• Landscape

- isms- metaphysics, epistemology

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

Bertrand Russell1872 - 1970

“Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don’t know.”

William James1842 - 1910

“…the philosopher is likened to a ‘blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that is not there.’”

H. L. Mencken1880 - 1956

“Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that all others are jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself.”

Daniel Dennett1942 - …

“I can’t prove that mushrooms could not be intergalactic spaceships spying on us.”

“Philosophy is a way to trip without doing mushrooms.”

IMMATURITY

Thomas Nagel1937 - …

“Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.”

What is Morality?

What is Ethics?

Are these the same question?

Morality

Descriptively: code of conduct put forward or accepted by a

group or individual

Morality

Normatively: prescribing a code of conduct

Ethics

Branch of Philosophy that concerns itself with Morality

Thought Experiment/Hypothetical

The Landscape of Ethics

Objectivism Subjectivism

There is an objective standard There is no objective standard

The Landscape of Ethics

Metaphysics

Epistemology