Test #1: Knowledge

Test Delayed Until Thursday

Six Branches of Philosophy
    Definitions come from: http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch.html

• Epistemology - The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.
• Metaphysics - the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
• Ethics (or Moral Philosophy) -A branch of philosophy concerned with questions of how people ought to act, and the search for a definition of right conduct (identified as the one causing the greatest good) and the good life (in the sense of a life worth living or a life that is satisfying or happy).
• Aesthetics - A branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and good taste. It has also been defined as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature"
• Logic - A branch dedicated to the study of reasoning, or the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. It attempts to distinguish good reasoning from bad reasoning.
• Political Philosophy - A branch that studies fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice and the enforcement of a legal code by authority. It is Ethics applied to a group of people, and discusses how a society should be set up and how one should act within a society. Individual rights (such as the right to life, liberty, property, the pursuit of happiness, free speech, self-defense, etc) state explicitly the requirements for a person to benefit rather than suffer from living in a society.

Great Thinkers   (see PowerPoint)

• Socrates
• Plato
• Aristotle
• Descartes

Logic  (see PowerPoint & web resources)

• Logical Arguments
• Logical Fallacies

Thirteenth Floor   

• A few very basic questions to make sure you were paying attention

Readings & Discussion  (see assignments, class discussion)

• Allegory of the Cave
• Meditations on First Philosophy
• Ship of Theseus Problem
• The Simulation Argument
• Lying Ahead
• Wise Counsel
• The Pursuit of Happiness
• As A Matter of Fact...