Midterm Reminder

Just a reminder: the midterm will be held on Wednesday, October 28th. It's worth 20% of your overall grade. There will be a review in class on Monday. It will cover the topics we discussed in class so far:

• philosophy in general
• doing philosophy
• understanding and evaluating arguments
• types of arguments: deductive, example, analogy, causal, authority
  
• what is knowledge?
• Plato on knowledge vs. true belief
  
• skepticism (specifically external world skepticism)
  
• Descartes battling skepticism
• Descartes's certainty: his arg that "I exist"
  
• Nick Bostrom's simulation arg for skepticism
  

BE THERE.

Virtual Dino Comic?

Here's a more advanced version of the Nick Bostrom article we're discussing in class about the potentially high probability that we're actually living in a Matrix-like virtual reality. If you get really into Bostrom's argument, there's a whole website devoted to debating it (including a FAQ written by Bostrom).

Of course, T-Rex has read this article, too:

I'm Certain I'm Doubting

Here are some links related to our discussion of René Descartes and skepticism from class.

• Optical illusion time! Here is a pair of collections of Julian Beever's sidewalk art that looks three-dimensional when viewed from a certain angle. That's a picture of one of his creations above.
  
• The search for truth is tough. Let's get the FBI on the case!
• Here's an audio interview about Descartes's famous argument that he's certain he exists.
  
• Can we be abolutely certain of math claims like 2 + 3 = 5? This cartoon dinosaur says we can't!

By the way, if you have any links you think I or others in class might find interesting, let me know. And feel free to comment on any of these posts.

We're All Skeptics Now

Here are some links related to our discussion of knowledge and skepticism from class.

• What are the philosophical implications of the movie The Matrix?
  
• Here's a summary of the cool argument (pdf) for what I called "unsettled debate" skepticism in class. There's also an entire book on it.
  
• I recently interviewed the author of that book for the Owning Our Ignorance club. Here's the audio interview.
  
  

BS

Want to learn more about bullshit? You can buy Harry Frankfurt's book On Bullshit here... or read it online for free here. Or, be lazy and watch Frankfurt's appearance on The Daily Show.


Some more interviews with Frankfurt about the book are here and here. What do you think? Is not caring about whether you're telling the truth worse than deliberately lying?

K = JTB?

I wonder whether Plato would agree with T-Rex's analysis of knowledge:


In panel 5, Utahraptor is bringing up a Gettier case counterexample to the claim that knowledge = justified true belief. If you're looking for FUN TIMES, ask me about the Gettier problem in class!