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Abstract: The Passion of Christ

The philosophical idea of ontology, questions many things. The original question created by St. Anselm is, does God exist? The question that I ask is what is the importance of humanity? God answers this ontological question. The existence of God is based on the idea of faith. God becoming human is the first answer to this ontological question. The second answer is presented to us by Jesus’ suffering and death. God shows us that humanity is important by becoming human himself and by dying in order to save us from the sins that we commit. Due to the fact that God saved us from our sins, our responsibility toward Him is to behave morally.

Writing in My Sleep

Am I awake or am I living a dream? How can I know if I am truly awake? Dreams and the nature of reality present many philosophically compelling questions. This concept of reality has also provided the basis for many films. Among these include such titles from the classic Matrix trilogy to the more recent film, Inception. These films suggest that there exists an alternate reality and pose the question of which is the genuine reality or whether or not it can even be known.

To analyze the idea of differentiating between dreams and reality, both must be uniquely and firmly defined. Dreams are basically the sensations that a person may experience while asleep, whether it be sights, sounds, smells, feelings or anything else. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary a dream is defined as “a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep; an experience of waking life having the characteristics of a dream.”

Simon Blackburn says in his book Think that “dreams are jerky and spasmodic. They have little or no rhyme or reason” as opposed to real life that is “spacious and majestic” (25). Inception comments on this well when the main character states that “dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.” During a dream one might not think twice about a flying hippopotamus that talks, but in real life any of that would be considered highly absurd.

In order to continue, the definition of reality must also be formed. Merriam-Webster’s defines this as “the quality or state of being real (real being ‘of or relating to fixed, permanent, or immovable things; not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory’).” According to this, reality is basically anything that truly exists.

One interesting proposition on the possibility of whether one is dreaming or not was suggested by French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes. His theory of an Evil Demon, as found in his first Meditation, proposed that there could exist a being that created everything around us that we believe to be real as a delusion to ensnare our judgment. He suggested that perhaps our brain is floating in a vat with inputs flowing in to make us believe that things are happening around us, deceiving us as to the actual reality that we are no more than a disconnected brain floating in a solution (27).

In response to the dream problem Descartes concluded that in order to even consider the possibility that you might be dreaming one must be awake because such is impossible to do during a dream. This relieved him of his worry brought about by the Evil Demon theory because the act of considering the possibility of currently being in a dream makes this current state the awake state and therefore it cannot be a dream or a delusion being imposed on a brain floating in a vat.

to be continued...

Free-will vs. Determinism

Ahh yes yet again the question of freedom. This topic has been brought up many time throughout the course and many time throughout history, but still remains unanswered. With this in light we will give the mystery one more crack using examples from the Film: The Adjustment Bureau. We understand that this film is still very new and will limit the scenes shown to keep from giving away the movie. We will relate the film to philosophical concepts presented by Locke and Spinoza. Spinoza is considered to be on of the great rationalist who held that absolutely everything that happens occurs through the operation of necessity. Locke fabricates concept of the human experience including metaphysics. Locke also speaks about religion and the concept of god and in addition creates concepts about human existence.

The Adjustment Bureau is a movie that suggests free will is limited if not non-existent. For our presentation, we will explore the concepts of free will and determinism as well as ponder whether life today is pre-determined or if we have the choice to determine where our final destination lies. 

Abstract: Epistemology, The Hitchhiker's Guide, and Class Conclusions

We have touched many different issues in class this semester. I’d like to present on epistemology and transition into my conclusions for philosophy this semester. I will be using The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to help demonstrate my points. I will bring Plato’s and Socrates’ views into the presentation, and tie this into the idea of epistemology. Since ideas of truth are very debatable, I will glaze over the subject due to time constraints. If time allows, we can explore the subject after the presentation, but through research I have learned that the issue is far too abstract and debated to clearly define a universal truth suitable for everyone. I will touch this issue in my presentation by stating that we each have a unique point of view.

Personal Identity as Portrayed through Big Fish

Throughout the semester we have explored the consequences of Cartesian dualism. One consideration is whether the mind or the body is a greater component of personal identity. In the movie Big Fish, the character Edward Bloom cannot be separated from the stories he tells, which causes his son to question Edward's true identity. Edward goes through many of the same experiences as other people, but his mind creates a new world that only has a slight basis in reality.

Locke and Leibniz have different views about what constitutes reality. Locke believes that physical events aren't necessarily correlated with mental events, while Leibniz believes the opposite. Big Fish highlights these arguments through the perspectives of Edward and his son, Will. Will believes that Edward has a fake identity because only his stories are visible, while Edward believes that his stories are a better representation of his identity than actual experiences.

Our presentation will investigate the nature of identity through the film Big Fish and the arguments of Locke and Leibniz.

Genevieve Vaive & Andrea Gallegos

Abstract: Death Note and Justice

In class, we've often talked of morality. Generally, we have talked about morality on a large scale, whether it is right to take this or that attitude. For this presentation, I'd like to focus on how morality affects the legal system, and how the word "justice" can be interpreted. To that end I'm focusing on a story from across the Pacific called Death Note, originally written by Tsugumi Ohba. The story focuses on two young men, Light and L, with vastly differing views on justice and the legal system. However, the two are actually very similar to one another, and their actions are not clear-cut black and white, but more toward the grey. Through examining them through the lenses of various ethical standpoints, we may learn what true justice is.