Wait, what was the FIRST UNIT about?
Define intrinsic and instrumental giving an example for each.
Intrinsic value: valuable in itself; joy
Instrumental: valuable as a means to something else; money
Give an example of having an evidential reason for believing in God. Give an example of having a pragmatic reason for believing in God.
Evidential: He came down to me and told me he was real
Pragmatic: If I believe, I could go to Heaven
True or False: Nagel agrees that life is absurd because nothing will matter in a million years.
False
What examples does Weinberg use to object to the argument that a life that is absurd for 70 years would be infinitely absurd if it was infinite?
A skirt that is the size of a belt and a poem that is pure gibberish
True or False: Wolf's view of the meaningful life is not compatible with God's existence.
False
What thesis does Nozick's experience machine object to?
Experientialism
What is Clifford's general thesis that he argues for?
Evidentialism
True or False: Nagel rejects the idea that life is absurd because no matter what we die.
+extra smiles from me if you say why he rejects
False because everything, no matter what the justification is, has to meet an end and some things are indeed valued for their own sake.
What is Weinberg's definition of absurdity? Does Nagel hold the same?
The tension between goals and aspirations and reality. Yes, the definitions are similar.
Why is fulfillment not enough to experience a meaningful life?
Because then we are left with the question of "Does meaning come from the experience of fulfillment, no
matter what its cause? Or is it meaningful life one that involves activities that are independently worthwhile or good?"
Can an atheist accept Divine Command Theory? Can a theist reject Divine Command Theory? Explain.
Yes, an atheist can accept DCT because they can accept that the definition is true but say that there is just simply no goodness or value.
Yes, a theist can reject DCT because they can believe in a different definition but still believe in God.
How does Nagel argue that the badness of death is not just nonexistence?
Shakespeare has been dead longer than Proust but that doesn't make Shakespeare's death worse
What is the example that Nagel uses to show the possibility of epistemological skepticism?
The possibility that you are dreaming.
What are the potential issues that Weinberg raises for a person living a very long life?
Perception of time and personal identity
What are the two main components of Wolf's account of the meaningful life?
1. Active Engagement/subjective attraction
2. Worthwhile Projects/objective attractiveness
What is the difference between hedonism, experientialism, desire satisfaction theory, subjective relativism, and objective list theory?
H: the only thing of value in life is pleasure
E: the only thing of value in life is experiences
DST: the only thing of value in life is satisfying desires
SR: what is valuable is of valuable to me
OLT: there is a list of what is intrinsically valuable
Give an example of when ignorance is excused and give an example of when it is not. What is the main difference?
Excused: giving babies oxygen w/o knowing it would blind them
Unexcused: not helping someone just because you don't want to get involved
Difference: if someone is responsible for their ignorance
Define the two types of skepticisms that we talked about?
Global: the idea that we can know nothing about anything whatsoever
Nonglobal: the idea that we can know nothing about anything outside of our mind
Why does Weinberg not think that our relatively small size is a source of absurdity?
Does Wolf accept a hedonistic theory, preference (or desire satisfaction) theory, or objective list theory of self-interest or personal good? Explain.
Wolf accepts OLT because she says that there must be a sort of objective worthwhileness that comes from the active engagement, so not just any engagement is enough simply because it satisfies a desire or makes you happy.
Explain how the grass-counter example objects to Desire Satisfaction Theory.
We do not consider a life meaningful if a person desires to count grass and chooses to do that for the rest of their lives. According to DST, which says that the meaning of life comes ONLY from satisfying our desires, we would have to consider this a meaningful life.
Give us the equation for Pascal's Wager.
the sum of the products of probability and value for each possible outcome of the action
Explain Nagel's three options for escaping absurdity and his reactions to these three.
1. Stop taking life seriously: unrealistic
2. Abandon individuality: loss of meaning
3. Suicide: too dramatic, absurdity is not worth that
Explain the difference between Nagel's reason that life absurd and Weinberg's reason that life is absurd.
Nagel does not think the shortness of life is what makes it absurd because then if a life was infinite it would be infinitely absurd. Weinberg says that shortness actually can be what makes it absurd because the shortness of our life is exactly what makes it ill suited to what we want to do.
What is Wolf's slogan for her view?
Meaning arises when subjective attraction meets objective attractiveness.