McGurk

Here's a neat video on an optical illusion called the McGurk effect:

My favorite illusions are the ones that still work even after you realize they're just illusions.

Philosophical Cats

Cute cats and philosophy captions? You know I can't resist:

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.

Test #1

Test #1 will be held at the beginning of class on Tuesday, October 4th. You will have about 25 minutes to take it. There will be a section on evaluating deductive arguments, a section of short answer questions on the topics we discussed in class so far:

• philosophy in general
• doing philosophy
• understanding and evaluating arguments
• types of arguments: deductive and abductive (inferences to the best explanation)
• what is knowledge?
• skepticism
• Descartes battling skepticism

The test is worth 150 points (15% of your overall grade).

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 shorter, more accessible summary of that cool article (pdf) on "live skepticism" we read for 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.
  

Do I Annoy Because I'm a Jerk, Or Am I a Jerk Because I Annoy You?

Socrates has a reputation of being a bit of a jerk. The following robot reenactment of one of his dialogues does little to dispel this reputation:

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 that our textbook brings up.

Reading Response #1

Reading Response #1 is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, September 28th. In about a 500-word essay, answer the following questions:

• What kinds of beliefs does Descartes say he cannot be certain of? Why does he believe he can't be certain of these?  Hint: Descartes mentions 2 general categories of beliefs in Meditation I (pages 207-210).  See also pages 159-160.
• What beliefs does Descartes say he can be certain of? Why does he believe he can be certain of these?  Hint: Descartes mentions 2 specific beliefs in Meditation II (pages 210-216).  See also pages 160-162.
• Evaluate his reasons: do you agree with Descartes? Why or why not?

Please paraphrase Descartes's ideas in your own words. The response is based on the Descartes reading from pages 207-216 of the textbook.