|
Philosophy for All |
Philosophy for All
Fargo-Moorhead is open to everyone interested in philosophy. Its aim is to approach philosophical problems
in a non-technical way to enable everyone to participate in discussion and
debate. It aims to combine serious
philosophical activity with an informal exchange of ideas and views.
Meetings: Third Thursday of
the month,
Topic: “Moral and Aesthetic Sorites: Paradoxes Galore!”
A sorites is the ancient paradox of the heap (from the Greek soros). One grain of
sand is not a heap. Add one grain of
sand and it is still not a heap. Is
there any condition when, by adding a single grain of sand it will, suddenly,
become a heap? The answer seems to be
no, so, logically, there would never be a heap, no matter how many grains of sand
you added (one at a time, of course), and yet at some point there will, in
fact, surely be a heap. There seems to
be a discrepancy between logic and the facts in the world. This is the problem of vagueness. How many
cells makes a human being? If you have one cell, is that a
human being? No. If
you add one cell, is that a human being?
No. So there are no human beings, which seems to be false, although it is affirmed by
one prominent philosopher who is influenced by the sorites
paradox, Peter Unger. We will discuss sorites, especially in the moral and aesthetic realms.
Presentation by Richard Gilmore, Concordia, followed by discussion
Topic: “Self-Identity
and the Ethical Other”
It seems an obvious truism
that we know things about other people.
We incorporate it into discussions of empathy, sorrow, judgment, and
even disgust. How is it that we can say we
“know” what other people are feeling or what it is like to be in a certain
situation for that other person? The question of “The Other” is an issue that
has poured over into the twentieth century, and now
the twenty-first. I want to address what
it means to know another person, if that is even possible and how so, from the
perspective of three major philosophers within what is referred to as the
Continental tradition in Philosophy. Husserl, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Levinas all have significantly differing interpretations on
how we come to know other people, create a common culture and language but,
more importantly, a socially recognized ethical system. Thus, we shall only begin to dip our
paintbrushes before painting the landscape of Ethics. The tablette
will be our dialogue and the paintbrush our Reason.
Presentation
by Nathan Wood, MSUM senior Philosophy major, followed by discussion.