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Introduction to Philosophy Second Essay

Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your comprehension of one of two classic

problems of philosophy: external world skepticism or the criterion of personal identity.

Skills This assignment will help you practice the following skills:

• Structuring an essay.

• Writing analytically.

• Comparing and contrasting different views.

Knowledge This assignment will help you become familiar with the following content.

• Arguments for and against skepticism about our knowledge of an objective, mind-

independent physical world.

• The logical properties of personal identity, and competing views of its nature.

Task For this assignment, you will be writing one essay. Do not write both essays. If you do, only the

first will be graded.

Each topic asks for a complex discussion that will include several ideas from the course

material and lectures. Your grade depends on you accurately using the course material discussed

so far to give a complete answer to the prompt’s questions. Each substantial idea deserves at least one paragraph of its own, so please be wary of the suggested paragraph minimums for each

step.

Option One, Epistemology and External World Skepticism:

At college, Rene Descartes was taught the core tenants of ancient Greek philosophy, one of the most important of which is geocentrism. Explain what geocentrism, and who is most responsible for disproving it. Contrast geocentrism with the correct view – heliocentrism. For narrative’s sake, finish this step by mentioning that Descartes went through an intellectual revolution where he rejected geocentrism in favor of heliocentrism. (1 paragraph minimum, 30 points)

Then describe what’s better about knowledge that differentiates it from mere opinion, and explain why Descartes’s previous beliefs in the tenets of geocentrism didn’t count as knowledge (this should be pretty straightforward, don’t overthink this step). (1 paragraph minimum, 30 points)

Descartes is a foundationalist. Explain what this means he believes about the structure of our knowledge. Since geocentrism was foundational to the worldview that Descartes developed in college, why is he so troubled by its falsity? And what does he set out to accomplish as a result? (2 paragraphs minimum, 30 points)

Descartes employs a method of radical doubt to accomplish his task. What is the difference between psychological doubt and epistemic doubt, and which one does Descartes mean? (2 paragraphs minimum, 30 points)

One belief fundamental to Descartes’s worldview (as well as our own) is the belief that “our senses accurately reveal the way the world actually is.” If this belief can be doubted, then all of our a posteriori beliefs can be doubted. Consequently, Descartes comes up with a way to doubt this belief; the evil demon. Describe the idea of the evil demon that is central to his skeptical argument. How does it supposedly demolish any hope of knowing anything about the world around us (even its very existence) and why (supposedly) can’t it be refuted? Explain why this outlandish scenario need not actually be true, nor need we believe that it is true, for it to have this skeptical effect. (If you’d like, you can compare the evil demon to a brain in a vat or The Matrix). (2 paragraphs minimum, 40 points)

The philosopher John Locke thought that it was much more likely that we live in an objective, material world than that we are all trapped in a dream or simulation like in Descartes’ evil demon scenario. Nevertheless, he argued that the objective world is not exactly the way it appears. Some of the properties which objects appear to have (like shape and size) are

properties they objectively do have, but some properties they appear to have (like their color and flavor) are not inherent in the objects themselves but are “projected” onto the object by our mind’s eye when we experience them. Explain this idea in your own words, and then define the two categories of properties Locke believes objects have: primary qualities and secondary qualities, and give examples of each (be careful, secondary qualities are not sensations like color as we experience it, they are powers to cause sensations). Be sure to identify what Locke says the primary qualities have in common together and contrast this with what he says the secondary qualities have in common together. (3 paragraphs, 30 points)

Finally, explain the case of the inverted spectrum. What would it mean if someone experienced the world with a color spectrum that is inverted relative to your own? Explain why there is no way it could ever be confirmed or disconfirmed that someone experiences an inverted spectrum of colors, and explain why this possibility entails that color cannot be an objective property of physical objects. (2 paragraphs, 30 points)

Option Two, The Logic and Nature of Personal Identity:

Before you begin writing your essay, read Derek Parfit’s paper “Personal Identity and

the Triplet Case” (excerpt from Reasons and Persons, 1986), available on Blackboard.

It’s not as long as it looks, it will help you formulate your ideas for this paper, and it is

very well written.

For your paper, first, define and contrast “qualitative identity” and “numerical identity.”

Give an example of two numerically distinct items that are qualitatively identical, and

then explain how two photographs could be of qualitatively different but numerically

identical subjects. (2 paragraphs minimum, 30 points.)

Next explain that what philosophers mean when they bring up “the problem of personal

identity” is the question “What keeps a person numerically identical to him/herself over

a lifetime despite their undergoing possibly drastic qualitative changes?” In other

words, how much could you change and still be you (numerically speaking)? Give some

examples of people who change a lot and how its philosophically questionable whether

or not they really still exist as the same person after undergoing said change. A fictional

example you might take inspiration from is a person who has been turned into a zombie

or a werewolf. A non-fictional example you might take inspiration from is Phineas Gage.

(1 paragraph minimum, 40 points.)

Explain the brain criterion of personal identity. What reasons are there for thinking that

what makes you you is your brain? And then explain the memory criterion of personal

identity. What do philosophers mean when they claim that what makes you you are your

memories? What kind of memories? And does this criterion imply that you were never a

one year-old, assuming you can’t remember being a one year-old? (3 paragraph

minimum, 40 points.)

Personal identity is both symmetric and transitive – explain what this means. Give

examples of transitive and symmetric relations other than personal identity, and also

give an example of a relation that is neither transitive nor symmetric. How does the

transitivity of personal identity solve the problem of how an old person can be

personally identical with a one year-old child eighty years ago, if they have no memories

in common and their bodies have no cells in common? (3 paragraphs minimum, 40

points.)

Then, explain what a “dividing” case looks like for Parfit. While humans cannot divide

like amoeba, he thinks we can describe a case using triplets that results in a scenario

very much like dividing amoeba in the relevant respects (it involves very innovative

brain surgery). Describe this scenario and explain what Parfit thinks happens to

someone if they “divide” in this way. Which of the two resulting half-brained people

does Parfit think the original whole-brained person is identical to, if either, and why? (2

paragraphs minimum, 40 points.)

Finally, we know that our memories are stored in patterns of neural connections in our

brains, and so, in the future, scientists could hypothetically discover the code used by

our brains to store memories and use this knowledge to “implant” memories in our

minds by rewiring our neurons. In this hypothetical scenario, scientists could scan your

brain and use this information to implant all of your memories into a clone. Upon

awakening from surgery, the clone would have all of your memories and no memories of

its own – the clone would think he/she is you. Imagine that the brain scan procedure

would kill your brain if it happened to you. Nevertheless, it would allow all of your

memories to be implanted into a newer, fresher brain and younger, healthier body

whenever you wished. Explain whether or not the clones with your memories would be

you. If this procedure were offered to you, would you agree to it? Why or why not? (1

paragraph minimum, 30 points.)

Editing and Style Your paper must be in a double-spaced, professional 12-point font. The text must be left-aligned.

Give it an appropriate title and bold and/or underline the title. Make sure your name and date

are on your paper, but don’t put the name of the professor.

• The paper does not contain any “filler,” i.e. sentences unrelated to the prompt or their

paragraph’s main idea.

• The paper has the proper typesetting spelling, grammar, paragraph structure and

editing.

• Correctly following these criteria is worth 30 points.