Philosphy IP4

Socratic Method

Phil IP4

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Socrates Method

Socrates was a teacher and a philosopher who never wrote down his theories but instead left behind through his student’s ways to analyze and assess information to find the correct response. The Socratic Method refers to a method of critical thinking where questions are asked and reason and logic applied to discussing, assessing, and looking for weakness in theory. Through the Socratic Method topics are debated and truths are sought. This inquiry method works by asking questions in order to develop self understanding of a specific topic. It is a person fully applying cognitive ability to reveal the truth through the question asking process.

Socratic Method

Socrates: What is Determinism?

Ryan: It is the belief that every human behavior is influenced by external factors. Determinism suggests people do not have free will but instead event happens for a reason.

Socrates: Is everything in life predictable?

Ryan: Very few things in life are predictable. The only things that are truly predictable is the sun setting and rising. While going to work every day may be predictable anything could happen on the journey to wok to interrupt this predictability.

Socrates: What is free will?

Ryan: Free is the ability to choose. It is making decision or choices without being constrained by fate or the will of others. While people must follow laws and the norms established in society everyone engages in a decision making process to determine how they will act or proceed not the events that happened before. Instead people assess what they know and show complete awareness in the choices they make.

Socrates: Do you agree that every event has an explanatory cause?

Ryan: Every event is not explanatory or we would not be anything but objects playing the roles the universe defined in the beginning. While there can be an explanation as to why a series of events resulted in an action this event is not necessarily predetermined. For example if someone is in a car accident because they were speeding and texting while driving, their careless behavior would be the explanation for the car accident not the fact it was caused because it was supposed to not because the person decided out of free will to speed and text while driving.

Socrates: How do you define event?

Ryan: The event is something that occurs or happens or takes places (Hacker, 1982). Using the previous example the event would be the car accident.

Socrates: Is an event an object?

Ryan: Object stay the same over time but events differ by where the occurred, how they happened, and where they took place. Events are actions or experiences while objects are people places, or things.

Socrates: How do you define explanatory cause?

Ryan: In determinism every event has a cause. This cause can be explained by the event being the cause of the next event and so on. This would mean everything that happens can be explained. In some events this is the case but in many other events the event occurs through the free will choices made by the individuals. Not everything can be explained and not everything occurs because of the event that occurred before it.

Socrates: Do you agree that every human choice or event has an explanatory cause?

Ryan: Every human choice does not have an explanatory cause. Many events occur for no reason and there is no explanation. There is no explanation why some people get cancer and others do not or why some babies die of sides while others do not. When there is no explanation for why something has occurred there cannot be an explanatory event. In just about every event free will plays a role. For example humans chose to get into a car even if someone else causes a car accident or if they chose to go hiking and get mauled by a bear. Human choice will play a role in the events that affect the human but do not involve the sudden and unexplainable event. Basically not all events are the result of human choice or explanatory causes.

Socrates: What role does free will play in an event?

Ryan: in most events the choices of the individuals will affect the outcome. This does not mean the behavior is predestined it only means the choices the individual made led to the event. Because some events cannot be controlled but occur anyway. These events cannot be explained or are the result of free will. Some events just occur.

Socrates: How do you define human choice? How do you definite human event? Are they different?

Ryan: Human choice is free will. It is the ability to make a choice. Without choice everything is predetermined. If everything is predetermined people need do nothing but wait and let what happens unfold. They should not make decisions or selections. If people are not responsible for what they do or what happens they have no reasons to make positive changes and cannot be blamed for the bad acts they engage in. without free will if a person commit a murder tit would not be there fault and instead would be the result of the explanatory cause.

Ryan: Human event is an event that results from the choice made by a person. The human event does not involve the natural disaster or other events that cannot be controlled but instead involves event that involves human involvement but not necessarily that individual. For example if a person is in a car accident where they get t-boned by another human, this is a human event even if the individual did not cause the car accident. The human choice and the human event are similar because the human choice is needed to for the human event to occur (Keil, 2006).

Socrates: How do people choose?

Ryan: People choose after they consider different options and weigh the benefits against the consequences.

Socrates: Are human events random?

Ryan: Some human events are random while others are not. For example if a bridge occurs the event is random but the cause is related to the choice make by the humans that build the bridge. They may have selected iron that was not as strong as recommended or used the wrong bridge design. In a way this can be explanatory in that there is an explanation and a series of actions leading to the bridge collapse but the original choices were the result of human choice.

Socrates: Do you agree that to have an explanatory cause is to not be free?

Ryan: I do not believe that to have an explanatory cause is not to be free because even if there is an explanatory cause for some actions there is also free will to explain many, many more events. On the other hands there are events

Socrates: How do you define free?

Ryan: Free is the ability to make choices. Free is not being oppressed by a government or forced to make choices based on the choices of others. Being free is the right to pursue happiness and the ability to fulfill all goals a person sets. Free is living in society were choices are allowed and equality is essential. When something is not free they are oppressed, trapped, or imprisoned. Freedom does not mean a person can break the laws but they are free to chose to break law if that what they want.

Socrates: Do you think that free will and determinism can coexist in any way?

Ryan: free will and determinism and coexist because they both occur. Free will or choice is more relevant in many cases than the determinism but there are events that cause another event that leads to the ultimate event. In other events it requires human intervention for the event to occur.

Socrates: Is it possible to have external determinism and internal free will?

Ryan: It is possible to have external determinism and free will. There are same events that cannot be foreseen or stopped meaning no free will is applied while in other events fee will is the reason that the event did occur. Because not everything can be explained or controlled means that not everything involves free will.

References

Hacker, P. M. S., 1982b, ‘Events and Objects in Space and Time’, Mind, 91, 1–19; reprinted in

Events, pp. 429–47.

Keil, F. (2006). Explanation and Understanding. Annual Review of Psychology, 57(1): 227-254

Nicols, S. (2011). Is Free Will an illusion? Retrieved March 7, 2014 from

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-free-will-an-illusion/?