Picture of PhIG 7.5

I'm going to try to upload a photo of the supernumerary session we had after CHiPS V.

Seems the best I can do is put a link to it, so it will have to wait till I'm in the office. Here it is: http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/fhe/histphil/Philosophy/CHiPS/2009/chipsvphig.jpg

PhIG 7 - November 7

Good day colleagues:

There is an argument which holds that nothing can have a mental experience without a physical property. Given this view....then:

1. What is consciousness?
2. Where is consciousness located? Is it in the mind , it is something out there or can it be created using by physical objects, like in the case of artificial intelligence?
3. Do Human beings exhibit higher levels of consciousness than animals /creatures?
4. Can consciousness exist in an unconsciousness state?

Let us explore our 'conscious' experiences at Weiser's Beach Bar on November 7, 2009 @ 4pm. If you cannot attend, be sure to forward your views via email.

Warm Regards,
Felicia

PhIG 6

Our September meeting was focused on the implications of a new Afghan law that legislated punishment for women who did not meet the sexual needs of their husbands. As the discussion evolved, we examined the nature of marriage and the concept of human rights. Also mentioned (as we were wrapping up our evening) was the value of religion. Margaret then suggested religion as a possible topic for our upcoming meeting, which is a natural progression from our last meeting.

So for October 3, we will consider the role and value of religion in the human experience. Some questions that we can aim to answer include:
Is it a natural human need to believe in supernatural entity (entities)?
Does religion add value to our lives at both the individual and the societal level?
Should religion be used a basis for developing laws?
Does religion affect the development a set of universal human rights? If yes, is this effect negative or positive?

If there are other questions related to this topic that you would like us to consider when we meet, send an email to the group.

As usual, we meet at Weisers at 4:00 on Saturday, October 3.

All the best
--
Roxanne

PhIG September 5th

A brief reminder of the upcoming PHIG as well as a call for possible topics to be discussed at the next meeting. I have been mulling over various societal issues in order to make a proposition. What has registered for me over the past weeks though is issues regarding gender, marriage and rights, emanating from the law (recently amended) in Afghanistan which allows husbands the right to starve their wives if they do not comply with their reasonable sexual demands. Afghan women, at least at the political and/or judicial level appear to be opposed to this, but the law has been passed in an amended version to hopefully garner the Shiite vote.

I dont think we philosophised about issues of gender/marriage/rights etc, i could be mistaken, but I am hoping to come up with a more precise recommendation soon. For now though, emotions aside, if possible, it would be useful to have your thoughts on this. The "West" is usually scolded for its judgement of "non-Western" societies and their mores and norms, but I am not sure that an issue like this can be simplistically reduced to West/non-Western characterizations. Dont humans (women) have rights as human beings to be treated as such. I know that in reality politics will exist but lets start somewhere.

Nicole

PhIG 3

The next PhIG will be on July 4th, 4p.m. at Weiser's. We won't be
celebrating anything much though, since the topic we've hit upon,
influenced in part by something Margaret told us last time, is to do
with the doubtful value of our present power to keep people alive.

A brief remark from a review might give you an idea: "It is certainly
possible that our modern ability to have a longer old age detracts
from our lives rather than adding to them,
and this should be given its share of attention if we are planning to
evaluate old age at all." (If you want to see the whole review, go
here: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=16128.)

If we are sympathetic to the view that someone simply wouldn't want to
be kept alive in some fashion, and so endorse turning off their
life-support system, what does this do to our views on more active
forms of euthanasia? There have recently been a number of
well-publicised cases in the UK relating to such questions, without so
far producing any changes in the law, as far as I am aware. There is
obviously another connection with our previous topic of pleasure, in
that the quote speaks of what in general gives or takes away value
from our lives. We may not have agreed that it was pure and simply
pleasure last time, but it is perhaps difficult to think that
vegetative survival gives anyone enough to make their life worth
having.

Yours
Ed Brandon

article on happiness

Hi

After our meeting I came across a very interesting article on a long-lasting longitudinal study (of a couple of hundred Harvard undergraduates - including JFK) that started in the '40s. Relates to the happiness stuff by Seligman: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200906/happiness.

Ed

Pleasure

If any of you would like to get an orientation to pleasure, beyond
what Roxanne has provided in the Philosophy of Sex and Love course, by
the sound of the discussion, I found a few things that might be of
interest.

Easiest because it is an audio file is this audio-talk (about 15
minutes) by Hurka: http://cdn2.libsyn.com/philosophybites/Thomas_Hurka_on_Pleasure.MP3?nvb=20090418105025&nva=20090419110025&t=00bfb25f8b633dccad804

Some of you may recall Kim Setton - he has attended a couple of CHIPS,
our man in Confucian studies. He also runs a website:
http://pursuit-of-happiness.org/default.aspx

For the industrious, there is an exhaustive survey, invoking a good
deal of psychological work, in SEP:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pleasure

I'd be glad of Roxanne's ideas. Beyond that, I shall simply
contemplate the next few bottles of wine.

Ed