PHL105Y Introduction to Philosophy Wednesday, September 20, 2006

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PHL105Y Introduction to Philosophy Wednesday,
September 20, 2006

• Announcements
• If you are new in the class today, welcome.
  Please take a syllabus from the desk at the
  front.
• For Wednesdays class, read chapters 4 and 5 of
  Vaughns Writing Philosophy
• Philosophy Party TODAY North Building Lounge (NB
  262) 300-430 pm. All philosophy students
  welcome. Snacks and games.
• Tutorials begin Friday. Your first tutorial
  assignment is due, in hard copy, at the beginning
  of your tutorial.

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Your tutorials

• David Dedourek TUT201, TUT204, TUT207
• Catherine Manoukian TUT206, TUT205
• Suzan Poyraz TUT202, TUT203
• Contact information on your TAs (including
  emails) is available by clicking the office
  hours link on the main CCNet menu for the
  course. http//ccnet.utoronto.ca/20069/phl105y5y02
  01/
• Do ensure that you are signed up for a tutorial
  on CCNET (ROSI tutorial registration doesnt
  matter). As of today, about 90 of students had
  signed up. Students who sign up on CCNet also
  receive weekly update emails.
•  
• TUT201 FR1100-1200NE 297    
• TUT202 FR1200-1300NE 259     
• TUT203 FR1000-1100NE 257     
• TUT204 FR1400-1500NE 269     
• TUT205 FR1500-1600NE 295     
• TUT206 FR1200-1300NE 295     
• TUT207 FR1300-1400NE 297

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Checking in

• I sent out a weekly update email at 945 am
  today. If you didnt get it, you might be one of
  the 16 people who hasnt yet clicked in to the
  CCNet site for the course to register (follow the
  link at http//www.erin.utoronto.ca/jnagel/105/in
  tro.htm) or you might be one of the 17 people
  who gave an invalid email address when
  registering. Check your CCNet profile if you
  didnt get the message.

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Style and content in philosophical writing
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Common sense

• Why avoid highly complex and pretentious ways of
  saying things?

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How should we speak of Plato?

• When paraphrasing a famous author, what is the
  appropriate attitude to take towards that author?
• Respect (but not fawning reverence).

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Fallacies to avoid

• What is the straw man fallacy?
• What is the ad hominem fallacy?

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Fallacies to avoid

• The straw man fallacy is committed when you
  attack a reduced version of your adversarys
  position instead of the real thing.
• The ad hominem fallacy is committed when you
  attack the personal characteristics of your
  opponent rather than her position itself.

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Clarity and coolness

• To keep your writing clear, it helps to read it
  out loud, and then fix anything that sounds
  awkward.
• Loaded emotional language is generally avoided in
  philosophy papers. (Why?)
• The Academic Skills Centre can help you learn to
  write (more) clearly drop in and see them (Room
  2115B, South Building)

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Assumptions

• Philosophy often involves raising questions about
  things commonly taken for granted. Be careful
  about letting your argument rest on popular
  sentiments that might not be shared by the
  philosopher you are discussing.

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The first person

• Yes, you can use the first person pronoun in your
  philosophy papers in fact, its often very
  useful to mark the boundaries between your
  thought and the ideas of the philosopher you are
  criticizing. (According to Descartes, the idea
  of God is innate in us. In this paper I will
  argue that)
• Claims you make in the first person still need to
  be backed up by rational argument.

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Defending a thesis
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What is a thesis statement?
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What is a thesis statement?

• Its a declaration of the position you are going
  to take, and defend, in the course of your essay.
• In order to get a passing grade on a philosophy
  essay, you need to ensure that your essay has a
  clear thesis statement (preferably in the first
  paragraph), and that this thesis statement really
  is an answer to the assigned question.

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Arguments supporting your thesis

• Make your premises as clear (and as
  uncontroversial) as possible. In many philosophy
  papers, your premises will include claims about
  what the assigned author says about various
  issues you have to paraphrase the author
  clearly and accurately on these points.

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Assessment of Objections

• Any good argumentative paper will consider what
  could be said against the thesis being defended,
  and respond to those possible objections.
• If you dont feel that there are any reasonable
  objections to your thesis, that is a bad sign.
  (Why?)

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Keep your voice clear

• Always keep it clear for your reader when you are
  raising a possible objection and when you are
  responding to it. You can flag objections by
  putting it in the mouth of a hypothetical
  adversary (Here, a defender of Platos view
  might say According to the advocate of a
  divine command theory of morality). You can
  use the first person in the following paragraph
  when you are responding to the objection.
• Ensure that your response really answers the
  objection.

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Fallacies
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What is wrong with this argument?

• Nothing is better than eternal happiness.
• A bag of pretzels is better than nothing.
• Therefore, a bag of pretzels is better than
  eternal happiness.

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Equivocation

• The bag-of-pretzels argument appears to have the
  form
• A is better than B.
• C is better than A.
• Therefore, C is better than B.
• If it really did have that form, it would be
  valid (better than is a transitive relation).

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Equivocation

• The bag-of-pretzels argument really has the form
• A is better than B.
• C is better than D.
• Therefore, C is better than B.
• Nothing means something different in the first
  and second line of the argument (In one line it
  means There is nothing that and in the other
  it means having nothing)
• When you see what the real form of the argument
  is, you see why its not valid.

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Fun with fallacies

• Straw man
• Appeal to the person (aka ad hominem)
• Appeal to popularity
• Appeal to tradition

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Fun with fallacies

• Genetic fallacy
• Equivocation
• Appeal to ignorance
• False Dilemma

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Fun with fallacies

• Begging the question
• Hasty generalization
• Slippery slope
• Composition
• Division