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Phil 104 N61: Discussion Topic March 15 (Wed.), 2006

The document outlines discussion topics for a philosophy class. Students are split into groups of five and asked to discuss questions about self-deception, the possibility of being mistaken about moral beliefs or conscience, the idea of eternal punishment, and personal weaknesses. They are also instructed to use the Socratic method to debate philosophical positions on topics like eating meat, abortion, war, God's existence, morality without God, and free will. One student in each group must take notes and submit a discussion report.

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30 views1 page

Phil 104 N61: Discussion Topic March 15 (Wed.), 2006

The document outlines discussion topics for a philosophy class. Students are split into groups of five and asked to discuss questions about self-deception, the possibility of being mistaken about moral beliefs or conscience, the idea of eternal punishment, and personal weaknesses. They are also instructed to use the Socratic method to debate philosophical positions on topics like eating meat, abortion, war, God's existence, morality without God, and free will. One student in each group must take notes and submit a discussion report.

Uploaded by

Boram Lee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Phil 104 N61: Discussion Topic

March 15 (Wed.), 2006

Please discuss the following in small groups of five, and appoint one of your members to take
notes on the discussion. The note-taker must report their group’s discussion on WebCT. Please
see “Discussion Report Guidelines” for instructions on writing up a report.

Warm-Up Questions (for about 15 minutes):

Answer some or all of the following.

(1) Find actual cases of self-deception in your own life-history up to now, and share them
(well, just those you won’t be too embarrassed about) with others. Could you be
deceiving yourself about something at this very moment? If so, how could you know?
(2) Can your own conscience be mistaken? Could you identify some moral beliefs you
previously held as a matter of conscience, which you now recognize as morally wrong?
If conscience can be mistaken, how can we ever assert any moral belief with absolute
certainty? (E.g., could you ever find out that you are mistaken about your moral belief
that it’s wrong to take an innocent person’s life?)
(3) Do you agree with Jonathan Edwards that a completely loving and benevolent (but also
perfectly just) God punish sinners for eternity?
(4) Discuss particular cases of weakness of will: what is your weakness, which you know is
wrong but cannot prevent yourself from doing it.

The Socratic Method (for about an hour):

Take any position P, and divide yourselves into two sides. The first side should defend P as best
as possible. The second side should assume the role of Socrates, trying to refute (prove as false)
P by showing that the first side has beliefs that actually contradict P. In other words, the second
side should ideally show that the first side in fact believes the contradiction: P and not-P. (You
may switch sides after some time—it’s always a good idea to think on both sides of an issue
before endorsing a position).

Here are some suggestions for P. You may choose one of them to debate on, or come up with
one of your own:

(1) “Eating meat is wrong.” [or “There is nothing wrong with eating meat.”]
(2) “Abortion is (always) wrong.” [or “Abortion is (sometimes) permissible.”]
(3) “The recent war against Iraq is justified.” [or “…not justified”]
(4) “God is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing.” [or “Human suffering proves that God
doesn’t exist.”]
(5) “If God is dead, everything is permitted.” (The Russian novelist Dostoevsky said this.)
(6) An immoral action =df. an illegal action
(7) “Psychological egoism is true.” [or “Psychological egoism is false.”]
(8) “Moral responsibility presupposes freedom of will/action.”

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