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I always teach lots of Plato early in my Intro course, and this term I’ve been thinking in particular of how contemporary philosophers revere Socrates.  It is funny that nearly everyone from all different philosophical stripes claim Socrates as their forebearer.  For instance, Huenemann will discuss skepticism, point to Socrates and say ‘See, just like Socrates!’.  I’ll make appeals to moral realism and our orientation toward transcendence, point to Socrates and say ‘See, just like Socrates!’.

To try to make this into a question (or a series of questions):  Why is it that two philosophers who disagree on everything else can agree that Socrates is the model philosopher?  When they agree on that, are they referring to the same Socrates?  Is Socrates the sort of figure that can be fashioned to fit anyone’s needs, such that Socrates becomes no one because he is everyone?  Or has everyone gotten Socrates a bit right, and (like all people only more so) he is just impossible to reduce?

… but wickedly funny. It’s an Eddie Izzard routine, enhanced with funny images. Topic: Jesus and the dinosaurs. Naughty language, basphemy, etc. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (Thanks Will Holloway.)

An oldie but a goodie:

Suppose you’re on a game show and you’re given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. The car and the goats were placed randomly behind the doors before the show. The rules of the game show are as follows: After you have chosen a door, the door remains closed for the time being. The game show host, Monty Hall, who knows what is behind the doors, now has to open one of the two remaining doors, and the door he opens must have a goat behind it. If both remaining doors have goats behind them, he chooses one randomly. After Monty Hall opens a door with a goat, he will ask you to decide whether you want to stay with your first choice or to switch to the last remaining door. Imagine that you chose Door 1 and the host opens Door 3, which has a goat. He then asks you “Do you want to switch to Door Number 2?” Is it to your advantage to change your choice? (Wikipedia)

What do you think? If you want to try out the problem, and see the results of the “sitchers” vs. the “nonswitchers”, click here.

Students should seriously consider submitting papers to an upcoming conference at SLCC. The conference is focused on John Rawls, the most important social-political philosopher of the 20th century, but if you haven’t studied Rawls, I think any paper in the general area of personal liberty vs. social responsibility would be acceptable. Contact Huenemann for further details.

Here is a pdf of the conference flyer:

slcccfp

Very interesting 20-minute lecture here, presented to U. S. State Dept. Rosling has a very interesting set of moving graphs indicating how the world is changing, with respect to income and mortality. The old “developed vs. developing” dichotomy seems to have disappeared.