fuck

Question 1

argument

Answer 1

a set of one or more claims intended to support a position

Question 2

conclusion

Answer 2

position/claim/view intended to be supported

Question 3

premise

Answer 3

set of claims intended to support conslusions

Question 4

deductive arguement

Answer 4

an argument in which the truth of the premises guarantee the conclusion
ex:
p1: if x then y
p2: x
p3: so y

Question 5

inductive arguement

Answer 5

an argument in which the truth of the premises simply support the conslusion
ex:
p1: the window is shattered, the tv is gone, the house is wrecked
p2: someone must have robbed our house

Question 6

valid arguement

Answer 6

a deductive argument in which the structure of the argument guarantees the truth of the conclusion

Question 7

modus ponens

Answer 7

if P, then Q
P.
Therefore Q

Question 8

modus tollens

Answer 8

if P, then Q
P is false
Therefore, Q is false

Question 9

hypothetical syllogism

Answer 9

If P then Q
If Q then R
therefore,
If P then R

Question 10

ad hominim

Answer 10

attacking the person making an arguement

Question 11

appeal to authority

Answer 11

relying on an authoritative figure to support an argument outside their expertise

Question 12

straw man

Answer 12

refuting a misconstrued/false interpretation of an arguement

Question 13

appeal to ignorance

Answer 13

claiming something is true just because it hasn’t been proven false

ex: just because we proven false that there is an even amount of grains of sand, doesn’t mean there are even amounts of sand granules

Question 14

inference to the best explanation

Answer 14

you use the evidence presented to infer the best explanation of the evidence

Question 15

induction by enumeration

Answer 15

all OBSERVED A’s are B’s
ex:
all observed ducks at the pond are smaller then geese
therefore the next duck I see will be smaller than a goose

Question 16

soundness

Answer 16

an argument is sound when it is valid + all the premises are true

Question 17

necessary condition

Answer 17

a condition that must be present for something to be true, but don’t guarantee a result
ex: you must be alive to perform surgery
- being alive doesn’t guarantee you can perform surgery, but it is still necessary

Question 18

sufficient condition

Answer 18

a condition that produces something/ guarantees a result
ex: if you’ve been through medical school and been in residency for a surgical specialty, you can perform surgery

Question 19

Voluntarism

Answer 19

if x perceives something to be good, it is good

Question 20

subjectivism

Answer 20

good = individual to approves of that thing

Question 21

Annihilation Argument

Answer 21

p1: If life will eventually be annihilated, then life has no meaning now
p2: life will be eventually annihilated
p3: life has no meaning

Question 22

refutations to the Annihilation Argument

Answer 22

p2: life will be eventually annihilated
- some lives won’t be annihilated eventually (Mozart, Michael Jackson)
p2: to those who believe in afterlife (reincarnation, heaven), lives are not eventually annihilated

Question 23

Lucretian Argument

Answer 23

p1: If you are sad/angry about your inevitable demise, you should be upset about all the years you haven’t lived
p2: you should not be sad about your previous non- existence
p3:don’t be sad about death

Question 24

Epicurean Argument

Answer 24

p1: death cannot harm us
p2: if death cannot harm us, we should not fear death
p3: so, we shouldn’t fear death

Question 25

life (Epicurean Argument)

Answer 25

metabolic functioning (eating and shitting)

Question 26

death (Epicurean Argument)

Answer 26

the permanent cessation of life

Question 27

harm (Epicurean Argument)

Answer 27

• the deprivation of positive experiences
• the causation of negative experiences

Question 28

Revised Epicurean Argument

Answer 28

If :
death is the permanent cessation of life
life is metabolic functioning (eating and shitting)
and harm is the depravation of positive experiences
then:
P1: death cannot harm us
is false, because death deprives us of the positive aspects of life

Question 29

Amoeba example

Answer 29

If an amoeba “jack” has split up into two amoebas “kate” and “chris”, then is Jack dead?
most people, intuitively, think that would make Jack dead, even though throughout the process there was no stopping of metabolic functions

Question 30

perfectionism

Answer 30

for life to be meaningful, you must have done something rare or difficult

Question 31

nonperfectionism

Answer 31

you don’t necessarily have to have done something rare or difficult to have lived a meaningful life

Question 32

divine command theory

Answer 32

something is valuable because god says it is

Question 33

argument of choosing death

Answer 33

p1: If we want to die eventually, death does not make life meaningless
p2: most want to die eventually
p3: death does not make life meaningless

Question 34

Parable of Sisyphus

Answer 34

syphilis pissed off the gods, so they made him roll a boulder up a hill for the boulder to roll down every time it reached the top.
- this is kinda like our life bc all we really do is wake up, eat, sleep, work, and die
- Is this dude’s life meaningless?
Landau says syphilis’s life isn’t like ours bc
1) syphilis fails every time, but humans often succeed
2) syphilis’s life is constantly repetitive and mundane, but humans have fun and help people

Question 35

contingent facts

Answer 35

if an event had been different, the contingent fact would not be true
ex: (fact) everyone attended philosophy class in the kinesiology building on thursday
- if someone was sick, that fact wouldn’t have been true, so the “fact” is contingent

Question 36

necessary fact

Answer 36

facts that are still true even if things had been different
ex: (fact) everyone attended philosophy class in the kinesiology building on Thursday
- regardless if someone was sick or not, there would have been a kinesiology building
- the fact that there is a kinesiology building is a necessary fact

Question 37

sub specie aeternitatis

Answer 37

• some people think their lives are meaningless, because in the span of the entire universe, our lives have no impact on the world around us
• life isn’t necessarily meaningful if it impacts the whole universe

Question 38

sub specie aeternitatis

Answer 38

cosmic perspective

Question 39

sub specie humanitatis

Answer 39

looking at the world from the perspective of humans being the center

Question 40

Argument from Aliens

Answer 40

p1:there are probably other intelligent lifeforms in the universe
p2: If we aren’t the only intelligent lifeforms, then our lives aren’t meaningful
p3: our lives aren’t meaningful

Question 41

determinism

Answer 41

every event is caused by a prior event

Question 42

Argument from Determinism

Answer 42

p1: Every event is caused by a prior event (determinism is true)
p2: if determinism is true, our choices are not free (did not have the choice do do otherwise)
p3:our choices are not free
p4: If our choices are not free, our life is meaningless
p5: our life is meaningless

Question 43

refutation of the Argument from Determinism

Answer 43

p1: Every event is caused by a prior event
- p1 is false, libertarianism = the idea that there are some events that are not caused by any prior event
p2:if determinism is true, our choices are not free
-p2 is false, compatibilism = the idea that determinism is compatible with free choise
- to freely make a decision could also mean to not be coerced, manipulated, pathologically forced to make a decision
- in that sense, our decisions are free
p4: if our choices are not free our life is meaningless
p4 is false, even if incompatibilism is true conscious experiences, like the feeling of learning, are still valuable
we still value things like beauty, and natural athleticism even though those aren’t choices, so don’t be hung up on p4

Question 44

libertarianism

Answer 44

there are some events (such as our ability to make choices) are not caused by any prior event

Question 45

compatibilism

Answer 45

free choice is compatible with determinism
- if you define a free choice to = not pathological, not coerced, or not manipulated, our choices are free

Question 46

Psychological Account of Freedom

Answer 46

if a free choice is a choice that is not pathological, not coerced, or not manipulated, humans have a sense of freedom in their decisions worth caring about

Question 47

why can life still be meaningful if incompatibilism is true?

Answer 47

• conscious experiences are still valuable
• we value things like beauty and natural talent, which aren’t choices, all the time

Question 48

paradox of the end

Answer 48

• either we achieve our ends or not

If we don’t achieve our ends:
- we loose purpose, which leads to no meaning

If we do achieve our ends:
- we loose purpose, leading to no meaning

Regardless If we achieve our ends or not, our life has no meaning

Question 49

rebuttal to the paradox of the end

Answer 49

• we don’t either achieve our ends or not
  
  • atelic ends

Question 50

atelic ends

Answer 50

ends that never end
ex: learning languages (there are always more languages to learn)

Question 51

what does Schopenhauer think about pleasure?

Answer 51

pleasure = the satisfaction of desire

Question 52

intrinsic valuable

Answer 52

something that is inherently valuable (pleasure, life)

Question 53

instrumental value

Answer 53

something that is valuable because it is a means for something else
ex: money is instrumentally valuable because it is a means for leisure, food, shelter, etc.

Question 54

realism

Answer 54

mind-independent property

Question 55

value-realist

Answer 55

goodness is independent of what people think of it
(two types)

Question 56

what are the two types of value-realism?

Answer 56

natural, and non-natural

Question 57

what do naturalists think?

Answer 57

goodness is something that is
- can be observed empirically, studied scientifically, and has an impact on the world

Question 58

what do non-naturalists think

Answer 58

goodness cannot be observed empirically, studied, or have an impact on the world
(numbers, math)

Question 59

Euthyphro objection

Answer 59

If something is good because god says its good then

• either god arbitrarily decides whether something is good or not, which is weird bc what if god arbitrarily decides torturing babies is good?
• god is simply reporting what is good or not, which is bad because we are trying to figure out what makes stuff good, so if god is simply reporting on the goodness then what??

Question 60

appraisal relativism

Answer 60

x is good because i say its good

Question 61

appraisal relativism

Answer 61

x is good because I say its good

Question 62

argent relativism

Answer 62

x is good because my society says its good

Question 63

Schopenhauerian Argument from Pleasure

Answer 63

• pleasure = desire satisfaction
• desire satisfaction is frustration bc its short lived
  -not being in desire satisfaction is frustrating
• we are either in desire satisfaction or not
• constantly frustrated
• life filled with frustration is meaningless

-since it feels really long when we suffer, when we suffer we are suffering a lot
- since we are always frustrated, we are always suffering a lot
- a life filled with tremendous suffering is not meaningful

Question 64

refutation to Schopenhauerian Argument from Pleasure

Answer 64

• some pleasures are not fleeting
  -the pleasure of a massage only lasts as long as the
  massage
  
  • the pleasure of doing something intellectually
    stimulating can last much longer
• seek non physical pleasure

Question 65

refutation of the idea that life is meaningless bc of suffering

Answer 65

• the world isn’t that bad, you are just mostly being shown the bad stuff

Question 66

moral worth

Answer 66

actions with moral worth are virtuous
- for something to have moral worth it must have a positive impact and good intentions

Question 67

Psychological Egoism

Answer 67

people only do good things for their own self gain

Question 68

Argument from Psychological Egoism

Answer 68

p1: we only act selfishly (Psychological Egoism)
p2: if we only act with PE, we have no moral worth
p3: we have no moral worth
p4: if we have no moral worth life is meaningless
p5: life is meaningless

Question 69

Argument from Psychological Altruism

Answer 69

p1: we only act altruistically
p2: if we always act altruistically, we always have moral worth
p3: we have moral worth
p4:being constantly surrounded by moral saints diminishes the meaning of life
p5: life has no meaning

Question 70

Cruelty Objection to Perfectionism

Answer 70

p1: we should not be cruel to anyone
p2: it is cruel to be disappointed in oneself for not accomplishing rare or difficult tasks
c1: we should not be disappointed in oneself for accomplishing rare or difficult tasks
p3:being a perfectionist involves being disappointed in oneself for not accomplishing rare or difficult tasks
c2: we should not be a perfectionist

Question 71

Argument from Choosing Death - Wizard Case

Answer 71

• Suppose a Wizard can give you a pill that will make you + your family immortal at your current age
• Everything in your life will be the same, except you cannot die

Landau argues that most people would choose not to take the pill

Question 72

Arguments from affecting far away things

Answer 72

p1: If life is meaningful, it affects things far away.
p2: Life does not affect things far away.
p3: Life is not meaningful

Question 72

Arguments from affecting far away things

Answer 72

p1: if life is meaningful, it affects things far away
p2: