Introduction to Philosophy
This is an introductory course to philosophic thinking and formalized argumentation. This course covers ten different philosophic arguments in the main three branches of analytic philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.
The Disclaimer: Tom does not support everything he says in these lecture. He is trying to present the arguments in the most charitable way possible, and the challenge is to find the false premise and explain why it is false.
01
Can God Allow Suffering?
There is no God, and we can know that there is no God simply by reflecting on the impressive variety of evils and sufferings we encounter in the world, or so I shall argue in this lecture.
02
Why You Should Bet On God
Is it rational to believe in God? Using decision matrices I analyze the classic Pascal's Wager argument that it is in your best interest to believe in the existence of God.
03
You Have No Freedom
Do we do anything of our own free will? You might think yes, but I present the argument that we have not freedom, and maybe nothing we do ever counts as truly free.
04
You Know Nothing
We all seem to know things about the world around us, however I present two arguments that you do not know anything about the external physical world. First that you know nothing about the future, and second that you know nothing about the present.
05
What Makes You You?
This lecture surveys the physical and psychological aspects of what might seem to make you you, but I argue that neither facts about your physical body, nor facts about your mental life, nor any combination can offer a coherent explanation of what makes you you.
06
Don't Fear the Reaper
You might fear death, but this is an argument that you should not fear death. To be clear, not that you should not fear the painful process of dying, but if it could be painless, like dying while anaesthetized for some surgery, then you should not fear death.
07
Taxation is Immoral
Most people agree that governments do immoral things. Maybe you are thinking about drug laws, wars, etc. I present the arguement that the most fundamental things a government does are immoral, specifically taxing and imprisoning their citizens.
08
Abortion is Immoral
Setting aside the legal/ethical questions about access to abortions. This lecture begins with a surveys of some bad pro-life and bad pro-choice arguments before going on to argue that abortion, at least in typical cases, is immoral because it is depriving an embryo of a future like ours.
09
Eating Animals Is Immoral
I consider three common reasons people think that it is not wrong to eat meat: (1) that it is natural, (2) that it is necessary, and (3) that people have always done it. However, using the Fred's puppies analogy I argue that there is no good reason to think it is permissible to eat meat.
10
What Makes Things Right?
We are constantly faced with questions about what is the right thing to do, and it would be nice to be able to answer these questions in a principled way. In this lecture, I present the Act Utilitarianism principle that actions are right or wrong in proportion to how much they contribute to over all happiness.