{"id":11792,"date":"2021-10-27T19:14:16","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T19:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/phi208-w4-discussion-1-discussion-2\/"},"modified":"2021-10-27T19:14:16","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T19:14:16","slug":"phi208-w4-discussion-1-discussion-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/phi208-w4-discussion-1-discussion-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Phi208 w4 discussion 1 &#038; discussion 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><u>\u00a0Discussion 1<\/u><\/p>\n<p>This week our main discussion will focus on explaining and evaluating \u00a0the theory of virtue ethics as discussed in Chapter 5 of the textbook. \u00a0Your instructor will be choosing the discussion question and posting it \u00a0as the first post in the main discussion forum. The requirements for the \u00a0discussion this week include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You must begin posting by Day 3 (Thursday).<\/li>\n<li>You must post a minimum of four separate posts on at least three \u00a0separate days (e.g., Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, or Thursday, \u00a0Friday, and Sunday, or Thursday, Saturday, and Monday, etc.).<\/li>\n<li>The total combined word count for all of your posts, counted together, should be at least 600 words, not including references.<\/li>\n<li>You must answer all the questions in the prompt and show evidence of \u00a0having read the resources that are required to complete the discussion \u00a0properly (such as by using quotes, referring to specific points made in \u00a0the text, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Discussion: The Experience Machine<\/p>\n<p>To ensure that your initial post starts its own unique thread, do not \u00a0reply to this post. Instead, please click the &#8220;Reply&#8221; link above this \u00a0post.<\/p>\n<p>Please read the general discussion requirements above, as well as the \u00a0announcements explaining the discussion requirements and answering the \u00a0most frequently asked questions. If you are still unsure about how to \u00a0proceed with the discussion, please reply to one of those announcements \u00a0or contact your instructor.<\/p>\n<p>Please carefully read and think about the entire prompt before \u00a0composing your first post. This discussion will require you to have \u00a0carefully read Chapter 5 of the textbook, as well as the assigned \u00a0portions of Aristotle\u2019s (1931) Nicomachean Ethics.<\/p>\n<p>If you recall from Week 2\/Chapter 3, John Stuart Mill (2008) defines \u00a0happiness as the experience of pleasure and the avoidance of pain, which \u00a0means that happiness is very much a matter of how I feel \u201con the \u00a0inside\u201d. However, Aristotle (1931) holds a rather different view of \u00a0happiness (or in his terms, \u201ceudaimonia\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>One way that we think about this difference is to conduct a \u201cthought \u00a0experiment\u201d in which we imagine that we have certain \u201cinner\u201d \u00a0experiences, but outwardly things are quite different. One such thought \u00a0experiment is provided by the philosopher Robert Nozick in his \u00a0description of the \u201cexperience machine\u201d:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuppose there were an experience machine that would give you any \u00a0experience you desired. Superduper neuropsychologists could stimulate \u00a0your brain so that you would think and feel you were writing a great \u00a0novel, or making a friend, or reading an interesting book. All the time \u00a0you would be floating in a tank, with electrodes attached to your \u00a0brain\u2026Of course, while in the tank you won\u2019t know that you\u2019re there; \u00a0you\u2019ll think it\u2019s actually happening\u2026Would you plug in? What else can \u00a0matter to us, other than how our lives feel from the inside?\u201d (Nozick, \u00a01974, p. 43)<\/p>\n<p>In the course of the week\u2019s discussion, you will need to do the following (not necessarily in this order):<\/p>\n<p>1. Engage with the text:<\/p>\n<p>Using at least one quote from the assigned texts, explain Aristotle\u2019s \u00a0notion of eudaimonia. Then, discuss whether Aristotle would consider \u00a0someone hooked<\/p>\n<p>up to the experience machine to be \u201chappy\u201d in the sense captured by that notion of eudaimonia.<\/p>\n<p>2. Reflect on yourself:<\/p>\n<p>If you had the chance to be permanently hooked up to the experience \u00a0machine, would you do it? Explain your choice. For example, if you would \u00a0not hook up, you may discuss the kinds of goods or aims that would be \u00a0lost by hooking up, or you may discuss the core, essential features of \u00a0your life (or of human life in general) that are undermined by being in \u00a0such a state.<\/p>\n<p>3. Reflect on human life:<\/p>\n<p>Based on your response, do you think that we can describe aspects of a \u00a0telos (in Aristotle\u2019s sense) that applies to humanity in general, or at \u00a0least most people? Correspondingly, could there be a difference between \u00a0feeling happy and being happy? Do you think that people can be wrong \u00a0about happiness? (Notice that this isn\u2019t asking whether there are \u00a0different ways in which people can find happiness; it\u2019s asking whether \u00a0some of those ways could be mistaken.)<\/p>\n<p><u>Discussion 2<\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the Ancient Greek world (the world of Socrates, Plato, and \u00a0Aristotle, often regarded as the birthplace of philosophy) a \u201csymposium\u201d \u00a0was a banquet held after a meal, an \u201cafter party\u201d of sorts that usually \u00a0included drinking, dancing, recitals and engaging conversations on the \u00a0topics of the day.<\/p>\n<p>For our purposes in this course, the Symposium discussions will not \u00a0involve dancing, recitals or a banquet, but they will provide food for \u00a0thought on current ethical issues and direct application of the ethical \u00a0theory discussed in each of these weeks.<\/p>\n<p>It is almost impossible these days to turn on the news or log onto \u00a0social media without encountering a controversy that cries out for \u00a0ethical discussion. For these Symposium discussions, your instructor \u00a0will choose a topic of current ethical interest and a resource \u00a0associated with it for you to read or watch. Your task is to consider \u00a0how the ethical theory of the week might be used to examine, understand \u00a0or evaluate the issue.<\/p>\n<p>This week, you will consider how virtue ethics applies to a \u00a0controversy, dilemma, event, or scenario selected by your instructor. It \u00a0is a chance for you to discuss together the ethical issues and \u00a0questions that it raises, your own response to those, and whether that \u00a0aligns with or does not align with a virtue ethics approach. The aim is \u00a0not to simply assert your own view or to denigrate other views, but to \u00a0identify, evaluate, and discuss the moral reasoning involved in \u00a0addressing the chosen issue.<\/p>\n<p>Your posts should remain focused on the ethical considerations, and \u00a0at some point in your contribution you must specifically address the way \u00a0a virtue ethicist would approach this issue by explaining and \u00a0evaluating that approach.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a position, you should strive to provide reasons in defense of that position.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>o ensure that your initial post starts its own unique thread, do not \u00a0reply to this post. Instead, please click the &#8220;Reply&#8221; link above this \u00a0post.<\/p>\n<p>Please read the description above and\/or watch the video explaining \u00a0the symposium and its requirements. If you are still unsure about how to \u00a0proceed with the discussion, please contact your instructor.<\/p>\n<p>This week, we will consider how virtue ethics applies to the entertainment industry (broadly speaking).<\/p>\n<p>Please watch or review your \u00a0favorite movie.\u00a0 How is virtue displayed in any of the characters?\u00a0 Many \u00a0movies often have an element of revenge woven into the story line.\u00a0 Is \u00a0revenge a virtue or a vice?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Your approach to this symposium discussion can be a bit more \u00a0open-ended than the main discussion, remembering that our main goal is \u00a0to work together to identify the main ethical questions and \u00a0considerations, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the reasons for \u00a0different positions one might hold, and come to a better understanding \u00a0of virtue ethics.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0You must post on at least two separate days, must include at least one \u00a0substantial reply to a peer or to your instructor, and your posts should \u00a0add up to at least 400 words.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Discussion 1 This week our main discussion will focus on explaining and evaluating \u00a0the theory of virtue ethics as discussed in Chapter 5 of the textbook. \u00a0Your instructor will be choosing the discussion question and posting it \u00a0as the first post in the main discussion forum. The requirements for the \u00a0discussion this week include the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homework-help"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assignmenttutors.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}