Philosophy in Practice by Adam Morton

Second Edition - Adam Morton

Adam Morton's Course - Weekly Questions

WEEKLY QUESTIONS:
A short answer - two sentences to two paragraphs - to the following questions should be handed in in class on the dates shown below. Late answers will not be accepted.

Note that the answers are usually due on Tuesdays, but that there are weeks in which the answer is due on Thursday instead, or on both Tuesday and Thursday.

For Jan 20: Give an example of something you feel both doubt and certainty about. How sure can you be of something you have doubts about?
For Jan 22: Describe a situation in which you are sure what you ought morally to do, but are unsure why you ought to do it.
For Jan 27: Which of the points (i)-(vii) on page 40 of P in P is relevant to which of the attitudes (a), (b) (c)?
For Feb 5: Rank the five arguments on pages 51-2 of P in P in terms of persuasiveness. (It will help to read the dialogue earlier in the section.)
For Feb 9: Choose one of the fantasies (a) to (e) on p 72 of P in P: which of the beliefs (1) to (14) are undermined by it?
For Feb 17: Copy out and fill in the table on p 95 of P in P.
For Feb 24: Do the activity of section 7.3 on p 177 of P in P. (You can give your answer in schematic form: e.g. "A - pain; B - brings about. etc. [ Not that these are the best answers]" plus just a couple of sentences of comment. .)
For March 2: Do (i) and (ii) on page 224 of P in P.
For March 9: Answer the questions after (1) to (5) of section 12.10 on pages 330-331 of P in P. Give a sentence to justify each answer. (And this will be good test preparation.)

For Mar 30 - fill out the questionnaire on the meanings of lives below.
For Apr 6 - write a few sentences justifying your choice of (a), (b), or (c) on p 341 of P in P.
For Apr 13 - write a few sentences justifying your choice of (1), (2), (3) or (4) on p 379 of P in P
For Apr 20 - choose one of (i)-(iv) on p 351 of P in P and write a few sentences explaining why it might be relevant to a person of one of the types (a), (b), (c).

QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE MEANING OF LIVES
Below are eight brief descriptions of eight lives. Mark each of them either with a grade on the the scale from 5 for 'a fine life (whether or not it is one you would like to live)' to -5 ' a bad life, not one that anyone should want to live', or with a P for 'there are hard problems deciding whether this is a good life or not'. (If you mark a life as P you might add a sentence to say what the hard problem is.)

1. Sam is a brilliant and ambitious law student who has a catastrophic car accident. In hospital he has a mystical near-death experience that he never can explain to anyone completely, but which leads to his losing most of the ambitions he once had. He drops out of college and lives a very basic life as an ambulance driver, earning little money and never supporting a family. He is unusually kind and tolerant, and radiates a sense of peace, but when asked about his values says "I can't take any of that seriously now."

2. Elaine is a very competent person and becomes a surgeon. She is a good but not brilliant surgeon and also has a good but not brilliant marriage and raises three not-unhappy children. All those who know her think of her as an admirable person, because she ahs been rewarded for doing fairly well what some people could do better.

3. Eloise has a very rare talent for telling stories out loud to children. There really is no one who can entertain and fascinate children just with a spoken narrative as well as her. There is not much of a market for this, though, and she spends her life as an occasional visitor to schools and hospitals, never getting much money or recognition. This doesn't bother her, though. She says: I do what I do.

4. Albert has a very rare talent for gaining the confidence of animals. There really is no one to match him for calming down a panicked horse, persuade a circus tiger to let go of the trainer he has siezed, and so on. But there is not much of a market for this, and he spends his life being called out to help in emergencies and working for a pittance in animal rescue organizations. He feels he is a failure.

5. Soraya has no capacity affection for any other person. She is smart, though, and becomes an expert programmer and works in environments in which she has very little non-routine contact with anyone. She loves music, and spends all of her free time at concerts or listening to CDs.

6. Marcus began as a normal child but at the age of 12 felt a calling to a monastic life, which eventually led to his spending fourty years in a life of solitary prayer.. He misses ordinary contact with people and regrets never having had a family, but is happy to have done something that is supremely important to him.

7. Brigit meets Raymond when she is 18 years old. They marry and spend the rest of their lives together, most of it in the company of Raymond's sister Eleanor. Brigit, Raymond, and Eleanor are convinced that they are very special people, whose lives are much more valuable than those of anyone else. In fact none of them accomplishes much, loves anyone very deeply, or has any very intense experiences. But they are all extremely satisfied with their lives.

8. Margueritte is a very talented musician who achieves national recognition as a violinist at 18. But she envies a few world-famous prodigies who are younger than her. At the age of thirty she is the first vioinist for a major symphony orchestra, but regrets not having a career as a soloist. Even that comes eventually, and in her forties she makes four succesful CDs. It bothers her, though, that she is rarely listed as one of the great musicians of her time. All her friends wonder why someone who accomplishes so much can be so dissatisfied.