Sam Harris and Free

Sam Harris and Free Will Essay Convince that free will is an illusion Worse than an illusion- a totally incoherent idea Impossible to describe a universe in which it could be true Two Assumptions: Each of us was free to behave differently than we did in the past Example: I could have chosen chocolate ice-cream but I chose vanilla We are the conscious source of our thoughts and actions The experience of wanting to do something is in fact the proximate cause of action Example: I feel that I want to move and then I move Both assumptions are false We live in a world of cause and effect. No way of thinking of cause and effect that allows the affirmation of free wills assumptions Either our wills are determined by a long chain of prior causes And we are not responsible for them Or they are the product of chance And we are not responsible for them Or they are some combination of determinism and chance No combination allows us free will Example: Murderer As sickening as I might find the persons behavior, I have to admit if I were to trade places with him, atom for atom, I would be him. There is no extra part of me that could resist the impulse to victimize innocent people. Nobody picks the life influences which shape the development of their nervous system You are no more responsible for the micro structure of your brain than you are for your height The role of luck appears decisive Imagine the murderer was found to have a tumor in the place of the brain that would explain his impulses We would view him as a victim of biology A brain tumor is a special case of physical events giving rise to thoughts and actions Deeper than cause and effect We have a subjective experience of free will which cannot be mapped onto physical reality The subjective experience is also intangible Thoughts simply appear in consciousness what are you going to think next? Thoughts just emerge in consciousness- we are not their authors That would imply that we think them before we think them Is it willed? Utterly unaware of the neurophysiological events which produce changesin thought Were you free to choose that which did not occur to you to choose? No position to know why you picked what you picked†¦. Though you may ascribe narratives- they are divorced from reality – post hoc- evidenced by psychology Even if you were right, you still can’t explain why the memory occurred or had the effectit did. You as a conscious witness of your inner life Does not depend on philosophical materialism where the mind is dependent on the physical The unconscious operations of a soul grants you no more freedom than the unconscious operations of your neurophysiology The endurance of the philosophical idea that free will exists is borne of our feeling of its existence Emerges from a felt experience divorced from logical and scientific terms Compatibilism To argue that free will is compatible with the truth of determinism A person is free as long as he is free from any outer or inner compulsion that would prevent him from acting on desires or compulsions Misses the point. Where is the freedom in doing what one wants when one’s wants are the product of prior causes which one cannot inspect and therefore could not choose- and one had absolutely no hand in creating Compatibilism- a puppet is free as long as it loves its strings Compatibilist response: Even if our thoughts are the product of unconscious causes, they are still our thoughts and actions. It is something that you have done. The unconscious neurophysiology of your brain is just as much you as your conscious thoughts are. Bait and Switch- Trades a psychological fact, the subjective experience of being a conscious agent, for a conceptual understanding of ourselves as persons The psychological truth is that people feel identical to and in control of a certain channelof information in theirconscious minds- and they are mistaken The fact that we are stardust does not drive our moral intuitions of politics You simply cannot take credit for your unconscious mental life Are you making red blood cells at this moment? Hopefully your body is- but if it decided to stop, you wouldn’t be responsible for that change†¦. You would be a victim of that change A claim which bears no relationship to the actual experience which has made free will a problem for philosophy The truth is we feel or presume an authorship over our own thoughts and actions that is illusory How can we be free as conscious agents if everything we consciously intend was caused by events in our brain which we did not intend and over which we had no control – we can’t Confusion between determinism and fatalism Our choices matter There are clearly paths to making wiser choices How much a conversation could change you? But we cannot choose what we choose in life When it seems we can choose what we choose. We don’t choose to choose what we choose – there is a regress here that ends in darkness We have to take a first step for reasons that are subjectively mysterious You have not built your mind. And in moments when you seem to build it, when you make an effort to learn a new skill or improve yourself, the only tools at your disposal are those inherited from moments past. It is possible to change. In fact, viewing oneself as an open system, open to a myriad of influences makes change even more possible. You are by no means condemned to be who you were yesterday. In fact, you can’t be that person. The self is a process. This is what makes growth possible. The self is not a stable entity. Subjectively speaking, the unfolding of our lives is a mysterious process. None of us know how it is we came to be in this moment. And we don’t know what’s going to happen next really on any level. We don’t know what we are going to think and feel next. To declare my freedom is to say I don’t really know why I did that but I don’t mind that I did You are free to do what you want but where do your wants come from It takes away an egocentric view of life We are part of a system, of history.

Italy and Analysis Essay -- Essays Papers

Italy and Analysis COUNTRY ANALYSIS GENERAL Italy covers a land area of 301,230 sq km (116,306 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by Italy is slightly larger than the state of Arizona. Italy has high unemployment and a relatively complicated and young market oriented government. To get an idea of how Italy’s culture compares to that of the Unites States, we ran a Hofstede. United States Italy Individualism 94 78 Power Distance 41 48 Uncertainty Avoidance 45 74 Masculinity 62 68 Individualism versus collectivism focuses on the relationship between the individual and his or her fellows. In individualistic societies, the ties between individuals were loose and individual achievement and freedom were highly valued. Power distance focuses on how a society deals with the fact that people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities. Low power distance cultures were found in societies that tried to play down such inequalities as much as possible. Uncertainty avoidance measures the extent to which different cultures socialized their members into accepting ambiguous situations and tolerating uncertainty. Members of high uncertainty avoidance cultures placed a premium on job security, career patterns, retirement benefits, and so on. Lower uncertainty avoidance cultures were characterized by a greater readiness to take risks and less emotional resistance to change. Masculinity versus femininity looks at the relationship between family and work roles. In masculine cultures, the job is as important or more important than the family. After comparing Italy with the United States the only possible problem or threat in relation to cultures that Philips should note is uncertainty avoidance. This means that Italy is not quick to adopt new ideas. If Web TV is introduced into Italy, it will take more time for it to become accepted than it did in the United States. SOCIOCULTURAL PENETRATION The Internet has just started to make an impact in Italy. A recent study by Eurisko (a very reliable research company) indicates that 1.8 million people say they use the Internet. They also found that 1.1% of Italian families (216,000) have an Internet connection at home as compared to 16.7% (40 million) in the USA. The population of Italy is around 57.3 milli... ...Italy. Therefore, out of these main competitors, Toshiba is the main threat but you can never tell what will happen with future generations of a product. The interesting thing about these competitors is that they are all licensees of WEB TV. They are also scrambling to find that ultimate next generation item that duplicates WEB TV and more. These companies are trying to gain market share in the alternate and substitute products. For instance Philips is a leading manufacturer of digital TV and if they could align with a cable company around an ISP then they will compete against their own WEB TV. Philips can compete in Italy. The question is can they do it with Web TV. The answer is no. WEB TV can not operate in conjunction with the specs of European TV. Therefore, they will need to change the WEB TV and make it work or form a partnership with a new product. This market moves fast and each of these competitors could end up on top, and win the Italian market. They need the working combinations of a product that serves the Italian community and serves the new European union. Considering all the available information we give Philips a rating of 7.375 for competitiveness.

Greek Mythology: The Muses

Greek Mythology The Muses Sister Goddesses, The Muses, were in charge of the world of Literature, Art, and Society. The Nine Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; they gave inspiration to artist, writers and other artistically gifted people. â€Å"The Nine Muses have been inspiring artists since the antiquity and there countless paintings, drawings, designs, poems and statues dedicated to them. All artists of the Renaissance acknowledged their importance in artistic creation, dedicating their works to the Muses. †[1] The number of Muses varies over time.At first only one Muse was spoken of but later poets mention three: Melete (Practice, Study), Mneme (Memory), and Aoede (Song). They were nymphs in Pieria, which is found in western Thrace, and their cult was brought to Mount Helicon in Boeotia by the Aloads. Eventually it became accepted that there were nine muses: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. The Muse Clio discovered histo ry and guitar. History was named Clio in the ancient years, because it refers to â€Å"Kleos† the Greek word for the heroic acts.Clio was always represented with a clarion in the right arm and a book in the left hand. Muse Euterpe discovered several musical instruments, courses and dialectic. She was always depicted holding a flute, while many instruments were always around her. Muse Thalia was the protector of comedy; she discovered comedy, geometry, architectural science and agriculture. She was also protector of Symposiums. She was always depicted holding a theatrical – comedy mask. Opposite from Thalia, Muse Melpomene was the protector of Tragedy; she invented tragedy, rhetoric speech and Melos.She was depicted holding a tragedy mask and usually bearing a bat. Terpsichore was the protector of dance; she invented dances, the harp and education. She was called Terpsichore because she was enjoying and having fun with dancing ( â€Å"Terpo† in Greek refers to be amused). She was depicted wearing laurels on her head, holding a harp and dancing. Muse Erato was the protector of Love and Love Poetry – as well as wedding. Her name comes from the Greek word â€Å"Eros† that refers to the feeling of falling in love.She was depicted holding a lyre and love arrows and bows. Muse Polymnia was the protector of the divine hymns and mimic art; she invented geometry and grammar. She was depicted looking up to the Sky, holding a lyre. Muse Ourania was the protector of the celestial objects and stars; she invented astronomy. She was always depicted bearing stars, a celestial sphere and a bow compass. Muse Calliope was the superior Muse. She was accompanying kings and princes in order to impose justice and serenity. She was the protector of heroic poems and rhetoric art.According to the myth, Homer asks from Calliope to inspire him while writing Iliad and Odyssey, and, thus, Calliope is depicted holding laurels in one hand and the two Homeric poems in the other hand. The ancient writer Hesiod said of them, â€Å"They are all of one mind, their hearts are set upon song and their spirit is free from care. He is happy whom the Muses love. For though a man has sorrow and grief in his soul, yet when the servant of the Muses sings, at once he forgets his dark thoughts and remembers not his troubles.Such is the holy gift of the Muses to men. â€Å"[2] The Myth â€Å"[The Muses] are all of one mind, their hearts are set upon song and their spirit is free from care. He is happy whom the Muses love. For though a man has sorrow and grief in his soul, yet when the servant of the Muses sings, at once he forgets his dark thoughts and remembers not his troubles. Such is the holy gift of the Muses to men. † ~Hesiod~[3] Ancient Greek legend tells us that Pegasus often wandered, stopping to rest on Mt. Olympus.One day, when his hoofs touched the ground on Mount Helicon, four sacred springs of water formed and from these springs the Muses (goddesses of inspiration) were born. The Muses were the nine beautiful chosen goddesses that reigned over the liberal arts and sciences, especially music, poetry, and all of the visual arts. Athena caught and tamed the wild Pegasus and kindly presented him to the Muses. One day the muses began to sing on Mt. Helicon. The mountain, so filled with ecstasy, it rose to the heavens until Pegasus, under Poseidon's command, kicked his hoof, stopping the mountain's upward progress.A fountain of water gushed forth called the Fountain of Hippocrene. The fountain was sacred to the Muses and is believed to be the source of music and poetic inspiration. According to legend, the birth of both wine and art occurred when Pegasus' hooves unleashed the sacred spring of the Muses. [4] Norn's [5] The Goddesses of Destiny In Norse mythology, the Norn’s are the demi-goddesses of destiny. They control the destinies of both gods and men, as well as the unchanging laws of the cosmos.They a re represented as three sisters: Urd (â€Å"fate†), Verdandi (â€Å"necessity†) and Skuld (â€Å"being†). They live at the base of the World Tree Yggdrasil in the realm of Asgard. Nothing lasts forever, and even the mighty Yggdrasil is subject to decay. The Norn’s try to stop this process, or at least slow it down, by pouring mud and water from the Well of Fate over its branches. This magical liquid stops the rotting process for the time being. In other myths, the Norn’s were thought to give assistance at birth, and that each person has his own personal Norn. [6]

The Constitution Of The United States - 1164 Words

The United States, is still ruled by an unjust ruler like King George III. The way he ruled was filled with tyranny, which is the overruling of an individual or group. King George and other tyrants were people with too much power, making the colonies and anyone under their rule an utter nightmare. Luckily, we don’t have this because of the Constitution, which protects America from tyranny. A constitution in general is a set of basic principles that determines the powers and duties of a government. The Constitution was written in May of 1787 in Philadelphia because they (the framers of the Constitution, which are the people who construct the Constitution) felt the so called â€Å"United States† was no longer united due to tyranny and wars being caused because of it. The problem that the men had with creating the new Constitution is the one that already existed before it, the Articles of Confederation, were not working for the new nation.: the Articles of Confederation, w hich wasn’t quite working out for the United States. The Articles of Confederation were made in 1777 which was supposed be the foundation to declare the establishments of the government after America declared independence from England. The problems with the Articles of Confederation were as follows: There was no court system and there was no chief executive. James Madison’s big worry about framing a new Constitution was that it would be another form of tyranny, such as tyranny by the few. An example of tyranny byShow MoreRelatedThe United States Constitution And The Constitution Essay1491 Words   |  6 PagesThe United States Constitution, this very detailed group of words was written in 1787, but it did not take effect until after it was ratified in 1789, when it replaced the Articles of Confederation. It remains the basic law of the United States then and till the present day of 2016. The first state to ratify the Constitution was Delaware; the last of the original thirteen to ratify was Rhode Island and since only nine were required, this was two years after it went into effect. When the U.S. ConstitutionRead MoreThe Constitution Of The United States Constitution Essay1185 Words   |  5 Pages(framers’ of the U.S. Constitution) position on the Presidency: The framers experienced the abuse of the English monarchs and their colonial governors. As a result, the framers were skeptical of the excessive executive authority. 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