What's Meetup? Find out!
Real groups make a real difference.
Meetup Groups meet face-to-face to pursue hobbies, network, get support, make friends, find playgroups or even change the world.
Get on the Internet to get off the Internet!
Join The Santa Monica Philosophy Now Meetup Group
You'll get invited to our Meetups as soon as they're scheduled!
Vote now for the topic for the Philosophy Now Meetup, THIS Sunday, May 18 at 5:30 PM in Santa Monica!
| From: | Brian |
| Sent on: | Monday, May 12, 2008 12:55 PM |
Hi Everyone!
Our monthly Meetup (http://philosophynow.meetup.com/30/ AND http://philosophy-in-LA.tribe.net ) is happening this Sunday, May 18, 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM! (Note that we're starting at 5:30 PM this month, not 5:00 PM, since someone else is meeting in our room until 5 PM). We'll be at our usual venue, the Community Room of the Yahoo! Center, 2500 Broadway, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404, 310-453-0333. Driving directions are at the end of this email.
Feel free to join us for dinner and more conversation after the meeting. For more info, or to be on our regular emailing list, email me at [address removed]
FYI, here are the dates and times of our next two meetings: June 22 at 5 PM (the 4th Sunday) and July 20 at 5 PM (the 3rd Sunday).
As usual, we're voting on the meeting's topic now. Below, I've listed five philosophical questions or conundrums suggested by our group during previous meetings or by email. Please reply to this email (very soon) with the name of the topic(s) that you would most like to talk about. (Anybody can send in a vote, whether or not you have been to previous meetings.) I will send a meeting reminder on Tuesday or Wednesday, letting you know which topic won the vote, and what optional readings we have!
1) ARE YOU AN ETHICAL 'SPECIESIST' OR ANTHROPOMORPHIST? The preference for the human species is inherent to nearly all moral systems and traditions, both those invented by philosophers and those practiced by people everywhere. Is this arbitrary or is it justifiable? How can we even answer this? If we say, for example, that full moral status and rights are conferred to all those who are self-aware, then where do we draw the line? Chimps would appear to get rights, but where does it stop? If we say that full moral status and rights belong only to those who are rational agents or are able to make social contracts, then we cut out many mentally disabled humans, as well as infants and young children. In addition, we may be forced to include (for better or worse) the hoard of artificial intelligences that, if futurists and science fiction writers are to be believed, will soon be among us. If we say that full moral status and rights belong to everything that is alive, then we are obliged to protect the life of every bacterium with the same rigor as we protect the life of a human. How can we develop a coherent, consistent, non-arbitrary ethical system that does not outrage our moral consciences? Is that even possible or wise?
2) IS SCIENCE CONVERGING UPON THE TRUTH? Are scientists on a quest for fundamental truths, or do our various, successful scientific theories merely provide us with ever more useful ways of looking at the world? Is it even necessary for our different theories to be consistent with each other? Should scientists in different fields all speak the same language since they are all describing the same physical world, or should they use different words and tools because they are looking at that world from different (and perhaps incompatible) perspectives?
3) WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ENTER THE HAPPINESS MACHINE? Consider this thought experiment, which came up at the end of our "Meaning of Life" meeting last month:
You have the option to permanently enter a machine that provides you with a completely believable virtual reality world in which you can have any experience you want, i.e., as much intense physical pleasure as you desire, successful adventures, power, fame, literary achievements, religious experiences, and so on. Not only do you choose the experiences you want, before you enter the machine, but (if you'd like) the machine also can sense what it is that you most want, value and enjoy, even if you don't fully know what that is. It provides you with hardships and difficult choices, if that is what you need to be happy as possible. Once you enter it, you won't realize you are in the machine, though you'll remember your previous life. The question is this: would you choose to enter this machine for the rest of your life? Is this what is best for you? Why, or why not? What is your instant, gut reaction to this example? What is your final choice after thinking about this for a while?
Philosopher Robert Nozick invented the "Experience Machine" or "Happiness Machine" scenario to spur us to explore and reveal to ourselves our intuitions about what our well-being consist in and what we take to be worth living for. The issue is not whether such a machine will or could exist, but if it did exist, whether you'd choose to live in it instead of remaining in the real world, interacting with real people and real things. (For you skeptics and solipsists, this example assumes that our present world is fully real, that other people exist, that we're not in a "Matrix," etc.)
4) WHY IS IT WRONG TO POLLUTE? What is pollution, anyway? How do we define it? Consider this thought experiment: would it be wrong to pollute the moon, for example, to turn the far side of the moon into a giant landfill for the world's nuclear waste, assuming that it was safe and economically viable to do so, and that it wouldn?t alter how the moon looks from earth?
5) WHAT MORAL OBLIGATIONS DO WE HAVE TO OBEY THE LAWS AND LEGAL RULINGS OF OUR GOVERNMENT? Socrates, for example, seemed to think that we are obliged to obey the laws and court judgments of our society, even when we disagree with them or think them unjust. Yet, if we do think a law unjust, we are also obliged to protest against it and suffer the consequences of doing so. Do you agree with these claims?
---------------------------
Send in a vote for your favorite topic(s) now! If you have any suggestions for future topics, send those, too.
DIRECTIONS to the Community Room of the Yahoo! Center (formerly the Colorado Center), 2500 Broadway, at 25th St, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404-3065, 310-453-0333. From the 405, take the I-10 West, towards Santa Monica - go 2.2 mi. Take the CLOVERFIELD BLVD exit and turn Right on CLOVERFIELD BLVD. Go a half mile; turn Right on BROADWAY, go a quarter mile, park near 25th St. Parking is free on Sundays on Broadway & nearby streets, but much of 25th St is off limits; they will ticket you!
The Community Room is directly on Broadway at 25th St, at the corner of the building, a few feet from the "HBO Symantec" sign. It is directly across the street from the LA Art Institute and a bicycle shop. The room is not labeled, but you will notice its glass doors and plenty of windows with blinds on them. If you have trouble finding parking on the street, ample free parking is available in the parking garage beneath the building. The garage entrance is on the other side of the Colorado Center, so take Broadway to 26th St, turn right, take your first right (Colorado Ave); the garage entrance is at 2401 Colorado, on your right, just before Cloverfield. When you enter the garage, go straight as far as you can, turn right, go as far as you can and park near the 2500 building, where the "HBO" sign is. Walk up the stairs or take the elevator to "G" (the ground level), exit the building, take the short pathway until you can take a left (tennis courts will be in front of you), stop when you reach Broadway. The Community Room is a few feet to your left.
----
If you weren't with us last time, you missed our discussion of "The Meaning of Life"-- don't miss this month's meeting!
Brian
Our monthly Meetup (http://philosophynow.meetup.com/30/ AND http://philosophy-in-LA.tribe.net ) is happening this Sunday, May 18, 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM! (Note that we're starting at 5:30 PM this month, not 5:00 PM, since someone else is meeting in our room until 5 PM). We'll be at our usual venue, the Community Room of the Yahoo! Center, 2500 Broadway, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404, 310-453-0333. Driving directions are at the end of this email.
Feel free to join us for dinner and more conversation after the meeting. For more info, or to be on our regular emailing list, email me at [address removed]
FYI, here are the dates and times of our next two meetings: June 22 at 5 PM (the 4th Sunday) and July 20 at 5 PM (the 3rd Sunday).
As usual, we're voting on the meeting's topic now. Below, I've listed five philosophical questions or conundrums suggested by our group during previous meetings or by email. Please reply to this email (very soon) with the name of the topic(s) that you would most like to talk about. (Anybody can send in a vote, whether or not you have been to previous meetings.) I will send a meeting reminder on Tuesday or Wednesday, letting you know which topic won the vote, and what optional readings we have!
1) ARE YOU AN ETHICAL 'SPECIESIST' OR ANTHROPOMORPHIST? The preference for the human species is inherent to nearly all moral systems and traditions, both those invented by philosophers and those practiced by people everywhere. Is this arbitrary or is it justifiable? How can we even answer this? If we say, for example, that full moral status and rights are conferred to all those who are self-aware, then where do we draw the line? Chimps would appear to get rights, but where does it stop? If we say that full moral status and rights belong only to those who are rational agents or are able to make social contracts, then we cut out many mentally disabled humans, as well as infants and young children. In addition, we may be forced to include (for better or worse) the hoard of artificial intelligences that, if futurists and science fiction writers are to be believed, will soon be among us. If we say that full moral status and rights belong to everything that is alive, then we are obliged to protect the life of every bacterium with the same rigor as we protect the life of a human. How can we develop a coherent, consistent, non-arbitrary ethical system that does not outrage our moral consciences? Is that even possible or wise?
2) IS SCIENCE CONVERGING UPON THE TRUTH? Are scientists on a quest for fundamental truths, or do our various, successful scientific theories merely provide us with ever more useful ways of looking at the world? Is it even necessary for our different theories to be consistent with each other? Should scientists in different fields all speak the same language since they are all describing the same physical world, or should they use different words and tools because they are looking at that world from different (and perhaps incompatible) perspectives?
3) WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ENTER THE HAPPINESS MACHINE? Consider this thought experiment, which came up at the end of our "Meaning of Life" meeting last month:
You have the option to permanently enter a machine that provides you with a completely believable virtual reality world in which you can have any experience you want, i.e., as much intense physical pleasure as you desire, successful adventures, power, fame, literary achievements, religious experiences, and so on. Not only do you choose the experiences you want, before you enter the machine, but (if you'd like) the machine also can sense what it is that you most want, value and enjoy, even if you don't fully know what that is. It provides you with hardships and difficult choices, if that is what you need to be happy as possible. Once you enter it, you won't realize you are in the machine, though you'll remember your previous life. The question is this: would you choose to enter this machine for the rest of your life? Is this what is best for you? Why, or why not? What is your instant, gut reaction to this example? What is your final choice after thinking about this for a while?
Philosopher Robert Nozick invented the "Experience Machine" or "Happiness Machine" scenario to spur us to explore and reveal to ourselves our intuitions about what our well-being consist in and what we take to be worth living for. The issue is not whether such a machine will or could exist, but if it did exist, whether you'd choose to live in it instead of remaining in the real world, interacting with real people and real things. (For you skeptics and solipsists, this example assumes that our present world is fully real, that other people exist, that we're not in a "Matrix," etc.)
4) WHY IS IT WRONG TO POLLUTE? What is pollution, anyway? How do we define it? Consider this thought experiment: would it be wrong to pollute the moon, for example, to turn the far side of the moon into a giant landfill for the world's nuclear waste, assuming that it was safe and economically viable to do so, and that it wouldn?t alter how the moon looks from earth?
5) WHAT MORAL OBLIGATIONS DO WE HAVE TO OBEY THE LAWS AND LEGAL RULINGS OF OUR GOVERNMENT? Socrates, for example, seemed to think that we are obliged to obey the laws and court judgments of our society, even when we disagree with them or think them unjust. Yet, if we do think a law unjust, we are also obliged to protest against it and suffer the consequences of doing so. Do you agree with these claims?
---------------------------
Send in a vote for your favorite topic(s) now! If you have any suggestions for future topics, send those, too.
DIRECTIONS to the Community Room of the Yahoo! Center (formerly the Colorado Center), 2500 Broadway, at 25th St, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404-3065, 310-453-0333. From the 405, take the I-10 West, towards Santa Monica - go 2.2 mi. Take the CLOVERFIELD BLVD exit and turn Right on CLOVERFIELD BLVD. Go a half mile; turn Right on BROADWAY, go a quarter mile, park near 25th St. Parking is free on Sundays on Broadway & nearby streets, but much of 25th St is off limits; they will ticket you!
The Community Room is directly on Broadway at 25th St, at the corner of the building, a few feet from the "HBO Symantec" sign. It is directly across the street from the LA Art Institute and a bicycle shop. The room is not labeled, but you will notice its glass doors and plenty of windows with blinds on them. If you have trouble finding parking on the street, ample free parking is available in the parking garage beneath the building. The garage entrance is on the other side of the Colorado Center, so take Broadway to 26th St, turn right, take your first right (Colorado Ave); the garage entrance is at 2401 Colorado, on your right, just before Cloverfield. When you enter the garage, go straight as far as you can, turn right, go as far as you can and park near the 2500 building, where the "HBO" sign is. Walk up the stairs or take the elevator to "G" (the ground level), exit the building, take the short pathway until you can take a left (tennis courts will be in front of you), stop when you reach Broadway. The Community Room is a few feet to your left.
----
If you weren't with us last time, you missed our discussion of "The Meaning of Life"-- don't miss this month's meeting!
Brian
Other nearby Meetup Groups
