DB7A & DB7B

DB 7A

Part I: Read and reply to the following questions with a minimum of 5 sentences:

1.  Aristotle breaks with Plato and believes that there are not such things as the Forms or Eidos which are permanent and eternal and Real. Real for Aristotle are those that are physical and tangible. Do you agree with Aristotle?

2.  Do you agree with Aristotle that there are four main ways to come to know an object: To understand its material, its form and shape, its maker and its purpose? Do you agree with Aristotle that all physical things have these four causes or aitias?

3.  Aristotle said the purpose of the human soul was eudaimonia or ‘doing and living well’. How do you understand what Aristotle means?

Part II: Read and reply to at least (2) students’ comments regarding these question

STUDENT 1: 1)  Personally, I agree with Aristotle when it comes to “real” being physical and tangible.  When something is real, I believe it has happened in the past, or is currently happening.  I also think of real as living and something that relies on your five senses.  Being real means having the physically ability to use or have used your five senes to experience or witness something.  For example, gorillas are real.  We know this due to the fact most humans have witnessed gorillas whether it be at the zoo, a  park, or through pictures.  People use their five senes to classify a gorilla as real.  When one comes across something and uses their five senses they have the ability to distinguish whether that something is real or fake. Real things are tangible due to the fact they are presently living or have lived and a person used their five senses to determine that such as by touching and feeling the living thing.

2)  Yes, I agree with Aristotle that their are four main ways to come to know an object.  In order for one to distinguish whether that object is real or fake, or identify it, people need to first understand the material and what it is.  Then people consider its from and shape, or what the object looks like.  After that, people began to question how the object was made or if there are others like that object.  People use these questions to classify an object and what family it belongs to. For example, a strawberry.  If someone did not know what the fruit they were holding was, they would ask they four questions Aristotle has mentioned in order to classify the strawberry and give it a name.  I think Aristotle is right when he states that all physical things have these four causes or reasons.  Things are classified based on its material, its shape, and its purpose.  With these four causes, people are able to distinguish the object.

3)   When Aristotle states, “the purpose of the human soul was eudaemonia or doing and living well,” I believe that Aristotle means that humans are born to help other humans live their life to their fullest potential.  When we are born, we are surrounded by other humans who congratulate us and automatically want the best for us and our future.  The good of a human being must have something to do with being human and what sets humanity off from other species is giving us the potential to live a better life.  We are on earth to help guide people through their life and teach them to live well.  Doing anything well requires virtue or excellence, and therefore living well consists in activities that have to do with excellence.  Living well consists in doing something, not just being in a certain state or condition. Whether that something is helping their friend or family member with a certain task.  That would be helping someone live their life. Or, it may be teaching your child the virtue of love.

STUDENT 2:

1.  Aristotle breaks with Plato and believes that there are no such things as the Forms or Eidos which are permanent and eternal and Real. Real for Aristotle are those that are physical and tangible. Do you agree with Aristotle?

A: I go agree with Aristotle that there are no such things that are permanent or eternal. However, I also do agree that the things that are physical and tangible are real. Why? If it’s there physically and you can touch it or hear it forma part of a reality because it is there so it means it is tangible and physical.

2.  Do you agree with Aristotle that there are four main ways to come to know an object: To understand its material, its form and shape, its maker and its purpose? Do you agree with Aristotle that all physical things have these four causes or aitias?

A: Yes I do agree with Aristotle, however, this is something I really never thought about so I am going to go ahead and choose one random thing or object inside my car and find this four things. My steering wheel it’s made out of a leather/plastic cover with a hard material o the inside to keep it steady, it haves a circular shape and it forms part of the car because it is in charge of direction in the car and it is where it is so the driver can do it safely with the best views within the car. I don’t quietly know who invented my steering wheel but I do know it’s purpose and it’s to give direction to the car.

3.  Aristotle said the purpose of the human soul was eudaimonia or ‘doing and living well’. How do you understand what Aristotle means?

A: I do agree with Aristotle with this argument, but I would explain it differently. The purpose of the human soul and the human being is to fight for the best lifestyle and commodities, don’t surrender or satisfy to easy to your goals, go for more. It’s like a natural law, us as humans.

DB7B

Part I: Read and reply to the following questions with a minimum of 5 sentences:

1.  Descartes believed that we cannot trust our senses 100%, they are unreliable? As a result, Descartes did not believe nor trust anything that came in through his senses? Do you agree or disagree with Descartes?

2.  Descartes was a rationalist and focus on the power of thought. So much so that Descartes utters his famous saying: ” I think, therefore I am”. What does Descartes mean by that? What does thinking mean for Descartes?

3.  Descartes believes were should be skeptical of other states of awareness, such as dreaming? What do you make of dreaming? For Descartes we have to be conscious of your thoughts in order to know we are real, but what happens when we are dreaming? Who are we?

Part II: Read and reply to at least (2) students’ comments regarding these question

STUDENT 1:

1)  Personally, I disagree with Descartes’ belief stating that we cannot trust our senses 100% because they are unreliable.  I believe we make our decisions through our five senses which consist of; taste, sight, touch, smell, and sound.  Through our five senses we have the ability to take in information and process it.  This is how we understand what certain things are such as food, people, color, pets, etc.  We make daily life decisions based on our senses.  If we weren’t able to see, taste, touch, smell or hear people or things, we wouldn’t know what anything was or maybe even who we were as a person compared to other people.  If we do not trust our five senses, then how would be able to go through life successfully?  Not listening to what our body is telling us just wouldn’t lead us to have a successful life.  We listen to what our body is telling us in order to make the decisions that we feel are necessary or right.  If Descartes did not trust anything that came in through his senses, how was he able to determine what things are or where he was.  I actually find it very impossible not to listen to at least one of your five senses.  Your senes make you the person you are today.

2)  Descartes statement, “I think before I am,” means that whoever you think you are, you will be that person.  If you think you will be a successful person, with hard work you will be that successful person.  If you think you are going to be a lowlife and not have any hobbies or jobs, then you will become that type of person.  You are what you think Descartes is implying.  Thinking for Descartes is very important.  He believes that if you set your mind to something you will be that something.  For me, I truly believe in Descrates statement.  I am aware that I must think something and follow it if I want to be or achieve it.

3)  I believe dreaming is what your body thinks or wants in your unconscious mind.  You don’t know what goes on in your unconscious mind because you don’t remember it.  Dreaming occurs during REM sleep.  I think when you are so deep into your sleep, your unconscious thoughts come into play and try to give you meaning through your dream that wouldn’t happen in your conscious state.  Personally, whenever I wake up from a dream that I remember, I immediately grab my phone to do a dream interpretation.  I go on a dream website and search fro what my dream was about.  On the website, it will give me a whole explanation on what the meaning of my dream was and what I should change or keep on doing in my life.  Dreams occur every night, even if you do not remember them.  In fact, you have multiple dreams a night and may remember some or none at all.  As soon as I wake up I do my dream interpretation because you will not remember everything that happened in your dream ass the day goes on. Even if you try to remember everything, you will miss out on some pieces.  Dreams are very significant and i think more people should look up what their dreams mean in order to figure out what is going on in their unconscious mind and what is the meaning of their dream.

STUDENT 2:

1.  Descartes believed that we cannot trust our senses 100%, they are unreliable? As a result, Descartes did not believe nor trust anything that came in through his senses? Do you agree or disagree with Descartes?

A: I personally don’t agree with Descartes on his argument that the human senses weren’t always reliable. However us as humans can be wrong and we have mistakes, perfection doesn’t exist. I do rely a lot on my senses and I trust and believe anything that comes through my senses.

2.  Descartes was a rationalist and focus on the power of thought. So much so that Descartes utters his famous saying: ” I think, therefore I am”. What does Descartes mean by that? What does thinking mean for Descartes?

A: Since Descartes focused on the power of thought, I can tell he would probably base himself on his thoughts and his decisions would’ve been based on thinking through it. “I think, therefore I am” this is a really complicated phrase, it makes me go really deep in my thoughts because I don’t quietly understand it. However, I think what Descartes means with this phrase is that he thinks and after he thinks he exists, I think he is saying he is based off his thoughts and that his thoughts where him.

3.  Descartes believes were should be skeptical of other states of awareness, such as dreaming? What do you make of dreaming? For Descartes we have to be conscious of your thoughts in order to know we are real, but what happens when we are dreaming? Who are we?

A: I think that whenever we dream we know in our consciousness that we aren’t real at the moment and that we are dreaming, however, theirs been times in my dreams that I do think everything going in my head is real and could be even a nightmare and I would wake up and then realize it wasn’t real. I don’t quietly remember my dreams that often, but us in our dreams is an idea of us on how we see ourselves against the reality, their might be things we don’t accept of us.