Getting started

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.title[
# Getting started
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.subtitle[
## Exploring Philosophy
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.date[
### MSA 2024 - Major
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# Agenda

1. Introductions
2. What is philosophy?
3. Rules, class mechanics, and expectations.
4. Quiz: What are your philosophical beliefs?
5. Reading: _Some Thought Experiments_
6. Activity: _Academic Belonging_

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## About me

- Name: Fernando Alvear, Ph.D.
- Second year teaching at MSA.
- Ph.D. from Mizzou, specialized in Epistemology and Moral Psychology.
- Has taught several philosophy courses, including Ethics, Logic and Reasoning, Philosophy of Religion, Epistemology, among others.
- Currently lives in St. Louis, with wife Emily and son Nico.
- Will start teaching Math and STEM courses at St. Louis University High.

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# Introductions

Please introduce yourself by sharing the following:
- Your name, preferred name, pronouns, high school, city.
- *Why* are you here? What made you want to be in this major? Be as honest as possible!

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# What is Philosophy?

What do you think philosophy is?

How have you encountered the concept of philosophy?

What is philosophy _for you_?

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# _φιλοσοφία_

- The word comes from the Greek _φιλο_ (love) and σοφία (wisdom): "love of wisdom"
- Philosophy is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those concerning existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language.
- Historically, philosophy encompassed **all** bodies of knowledge.
    - Early biologists, physicists, matematicians, doctors, etc., were called _philosophers_, and considered themselves as such.
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# Areas of study

- As areas of knowlede have matured and become fields of their own, philosophy today focuses on the following areas:
    - Metaphysics: fundamental nature of reality and existence
    - Epistemology: nature of knowledge and belief
    - Ethics: morality and theory of value
    - Logic: rules of inference, truth-preservation
- These other notable subfields cross over several of these basic areas:
    - Philosophy of religion
    - Philosophy of science
    - Political philosophy
    - Philosophy of language
    - Philosophy of mind
    - ...

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# Philosophical methodology

- Logic
  - Deductive logic (_truth-preserving_ reasoning )
  - Inductive logic (_probabilistic_ reasoning)
- _A priori_ thinking
  - Examining the consequences of well-seated views.
  - Examining common-sense responses to thought experiments.
- _A posteriori_ thinking
  - Examining experimental results
  - Creating mathematical simulations

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# Class mechanics

- A usual class day will have these moments:
    - Reading (research) time
    - Lecture & discussion
    - Hands-on activities

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# Expectations

- Be _present_! Be the _best_ version of yourself!
- Listen respectfully, without interrupting.
- Listen actively and with an ear to understanding others' views.
- Embrace a curious (scout) mindset, as opposed to a defensive/offensive (soldier) mindset.
- Be mindful of the impact of your words, and of the ways you treat certain topics.
- Allow everyone the chance to speak.
- Avoid assumptions about a member of the class or generalizations about social groups. 
- Personal information that comes up in our conversations should be kept confidential.
- Be forgiving and give others the benefit of the doubt.
- Speak up if the class environment doesn't feel safe, or needs intervention.

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# Topics to be covered

- How can we determine what's right and wrong?
- How can we know about the external world?
- Does justice require equality?
- Does God exist?
- What is knowledge?
- How do we reason?
- How should we reason?
- How words create reality?
- How conclusive is science?
- Does life have a meaning?
- Is the mind physical?
- Can computers think?
- Is abortion ever permissible?
- Do we have free will?

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# Activities/Projects

- Activity: Academic belonging
- Activity: Discovering your philosophical beliefs
- Project: Visualizing Philosophy Bites
- Project: The four-sentence paper
- Activity: Research day
- Activity: What's next?

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# Discovering your philosophical beliefs!

- Take the quiz (10 minutes).
- Do today's reading.
  - Stay in the classroom.
  - Go to the Philosophy Lounge.

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# Academic belonging

The extent to which individuals feel like a valued, accepted, and legitimate member in their academic domain.

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# Academic belonging activities

- Classroom setup and decoration.
- Embrace class rules & expectations.

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# Classroom setup and decoration

Philosophy, _φιλοσοφία_, means _love of wisdom_.

It does _not mean_:
- Love of being right.
- Love of being intelligent / clever.
- Love of being popular within intellectual circles.
- Love of knowing as much as possible.
- Love to winning arguments.

Questions for reflection/discussion:
- What is wisdom? What is not wisdom?
- Do you know someone _wise_? What makes that person wise?

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# Classroom setup

Tasks:

- Create a banner
  - Word "Love of wisdom"
- Write/draw on the banner
  - What is philosophy for you
  - Interesting philosophical topics or areas
  - Philosophical beliefs you hold or are curious about.
- Create a poster with rules and expectations.

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# Classroom rules and expectations

- Which of these rules you think will be most challenging for you?
- Can we give a name, short slogan to these rules?
- Any expectations we should add/remove?