September 07, 1999

• Professor Bruce Freed
• Born in North Dakota many moons ago
• Educated in
• Switzerland
• Ohio
• Oxford
• California

• Fraser Ball
• Huron College
• Itay Shani
• Telavive
• Ryan Robb
• Mc Master
• Gillian Crozier
• Guelph

• Life’s most interesting questions
• Can we prove God’s existence?
• Does it matter?
• Are women morally superior to men?
• Can the mind grasp the true nature of reality?
• Is democracy the best form of government?
• Can we know the nature of reality?
• Should pornography be outlawed?

• You learn how to write reports
• Valuable no matter what you do
• New CEO of Hewlett Packard philosophy major
• You read exciting authors
• Their ideas have shaped civilization
• We must know them
• To understand our position in society

• Plato or Peirce? Due September 23
• Bookstore should have text soon
• TAs will meet classes tomorrow
• We will give you tips on writing reports
• Crucial to attend lectures & tutorials
• Final will be easy
• For those who keep up with work

• Lived from 1872-1970
• Health benefits of studying philosophy
• Got in trouble with Britain
• Pacifism
• Got in trouble with America
• Advocated free love
• Fun to read

• Seeks knowledge & understanding
• Becomes a science once method agreed upon
• Now skeptical of claims of pure reason
• Value not because of doctrine
• Valuable because of attitude & activity
• Tolerance & critical thinking

• Like a person who has never left Ingersoll
• Why is travel valuable?
• Life of mind valuable for same reason
• Colleague went to Brazil
• Went with condescending attitude
• Discovered they know as much as we do
• We must escape the prison
• Of our own prejudices

• Man is not the measure of all things
• Truth is not man-made
• Knowledge is a union with the not-self
• Personal & private & habit & desire
• Distorts the object of knowledge
• Seek a God’s-eye point of view
• Abstract & universal

• Philosophy makes us
• A citizen of the world
• Not a feared inhabitant of a walled city
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• The philosopher a citizen of no community of ideas
• Karl Popper
• We can’t avoid having a philosophy