{"id":13,"date":"2024-08-07T14:30:24","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T18:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/?page_id=13"},"modified":"2024-11-07T19:49:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T00:49:45","slug":"analysis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this section, we consider what it means to think analytically<\/em>.\u00a0 This approach entails breaking down a topic and then reformulating it to provide a new perspective. This also gives us new insight into why the topic is important.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am especially interested in statements that have this form:\u00a0 \u201cIf I think this . . . ., then the implication is this\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, if I think that humans are “by nature” good, then this assumption might lead me to believe that if I give everyone a chance to act on their best instincts–even those people who seem the most difficult–I can be confident that they are worthy of my trust. In contrast, I would be less trusting if I assumed that many, if not all, humans are “by nature” bad.<\/p>\n

One can make the same point with the concept of the “human condition.”\u00a0 If I assume that the human condition is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” as the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes did, then it would be hard for me to be optimistic about the prospects for human progress.<\/p>\n

Note: The concepts of “human nature” and “the human condition” do not mean the same thing, but our understanding of one can shape our understanding of the other.<\/p>\n

My basic proposition is this:\u00a0 The way we define any aspect of human existence will have direct implications for how we understand the world. We have already seen this in many of our readings.<\/p>\n

These questions relate directly to the next concept in our course: Prescription.\u00a0 How is our conception of Hell related to our moral options?<\/p>\n


\n16. Tuesday, October 15<\/strong><\/p>\n

To assess the implications of different ideas about Hell, we shall consider a topic that has come up frequently in our discussions:\u00a0 The Human Condition.<\/p>\n

To facilitate this discussion, I am asking you to read two of the most vivid chapters in Fyodr Dostoevsky\u2019s extraordinary novel,\u00a0The Brothers Karamazov.<\/em><\/p>\n

As you read the chapters, ask yourself:\u00a0 What is Ivan Karamazov\u2019s implicit \u201cargument\u201d about the human condition? \u00a0What do you make of his recommendations about how we should live? Focus specifically on his parable about the Grand Inquisitor.<\/p>\n

An excerpt from Fyodr Dostoevsky,\u00a0The Brothers Karam<\/em>azov.<\/em>\u00a0Ivan Karamazov\u2019s sobering thoughts on \u201cRebellion\u201d and the poem of the Grand Inquisitor.<\/p>\n

PRINT AND READ\u00a0only\u00a0Chapter IV (\u201cRebellion\u201d)\u00a0and<\/strong>\u00a0Chapter V (\u201cThe Grand Inquisitor)\u00a0\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cChemical Attack in Syria\u201d\u00a0READ<\/a><\/p>\n

To bring Dostoevsky\u2019s \u201cargument\u201d up to date, consider these two readings about the science of Free Will:\u00a0 Can we change the human condition by exercising our Free Will? Conversely, do we actually have Free Will?<\/p>\n

Robert Sapolsky says NO:\u00a0\u00a0READ<\/a><\/p>\n

Moshe Szyf and other collaborators say YES (or, perhaps, MAYBE):\u00a0READ<\/a><\/p>\n

I like what Szyf concludes about his research with rats because it gives us reason for hope:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t important what gene you got from your mother. It was not the biological mother that defined this property of these rats. It is the mother that took care of the pups. \u2026. we spent 10 years, and we found that there is a cascade of biochemical events by which the licking and grooming of the mother \u2013 the care of the mother \u2013 is translated to biochemical signals that go into the nucleus and into the DNA and program it differently. So now the animal can prepare itself for life.”<\/p>\n

Paragraph Assignment<\/em>:\u00a0 \u201cWhat argument can Alyosha present to effectively rebut Ivan\u2019s horrific depiction of human nature?\u201d<\/p>\n

17. Thursday, October 17<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, we will discuss the implications of the related–but not identical–concepts of “human nature” and the “human condition” for the organization of society.\u00a0 We will do this by discussing the messages of each of the following works:<\/p>\n

Sartre, the Catechism (“Hell”), O’Connor, and the lessons of Abu Ghraib<\/p>\n

You will see that you can also weave Urrea and Dostoevsky into this discussion<\/p>\n

On the Tuesday after break, we will discuss Peter Singer’s chapter “Taking Life: Humans”<\/p>\n

This is a challenging and quite shocking essay. You will need to read it more than once to understand it. Reading it the night before class won’t work. Note, too, that there are two other important readings. Also, there is a paragraph assignment. Please begin now.<\/p>\n

Mid-Term Break:\u00a0 October 20-27<\/strong><\/h6>\n

IMAGE FIVE<\/strong><\/h4>\n

UTILITARIANISM:\u00a0 \u201cHELL BY NUMBERS\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

18. Tuesday, October 29<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discussion:<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, we will discuss the moral implications of utilitarian judgments of Human Worth. The issues Singer raises–and the policies he endorses–suffuse that current-day controversies over genetic engineering, abortion, mercy killing, and assisted suicide that divide Americans today.<\/p>\n

Peter Singer, \u201cTaking Life:\u00a0 Humans\u201d\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a>\u00a0Please let me now if you have any problems with this link.<\/p>\n

Harriet Johnson, “Unspeakable Conversations<\/a>”\u00a0 PRINT AND READ<\/p>\n

See the Catholic Church’s Social Teaching on the Dignity of the Human Person\u00a0 PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

What has COVID-19 taught us about our attitudes about the value of human life? Has the pandemic changed our calculations of value?<\/p>\n

\u201cWho lives and who dies?\u201d\u00a0READ<\/a><\/p>\n

For this discussion, I recommend that you surf around for a very general understanding of the philosophical approach known as \u201cutilitarianism.\u201d Do not<\/span> worry about identifying all the different types of utilitarianism. Our focus is on Singer\u2019s type. Just think of a general description of his use of the term.<\/p>\n

Paragraph Assignment<\/em>:\u00a0 What does Singer mean by treating humans\u00a0humanely<\/em>?\u00a0 Is he right?<\/p>\n

As you read Singer\u2019s work, compare and contrast it with another perspective on human worth that is reflected in the passage from Jacques Maritain below. \u00a0Maritain was one of the greatest Catholic philosophers of the twentieth century and the intellectual father of Vatican II:<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us think of the human being, not in an abstract and general way,\u00a0but in the most concrete possible, the most\u00a0personal\u00a0<\/em>fashion.\u00a0 Let us\u00a0think of this certain old man we have known for years in the country\u2014this old farmer with his wrinkled face, his keen eyes which have beheld\u00a0so many harvests and so many earthly horizons, his long habits of\u00a0patience and suffering, courage, poverty and noble labor, a man perhaps\u00a0like those parents of a great living American statesman whose\u00a0photographs appeared some months ago in a particularly moving copy\u00a0of a weekly magazine. Or let us of think of this certain boy or this girl\u00a0who are our relatives or our friends, whose everyday life we well know,\u00a0and whose loved appearance, whose soft or husky voice is enough to\u00a0rejoice our hearts \u00a0. . . . We perceive intuitively, in an indescribable not inescapable flash, that nothing in the world is more precious than\u00a0one single human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Jacques Maritain, \u201cThe Immortality of Man\u201d (1941)<\/p>\n

I thought of this passage when I ran\"\" into this farmer in the seven hundred year-old peasant village, Cuandixia<\/a>, in the dry mountainous terrain on the outskirts of Beijing, China. What can you learn from how he is dressed?<\/p>\n

<\/h6>\n

19. Thursday, October 31<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Second Great Debate!<\/em><\/p>\n

Topic:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cWhen it comes to human dignity, Singer is far more humane than the Roman Catholic Church\u201d<\/p>\n

Re-read the Catholic Church’s Social Teaching on the Dignity of the Human Person: PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

For important background information on the humane treatment of non-homo sapiens:\u00a0 WATCH<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h6>\n
IMAGE SIX<\/h5>\n

POVERTY:\u00a0 \u201cPOOR AS HELL\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

20. Tuesday, November 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo from LA airport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Discussion:\u00a0<\/em>How should we describe American poverty? How can we explain it?<\/p>\n

In this section, we will concentrate on one of the primary sources of poverty in the US: Eviction.<\/p>\n

Matthew Desmond,\u00a0Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0READ the Prologue and chapters 1-5, 8, 12.<\/p>\n

I am not poor; I have never been poor.\u00a0 I have certainly never been evicted.\u00a0 Chances are, this is the case with most\u2013if not all\u2013of you.\u00a0 Thus, when we think and talk about poverty and then seek to explain it, we are challenged to understand something we have never experienced.<\/p>\n

Identify the central argument in this review of Robert Putnam,\u00a0Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>READ<\/a><\/p>\n

Eviction Lab:\u00a0 Tracking Eviction\u00a0\u00a0CONSIDER<\/a><\/p>\n

We can also seek to understand poverty by asking what it means to be fabulously wealthy<\/p>\n

About Mona Chalabi\u2019s \u201cNine ways to imagine Jeff Bezos\u2019 Wealth\u201d\u00a0\u00a0READ<\/a><\/p>\n

Paragraph assignment<\/em>:\u00a0 “If we say that the causes of eviction are systemic, does this means that no one bears individual responsibility for the fact that it happens?<\/p>\n

21.\u00a0 Thursday, November 7<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will take the opportunity today to talk about the outcome of the 2024 Presidential election.<\/p>\n

Your Second Essay Assignment is right HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n

22.\u00a0 Tuesday, November 12<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.\u201d
\nROMANS 15:1<\/p>\n

What are our obligations to the poor, if any?\u00a0 Assuming we have obligations: 1) where do they come from? and 2) what should they be?\u00a0 Is there anything we can learn from the poor?<\/p>\n

Matthew Desmond,\u00a0Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0READ chapters , 15-16, 24, and the Epilogue.<\/p>\n

As you reflect on the stories in\u00a0Evicted, a<\/em>sk yourself:\u00a0 What are the implications of the way we explain poverty? How do different explanations support or, conversely, our moral obligation to help the poor?<\/p>\n

The authors of this article identify a moral obligation in the proposition that poverty is the consequences of structural barriers.<\/p>\n

Heather Hahn and Margaret Simms, \u201cPoverty Results from Structural Barriers, not Personal Choices\u201d\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

In contrast, Garrett Hardin\u2019s understanding of the sources of poverty leads him to believe that we have, at best, a minimal obligation to help the poor.<\/p>\n

Garrett Hardin, \u201cLifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor\u201d:\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a> (you only need to read the first 3 1\/2 pages to get an idea of the significant difference between Hardin’s position and that of Hahn\/Simms).<\/p>\n

What would Jesus say?<\/p>\n

James 2:14-17<\/strong><\/p>\n

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?\u00a0<\/sup>If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, \u00a0<\/sup>and one of you says to them, \u201cGo in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,\u201d and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? \u00a0<\/sup>So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.\u2019<\/p>\n

23.\u00a0 Thursday, November 14<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rather than having our normal class session, I will hold office hours during our class time to give you the opportunity to discuss your papers with me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this section, we consider what it means to think analytically.\u00a0 This approach entails breaking down a topic and then reformulating it to provide a new perspective. This also gives us new insight into why the topic is important. I am especially interested in statements that have this form:\u00a0 \u201cIf I think this . . … Continue reading Analysis<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions\/540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ten-images-fall-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}