Coding

Touched up the merge request now for the QR code functionality, fixing the fact that before there was no base URL. It was merged in and hopefully doesn’t cause any problems! This is my first time adding a significant (as in something visible and helpful to all users) to an open source project.

Introduction to Chinese Philosophy

My approach to this book right now is to first read a chapter’s questions, then read through the chapter, answer the questions at the end which usually leads to reading through it again, and then looking up external resources (such as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) to understand difficulties I have with answering the questions and provide more details.

I’m loving the tour of philosophy this is taking me through. For example, in the chapter about Egoism the author makes a distinction between a subject and object of desire. Trying to apply a linguistic lens to it, I searched online and was led down a path which included Hegel’s The Phenomenology of Spirit and semiotics.

It’s at these times I wish there was someone more experienced with philosophy giving feedback – I have no idea if how I’m answering these questions is correct or not. But at least there’s gain in reading it in the first place, even if I’m wrong sometimes.

Chapter 4: Mohist Consequentialism

Mohism: Why spend so much money on a funeral? Large-scale musical performances are a waste because the people watching aren’t working, and the musicians could have been trained to do something else. Be impartial and love everybody equally. If the Confucians “seek to be on the side of what is right” they need to have a standard of assessment for “what is right.” It’s okay to specialize in and teach about defensive warfare since if everyone has defensive capability nobody will attack each other.

Questions:

What type of normative ethical theory is Mohism? What type is Confucianism?

• It’s a type of consequentialism: “It is the business of the benevolent man to seek to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful, and to provide a model for the world.”

What three benefits does Mohism seek to maximize?

• Wealth, populousness, nad social order

Why did the Mohists research military technology?

• They researched defensive military technology and strategy, as they thought that if everyone had a strong defensive military nobody would attack each other after they realize the futility of war.

Why did the Mohists oppose Confucian funeral and mourning practices?

• They saw them as a waste of labor and resources. A son would have to mourn his father for three years, in which time they would not be productive.

What kind of music did the Mohists object to, and why?

• Large-scale musical performances, as it was a waste of labor, time, and resources. Resources spent on these extravagant activities could be used instead for feeding the poor.

How is an argument different from an assertion or a dispute?

• Assertion: A statement or claim like “X is Y” which has not been substantiated yet.
• Dispute: A mutual expression of disagreement.
• Argument: When sides attempt to justify their assertions, but each culture is different in how this works.

What is a thought experiment? What is the German name for it?

• Gedankenexperiment, literally “thought experiment,” a hypothetical situation to discover facts or values previously unrealized.

Explain the Caretaker Argument for impartial caring.

• A husband with a family is going into a dangerous situation and needs to entrust the care of his family to one of two friends. These friends are identical except that one who maintains partiality and another who is impartial. The partial person is partial first to himself and his family and does not help his friends, while the impartial is helpful equally to both family and friends. This goes to prove that we should support impartiality.

What is a false dichotomy?

• Such as in the above example, in reality there are not always just two choices in a situation. A false dichotomy is where it is said there are only two choices, when in reality there are more.

What is a state-of-nature argument? Explain the Mohist version of it.

• It’s the question “what was humanity like before government and social structure?” Mohists claim that every person had different norms for morality, and therefore these diverse norms would lead to chaos as everyone infringed each other’s norms based on their own norms.

What is the Mohist position on human nature? If true, how does it support their views on impartial caring and the state of nature?

• There is no fixed human nature. If there was fixed human nature, we would agree on certain norms in the state-of-nature situation.

What is Divine Command Theory? What are some arguments for and against it? What are some arguments for and against attributing such a theory to the Mohists?

• At it’s basis it answers the question “Is an action pious because gods approve it, or do gods approve of it because it is pious?” The Divine Command Theory is that an act is moral because God wills it to be right.
• Arguments against it would be that God could will “kill and steal relentlessly” and it would be morally right. An argument against this would be that an omnipotent heavenly being wouldn’t be constrained by such a standard, and that an otherwise all-powerful god would be subject to external law.
• Mohists argue that a standard is always given from leaders to subordinates.

What do the Mohists mean by “fatalism”? What was the Confucian view about fate?

• “If something is fated to occur, nothing can stop it from occurring.”
• Confucians would say that while fate may cause certain bad things to happen, one should keep doing the best they can and psychologically accept these events as they way they are.

What is a gnomon?

• Literally a sundial, but in this case is a metaphor for evidential standards.

What are the three gauges? How do the Mohists apply them to fatalism and to the existence of ghosts and spirits? What are some arguments for and against the hypothesis that the Mohists did not really believe in ghosts and spirits?

• Precedent, evidence, and application: “One looks up for precedents among the affairs and actions of the ancient sage-kings, One looks down to examine evidence of what the people have heard and seen, One implements it as state policy and sees whether or not it produces benefit for the state, families, and people.”
• For ghosts and sprits, they would apply the gauges to it and say there is a precedent since previous people claim they are real and saw them, which is also evidence since many people claim they have seen and heard ghosts, and for application they claim that if ghosts and spirits can reward the worthy and always watch over people, it would bring order and benefit to the people.

How might Kongzi or other Confucians respond to some of the objections that the Mohists raise?

• They might argue that the funeral rites such as the period of morning are functionally important and shouldn’t be ignored.

Chapter 5: Yang Zhu and Egoism

Questions:

Explain the difference between psychological egoism and ethical egoism.

• Psychological egoism is the claim that everyone has a single motivation which is their own self-interest. I’s a descriptive claim, saying that everyone has this motivation.
• Ethical egoism is the claim that everyone should have a single motivation which would be their own self-interest. One ought to perform an action because the action furthers their self-interest. It’s a prescriptive claim, saying everyone ought to have this motivation.

Explain the difference between the subject and the object of a feeling or desire.

• A subject is something that feels or observes something else, and has a relationship with an outside entity. Who has this feeling?
• An object is the thing the subject acts on or observes. What is this feeling about?
• In the “child feeling bad about starving children they see on TV” example, the child is the subject, and the object of feeling is the suffering of other children.

Use the distinction between the subject and the object of a desire to explain the different attitudes of Cartman and Kyle toward the arrest of Butters for their crime.

• Kyle as a subject has guilty feelings towards Butter’s false arrest at their expense, while Cartman’s only object of feeling is his self-motivation – getting caught.

Explain the paradox of egoism.

• Somebody that only cares about himself would have a boring and uninteresting life, while caring about others creates an enriching and full life.

What would an ethical egoist say about my friend who fails to quit smoking? What would she say about Mother Teresa devoting her life to helping the needy?

• It is foolish to keep smoking since it is not in their best interest. It is not in Mother Teresa’s best interest to devote her life to helping others unless the act of helping others will ultimately help her.

Explain how Heaven, the Way, and human nature are related to one another.

• What is mandated by Heaven is one’s nature, and following this nature is the way.

Explain the two senses of the nature of a thing.

• The nature of the thing is the mean or normal state, so a spider’s nature is to have eight legs even if there are some injured or abnormal spiders. It is its innate, ideal condition.
• The nature of a thing will be shaped, developed, or warped by external influences.

What did those who followed Yang Zhu say was wrong with both Confucianism and Mohism?

• Confucianism claims that they should follow the examples of their legendary ancestors, but there was terror and conflict because people went against self-interest and nature because profit consumed them.
• Mohism claims the state of nature is chaotic and not following moral norms, therefore not ideal and harmful. Yang Zhu would claim though that they would all follow the moral norm of self-interest and have an ideal society. They would follow their basic desires for food and sex, not violence.

Imagine an extremely ascetic philosophy that discouraged its adherents from enjoying music, good food, and sex, and encouraged them to sleep on wooden boards and take cold showers. How could one use the notion of “human nature” to criticize such a philosophy?

• It is of human nature to enjoy these things and satisfies self-interest.

Things I’m Liking:

• The People’s Law versus Judge Judy Justice: Two Models of Law in American Reality-Based Courtroom TV: The author argues “the popular cultural representation of law in reality courtroom TV provides a very powerful example of the way law permeates everyday life” and compares “The People’s Law” with “Judge Judy” using techniques outlined in David Altheide’s Qualitative Media Analysis (1996), that is to understand the ethnographic differences in audience and understanding the differences between the two models of law – source of judicial authority, style of judgement, and general outlook of the law.