PHI 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Jeff Koons, Flag Desecration, Sebastian Moran

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Sardar Hosseini

Document Summary

Human being is a rational animal (aristotle) The ability to reason or to think is the most fundamental characteristic of human beings. Non-human animals like dolphins may exhibit a lower level capacity to think, but the capacity to read remains a central feature of what we are and how we think about ourselves. Certain conscious human activity involves reasoning (solving problems, making decisions etc. ) Not every single thought that comes to your mind requires reasoning. Reasoning is a conscious and active and systematic process of analyzing, evaluating, and formulating beliefs in accordance with rational standards. Mere thinking like reasoning is a conscious activity, but mere thinking (watching tv, listening to lecture) is not reasoning because it is neither an active process nor is it systematic. Animals usually use mere thinking, but humans actively participate in evaluating arguments. What you look for in an argument is logical relation.