PP201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: The Good Place, Toothpaste, Begging

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purpleantelope

4 Jul 2022

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Document Summary

The point of making an argument is to convince someone else that your conclusion is correct. By definition, the conclusion is something that not everyone believes or knows. It may simply be unfamiliar, or it may be surprising. Great pyramid at giza is approximately 139 meters is not widely known. That peanuts aren"t nuts and bananas are berries is surprising. To be convinced of any of these claims we probably require an argument. You may not be prepared to believe my claim that bananas are berries. To convince you i need to start with claims that you will believe. Premises should always be more acceptable than the conclusions they support. We"ve already seen that some premises may require additional support before they, in turn, are accepted. But every argument must end somewhere, with premises that we readily support. Example: the painting was stolen from the gallery at 10:35am, john was at the library at 10:35am.

Related Questions

Topic 1

Milly and Peggy are neighbors. Peggy’s boy-friend Raymond died recently and Milly had not seen Peggy for weeks. One day, Milly met Peggy at the corridor and Peggy was taking a suitcase with her.

Milly said, “Hi, Peggy, how are you? Are you going to travel?”

Peggy looked peaceful and replied, “Hi, Milly. I am fine….I am…..”

Milly said, “I know that Raymond has….Well, anyway, are you going to travel? There is quarantine everywhere. Where are you going?

Peggy replied, “Korea.”

Milly asked, “What…? The pandemic there is still very severe. Do you have to go now?”

“Well…Milly. It’s not that…..simple. But I am really excited to go.” Peggy replied.

Milly said, “Not that simple….what do you mean? Don’t do anything stupid.”

Peggy said, “Stupid of not…I don’t know. But I deeply believe in it. Have you heard of the movie ‘There is another You in this world’ ”?

Milly said, “Yeah. It’s good. I watched it on Netflax”

Peggy said, “Master Seven told me that what the movie says is true. In this world, there is another you, me and Raymond etc. Usually we are not able to see the other self because we are in different channels.”

Milly asked, “Master Seven?”

Peggy said, “Yeah. The one that you can see on TV. She is a great fortune teller and Fung Shui Master. My mum is her good friend. Recently I have been depressed and my mum took me to see Master Seven. She treated me. She also told me about this multiple-self theory.”

Milly said, “This is….incredible. Do you really believe in it?

Peggy said, “Of course. Master loves you…and everyone. She also said that Raymond’s another self is in Korea now. He has the same appearance and character as my deceased boy-friend. If I go there to meet him, we can continue our relationship.”

Milly said, “Peggy, I understand that you must be sad right now. But you have to keep your mind clear.”

Peggy showed Milly her mobile phone, on which there is an Instagram account of a Korean guy; and the guy looks exactly like Raymond!

Milly asked, “So you believe that this is Raymond’s another self’?”

Peggy said, “You got me. Master Seven has made friends with this Korean guy and found that there are a lot of similarities between him and Raymond. Their hobbies and living style are the same!”

Milly said, “So you are going to Korea now. Aren’t you? Peggy, the pandemic there is more severe than that in Hong Kong. Think twice. It’s too risky.”

Peggy said, “Master Seven has performed some religious ritual on me, and she gave me some magic water to drink. I will be fine.”

Milly asked, “But where do you meet this guy?”

Peggy said, “Master Seven gave me an address. She said when I arrive there the guy will be there waiting for me.”

Milly said, “Sorry. I can’t believe in this. This is too unnatural and there is no concrete evidence.”

Peggy said, “Milly, I know you are a supporter of the correspondence theory of truth. But I am a believer of the coherence theory of truth. There are lots of things which you don’t require evidence to believe, right? Just like you believe that Napoleon existed. I know that you don’t believe in Master Seven because you don’t know her. But I know her well, and I have his Instagram account here. See….”

Milly asked, “When will your flight depart?”

Peggy replied, “Master Seven asked me to take the flight CCAH4016. It departs at midnight. Milly: “Do you mind spending a while with me and let me analyze the case with you?”

Peggy said, “Ok. There is still some time, so I think I can.”

Continue Milly and Peggy’s conversation. In the end, one side should be reasonably convinced by the other. (If Milly is convinced by Peggy, she will let Peggy go. If Peggy is convinced by Milly, she will stay in Hong Kong.)

Write the dialogue in 800 words.

jadechan0303

Brief and detail

If relativism is true, can you ever judge something as being morally wrong? Consider some really horrible actions, genocide, murder, slavery, torture or add your own. If you feel a relativist could say that these things are actually wrong, what gives them this ability? If they can't, why not?

Agree or disagree

Similarly to what I said in the first discussion on what morality means to us, I think everyone has their own set of moral principles and obligations. So I do think that relativism is true, to a point however. I used Adolf Hitler and the Nazi empire as an example in the first discussion so I will use that here. Hitler knew in his brain that what he was doing was good for his nation and arguably the world. Now, as a modern day society we can agree that was wrong. For him, it was good. In his own mind, he is right. But it is relative to the person. Generally speaking we all have similar notions of what is right and what is wrong. Most people would say that going out of your way to help someone else is a morally good principle. Selflessness in society is seen a good thing by the vast majority of people. When I say that relativism is good to a point, I mean that there is a general basis in society that deems actions as good or bad. And since most of us would all agree that hitlers actions were bad, then we say that he had bad moral principles, even though to him, they were good. It’s a little confusing even for me to put into words. Basically, if you actions are generally viewed in society as good, then you have good moral principles even if they vary from person to person. No one will have the exact same moral standards, but generally they all are very similar in society. So relativism is true until the point where the majority of society would deem your actions and wrong. I hope this makes sense.

Agree or disagree

If relativism is true, I don't think judging something as morally wrong is possible. Because the definition of ethical relativism is the moral standard only being correctly relative to each person/society, this means that the moral standard is created by you and/or the society you identify with and therefore eliminate the existence of an absolute moral principle. Since the moral standard is different for every individual, we cannot say that someone is morally wrong. If relativism is applied, that is. If a relativist were to say that they could judge someone as morally wrong, then that would contradict the main component of being a relativist. That every moral argument of yours is correct, therefore everyone else's is also correct. Quite problematic but that is my understanding on the matter