PHILOS 2 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - New York City, Aristotle, Plato
PHILOS 2
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
When thinking about philosophy, it is a general conception that philosophy resides in the
mind. In other words, thought is the main residence of philosophy. This has been recognized by
philosophers throughout the ages. Even today, modern philosophers recognize that the mind and
thought are the ruling domains of philosophy. When considering specific philosophical concepts
like the external world and the individual’s relationship to it, as well as memory, learning, and
new friendships, it is clear that the mind plays a significant role in how philosophy is used to
make sense of living and being.
Thomas Nagel, for example, created the work What does it all mean? to bring philosophy
ot a more general audience. One of the areas of philosophy that this author considers is those
things that are outside the mind. Nagel provides evidence that some consider the world outside
the mind as non-existent. This philosophy is referred to as solipsism. In this philosophy, Nagel
suggests that some believe that there is nothing outside of the individual mind. Since no sense
impressions can be said to exist outside the individual mind, those who subscribe to solipsism
believe that there is no external world, and that all experiences exist only in the mind.
Nagel, however, does not appear to support this conclusion. One of the reasons for this is
the fact that solipsism is a relatively extreme philosophy, not to mention that it is also a lonely
one. Believing that there is no world outside that created by the individual mind makes all
things, including friendship and other people, a mere illusion created by the mind ot make the
individual experience more entertaining and interesting.
Instead, the author seems to support the view that there is no conclusive answer to the
question whether there exists anything outside the mind or not. Indeed, Nagel directly states that
solipsism is not his conclusion at all. He does not provide a very specific conclusion that does
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support his specific view. Nevertheless, while Nagel seems to support the view that there is little
outside of the mind that can be supported by conclusive evidence, he is more prone to supporting
the idea that there really is little beyond the individual sense experience that can be verified
conclusively without doubting the evidence. One thing that the author does assert is that existing
evidence does not warrant the existence of one single soul in the reality experienced by the
individual.
For this reason, Nagel seems more prone to the skepticist view, that there simply is no
way to know whether there is indeed a world beyond the one experienced by the individual. The
author goes even further by suggesting that there is no certainty to suggest that there are indeed
the past existence and experience that reside in our memory. Nobody can be certain that he or
she existed before the experience of the now.
Nagel’s conclusion seems somewhat inconclusive in terms of a persona conclusion
relating to what he believes about existence and memory. However, it appears that he leans
more towards the skepticist view than the solicipsist one.
Ultimately, however, the author suggests that human beings need some drive in order to
keep a sense of meaning in their lives. Solipsism does not provide this. Skepticism as a greater
sense of drive but still remains somewhat depressing in terms of the meaning of human life.
Specifically, the author mentions that a human being needs a sense of importance to keep up the
drive and ambition that make life meaningful. It appears to be part of the human condition that
individual life should not only be meaningful, but also important. Being important means
influence over more lives than a lack of such importance.
When applying these ideas to the ancient writings of Plato and Socrates, some interesting
ideas can result. Socrates, as quoted by Plato in Phaedo, appears to focus on a sense of
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Document Summary
When thinking about philosophy, it is a general conception that philosophy resides in the mind. In other words, thought is the main residence of philosophy. This has been recognized by philosophers throughout the ages. Even today, modern philosophers recognize that the mind and thought are the ruling domains of philosophy. Thomas nagel, for example, created the work what does it all mean? to bring philosophy ot a more general audience. One of the areas of philosophy that this author considers is those things that are outside the mind. Nagel provides evidence that some consider the world outside the mind as non-existent. In this philosophy, nagel suggests that some believe that there is nothing outside of the individual mind. Since no sense impressions can be said to exist outside the individual mind, those who subscribe to solipsism believe that there is no external world, and that all experiences exist only in the mind.
