Monday, July 13, 2009

MIDTERM EXAMINATION (JULY 13, 2009) Vanessa Rubalcava.

Name: Vanessa Rubalcava
User name: rubalcava.vanessa
Email being used for this class: rubalcava.vanessa@yahoo.com
Can you please send me my midterm grade to my alternative email address? It's vanangel14@aol.com
Name for my website which was created on blogger.com: My Blog's
Address for my website: http://noregrets29-myblogs.blogspot.com/
Yes, I have done all the readings for the first three weeks.
Yes, I have watched all films that were required.
The posts that I have completed for the past three weeks are as follows:

  • Lisa Randall wrote the book titled, Warped Passages Unraveling The Mysteries Of The Universe's Hidden Dimensions. She believes that there may be many more dimensions than we currently know of in current physics because she has a sense of personal and scientific imagination and believes that there is more to life then what we can see. She believes that there is a lot more out there than what we can comprehend. She was saying how there could be possibly ten other dimensions other than space and time. I think that other dimensions could possibly be the paranormal universe, Heaven and Hell as well as those of which we cant see or begin to fully imagine. There isn't any evidence at this current stage for Randall's beliefs because it's just a theory it's her theory along with other scientists. This is something that will always be a question in science, and we will always wonder about other dimensions co-existing with us here with us.

  • Pythagoras loved science, music, religion and math. He was born in Samos, Greece and was seen as a supernatural divine force amongst other's who came across his path. He was full of wisdom and knowledge, Pythagoras was a mathematician and a great philosopher. He believed in his religious teachings that the soul never dies, and could be reborn in other forms. For example, Pythagoras and his followers were important for their contributions to both religion and science. His religious teachings were based on the doctrine of metempsychosis, which held that the soul was immortal and was destined to a cycle of rebirths until it could liberate itself from the cycle through the purity of its life" (http://www.answers.com/topic/pythagoras). He Incorporated all of his interests for these topics of math, music, science, and religion and used them in all of his views and teachings.

  • Religion is a faith based teaching and science is a fact based teaching. I do see these two being compatible because to me they are polar opposites, but at the same time they can be joined together based on similarities and guidelines. In chapter 5 in the Socratic Universe there are many philosophers who side with my position as well in dealing with religion and science being compatible. For example, "Sircello (U.C. Irvine): Science and religion are compatible, but they don't have anything to do with one another. In other words, they answer the same questions, but in a different way. Where science is a controlled means, religion is not." Based on this, religion and science can be compatible, but at the same time science is driven by facts and is controlled rules where as religion is driven by faith and is controlled by its faith and having its own rules to obied by. I do see that religion and science are two whole different half's to a puzzle, but when brought together they can be formulated to make perfect sense. Other philosophers in this chapter don't have much similar ideas as do I, some made sense in what they were trying to say, but some weren't making any sense at all in their position. I agree with some other philosophers to some extent as to what they were saying.

  • Socrates was put on trial because someone had ratted him out saying that he was poisoning the youth by his beliefs and believing in other God's other than there own in saying that the soul doesn't die but only the flesh would fade away but the soul is immortal. Socrates was quoted from the How Did Socrates Die? saying, "Life and death are contraries and can never coexist; but wherever there is life there is soul, so that the soul contains that which is contrary to death and can never admit death; consequently the soul is immortal." Based on this, Socrates believed that life and death are two different worlds and even after life here on earth we will still continue to exist. Socrates was a man of brave solitude, and he was never told otherwise in his beliefs. Socrates accepted that he was put in jail, and he didn't even hesitate when he was told to drink the poison because he believed in his own faith and that he would continue to live. Even on the day that he was going to be poisoned he was talking to his listeners and letting them know not to worry about him because he was ok with what was about to happen. He was able to convince his listeners about life after death and how this life was materialistic , he said that we need to focus on meditating. He did say that our bodily senses were the source of all ignorance and evil. I believe that Socrates didn't defend his position because he never swayed away from his core beliefs. He accepted why he was on trial and why he went to jail, but he was a brave man that believed so much in his religion and faith because he welcomed death and wanted to prove to people what he believed in.

  • Philosophy- "Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, law, justice, validity, mind, and language" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy). A brief history of philosophy is that philosophers are thinkers, enlightening, people of great magnitude and wisdom. I believe that philosophers are here to solve problems answer questions and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Philosophy is based mainly on existence and the way we see things in different lights. There are questions out there that many people will never truly have direct answers to but philosophers are brought up as great intellectual thinkers. Socrates was a philosopher of great wisdom, and he never gave up on what he believed in. Socrates was even poisoned because of what his personal beliefs and faith were, yet he was able to accept his faith and be at peace with what was going to happen to him. Pythagoras was a man of great divine wisdom and religion; he was able to bring together all he loved like music, math, science and religion to become one with his practices and teachings. Charles Darwin was a philosopher who was brought up to love natural science and evolution. All these philosophers were great men of intellect, and they all stuck to what they believed in no matter what. Some philosophers that study existence rely on the fact of the unknown because we do not all understand why we are here but we need to have faith and understand that we are all here for a reason and purpose. Philosophy involves and relies on imagination, because without a solid imagination one may not able to possess the criteria to enjoy life and try and understand and grasp what lies here in front of all of us. Philosophy dates back to ancient philosophy which was back in (c. 600 b.c-c. A.D. 500) and this is only what we can date back to in writings, there may have been more that we can't find or that was lost.

  • The Big Bang Theory was introduced in 1927 by a man named Georges LeMaitre. This theory is when a massive explosion took place with so much energy and so much force, the universe was total chaos. Gasses and chemicals were combined with other chemicals and it was in the perfect state that they were all combined correctly and therefore, it created the universe. Universe and galaxies then formed together. Some philosophers and scientists believed that the big bang theory is the creation of the everything that we know as it is now, and some discredit God and religion as a myth. In Was Cosmic Inflation the 'Bang' Of the Big Bang? it states, "Although the properties of the Big Bang are very special, we now know that the laws of physics provide a mechanism that produces exactly this sort of a bang. The mechanism is known as cosmic inflation." This is discussing the inflationary universe. It is important to know astronomy in order to do philosophy because many philosophers use astronomy as part of there studies in order to know why we are here, where we came from, and who we are. These are all important reasons why many philosophers need to understand astronomy and its existence.

  • Understanding biological evolution is important in understanding human thought and behavior, because we need to understand where we came from and who we are individually. When we can grasp and understand biological evolution we can understand Charles Darwin's theory of evolution or survival of the fittest. Darwin came up with this theory because it is based on how he views things. In his theory religion is a myth and evolution is a fact, and people who study evolutionary philosophy they discount God from the equation because they feel he has nothing to do with evolution. Wilson elaborated on Darwin's theory in his book Sociobiology, Wilson stated that people now are able to make more sense of Darwin's theory because science and technology are more advanced that it was 30 years ago when he wrote it.

  • In the film Fundamentalism is a Mental Disease, I would have to disagree with the narrator because I believe that there is a God. The narrator was not even able to prove that God doesn't exist. All he did was ramble on and on about how evolution exempts God from the equation, but why is he even trying to prove otherwise and argue against God? It is because he believes in evolution and probably sees religion as a myth. Nobody will ever know what is right from wrong, so why argue point end to point blank? Therefore, this will be an ongoing debate with no end in sight. People are always entitled to feel the way they do about a God, or no God.

  • Francis Fukuyama talked about his book titled, "The End of History," this thesis is not merely based on the end of mankind but merely as the end of a phase and the beginning of a new one. He uses this in terms of government religion and technology. Things come and go. I agree with Fukuyama's thesis because the world is constantly going through changes, and things come and go. Instead of the end of history being the end of time he sees this as the end of a phase on history. For example, when countries go through wars with one another that is a phase that they are going through, and when that war ends that is the end of history, known as the end of a phase. His thesis is logical to me and puts everything into perspective dealing with phases that the world has and will always go through; it's a never ending battle.

  • In the film Nicholas of Cusa it goes over his philosophy of "unknowingness" and deals with the fact that everything in life is unknown. The one quote that I liked in this film was "The more he knows that he is unknowing, the more learned he will be." This was the quotation that caught my attention because it is so true that the more people understand and accept the mere fact that we are all unknowing human beings and we need to accept and come to terms with that fact. Many people everywhere believe that the unknown is called the unknown for a reason, and we should just let things go and not be so worked up over life and life's struggles. Life is a mystery and we should let it remain one, plus nobody will be discouraged when they are able to accept the facts of life.

  • According to Nietzsche, how did we actually "kill" God? In the film Gods to Decompose, it shows a variety of quotations and statements talking about how we all are Gods murders and how God is dead and God is to decompose. When watching this film I was able to come to my personal conclusion that we didn't kill God, but that Nietzsche killed God, because why would a man make a statement like this, was he religious? was he wanting attention? did he loose someone in his life to where he killed God out of his anger? Maybe God wasn't answering his prayers so he puts the blame on God. He is externally exerting his feelings and obvious hatred towards God rather than internally expressing them. Maybe this man is a wanna be philosopher and is looking for ways to get attention from others, plus he is no firm believer in God and have no belief on him. I would have loved to meet Nietzsche and interview him on his statement.

  • Physics is an important to the study of philosophy because it deals with knowledge and power being two main lee ways in understanding creations and discoveries. Physics is related to science and helps philosophers with solving diverse scientific problems and addresses theories and concepts.

  • In explaining the following line, "To have freedom OF religion one must also have freedom FROM religion." It is obvious that there are two key words in this line, which are,"OF" and "FROM." When saying that one has the freedom OF religion that can mean that one can choose to have a religion or have faith in something. When saying,"one must also have freedom FROM religion," it means that one can choose to not believe in a religion or have faith. Many people have the choice whether to believe in a God or no God so whether they want to believe or not believe is merely up to them, because according to this quotation, people can have freedom to believe and worship and they also must have the freedom to personally choose not to worship or believe in a higher power. Therefore, we have freedom of choice.

  • Richard Dawkins believes that believing in God is delusional because he is a man who is an atheist so of course he is going to be bias in the sense that believing in God is crazy. Dawkins addresses in his book The God Delusional, that believing in God is wrong. Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist so here he is entitled to his opinion, but people who believe in evolution don't believe in God. I researched his book online and found out what he talks about in it, "He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong but potentially deadly" That was under the description in the website, http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=689776. He sees believing is God is potentially deadly, this description gives a huge glance into what his opinion and set belief is to not believe in God.

  • Science doesn't offer a sense of mystery comparable to what certain religions offer in my opinion because science is based on facts not mysteries. Science is known and it's actuality. Religion is faith based, and is unknown in many circumstances. Religion isn't based mainly on facts like science is but mainly deep faith, believing in a higher power and worship.

  • Darwin's key turning points in his life were when he was a little boy about eight years old and his mother passed away in July 1817, and he didn't remember much of his mother but her in her deathbed and a work table that she had. Another turning point in Darwin's life was when he was growing up as a kid and remembered being a slower learner than his younger sister. He remembers being a rebel as a boy in school and beating a puppy dog which he remembers that it might have not been so severe because he doesn't remember the puppy howling. But this action that he acted upon stuck with him forever, and he even remembered the place where the beating took place. Darwin loved collecting things as a kid like, coins, plants, shells, and franks. He also had a fond love for shooting birds. Another key turning point in Darwin's life was being married on January 29, 1839 and later had children. Another turning point was when he went to Edinburgh and studied geology, zoology, and natural sciences. His main enjoyment in life was scientific work and observing plant and animal habits. He then wrote a book titled, Origin of Species in 1859, and he states that 1250 copies were sold on the day of publication. Darwin was a smart man of science and knowledge, and he come very far in his studies and doing what he loved to do.

  • Evolutionary philosophy is the study of evolution and how things evolved without God. It also digs into how we all evolved and where we came from. Darwin's theory of evolution brings on emphasis in the study of evolution. The Big Bang Theory also delves into how the universe developed, how earth came to be and how mankind evolved. In the beginning of time survival of the fitest would play a key role in securing the evolution of man and the environment. It can best explain the the emergence of self-reflective awareness as meaning why are we here? and who we are? It also goes into people wondering about ideas and facts or mysteries in life that are unknown.

DOUBLE EXTRA CREDIT:

My favorite movie that I saw was, "Check SpellingTruth Lies." Truth lies was a great video to watch and reflect upon. The narrator was very convincing and was able to get the idea about how truth lies to people out there. This video made me think about purpose and life and what is true and what is merely a blatant lie that's in disguise. It is a obvious thing to realize that people in life like the idea of simplicity, but sometimes in life it can't always work out in our favor, that is when truth lies and makes us feel that feeling of simplicity and calmness. Complexity things in life are hard to handle just like the narrator states Jack Nicholson, "We cannot handle the truth." I see this statement to prove true because we cannot handle what we don't know, and if we tried to understand the truth for what it's worth than we would all go crazy in life. Eventhough Jack Nicholson only stated this statement in a movie, it still rings the truth to some degree.

Life is unpredicatble and is uncomprehendable. This video states that "we ponder the imponderables," It says that believing nonsense makes more sense than coming to grasp what the universe really is. Tom Blake said, "Nature has no sentiment and doesn't feel anything which mean that those people that have sentiment have a better chance of surviving than those who do not in this "horror show," and that is because we have to believe in something rathan than nothing. This is true because many people would rather believe in nonsense than nothing at all, or even the truth. Life is a giant mystery, like why we are here? where we came from? what is real? what is fake? what is true and what is a lie? These questions will always continue to exist and one day when we least expect it we may get answers, but will they really be the answers that we want to accept and hear? Sometimes leaving the unknown that way is our best bet. This video also talks about how we can't live without purpose, and I believe this to be true. Many people want to know what there purpose in life is, also who they are and who they can strive to be. This video will always make sense no matter what because the truth about it is that everyone will believe what they want to believe in.

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