Intellectual Empathy

*new* This song by EverLast reminds me of our discussions about empathy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z9f9Eybv4I

Empathy is imagining the situation from the point of view or position of another in a caring way.  Why would that be important in philosophy?  Why might it be helpful to have intellectual empathy in your post-collegiate life?

Intellectual Humility

In your syllabus, I urged you to consider the intellectual virtue of humility.   Because we discuss difficult and sensitive topics, many of which are informed by our own upbringing, you are asked to use your moral imagination, compassion, respect for others, as well as humility (not assuming that your point of view or conclusion is always right) when discussing in class and blogging.

How are you doing with this intellectual virtue?  Is it developing for you?  Explain.  Reflect on the importance of intellectual humility 

* in this class

* in other collegiate courses

* in your general life

Human Nature is essentially ...... ?

In class you gave these answers.  Elaborate and discuss them here.
* to leave a legacy
* to think in order to act
* learning
* social
*selfish
* self-preservation
* aiming to please
* self-actualization of human potential

Current Events November

*new* 5 Dec 11
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/magazine/can-ambien-wake-minimally-conscious.html?pagewanted=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210


2 Dec 11
(not exactly a current event, but a followup to a point of discussion in Weds.' class)
Medical Bankruptcy (info from 2009, but based on a national study)
1. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-05/health/bankruptcy.medical.bills_1_medical-bills-bankruptcies-health-insurance?_s=PM:HEALTH
2. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/medical-bills-cause-most-bankruptcies/
3. http://www.pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf

Note:  "Medical impoverishment, although common in poor nations, 17,18 is almost unheard of in wealthy countries other than the US.19 Most provide a stronger safety net of disability income support. All have some form of national health insurance."  Himmelstein, Thorne, et al. study.

I have a question in to a lawyer friend about bankruptcy (I don't know if she knows specifically about medical bankruptcies).  I'll post more when I get her response.

10 Nov 11

Three severely brain-injured people thought to be in an irreversible “vegetative” state showed signs of full consciousness on a commonly used brain exam, doctors reported in the journal The Lancet. http://nyti.ms/taYv39

9 Nov 11
A government report says the officials did nothing to correct sloppy practices at the facility in Dover, Del. http://nyti.ms/swDmWL

5 Nov 11
Doris V. Amen, the director of the Jurek-Park Slope Funeral Home in Brooklyn, says many customers appreciate her starting price of $1,999 for a wake. http://nyti.ms/uefPOl

PAS Chpt 9

When we last saw our heroes, they were discussing topics such as whether all terminally ill persons would necessarily have to submit to a psychiatric evaluation before requesting PAS.  Further discussion?


I think also someone might have seen more recently polling regarding the moral acceptability of PAS?  If so, would you post that information here?

Is there more to say about the line between responsibility of a medical professional to his/her patient vs. to a family member?  Are the responsibilities different?

What will you do when faced with a friend/family member/patient/client who wants to do something about which you are morally undecided.  Perhaps you wouldn't do it yourself, but you're not certain that other people should be prevented from doing it.  How would you reason through the situation?

The Ancients: Plato & Aristotle

Comments & questions about Plato and/or Aristotle?

Suicide, Chpt 8 Questions

*new* 27Oct11
Report about Bernie Maddoff & wife suicide attempts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/business/madoffs-tried-to-commit-suicide-wife-says.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

Some resources re: suicide
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/10/10/magazine/1194817120290/suicide-on-campus.html


http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention/index.shtml

http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/suicide/index.html

Chpt 5/Dualism/Descartes/Personal Identity Questions

Have you seen The Matrix?  It is based on Descartes' ideas about dreaming.

Can human qualities and behaviors,such as loving and hating, dreaming and hoping, struggling and striving,imagining and inventing, just be explained totally in terms of physiochemical processes?


If existences of our personalities are only associated with our bodies, how can there be life after the death of the body? Do our souls have personalities?


Can Descartes “I think therefore I am” philosophical belief be applied to determine who truly “is?” Do PVS patients exist in Descartes eyes?


Is there such a thing as self? Does one’s self live on after death (in terms of persistent personal identity)?

Current Events October

From Anne:

This was a flashback from last Thursday (6 Oct) that talked about a local event that happend in the 70's and 80's. I thought it was interesting because it was in Cincinnati and you just don't expect stuff like this to hit home. http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/Donald-Harvey-The-Angel-Of-Death.htm

also,
We referenced Jonestown a few weeks ago, but you all probably don't know what happened there:
http://entertainment.salon.com/2011/10/10/a_thousand_lives_what_really_happened_in_jonestown/singleton/?mobile.html   

Religion, metaphysics, possible afterlife

What does studying religions that aren't your own help you with?

Could a well-informed clergy person help you with questions of a spiritual nature? Explain.

Do all of us, regardless of particular faith, include agnostic & atheist, have spiritual needs? Identify some of those needs and elaborate on how clergy can help (or not).

Human Nature: dualistic?

Do you think Descartes & Plato are right that we are mind plus bodies? What does that imply, if anything, about an afterlife?

Existentialism

What questions do you still have? What have you learned from the Existentialists about death, dying, and living?

Dving Bell & Butterfly film

How does this film relate to class material?

Chpt 4

1. M. Scott Peck: "We get to die... I don't know about you, but I'm getting a bit tired. Not so tired that I'm ready to call it quits, but if I thought I'd have to wade through this crap for another three or four hundred years, I would cash in my chis sooner rather than later." Does Peck have a pessimistic view of life? Is he waiting for Godot?
2. Epicurus believed that nothing comes from nothing, that nothing exists except for atoms moving in void, and that the soul therefore must be made of atoms. With this in mind, death therefore must be the natural dispersion of particular combination of atoms that comprise a human soul. What does this say about the belief in afterlife? Is death truly the end?
3. Can the acceptance of death truly relieve anxiety?

Chpt 3

Prompts courtesy of Christy:

1. Are we the only animal that is aware of its mortality? What do we make of the fact that we will die? What do we feel in response to that fact and why?
2. Rank states: "We have a need to feel that life matters, that we are both special and a part of something larger and more encompassing." Do you agree? Why?
3. Epicurus stated: "When I am, death is not, and when death is, I am not." Is he right? Based on this statement is fear and anxiety concerning death irrational?

Paper assignments/prompts

Paper 2

Paper 2 (due various—see syllabus)

Choose one of these topics for your 2ndpaper.  In about 3 pages, double-spaced in length, you are aiming to clearly state a position (whatever it is) and support your claim with relevant evidence (i.e., reasons).  Your paper must be well-written and free from grammatical, spelling, etc. types of errors, so that your philosophical reasoning can shine through.

1. From both the Palmer and Barry texts, use either Kierkegaard or Sartre (not both) to discuss the general topic of the self.  Explain which (if either) provides a more accurate or reasonable view (your perspective) about the self.  What do you think that Kierkegaard or Sartre would say to Barry (as detailed in chapters 3 and 5) about the self in relation to death.  In other words, how important is the fear of death to the creation or existence of the self?  Do you agree with the existentialists?  Why or why not? (due as we read the existentialists)
2. Regarding chapter 5 of Barry, do you think that human nature is dualistic?  This could mean several different things, so you might consider whether our minds are separate from our bodies (which involves thinking about whether our minds are separate from our brains)?  Are souls different from minds?  Are souls separate from the body?  Do souls live on after the body has died?  You might want to focus on either Plato or Descartes, rather than both. (when we read Descartes or Plato, whichever applies to you)

Futile Treatment

We'll read more about this toward the end of your text & the course, but you might want to start the discussion now.  There are medical definitions of futility.  Here's an older article about it:
http://www.francesmccue.com/documents/Ethicist%20reading.pdf
And a more recently updated webpage:
http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/futil.html
A blog:
http://medicalfutility.blogspot.com/

Connections between end of life and beginning of life

Dear Good Students,
I'm trusting you to be gentle with each other, but if you want to discuss the relationships between your definitions of death and their implications for treatment, organ donation, divorce (see Pat Robertson comments in Current Events), etc. as well as how that impacts one's thinking about the beginning of life, abortion, fetal / newborn / infant organ and tissue donation, and embryonic stem-cell research, please do so here.  This could be the most interesting discussion of the course.  You are encouraged to use your moral imaginations, and to respond under the guidance of the intellectual virtues:  Intellectual Humility, Courage, Empathy, Autonomy, Integrity, Perseverance, Confidence in Reason, & Fair-mindedness.  Feel free to explore a view you don't necessarily believe, for the sake of having a devil's advocate.

If you would like to be anonymous, you can send your response to me (so I'll be able to give you credit), and I'll post for you without an identifier.


I'm looking forward to it.

Music / Film / Books

*new* a review of a book by Joan Didion, who lost both her husband and daughter in a very short period of time:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/books/blue-nights-by-joan-didion-review.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28



Students,

Collectively, we've got a lot of knowledge about music, film, and books that deal directly or indirectly with death and dying.  Post your favorites (what's most meaningful to you) here.

Books
Katrina Kittle's Traveling Light (http://katrinakittle.com/?page_id=100)

Music
Poor Wayfaring Stranger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayfaring_Stranger_%28song%29
Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_the_Circle_Be_Unbroken_%28Bye_and_Bye%29

Film
I just watched Hud, an old black-and-white with a very young Paul Newman.  Lots of death and grief.

Current Events (Sept)

* new*  28 Sept
http://mobile.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2011/09/27/moved_in_with_daughter/index.html 
This is a letter from a grown woman who moved to help her daughter and granddaughter as their husband/father was dying.  I was really moved by the advice -- so compassionate, so virtuous.

17 Sept
Dignity Therapy -- helps people feel that they've said what they want to say to those who are important to them, making for a more comfortable death:
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140508715/recording-a-life-in-ones-final-days?sc=tw

16 Sept
Check out this episode of TEDTalks (video) at TED: Joan Halifax: Compassion and the true meaning of empathy - Joan Halifax (2010) - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~3/XpYzWIsyyP0/joan_halifax.html

"I do not fear death"  Salon.com
http://mobile.salon.com/books/2011/09/15/roger_ebert/index.html

Pat Robertson on Alzheimer's & divorce
http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/pat-robertson-says-alzheimers-makes-divorce-ok-000952197.html?orig_host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=us&.lang=en-us
 
* ~ * ~ * ~ *
When it comes to their own health, doctors are as irrational as everyone else. http://nyti.ms/qoAafU

Freud

What would you salvage and what would you toss from Freud's theory of human  nature?  Is it true that we are sexual beings?  How big a role does & should sex play in our lives?

Could Freud's theory ever be proven wrong?  How?

What essential element(s) of human nature does Freud miss?

Medieval Christians

What questions could you raise about Christianity from the Medieval period?  What still remains in Christianity from that time period?  What has changed?  Does it comfort you or irritate you that Christianity is such an old religion?  Regarding depth of history, compare Catholicism to Protestantism and especially stand-alone churches.  Perhaps compare a Christian way of life to a Buddhist path?

Buddhism

Is Buddhism a religion?  (Do humans necessarily need religion?)  Other thoughts about Buddhism?

For 31 August

1. Read the intro chapters to Palmer & Barry.
2. Read "Buddhism" in Palmer.  Remember that it is on reserve in the library if your copy isn't yet delivered.
3. Watch video about Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/september-19-2003/thich-nhat-hanh/1843/

Initial questions about dying

Not everyone must answer all the prompts; the goal is a rich discussion.

Prompts:
* How do you want to die?  Where do you want to die?
* How would you determine what is 'appropriate care'?  Is doing nothing ever appropriate?  When?
* What is a good death?
* How is death removed from us?
* Do you have an obligation to care for a family member who is dying?  At what cost to yourself?
* How would you negotiate between the patient and close family?  Is the patient the unit of care?  The patient + family?  How often?  Under what circumstances?

Frontline video

Here is the link to the video we watched today in class:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/facing-death/

There are lots of good resources on the Frontline Facing Death website.  See the Facts and Figures page, for example.

Some questions for your consideration.  Not everyone needs to answer all of the questions; I'm trying to prompt a discussion.  Here, just talk about your initial reaction to and any questions you might have from the video.

Introductions

Please introduce yourselves here.  You might want to disclose your experience(s) with death & dying.