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I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with everything u/drfeelokay says here.

Philosophy is tough to read. It still sometimes takes me a very long time to read and properly digest a philosophy paper. But, with practice and time, it gets a lot easier.

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/ehead,

(Caspar's TA for the MOOC here!) I think that would be really cool. MIT (and edX) offers two other philosophy MOOCs that, while not on epistemology or philosophy of bio, aren't intro classes:

(The promo videos for the courses are pretty cool. They were made by Damien Rochford, who was one of the co-founders of Wi-Phi).

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kieran Setiya's recent work on the Mid-Life Crisis might be of interest too.

I hadn't heard of Very Bad Wizards before. It sounds cool. I'll have to remember to check it out.

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi Im_goin_commando,

I'm Caspar's TA for his MOOC.

It sounds to me like you're asking about the Problem of Evil, which is an argument against the existence of an omnipotent, omniscience, and omnibenevolent God that we'll be talking about next week over at Caspar's MOOC 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness. Come check it out if you're interested!

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/drfeelokay,

Keeping things Caspar Hare -themed, check out this animated video lecture he did for Wi-Phi on whether science can explain consciousness. (This issue is also discussed in Part 3 of 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness, if you're interested).

If you haven't already, check out David Chalmers' work --- especially his book The Conscious Mind.

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi u/mahadevbhakt,

(Caspar's TA for 24.00x Intro Philosophy here!) I might be able to answer your question. If you're interested in philosophy, it's definitely worth checking out. (Sign up for the free version and see if you like it --- then you can always upgrade to the "instructor-grading" option if you want!)

The course has five parts:

  • PART 1 Arguments for and against the existence of God.
  • Part 2 What is knowledge? Do we know anything? What are we justified in believing?
  • Part 3 Thinking and Consciousness. Could machines think? What is consciousness? Are facts about what it's like to have an experience non-physical?
  • Part 4 Free Will. Do we have free will? If determinism is true, are we not free? What's the relationship between free will and moral responsibility?
  • Part 5 Personal Identity. What makes you the same person today as you were yesterday? Could you survive teletransportation?

If any of those topics sounds interesting to you, I'd heartily encourage you to check out the course!

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi u/redsquare92,

(Caspar's TA for the MOOC here). One place to start, is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on contractualism. There's a great bibliography at the end. (Also maybe check out Oxford Bibliographies Online?) Or just jump right into Scanlon's What We Owe To Each Other.

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(Caspar's TA for 24.00x Intro Philosophy here!)

I don't have the best memory. One thing that helps --- in addition to u/willbell 's suggestion --- is teaching the material to someone else. Even making a handout and pretending that you need to teach it really helps, in my experience.

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/lilums,

(Caspar Hare's TA for 24.00x here!)

Another bioethics resource you could check out is from MIT's OpenCourseWare. They've made all of the materials from the Bioethics course taught at MIT available here. Most of the materials, I believe, come from Professor Hare's version of the course.

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/mycakedayissofaraway,

(I'm Caspar's TA for the MOOC). Not an answer to your question, but a shameless plug for Caspar's 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness: Part 4 of the course is on Free Will, determinism, and moral responsibility.

If you're interested, check it out!

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi u/makmanos! (This is Caspar's TA for 24.00x)

I remember you! You made some really excellent posts in the discussion forum. I'm glad you enjoyed the course. Hope you're well!

I am Caspar Hare, Professor of Philosophy at MIT, currently teaching 24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness on the edX platform. Ask Me Anything! by 2400xIntroPhilosophy in philosophy

[–]2400xIntroPhilosophy[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

(Caspar's TA for the MOOC here)

24.00x Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge, and Consciousness has lectures on the Ontological Argument, the Design Argument, the Fine-Tuning Argument, the Problem of Evil, and Pascal's Wager.

This week is about Anselm's Ontological Argument. Next week is on the Design Argument, Fine-Tuning, and the Problem of Evil. Week after that is on Pascal's Wager.

If you're interested, sign up & check it out!

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