Thursday, February 12 is Abraham Lincoln's Birthday. I remember the date because it was a vacation day when I was growing up. We got George Washington's Birthday off, as well Then someone got the bright idea of converting holidays to weekends, and now we have "President's Day every February. Click on the image to visit the home of the Lincoln Papers in the Library of Congress.
For Tuesday, February 10
For Thursday, February 12
An assertion is a speech act in which something is claimed to hold, e.g. that there are infinitely many prime numbers, or, with respect to some time t, that there is a traffic congestion on Brooklyn Bridge at t, or, of some person x with respect to some time t, that x has a tooth ache at t. The concept of assertion has often occupied a central place in the philosophy of language, since it is often thought that making assertions is the use of language most crucial to linguistic meaning, and since assertions are the natural expressions of cognitive attitudes, and hence of importance for theories of knowledge and belief.
The headquote above gives an indication of what we’re going to be working on this week. I hope it isn’t going to scare anyone off. Basically we’re going to work on two things: first, understanding what an assertion is (not just in academic jargon, but in every day speech–we use assertions every day of our lives). Then we’re going to look at the relationship between assertion and proof or evidence. Today we'll concentrate on assertions which are statements which claim to be facts--but without the offering of any proof.
The playwright Euripides, creates a dialogue between two characters, which allows him to conduct a sort of debate over the relative virtues of democracy and despotism. Theseus, the Athenian, acts as
democracy’s spokesman. The Theban messenger takes the other position. Look to the assertions each makes. Which character articulates views commonly held by Americans today? Don't look for
specific quotations: look for similarities.
Don’t expect Euripides to be even-handed. He’s also an Athenian, with an Athenian’s point of view. There are some pretty strong visual cues as to whose side he is on. (Who gets the last word? Who gets the most words?) Be aware, too, that the Greek word translated as tyrant or despot didn’t have the negative connotations attached to it that we attach to it now. As the author of the Wikipedia article put it: Greek tyranny in the main grew out of the struggle of the popular classes against the aristocracy or against priest-kings where archaic traditions and mythology sanctioned hereditary and/or traditional rights to rule. Popular coups generally installed tyrants, who often became or remained popular rulers, at least in the early part of their reigns How is a democracy different from a tyranny, even if the tyranny was created by a popular uprising?
Here's how I want you to mark up this day's contribution to your dropbox. I'd like to have you do three things.
1.Highlight the assertions by Theseus and the Theban messenger. Number them with sticky notes. Remember that a sentence may contain more than one assertion. This sentence, "Mike Swanson is a tall man with white hair.", contains two; Mike Swanson is a tall man, and Mike Swanson has white hair.
2.When you've highlighted all the assertions, compare them. Are these two talking to each other, or talking past each other. Does either mention the other's ideas, or does each stick just to his own? Make a note about that at the end of the essay.
3.Suppose these persons were in a real dialogue. In other words suppose they tried to refute each other's assertions. What might they have said to each each other? For example, other than simply saying one of the Messenger's statements is wrong, what kind of "solution" could he propose to the problem the messenger asserts? Put another sticky note at the bottom discussing some of the alternatives.
It may be hard for moderns to profoundly and comprehensively understand the actual innovation consequent to the adoption of Laws in the ancient Greek world after the numerous tyrannies the Greeks πολεις had to undergo, where there was no other way out but revolution to regain their freedom; although it must be added that not always tyrants were bad monarchs.
What is Democracy, anyhow, and what presuppositions allow us to believe in it? This week we take our furthest journey back in time, looking at the basic ideas of democracy as formulated and articulated in the Classical World of Greece and Rome. It was this world view which later thinkers tried to restore in the periods we know as the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Into a world which saw leaders of cultures as Agents of Gods, if not gods themselves, came a new understanding of the capabilities of ordinary people, and a sense that they had a place to plan in determining their own destinies. We’ll explore a few aspects of this today, Thursday, and perhaps into next week.
Athene stands between two battling warriors, probably Akhilleus and Hektor in a scene from the Trojan War. The goddess holds a helm and spear in each hand, and wears her snake-trimmed aigis cloak.
So far we've noted a few things about the Greek concept of Democracy: that it arose in Athens and was created to meet the needs of the polis or city state, that it was premised on equality of citizens under the law, that it was seen as an instrumental good, leading to better judgement in civil affairs and to the "good life," and that it made few distinctions between the creation of laws and the administration of them. Any citizen, in theory, could carry out the will of the citizenry as a whole. Democracy was an evolving thing, however, and next week we'll learn how Aristotle began to raise questions about how governments should operate, and what, if any, distinctions should be made between the roles of the various social classes within the community. But before that, we need to investigate the emergence of a strain of philosophical thinking which would lead to a belief in a new method of reaching truth: the application of reason as a method of thinking.
These two files don't look like the .pdf files you've used to date. However, they respond to the same tools, so download them to your computer so you can mark them up. The first of these will provide some basic biographical information about this most influential thinker. The second will briefly introduce you to some of the major questions which interested him and informed his teaching. Of these, the sections on Piety and The Individual and the State (about obeying or disobeying the law) are the most important. We might translate the questions raised to these: How do we know what things are "right" or "good?" What is our obligation to our community? I'll let you decide how to mark up these on your own. Do however consider the questions I ask in this paragraph. If there's time, we'll review some of the things we've investigated so far. Be ready to be good participants in class discussion. Also, try to find time to watch the video below
And finally, in honor of Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address
