January 18, 2011

• Analyzing and interpreting philosophy actually is doing philosophy.
• Unfamiliar concept (ie. entomology): a description can be given to make it a familiar concept (ie. the study of insects).
• A problematic concept cannot be made familiar with a simple definition.
• Metaphysics: the nature of the world. Ontology: the study of being. Cosmology: the study of the universe.
• A definition of a concept can be given by giving a list of various items that fall under that category, then determining what is in common with all examples.

January 19, 2011

• Why is it important to define a concept? To identify new instances of things
• Examples of how defining concepts has important consequences: heritable traits, nationality, film genres

January 20, 2011

• In philosophy, the emphasis is on the procedure rather/more than the result.
• Heretics are beliefs that deviate from the accepted views.
• Authoritative texts are beyond criticism (ie. Bible). They are interpreted as complete. Works by Homer were considered authoritative texts to the Greeks.
• Our gods are projections of ourselves, but more glorified. If a horse was told to paint a god, it would paint a glorified horse.
• Socrates & Plato were banned and persecuted, pupils fled the city.
• Tendencies: heretical iconoclastic (breaking the images, ridding images of revered figures).
• Apologetics: attempt to rationalize common beliefs, opposite of heretics.
• The heretical strand is the defining strand of philosophy.
• The things that last are the problems the philosophers bring up, rather than the answers they find.

January 25, 2011

• I. Pre-Socratic Philosophy
• Thales asked what the universe was made of. He tries to find the most basic thing that makes everything – he comes up with water
• Water is abundant and ubiquitous. It is able to move among the three phases of matter, high plasticity.
• Anaxamander: Not anything normally categorized. He says it is the infinite (boundless). Opposites combine to neutralize. Universe is constantly merging and separating opposing qualities.
• Anaximenies: The composition of the universe is air. Condensation and rarification: increase and decrease density, which is how air turns into other things. Air is more ubiquitous.
• Argued that this is not the start of physical science because this is just speculation and not scientifically tested.
• Search for answers independently instead of using authoritative texts for answers.
• II. Pythagoreans
• Asks what the basis of the world is (the structure, not just the stuff). Mathematics are the truths of the world. The form is important, not the matter.
• Believed that harmony built up the world. Applying equal tension to strings created a harmonious chord.
• Transmigration of the soul: reincarnation, movement of the soul from one body to another.
• III. Philosophies of Change
• Two answers to the prevalence of change in the world.
• There is no change in the world, and only seems to be. Eleaties, Xenophanes. He has no argument to support it. Creates distinction between appearance and reality.
• Paremides: Truisms are true facts, like “being is and non-being is not.” Argues that nothing enters or exists being, there is no plurality, there is no heterogeneity.
• Reductio ad absurdum: Indirect argument. Take opposition and destroy it.
• Cannot go out of being because non-being does not exist. Cannot come into being because it must be non-being first, but non-being does not exist.
• All change uses non-being but there is no non-being.
• Plurality means each identity is distinct. Distinction involves having being here and having non-being there, but there is no non-being.
• Zeno the Eleadic: Paradox of Achilles and the tortoise, tortoise gets a head start and Achilles will never catch it.
• Taking change/movement and working through it logically will indicate that it cannot be possible.
• Herakleitos (Heraclitus): Has a vision that everything is always changing and nothing remains stable over time.
• Uses fire as a metaphor: It continues to flicker. “You cannot step into the same river twice.” Everything is like the river.
• IV. Compromise Systems of the Fifth Century
• Empedocles: Earth, air fire, water relate via love and hate (forces of attraction and repulsion)
• Anaxagoras: An infinite number of things make up the world. Every particular kind of thing is made up of everything, just in different proportions. Nous: mind, intelligence.

January 26, 2011

• Problems with the Achilles and tortoise paradox
• Over time, the distances between Achilles and tortoise will basically be the same.
• Achilles is described as trying to get to where the tortoise was vs. describing on an instantaneous scale.

January 27, 2011

• IV. Compromise Systems
• Atemests Democritus + Leliceppus: Basic building blocks described by size, shape, weight. Variations make different substances. Atomon: doesn’t have parts, broken down as much as possible.
• We behave like creatures that have a choice: free will and determinism. Without free will, the atoms in our bodies determine what we are going to do.
• Instead of orbit, the world is actually falling and the falling atoms have the ability to spontaneously swerve.
• They believe the god(s) are neither benevolent nor malevolent, but indifferent.
• V. Sophusts
• First professional teachers of philosophy: get paid to teach wisdom.
• Initial claim of philosophy is to make your life better
• learn to protect yourself in the courts; no class of professional lawyers. Self-representation. Teach how to argue well to defend your interests.
• Time when Greeks were successful in battle. Led by Athens with strong army, smaller divisions united to fight.
• There is no argument for a particular cultural custom. Other groups may have different beliefs, they accept cultural relativism.
• Protagoras: “All opinions are true.” Even conflicting opinions are true; they are true for the opinion holder. There is no actual truth when it comes with opinions.
• All opinions are false: same idea as all opinions being true, but presented in a negative way.
• Teach how to handle yourself
• Dictionary definition: people adept at arguing things that may not necessarily be completely true
• Similar to what modern-day lawyers are learning
• Slick but slightly flawed arguments to further a particular case. Commonly used by politicians.
• Athens went to war, captured prisoners, and used them as slaves.
• Athens males over a certain age all had the duty to vote in all legal matters. They all acted as senators.
• Agora: Distinguishes himself from other teachers.
• Socrates’ student Plato wrote recounts of his discussions with Socrates as the protagonist.
• Plato had thoughts and questions that Socrates has never thought of before.
• Plato begins to write his own work but uses Socrates as his mouthpiece.
• Dialogues are literary discussions that involved 2+ people, one develops philosophical knowledge through discussion.
• Treatises are dialogical in spirit in the way it works through ideas. Excessive overpowering of one side does not incite argument.
• The dialogue about piety does not have a conclusion. It is typical for Socrates to not come to a conclusion.
• Many dialogues involve discovering information didactically via questions and answers with someone at a basic level of understanding.

February 01, 2011

• When gods disagree, an action becomes impious. However, there aren’t many issues on which they fully agree, making pious acts rare.
• In a monotheistic religion, they consider god as fully powerful and always correct, and everything he does is moral.
• God tells Abraham to kill his son as a test of Abraham’s loyalty to God, but tells Abraham to stop just before Abraham does so. This act is immoral, and is repeated at a later time to another follower.
• Theistic voluntarism: Something is moral simply because god does it
• (1) State of affairs passively described because of the action. (2) The gods love what is pious because it is pious.
• If A happens because of B and B happens because of C, A and C cannot be the same.
• The people are so low and the gods are so powerful that there isn’t much that we can do for them.
• Assumed that a plurality of gods exist.
• Socrates makes a critical negative conclusion about piety, but it is an acceptable solution because Socrates argues destructively
• The argument for piety still applies to monotheism’s one god. Still valid for atheists where it is determined by others.
• Read texts where the scope of viewpoints is not exclusive of the culture.
• Passive being explained by active is invalid because it is actually perceptual based on specificity.
• Whichever comes first initiates the occurrence. Some arguments simply state facts.

February 08, 2011

• Death is the cessation of existence. Positively, it is a deep sleep without illnesses or nightmares. Socrates believes he can continue philosophical discussion after death with more interesting individuals.
• People disagree with Socrates but he acknowledges it and claims his views are more appealing.
• Deep sleep may not be appealing if one never wakes up from it.
• Sleep is important and holds mystical characteristics. The brain can only retain acquired knowledge with sleep.
• Eternal sleep rids the life of negativity, but it also rids the life of positivity as well.
• Plato states the body may die and decompose because it is composed of parts, but the soul is eternal and never dies because it is a function of the body, it is not physical, it does not exist in space, and it cannot disintegrate.
• The soul is eternal and is reincarnated in bodies; even when it isn’t present in a body, it still exists.
• Does the soul perceive even without the bodily senses? How does one identify other souls in the other realm?
• Greeks are culturally accepting of ending a life when it is worse than dying itself. On the other hand, Americans have an extreme viewpoint about how sacred life is, and refuse to end it even if it would be doing the person a favor.
• In the Greek culture, revenge is acceptable and one can repay injustice with injustice. However, two wrongs do not make a right and the repayment is still unjust.
• Socrates has a principle of not doing evil to someone who has done evil to you.
• Repaying evil with evil may not necessarily be evil because retaliation was provoked; however, the act in itself is evil.
• Socrates agreed to abide by the laws of the Greeks.
• Individually, there is no specific point at which someone agrees to abide by the laws of the society.
• This point is non-episodic and is implied by not leaving the country.
• Popper: “The open societies and its enemies.” Stated that the obligation to follow laws closely resembled the totalitarian views after the war.
• Plato travels the Mediterranean, returns, and creates the Academy to teach philosophy.
• Theory of Forms: There is a plurality of things and kinds of things.
• How can different things be described by the same term? Each element must have something in common.
• The forms are eternal (do not enter or leave existence) and have absolute presence. Even when the individuals go extinct, the forms remain in existence; they simply are not demonstrated.
• Plato’s metaphysical theory: the idea of a circle is perfect, but there are no perfect exemplifications of the circle.
• Plato’s most important pupil is Aristotle. He was very keen and absorbed knowledge.
• Aristotle’s beliefs contrasted with Plato’s essential theory. He states that a list of all examples of a particular thing is complete, and nothing exists outside of the individuals.
• Philosophy states the correct answer is either the view of Plato or Aristotle and it is debated which one is more accurate.
• Aristotle was a biological taxonomist and Alexander the Great helped him classify the world.
• Aristotle created his own school, the Lyceum. He was a peripatetic, one who walks.

February 10, 2011

• Conceptualism: forms (categories, concepts) and instances
• Theory of change: change has a beginning and end; there are different qualities from beginning to end. The entity that changes shifts form – some portions are same and some are different (ie. banana -> green and brown)
• Courage is a virtue in between two non-virtuous extremes. One extreme is cowardice, the other is stupidity.
• Hellenistic: (literal meaning is Greek)
• Christianity was originally a Jewish sect but was made legal after a Roman emperor went against the odds and won the battle.
• Skeptics say we know very little and that it’s much less than we think we know
• Epicurus sets up a school called the Garden. Epicureans focused on things with positive and negative effects. Something is good if it creates pleasure, it’s bad if it creates pain.
• Epicurean adapts another meaning in modern-day context – sophistication in food.
• Focused on pain rather than pleasure: worked to avoid negatives instead of searching for positives.
• If you always eat basic, affordable food, you will generally be satisfied. Eating luxuriously causes frustration when luxurious food is out of reach.
• Best positives are those that leave no negative afterthoughts. Eating lavishly may cause stomach aches in the future, making it not a good positive feeling.
• Death should not be looked at negatively, nor as the ultimate evil
• Hedonist: fixated on self-pleasure. Implies a sense of egoism without considering others
• Psychological hedonism states human behavior is driven by pain and pleasure. All outside influences occur in forms of pain and pleasure. All people are motivated by pleasure.
• On the assumption that death is the cessation of consciousness, death is neither good nor bad because there is no pleasure and no pain. It is neutral.
• Having a neutral opinion about death will cause someone to lose a lot of fear and negativity.
• Stoics: Zeno
• Hegel says the stoic view can be shared by both prisoners and emperors; important because it doesn’t matter if you’re at the top or bottom class.
• It’s better not to consider class as important because it is outside of your control. Don’t be concerned about something that you cannot control.
• Can control beliefs, attitude, opinions. Cannot control wealth, freedom, reputation (how others view you).
• Be concerned about how you feel about yourself, health
• Don’t be concerned about the acquisition or retention of goods because they aren’t you.
• Axiology is the theory of value.
• Reduction of aim, Epicureans and Stoics have similar goals for improving life.
• There is a difference between control and complete control. Control can simply mean having an influence on the outcome.

February 18, 2011

• Romans follow Alexander the Great
• Romans make Christianity the official religion
• Three competing monotheistic religions in that area.
• Thomas Aquinas: Italian philosopher, originally not accepted but later reinvited.
• Great Chain of Being. God -> Intelligences (angels) (minds without bodies, bodies have needs, clouds thinking, and are detrimental) -> Human beings (embodies intelligences, mind has reason, will, and desire) -> Other animals -> Plants -> Organic compounds -> Physical elements
• The bible simply states things, but Greeks justify why something is true.
• Humans have faith: a measure of the capacity to receive divine revelation.
• Renaissance: rebirth of the classic trends.
• Copernicus: dominant old view was that everything revolved around us with us in the center of the universe.
• Copernicus said the sun was in the center because that is simpler. If the Earth was in the center, it would seem like the other planets were revolving in cycles and epicycles. If sun was in the center, everything has one cycle and no epicycles.
• God is omnipotent and omniscious
• T. Brahe Kepler
• Each shape/symbol has a special meaning with circles signifying perfection.
• Galileo: the moon was supposed to be a heavenly body but it is very imperfect and people were dissatisfied at its imperfections.
• Sir Isaac Newton: comes up with theory. Why do things move as they do? Gravity.
• Parallel developments in the human body.
• De fabrica: humans are radically different from other animals
• Process of deduction: deduce the implications and consequences of actions we take.
• Induction: notes similarities, hypothesize based on observation.
• After the Renaissance is the classic modern period. Dominant figure is Descartes.
• Descartes says philosophy has not been advancing. Need to look to for what they don’t know to find out how to develop.
• Rationality: depend on human reason
• Rationalism: focuses on certain procedures in reason
• Absolute rightness are statements that have to be right. Incorrigible, indubitable, certain.
• Axioms or postulates are given facts (such as ones given in geometry). They are true by definition.
• Euclid teases out further principles called theories from postulates, forming a base of geometric knowledge
• This is applied to philosophy.
• Certainty is needed. Lay down certainty at the foundation of the philosophical knowledge.
• Immortal soul: to strike fear in going to hell or reward heaven.
• Doubt everything, reconstruct beliefs.

March 02, 2011

• Each argument has a conclusion. Present an argument in one place and lay out all the steps leading up to the conclusion.
• Don’t include excessive or unnecessary introductions to arguments that present irrelevant background information.
• (1) The concept of god is of a being that which nothing greater can be perceived. (2) Even non-believers understand this concept. (3) God can’t be consistently thought to have being only in the mind because an existing god would be greater than a non-existing god. (C) To be consistent, you must think that god exists.
• (1) The idea of god is of a being with all perfections (and is the most perfect being). (2) Existence is a perfection. (3) If you have the idea of god and you’re consistent, then you must think of god as existing.
• Objections: With the same premise, one could prove anything perfect exists. There would be an infinite number of perfect things. The problem is with the second step. Existing itself does not change the quality of the object.
• (1) Idea of god is of an infinite being. (2) The cause must have as much reality as the effect. (C) God exists.
• Finite beings an only be the cause of finite things.

March 03, 2011

• Things move, are moved by other beings, and the movers are moved by other movers. The unmoving mover is god, because this process cannot continue to infinity.
• There are things that don’t pass out of or enter existence, which is god.
• Everything is caused and has an effect, but there must be something that initiated the chain.
• Time has no specific beginning. Otherwise, it would not be infinite.
• There is nothing in the world that controls a steady or consistent amount of stuff in existence. Eventually, everything will pass out of existence.
• You can’t count the number of things in the world because an object could be one thing or composed of multiple things.
• For every quality, there must be a maximized version of that quality.
• Something can be compared without knowing how the extreme version is like.
• Superlatives can be used without problem in context-based situations.
• Pascal said the portrayal of god in the bible is robust and is different
• Pascal’s bet: you can bet on or against god. If you believe in god, you lose nothing if god does not exist, but gain an ultimate trip to heaven if god exists. If you don’t believe in gods, you go to hell if he exists, but gain nothing if he doesn’t.
• Why does god have to make people believe him when he doesn’t show signs of his existence?
• Does god have a particularly more torturous place in hell for people who believe just to make it to heaven?
• Conception is understanding the meaning and idea of something while imagination is visualizing something you can conceive something but not imagine the same things.
• Perceived images are more detailed and intense than mental imagined images.
• It seems like one’s body is a host of feelings and memories related to one’s mind like no other body is.
• Dreams are distinguished by vivacity because real life is more vivid than imaginations.
• Dreams cannot be connected to a cohesive narrative of life, so we know the experiences that don’t fit in are dreams.

March 22, 2011

• Hume is not one of the three characters in the dialogue.
• Hume questioned the purpose of having a dialogue, and claimed he should begin the argument immediately.
• Hume wrote a book when he was under 30 years of age but people didn’t read it because it was too complex.
• Dialogues can serve to be a way of illustrating the back-and-forth internal thinking conflicts.
• Adumbrate: to hint at
• Hume seems to relate to all of them according to his second reason for dialogue, but it’s expected to think of Hume relating to one.
• The question is about the nature of god, not if it exists or not.
• He would get in trouble, so he only questioned the nature of god, not existence. He left theism alone.
• Philosophical skepticism: behavior shows if they were real skeptics.
• Being skeptical about your senses would mean that you don’t trust them. If this is really true, you wouldn’t use the information acquired by your senses and try to walk out through a wall rather than a door.
• Skeptics aren’t lying because they believe what they say. They are simply confused.
• Basic philosophical thoughts have flaws that may discourage people from believing god, turning them away from religion.
• Studying philosophy more makes us realize that we don’t know most things for sure, but we assume it is true. Because we perceive it, god isn’t apparently there but still can be believed, bringing them toward religion.
• Atheism: believes god doesn’t exist. Skepticism: unsure of existence. Atheism goes against skepticism because atheists have certainty while skepticism has uncertainty.
• The first cause is considered to be god. Being the first cause does not give it massive powers.
• Finite beings cannot perceive infinite things.
• The belief of god is simply a belief of the first cause.
• Nature was put together like a clockwork.
• An artifact must be put together. The world is an artifact so it must have a creator.
• A priori and A posteriori -> prior and posterior come before and after experience.
• The world is like a machine.
• No data derived can be fully certain and can be constantly tested.
• True by definition statements are a priori, such as 2+2=4, apples grow on trees, some pebbles grow on trees.
• Anology shows that machines are created by people, and the world is a machine, so it must have been created.
• Being made consciously is only true some of the time. Things can be made without being intended.
• Having a child is different than making a machine because there is very limited control over making a baby.
• A painting is an artifact because it is an integration of parts combined and desired to form organic unity.
• Animals, plants, and many things are not made in that way of designing specifically.
• Theory of causality: certain events cause other events. (1) Cause precedes effect. (2) Contiguity of cause and effect. (3) Constant conjunction of cause and effect.
• One thing happens because of another in the same space and time.
• Seeing something repeatedly and one causes another, you link the two events together.
• You can’t see it unless you have a backlog of relevantly similar experiences.
• The creation of the world is not something that someone can have past experience about. This is too advanced to apply the analogy.
• Causation of the creation of the world is so large that we cannot apply it understandably.
• Our minds cannot grasp infinite things so we cannot see how impressive impressive and infinite things are.
• A massively sophisticated thing is not created by one, but by many. Apply this to the world -> goes against monotheism, supports polytheism.
• World is like an animal: It was not specifically made with specific intention, it just popped out.

March 24, 2011

• We have never seen another world, so we cannot form a comparison. We also have not witnessed a formation of a world.
• Monotheism is like one person writing a novel. Polytheism is like many people building a ship.
• The world could have been created by a stupid god that doesn’t really know what he’s doing but just used a formula passed down by previous generations.
• Hume states you don’t need an explanation for initial existence, only the coming into being does.
• you don’t need to explain why there is something rather than nothing, only a change in the something.
• God cannot be both good and great because if he had both of those qualities, this type of world would not exist.
• Anthropomorphites conceive god as an infinite sum of all virtues. This cannot be done because we are using our finite knowledge to perceive infinite knowledge.
• We take our experiences and project them to infinity.
• God’s power is different than our power expanded.
• Ineffable: unable to be expressed.
• There are things in the world that are wrong right now, but the future will rectify these problems; or, the afterlife will rectify these problems.
• How is it possible to rectify something that happened in the past? Suffering becomes part of your experiences and cannot be reversed.
• We gauge pleasure by measuring it against pain.
• If god does a perfect job, why is there any suffering?
• God is not infinitely perfect, it is finitely perfect. But, being finite means you have limitations, and being perfect means you have no limits.
• God’s omnipotence is denied, not his benevolence.
• The world is made by a perfect god but god is indifferent, so god doesn’t care if we suffer or not.
• This thought is unsupported by Americans because we also consider morality a part of perfection.
• The idea of perfection as we see it is not logically possible.
• Pleasure and pain serves as a motivation to avoid doing bad things.
• God could have improved the world by eliminating pain and instead using different levels or degrees of pleasure. Less pleasure would result in less motivation.
• There are causal results (fall off a building and get hurt), but god could have made exceptions.
• Living things have many limitations, and humans are particularly weak compared to other animals. God was a rigid master, not an indulgent parent.
• Natural disasters: why should they occur at all?
• Without pain, people would enjoy everything and move toward more pleasurable things.
• Not having pain would not have drastic signals to change something – hand on stove. Reduced pleasure is not intense enough.
• When god intervenes, he would have infinite intelligence and do things that are considered miraculous.
• Assuming miracles will reduce productivity, having regularities in the world provides a sense of comfort.
• Making everything equal would eliminate the competition among species. Some animals would starve because it would disrupt the balance of nature.
• Some natural disasters like forest fires make the soil more fertile, but other natural disasters are difficult to explain.
• Manichean: there is a good god and a bad god. They both influence the world and are always in conflict.
• Because of the mixed nature of the world, there are either two gods (one good and one evil), or indifferent gods.
• The regularity of the world supports the indifference theory because two fighting gods would make the world very irregular based on how the fight is going.
• Indifferent gods means it can be the same as no gods.

March 30, 2011

• Intelligent design argument: (1) Universe is like a finely tuned machine. (2) Such machines are built by an intelligent designer or creator. (3) Thus, by analogy, the universe is brought into being by a super intelligent and powerful creator (god).
• Argument by analogy: the universe bears a similarity to machines.
• Good analogy example: (1) Socrates is like Plato. (2) Plato was mortal. (3) Thus, Socrates is mortal.
• Bad analogy example: (1) Berlusconi is like Hitler. (2) Hitler tried to get rid of Jews. (3) Thus, Berlusconi is trying to kill Jews.
• There must be sufficient relevance between the comparison and the proposed argument by analogy.
• Even if the argument was true, machines can be built by multiple people.
• We assume machines have a builder because we acquire an experience and knowledge that many other machines were built by a designer.
• Using a universe in that comparison, we don’t have lots of experience of witnessing the birth of a machine.
• Problem of evil / Argument from evil: (1) If god exists, then god is all powerful, knowing, and morally perfect. (2) If god is all powerful, god can eliminate all unnecessary evil. (3) If god is all knowing, god knows about all unnecessary evil. (4) If god is morally perfect, god wants to eliminate all unnecessary evil. (5) Unnecessary evil exists. (6) Thus, god doesn’t exist.
• We are anthropomorphizing god – we’re using our own perception of powerful, knowing, and moral to define god.
• People say there must be some similarity between our and god’s definitions.

April 05, 2011

• People describe the world by referring to experiences, such as seeing physical objects.
• The visual image does not always accurately represent the object (such as a straight stick appearing bent when it is in water).
• Naive realism: what I see is part of reality, but it is not actually always real. Preferential naive realism: we see reality some of the time but not all of the time. Casual theory of perception: we assume that one real thing portrays itself in a particular way under particular circumstances.
• Phenomenalism: the notion of the object is not what caused the perception of the object … what
• A physical object is a collection of sensations.
• If an object has visual properties, it should also have tactile and sonic properties if it is not a hallucination.
• The linguistic turn (Richard Rorty)
• Value theory: axiology. Ethics/morals (human actions and character), aesthetics (arts, human looks, nature), other (practicality, functionality).

April 06, 2011

• Sensible thing: color, touch (heat, cold), smell, taste, extension, figure, shape, motion/rest
• If no mind perceives sensible things, they don’t exist. Sensible things only exist in the mind
• Hylas states the object contains these traits rather than only perceiving it
• Fire: the heat of the fire causes the pain in the mind, or the mind perceives heat and pain from the fire at once?
• Hedonic profile: pleasure and pain
• Luke warm water example: a cold hand will perceive it as hot, a hot hand will perceive it as cold. Supposedly, the water is both cold and hot, which is absurd. Temperature only exists as we perceive it. (Perceptual relativity)
• Secondary qualities are color, touch, smell, and taste that exist in the mind
• Primary qualities are extension, figure/shape, motion/rest, that exist inside the actual object that causes secondary qualities
• Extension is also a secondary quality because to a mite, its foot is a normal-sized foot but humans cannot even see a mite’s foot
• Motion/rest is also a secondary quality because the speed of a train varies depending on how fast you’re moving
• Argument for god’s existence: there is a universal perceiver in the form of a mind
• Berkeley “Metaphysics” -> only sensible things and minds exist. (God = special case of a mind)

April 14, 2011

• We seek pleasure and avoid pain, and everything else contributes to achieving that.
• We cannot really be happy, but we can still keep trying and set it as a goal because goals do not necessarily have to be achievable.
• Some qualities, like happiness, can occur in degrees, so we can be as happy as possible.
• One part of happiness is not having expectations that are not possible to achieve.
• The things you do for pleasure will lose value if you repeat it and only it for a long period of time.
• There should be more active pleasures than passive pleasures.
• Schopenhauer states happiness is impossible because we all have individual desires. We are creatures with will.
• If you don’t move toward completing a goal, you are not setting a goal, you’re just wishful thinking.
• Something you want is something you don’t have yet.
• You spend most of your life in a state in which you want something – the lack of something you want.
• If you lack something, you are suffering from that lack. Because most people want something all the time, you will always be suffering from desire.
• If you get what you want, you accept it and move on to something else that you don’t have that you lack.
• Nietzsche
• You can enjoy the process of achieving success, and don’t necessarily have to finish the entire act. The process can be pleasurable.
• The conditions were not very pleasant during his time.
• If one seeks pleasure and avoids pain, it can be seen as egoistic.
• Utilitarianism requires the actor to be as impartial as possible. One should create an association between the good of others and of the self.
• Ultimate motivation for all human action is a psychological theory.
• Reductionistic: find one simple reduced item that causes many other things.
• We think it is admirable when people who sacrifice their happiness, but only if the sacrifice of happiness or comfort resulted in the happiness of the general others.
• There’s no point in giving up happiness in its own sake if it doesn’t increase general happiness. Simply just suffering for no reason is acting stupid.
• Act utilitarianism: apply it to acts. Rule utilitarianism: apply it to rules, laws, and policies which will influence independent decisions. Rule utilitarianism works on a deeper level.
• Kant: you can never be sure if an act increased or decreased human happiness because all the data is never in.
• The president giving tax cuts temporarily increases happiness, but the debt that the country built up decreases happiness.
• Consequentialism: the act should be judged based on its consequences. Kant is an anti-consequentialist.
• John Rawls: similar to how umpires simply apply the rules of the games, judges can only apply the law and cannot change them.
• Making a sports game more interesting to watch is a utilitarian consideration. However, a referee…

April 20, 2011

• Utilitarianism says that you should select the action that produces the greatest net pleasure.
• Net pleasure is all the pleasures minus all the pains.
• Consequentialism: produces most net good for all individuals, each individuals good being weighted equally.
• Utilitarianism is a type of consequentialism. Utilitarianism accepts consequentialism and defines good as happiness (and bad as unhappiness).
• Happiness -> pleasure, unhappiness -> pain/displeasure. Higher-> intellectual/emotional, lower -> physical.
• Pleasure can be evaluated by amount and quality. How much value is assigned to a pleasure?
• One should pursue higher pleasure because it has more value.
• (1) People would prefer to be themselves dissatisfied than an animal completely satisfied. (2) People value higher pleasures more than lower pleasures (quality matters, not just quantity). (3) Thus, people value higher pleasures more than lower pleasures.
• Just because everyone believes one thing does not mean they are correct.
• Objection: We are choosing between higher and lower versus just lower.
• Objection: You are choosing between living dissatisfied or dying and bringing a happy pig into existence.
• Change premise 1 to being yourself dissatisfied or yourself having a gluttonous satisfied life.

April 21, 2011

• The ultimate end is something we want for its own sake. We want other things as a means to get closer to the ultimate end.
• In Utilitarianism, happiness is the ultimate end.
• Similar to how things are visible because people see it and things are audible because people hear it, things may be desirable because people desire it.
• Objection: living a healthy life is desirable, but we don’t want to do it (not eating excess food, getting sufficient sleep).
• Visibility is what can be seen, audibility is what can be heard, but desirability is what should be desired.
• George Edward Moore: Accuses Mill of committing an ethical error called a naturalistic fallacy. You cannot argue for the prescriptive theory on the basis of the descriptive theory.
• You cannot derive an “ought” from an “is.”
• Just because the world is one way does not mean it ought to be that way.
• Some people get happiness from actually having the money rather than using it as a means to get happiness.
• Other examples similar to money is virtue and power.
• Crossword puzzles are satisfying not because you created a masterpiece of letters but because you know you have the capacity of completing the puzzle.
• All these things that seem as they have no means to lead to happiness are included in happiness itself.
• Thus, happiness ends up becoming something and anything that someone wants.
• This combats all objections, but as a result, the argument becomes pointless. Instead of giving insight into what you should strive for, it instead states what you should want is what you want.
• Experientialism: what you want is based on your experiences.
• Eudaemonia/Eudaemonism: happiness, well-being.
• Happiness is experimentalism but the others are not. Some powerful person might not know of his strength, someone doesn’t know of his passed-down wealth, we’re not always aware of how virtuous we are.
• We all have capabilities we are not aware of. Not being aware of something you have is different than experiencing it.
• Mill says the pleasure of everyone else is not covered by additional principles; it’s just arithmetic on top of basic utilitarianism of pleasure and pain.
• It takes more than the principle of utility and arithmetic in order to properly address distribution of happiness.

May 04, 2011

• An indicative sentence is meaningful just when it expresses a proposition that is either analytic or verifiable.
• Empiricist criterion of meaning: a standard of deciding if something is worth thinking about and is meaningful.
• Meaningful -> has a truth value; it is either true or false.
• Indicative sentences state a proposition.
• He says proposition instead of sentence because a sentence can be grammatically proper but may not express anything meaningful.
• Analytic: empirical facts are not required to know whether it’s true. The predicative is contained in the statement. It’s true in virtue of the meaning of the ideas.
• Verifiable: in principle, it’s observable. An observation statement is deductible from it.
• According to itself, the E.C.M. is meaningless because it cannot be true or false.

May 05, 2011

• Value judgments (this is good/bad) are synthetic because they are not true/false.
• A statement is not meaningful if there is no empirical observation that can be made to prove a statement true/false.
• There must be relevant experiences that add truth value to a statement.
• Moral statements or commands are clearly, in their structure, not propositions (which we use to describe things in the world with language).
• Open question argument: it’s right and what I approve of are the same thing.
• Subjectivism (individual, social), Utilitarianism.
• What if something is right but I don’t approve of it, or something is wrong but I approve of it?
• A statement with a moral component also has a commanding, influencing, or convincing component.
• Ayer is not stating that these statements should not be used because it is meaningless, he is stating that these statements don’t have truth value and don’t have literal meaning.
• These statements can be used to express personal opinions and preferences.
• Example: deciding which restaurant to eat at is not a dispute of truth.
• Ayer says all statements declaring religion are inapplicable because they have no literal meaning, don’t have truth or falsity value,

January 18, 2011

• Criminal justice integrates: law, sociology, history, psychology, political science, economics, journalism, literature(?)
• Four Key Themes
• Individual Rights vs. Public Safety
• Functions of Criminal Justice
• Feuds were conflicts among families. At first, feuds were settled by the families. Soon, the state got involved and regulated the conflict.
• Control of dangerous behavior, but what’s dangerous? What is a crime?
• Set out and enforce a moral code (victimless crime, i.e. prostitution)
• Order and Discipline
• Public Expectations vs. How System Operates
• Myths and stereotypes. Crime = trial? Crime = jail?
• Plea bargaining: confession for lower punishment and no trial. 98% of crimes resolved by bargaining.
• Role of Actors, their discretion, effects of this discretion
• Police, prosecution, judge, jury, parole boards can exercise discretion.
• Alternative punishments
• Gate keeping function: limiting the number of cases that reach the system.
• Factual Guilt vs. Legal Guilt
• Actually being guilty of something vs. being charged as guilty of something.
• Good to be Tough?
• Sometimes less is more – tougher interventions can cause more harm than good.
• Not necessarily soft or tough, but what works?
• Drug treatment
• Individualization is better than general sentencing laws.
• Proportionality and Three Strikes

January 20, 2011

• The civil law is a form of private law because it governs the relationships between individuals in society (ie. contract/company law, tort/money).
• The criminal law is a form of public law, the state is involved.
• State of mind is intent. It can be proved in criminal law by proving negligence. Strict liability (ie. statutory rape): proving state of mind not needed.
• The prohibition against double jeopardy applies only to criminal trials. Corresponding concept in civil litigation is res judicata: one can have only one trial for claims arising from one transaction or occurrence.
• Federalism: system of government in which power is divided between a central (national) government and regional (state) government.
• The constitution does not put the responsibility of crime control on the federal government. The state is responsible for that.
• Jurisdiction: what court has authority to decide a case? Type of law violated? What if both?
• Dual court system: state and U.S. district courts
• Sources of law: constitutions, statues, case law
• Punishment: nature and purpose. Historically, four objectives: incapacitation (to keep someone from harming others, to set an example), retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence.
• Goals of criminal justice: enforce standards.
• Doing justice. Three principles: hold accountable, protection of rights, fairness/impartiality.
• What is justice? A concept of moral rightness.

September 08, 2010

• Empiricism: World/order imposed on subject
• Nativism: subject/order imposed on world, development = physical maturation
• Constructivism: subject acts, boundary in between, world reacts. Interaction = source of order, development = change in subject as function of interaction with world
• Human vs. cebus in sensory motor development, casual functions, logical operations, logical classifications – humans are delayed, but monkeys find out immediately (but are terrorized about it)
• Out of sight, out of mind: cannot see, no longer interested
• value-laden observer – defined system behavior – value-free, undefined material system not directly accessible. Science of necessity makes decisions; we must not mistake accuracy for objectivity.
• Child with no immune system unable to understand that building size is correlated with distance; no way to experiment
• Prediction: explain your future in terms of constraints
• To predict, look back into the past as far as how far into the future you wish to predict. Easier to predict if no other extraneous forces act.

September 10, 2010

• Bulbs: modified leaf bases, store carbohydrates (ie. onion)
• Tendrils: leaflets for climbing and holding
• Leaves modified for food storage (ie. cabbage, spinach, lettuce)
• Petioles modified for storage (ie. rhubarb, celery)
• Leaves attract pollinators instead of petals (ie. poinsettia)
• Stolon (runner): grows horizontally along ground
• Rhizomes: stems that grow horizontally underground, rich in stored food. Stays alive during the winter (perennials).
• Succulents: thick and fleshy leaves/stems for hot/dry environments.
• Cactus: thorns are modified leaves.
• Euphorbia: thorns are modified stipules.
• Garlic: used as medicine for 5000+ years, was a god in Egypt. Raw garlic has maximum medicinal effect.
• Corms: vertical, underground stems with papery leaf bases (ie. water chestnuts)
• Tubers: enlarged, underground stems, food stored as starch (ie. potato)
• Potato: low-calorie, high-protein (deeply-set eyes). Nutritional value declines with economic demand.
• Root modified to store food, reserves used to produce flowers and fruit (ie. carrot, turnip, beets)
• Homologous: actually the same thing. Analogous: looks like some other plant part.

September 10, 2010

• Simple system: everyone agrees what is structure vs. behavior
• Complex system: everyone needs to decide structure/behavior, meaning/dynamics, rate independence/dependence, discrete/continuous.
• Level of hierarchy – process to make it simple
• Become dexterous: novice. A craftsmen: apprentice. Creative: master.
• Classical: Because I said so! Modern: Because it is real. Post-modern: Because of high quality.
• Classical: master has apprentices do most of painting. Modern: there is the original and then there is the copyist. Post-modern: the privilege of the original disappears.
• Picasso: took the full face, side face, profile, etc. and put it all together.
• Post-modern: everyone is watching others do their thing. (ie. Who’s watching the person that’s watching me?)
• Post-normal science applies when time is short, uncertainty is great, stakes are high. (ie. epidemics, sea level rise, global warming)
• Naming something freezes time (ie. student not always a student)
• Narratives collapse a chronology so only certain events are deemed important. A full account is impossible and not a narrative. Facts are based on the perspective and info in the narrative.

September 13, 2010

• Complications of feedback: local events and processes are attached to upscale consideration

September 15, 2010

• Darwin exploring South America, finds horses and mastodons.
• Finches with different characteristics on Galapagos (varieties)
• Capacity to reproduce in excess, restraint competition for resources
• Evolution does not occur in the individual, but in the population
• Evolution is modification (new things) of descent
• Emergent structures are self-organized (ie. whirlpool)
• Survival of the fittest must fit into the environment

September 17, 2010

• Homology indicates similarities from ancestral origins.
• Anology indicates similarities based on common function.
• Darwin saw gradations; determine that species weren’t static
• Coevolution: helping each other live, ie. ants and spines, plants and animals (to carry sex cells)
• Convergent evolution: different species adapting to the same environments.
• Positive vs. negative feedback: determine type by multiplying + and –
• Initial disturbance, relationships between containers, loops as whole, value of loops (good or bad)
• Games of different cultures: spatial orientation, chess vs. African ayo.
• Mimicry, ie. flies copying stingers of wasps, IBM copying machines but selling them for lower prices

September 17, 2010

• Cylinders are more powerful because stretching and contracting is more abundant.
• Cable: cylinders that can bend and not be destroyed
• Add strengthening material to edges, not center; center has no change when bent.
• Trees are more than 32 feet, but water can only be pushed up to 32 feet, then vacuum occurs. Trees use pressure to pull water up; tree could shrink from pressure.
• Create a spherical shape to minimize surface area and keep heat. ie. Dogs curling up into a ball.

September 20, 2010

• Ferns reproduce through spores; new generation grows parasitically from the mother.
• Spores – seeds – flowering (chronology)
• Double wrapping beneficial
• Berry: seeds buried in fleshy material (homologous)
• The pit is not the seed; the pit contains the seeds
• Achene vs. grain: dry fruits with seeds that either pull away from the wall or are fused to the wall
• Apples and pears are false fruits; the actual fruit is the fleshy part on the inside surrounding the seed
• Raspberries: grouplets
• Strawberry: ovaries expand after petals fall off. Small hard parts are individual dry achene fruits.
• Durian fruit

September 22, 2010

• Durian fruit: large, spiny, custardy substance around seed. Have a fleshy aril.
• Prey vs. predator coevolution: one attracts the prey while the other eats it.
• Hard-wired to react to particular things (ie. chicken mother reacts to sound but not to sight).
• You can be powerful or flexible but not both. Humans are flexible, taking into account a variety of different things in a variety of different settings.
• Humans like and create savannas. Buildings and constructions emulate savannas.
• Stereo vision helps determine depth
• Trees use red to communicate, ie. flower petals and berries. As a result, other animals use red to communicate.

September 24, 2010

• Open vs. Closed Living Systems. Open (tree): flow rates change drastically depending on the environment, size unlimited, externally driven by water pressure. Closed (human): flow rates are relatively constant; size limited by their ability to exchange water, nutrients, cases, heat; internally driven by an organism’s muscle contractions.
• Introvert kingdom: complexity is on the inside. Interior cells supported by a bag – the actual animal. Must get food from elsewhere: must be mobile and cannot have cell walls. Turn themselves outside-in.
• Extrovert kingdom: make food from molecules common in air and soil. Carbon dioxide + water = sugar to store, sugar = carbon dioxide + water to release energy. Cell wall provides support, allows necessary substances to pass through.
• Large surface area increases places where nutrients can enter, but also increases the bass it must carry.
• “Why is sex fun?” : (ex. tigers) males leave after giving sperm, but females must take care of child; encourages more reproduction. Investment of sperm less than egg. Birds’ investments are more equal; shared responsibilities. Parental investment: increasing probability of offspring reproducing. Commitment makes animals want to spread their genes. Female cannot while pregnant, so male does. Male wolf wants his genes to survive as well as spread. External fertilization: male takes care of eggs so they’re not fertilized by someone else. Sex-role-reversal, female competes for the male. Biological inheritance: impossible to care for infant without two parents. Confidence: male cares for offspring, but must be sure it is his. Otherwise, male has wasted time. Advertising ovulation visually, or concealed ovulation by humans. Daddy-at-home keeps male guessing when she can become pregnant. Many-fathers prevents infanticide, muddles paternity.
• Pollination: (1) finding a mate, (2) dispersing seeds later. Flowers are adapted `to attract the animals that pollinate them, ie. large petals for bees, red for birds.
• Flowers attract with colors (different animals see different shades), scents (either generic or fit for a specific animal), shape (determines what animals can enter), nectar (food)
• Dispersal: fruits are useful mechanisms to use animals.
• Accessory/false fruits: some/all of fleshy part not derived from ovary. Pomes: derive from ovary and other flora parts. Aggregate: several carpels infused, carpels turn into fruit. Multiple: come from many flowers and many fruits, but turns into one large mass after maturation.
• Achenes: seed loose within the shell. Nuts: achenes with hard thickened walls to protect seed. Grain: fruits of grasses. Follicles: primitive dry fruit. Samara: fruit of trees. Capsules: split open at maturity.
• Drupes: develop from simple superior (peaches, coconuts, walnuts, almonds, plums, dates)
• Durian type: (pineapple, cacao, bananas, durians)
• Legumes: carpel modified into leaves, fused together (pea pods, green beans, peanuts).
• Berry: fleshy with seeds on the inside. Ovary wall becomes enlarged. Derived from single ovary. (Tomato, pepper, grape)

September 27, 2010

• New World monkeys have longer tails, used as a fifth limb.
• Gorillas are vegetarians, get most water from the vegetation. Because of their food choice, their feces isn’t toxic.
• Birds with long tail feathers: advantage to reproducing and being attractive. Disadvantage when predator grabs the tail.
• Birds use objects (ie. shiny sardine can) to be attractive.
• House flies have a second set of wings used as gyroscopes for stability. When danger approaches, gyroscopes stop flapping and fly becomes unstable to move quicker.
• Brains produce a lot of heat because of the spherical shape having low surface area.

September 29, 2010

• An early mutation is far more harmful than a mutation that occurs later on during development.
• Bulging foreheads
• The chimpanzee’s grimace is the origin of the human smile.
• Facial hair hides facial expression showing weakness.

October 04, 2010

• When you die, your body slows down and others take advantage of your resources.
• Fire is useful for everyone, regardless of location.
• High-gain (production) – low-gain (cleverness)
• Evolving into a large brain took energy; now that we have it, we can use it and take advantage of it.
• Our size allows us to take advantage of fire.
• A small portion of what we eat gets turned into energy (ie. beetles get 17% for growth; humans 1.2/1000 calories)
• In cold-blooded chain, about 1/3 of energy goes through to the next stage. In warm-blooded chain, about 1/10 of the energy goes through to the next stage.
• Fire allows humans to move to lower stages of the food chain and eat much more abundant foods (vegetables).
• Protection on vegetables overcome by boiling.
• Peppers are red to attract. Spicy to mammals because the mammals cannot disperse seeds, so pepper keeps away. Birds cannot taste spiciness and are good at dispersion.
• Dandelions: (1) Bitter, (2) Foaming agent create bubbles in stomach
• Enzymes maintains proper balance, biochemistry works in loops.
• Some enzymes (ie. uncooked beans) use protein-digesting properties as defensive method.
• Uncooked yams has sexual hormone/chemical mimics that confuse the eater’s thyroid.
• Caffeine, morphine, ephedrine are alkaloids with a circular shape
• Neurotransmitters don’t make the body happy, causes person to feel bad when people want to stop drinking

October 06, 2010

• Cooking created plants that specialize in getting us to eat them.
• Dopamine remains released and eventually gets lost. Drugs then become needed to maintain normality.
• Sex is fun because it acts as a social lubricant.
• The use of cocaine relieves and satisfies all desires, so addicts must check wrinkles on their hand to check for thirst.
• Digitalis can be used medically to regulate heart beat, but when taken in plant form, will make a heart slow to a stop.
• Coco leaves are healthy, but using its crystallized product (cocaine) is bad.
• Gout is caused by uric acid in the joints which causes pain.
• Different types of tea have different requirements when making, ie. water temperature. Only loose tea leaves, no bags.

October 08, 2010

• Wind pollination: pollen is light, produced in excess to increase the chances of reaching the stigma, stigmas are long and feathery to increase chances of catching pollen.
• Wind dispersal of seeds: spikelets are fragile and break off easily.
• Grasses lack color/nectar/odor to attract animals.
• Wild wheat/barley: rachis shatter when grains are ripe for wind dispersal.
• Wild oats: lemma has long spike called awn. Twists and allows wild oat grain to drive into the ground.
• Barley: self-pollinating, diploid. Wild and cultivated hybrids common where they co-exist.
• Priorities for breeding barley: more grain per plant, responsiveness to fertilizer, photosynthetic efficiency.
• Wheat structure has group of 3 grains in each spikelet, barley has 3 separate spikelets in 1 cluster.
• Wild barley has 3 spikelets, center for producing grain and two for wings to aid dispersal.
• Spikelet: shoot in which florets occur in the axils of specialized leaves (lemmas). Glumes never have florets and define the spikelet.
• Base chromosomes = 7. Diploid = 14 (most wild and primitive wheats). Tetraploid = 28 (hybrids of wild and domesticated). Durum = commercial, good for pasta. Hexaploid = 42 (only in domestication, hybrids of diploids and tetraploids).
• Hard wheat: high protein, used for chewy bread. Soft wheat: low protein, pastry and French bread. Hulled: glumes tight around grain. Free threshing: glumes more open. Winter wheat: growing season in spring. Spring wheat: plant in spring, summer harvest.
• Cultivated oats: livestock feed. Non-glutenin protein (not useful for bread making).
• Domestication can cause resuscitation of formerly sterile parts. Six rows of fertile grain in barley produces three times as many seeds.
• Buckwheat: not grass but seeds (achenes) are grain-like. High-quality protein; used in porridge, pancakes, animal food.
• Sorghum: sweet used for syrup, forage crop. Grown in dry conditions. Uses cyanide as self-defense.
• Triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye. Good and vigorous.
• Millet: feed crop cereal in U.S. Human diet in tropical countries. High protein (16-22%). Require little water, tolerate poor soil.
• Rice husk = good source of vitamin B. Machine processing reduces vitamins.
• Steam-rolled barley: crushed and heated by steam to soften material and destroy enzymes.
• Race horse oats are larger and lighter. More expensive.

October 08, 2010

• Opiates come from the poppy and is addictive. Morphine was created to help overcome opium, but was also addictive; heroine was created to overcome morphine.
• Opium is an analgesic, eliminating pain.
• Coca cola contains cacao after cocaine is extracted.
• If all illegal drugs were made legal and the government take control of all sales, all profit would go toward discouraging people from using the drug.
• Spiders spinning webs on drugs: caffeine and speed are negative, but LSD makes the spider spin perfect webs.
• Humans move to vegetarian diets due to the ability to cook and the abundance of vegetables leading to agriculture.
• Sun directly overhead near the equator induces high photosynthetic activity. Away from equator, sun sets slanting at an angle.
• Humidity: relative is the amount of water compared to how much there can be, absolute is the amount of water dissolved.
• Global warming will melt the ice in Greenland, releasing enough cold water to drive the Gulf Stream south, sending Britain into an ice age in 4 years.
• Agriculture is on the tail end of coins.
• All areas experience 50% light and 50% darkness depending on sun’s perspective.

October 11, 2010

• Rachilla/rachis: long stem-like portion
• Oats imitate to be harvested
• In oats, it is the rachilla that shatters, not rachis.
• Dispersal units. Wheat: spikelets + rachis. Barley: 3 spikelets + rachi. Oat: 1 floret + rachilla.
• Discovery of agriculture was likely a mistake, ie. drop grain on accident but see that a new plant with grain has grown; store grain but notice that new plants are growing.

October 13, 2010

• Adenine and thymine, cytosine and guanine with hydrogen bonds, the sugar is facing the opposite direction.
• DNA replication, splits DNA apart and attaches correlating
• Aligning amino acids properly and removing water creates a peptide bond in a dipeptide.
• mRNA is the secondary blueprint copy (opposed to original)
• Combinations of ACGT 3 at a time creates 64 possibilities, but only 20 amino acids exist.
• Mitosis: four duplicated chromosomes; spindles pull them apart and make two sets of four single chromosomes.
• Haploid: one set of chromosomes, Diploid: two sets.
• Meiosis: start with single-stranded chromosomes, pair up, mix/combine and pull apart. Double-stranded chromosomes afterwards, mitosis occurs with mixed up chromosomes.
• Genes get turned on and off according to the environment, but are passed on regardless.
• If chromosomes don’t match up, child becomes sterile (zorse = zebra + horse, zonkey = zebra + donkey).

October 15, 2010

• Chromosomes duplicate forming 2 sister chromatids, mechanisms for moving chromosome appears, chromosomes align in the middle, chromatids are separated, new nuclei form and cells divide.
• Mitosis: replication of genetic material and passing copies. Proper distribution of genetic material.
• Meiosis: replication of chromosome, chromosomes pair up to form 4 chromatids. Homologous chromosomes line up in middle, chromosomes move apart, chromosomes lined up and separated into different cells, results in 4 daughter cells.
• Produces 1N gametes from 2N cells. Chromosome number halved, new generation has same number of chromosomes.
• Purpose. Mitosis: replicate cell. Meiosis: create gametes containing genetic material.
• Levels of 2: DNA has double helix structure, segments of DNA and chromosomes are double-stranded, nucleus is diploid (two sets of chromosomes).
• Mitosis retains levels of 2. Meiosis halves diploid levels. Differences at metaphase and anaphase.
• Root and stem tips: fastest growing tissues on most plants.
• Independent assortment: homologous pairs line up in middle, the side of midline is random. Mix up maternal/paternal genes.
• Crossing over: chromosomes broken between genes and reattached. Occurs frequently during meiosis.
• Dominant: first generation, recessive: successive generations.
• Unit characters: factors control inheritance of characters. Dominance: one gene may mask another. Segregation: only one gene per pair goes into gamete/spore.
• Genotype: actual genetic constitution (ie. RR, Rr, rr). Phenotype: actual observable/measurable characteristic (ie. RR = red, Rr = pink, rr = white).
• Cross between two pink results in red and pink and white.
• Hybrid desirable if it combines desirable traits of both parents. Could end up better adapted than parents.
• Hybrids sterile – chromosomes won’t pair successfully in meiosis. If mitosis fails to separate the copies of chromosomes, meiosis can work.
• If hybrid goes through chromosome doubling to become a fertile tetraploid (2N -> 4N), it is an instant new species.
• Inversion: chromosome breaks, fuses backwards, simple pairing cannot occur, chromosome twists to pair.
• Translocation: both chromosomes break, fuse backwards, backwards pair with normal by aligning proper numbers.
• What has group of 3 grains in each spikelet, barley has 3 separate spikelets in 1 cluster.
• Polyploid: usually occurs in domesticated crops.
• Mitosis fails, failed products fuse and form cell with double DNA. When reattempting mitosis, results in 2 daughter cells with twice the genetic material.

October 15, 2010

• Double occurs in a shock in the mitosis cycle or a cell turns into a sperm/egg prematurely.
• Seven characters, statistical ratios come out about 3:1.
• Heterozygote, homozygous
• A female carrying a bad gene can pass it on to her children and the disease can show up in grandchildren.
• Breeding sometimes only takes place locally, as other neighborhoods are miles away and separated by mountains.
• Treat ethnobotanists well.

October 18, 2010

• Mediterranean: lots of precipitation during winter but less in sumer, water flows down from the mountains.
• Centers of origins all in the right place at the right time.
• Agriculture is more work and all potential origins state that agriculture is not a good idea.
• They don’t continue agriculture because it’s a good idea; they don’t know what they’re up to. They only continue because agriculture increases population, so they must continue.
• During a radical change (domesticated vs. wild), there are periods of delayed negative feedback oscillation.
• Civilization and cities first, agriculture later.
• If you have a steep gradient, structures will emerge.
• The more items the system contains, the more problems could potentially arise.

October 20, 2010

• Emergent structures will never be the same, only similar.
• Agriculture is a collapse to a higher level.
• A higher level of organization results in the less important and lower levels to be forgotten. (ie. Information -> Industrialization -> Agriculture)
• Functional complicatedness: A computer is more advanced than an abacus, but a computer is easier to use.
• Laws vs. Rules. Laws: inexorable, general, rate dependent, structure independent, dynamical. Rules: local, arbitrary, rate independent, structure dependent, linguistic.
• If you don’t have the technology, you don’t care about it. Once you get and use a technology, you can’t live without it.
• Things invented in cities can move to rural areas (ie. feeding cows grain in Chicago, bras in New York).

October 22, 2010

• Homeostasis: everything in balance. Equilibrium: a dynamic balance of input and out put processes.
• Emergent structures: qualitatively different.
• When a system is far from equilibrium, new structures emerge. Flow of energy is great, pathways are restructured.
• Tornado in a bottle: new dissipative structure with disturbance.
• Gradient: more potential power to be accessed. Build structures to diffuse gradient more rapidly.
• Gyroscope: spinning causes structure to hold orientation.
• Complexity: elaboration of organization, behavior gets simpler, hierarchy gets deeper. Complicatedness: elaboration of structure, behavior gets complicated, hierarchy gets flatter, more degrees of freedom. Behavior becomes more elaborate.
• Creation of pattern without intent: enter a system and cannot escape. ie. agriculture, growing grains can both feed and trade, once you start, you cannot leave.
• Most food production occurs away from equator. Longer days allow longer periods of photosynthate accumulation.
• Fertile crescent: SW Asia, earliest center of food production, mild wet winters and hot dry summers. Constant and flat land.
• Near east: topographically diverse. Mediterranean climate of hot summers and cool winters with winter rain, large alluvial valleys.
• Cultivated crops adapted to seasonal climate. Dormant through dry season. Predictable supply of seeds.
• Origins of Domestication. Darwin’s light bulb: someone’s good idea. Childe’s oasis: response to drought, moved to oasis. Braidwood’s natural habitat: oases/springs not habitat of wheat/barley, but foot of mountains were. Cohen’s population pressure: humans forced into agriculture. Binford’s marginal zone: forced to move to marginal zone and do agriculture for survival. Smith’s regional: various factors including population, environment, social structure.
• Barriers to Domestication. Diet: animal only converts 10% of food mass to own mass. Growth rate: animals must grow quickly. Problems of captive breeding: only want private breeding. Nasty disposition: tendency to kill humans. Tendency to panic: panic and flight to danger. Social structure: dominance hierarchy and herds.
• Barriers of Domestication Based on Availability of Receptive Animals. Rapid acceptance of Eurasian domesticates by non-Eurasian people. Keeping of pets by virtually every human society. No significant additions to list of domesticated animals since 2500 BC. Same few wild species attracted attention of many different human societies. Nobody succeeded in useful domestication outside Ancient 14.
• Characteristics of domesticated animals: tameness, behavioral change, breeding control.
• Changes due to domestication: growth rates, coat color, skull and skeleton, hair, physiology.
• Firemaking devices: fire drill, fire piston, fire plow.

October 25, 2010

• Alcohol is both fat and water soluble, so it gets everywhere.
• Head rotary sense gets recalibrated.
• Fat globules scar soft tissue in liver, positive feedback.
• Alcohol decreases heart attack, increases cancer.
• Fetal alcohol syndrome: facial cells die wrong place/time.
• Americans wash grapes for wine, must add yeast.

October 27, 2010

• Wheat has lots of protein, causing bread to rise.
• Run through rollers to grind it.
• Gluten (protein in bread): bubbles stretch and persist.
• Unleavened bread without leavening agent: thin, crispy, brick.
• Leavened bread: agent that produces gas. (ex. quick bread, angel food, yeast bread, sourdough)
• Quick bread: releases carbon dioxide when cooked (ex. US pancakes)
• Yeast bread: create alcohol and carbon dioxide. Take time to rise, alcohol evaporates. Rises, pushed down, rises again.
• Kneading is mostly a stretching process.
• Overkneading: water attaches to protein. Dough becomes inelastic, bread becomes weak.
• Bread cooking temperature: start high, then lower (ex. 400 degrees to 350 degrees)
• French bread is one of the best baguettes in the world, doesn’t last long so French are always baking bread.
• Croissants made on marble/stone tables at low temperatures. Stretch, add unmelted butter, fold, stretch, fold.
• Sourdough: bacteria put in starter. Converts alcohol of fermentation into acetic acid (vinegar).
• Angel food: air is the leavening agent, whipped into the egg mixture.
• Bread and wheat has lots of symbolism.

November 01, 2010

• Literacy: Greeks were literate but not alphabetic. Used a cryptographic pictorial language.
• Overfarming and lack of rain caused the ground to blow away. Dust bowl.
• Easier to smelt but not enough bronze.
• Earthquakes and natural disasters don’t damage communities that are not yet complex.
• At the rate of scientific development now, everybody will have to be a scientist in 100 years.
• Centaurs were seen as a man on horseback being one thing.
• Trees are important for holding dirt and recycling, burning them up
• Complex systems collapse abruptly, no warning until it is completely gone.

November 08, 2010

• By 145 BC, Rome is an important trading center.
• Every time there is a steep gradient, there will be an emergent structure to take advantage of it.
• Attacking and pillaging a village for gold can only be done once before the gold is gone.
• A method to get more gold after it’s gone is taxation.
• Roman attitudes = “Can do!”
• To reverse sins, do right vs. contemplate
• Romans were not interested in machines, which imposed limits.
• Machinery = animals pulling equipment.

November 10, 2010

• Romans liked sweeter wine, so they put acid in lead wine containers and drunk the lead acetate.
• Romans did not see themselves as aggressors, they saw the people they were overseeing as aggressors.
• Humans and animals defecate on their own land, creating a cycle.
• The amount of silver was reduced because people melted and reconstructed them, adding other substances and restamping them. Eventually, the silver ran out.
• The equation of the decline of silver is a cubic function that fits well, saying that Romans were doing the same wrong thing consistently.
• Society increases in complexity and solves problems, but new problems arise and eventually it cannot be solved.
• When marginal return goes flat, it is no longer worth it.

November 12, 2010

• Stonehenge (Salisbury Plain, England): heel stone indicates sunrise on summer solstice. 18+ astronomical observations can be made from various lines of sight.
• People of the era held fire ceremonies, worshipping sun gods and god of sky, which lead to astronomy.
• Avenue: outermost element, 1/3 mile long, runs in from NE, consists of twin mounds 4 feet high and 40 feet apart.
• Heel stone: indicates summer solstice sunrise, outside of circles.
• Aubrey holes: 56 pits (circular concrete spots) inside mound.
• Sarsen stones: 30 upright, about 25 tons each, smaller lintels about 6.75 tons. Only 16 sarsens and 5 lintels remain today.
• Built in 3 eras: 3100 BC aubrey holes, 2550 BC animal bones inside ditches and holes, 2100 BC all stones erected.
• Stones transported on rollers for 20 miles north and 180 miles west. Tipped stone into pit, wooden legs erected pillar, hole filled.
• Crossbar (lintel) added, earthen mound built on top of uprights, dragged up 22-foot ramp, arranged.
• Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter. Relatively new as of 6000 years, 99.8% human history has been simple.
• Emerges as problem solving organization in response to changing circumstances.
• Collapse is rapid loss of established complexity. Result of increase in complexity resulting in diminishing marginal returns.
• Collapse based on (1) societies = problem-solving organizations, (2) sociopolitical systems require energy for maintenance, (3) increased complexity = increased cost per capita, (4) investment often reaches point of declining marginal returns.
• Fertility symbols: humans represented environmental abundance with female figure. Fertility of land = fertility of people. Penetration and insemination of land with plow.
• Slash-and-Burn Agriculture: farmers cut down and set fire to undergrowth of grass and trees. Ash from burning fertilizes land and gives crops nutrients. Mimics forest’s natural ecology.
• England, British Farming: (1) Communal farming, laying out of 2-3 large fields into numerous small plots. (2) Estates, enclosed farms held stock in winter. (3) Free trade, machinery introduced, farming became a business of investment, rise of scientific agriculture. (4) Planning, integration and planning at national level, larger financial sector over production.
• Ireland: large family for farm maintenance, life patterns and kinships formed on their land, not loyal to government and faithful to the land.
• Potato Famine (1841-1851): Potato crop wiped out by late blight disease, no alternate food cultivated, 30% population died, 2,000,000+ immigrated to U.S.
• Irish and Incan spades
• Scratch Plow: metal-tipped lightweight used in Mediterranean. Eight-Ox Moldboard Plow: heavy plow with colters and metal parts lift and turn over soil in the cohesive and wet North Europe.
• Fermentation. Glucose broken down to pyruvate, oxygen absent. Wine: yeast present on skin of grapes, yeast breaks down grape sugars into alcohol, long = dry and short = sweet. Beer: grain soaked to initiate sprouting, enzyme converts starch to sugar, yeast added after brewing with hops and grains. Bread: dough rises, yeast digests starches in grain, produces alcohol and carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide creates bubbles and pockets of air.
• Beer: Ales vs. Lagers. Ales brewed with top fermenting yeast at room temperature, broadest range of beer styles, fresh = flavorful and individualistic. Lagers brewed with bottom fermenting yeast at cooler temperature, clean and round flavor. Home brewing: mash, boil, ferment.
• Traditional English pub games: Quoits, Shove Ha’Penny, Aunt Sally, Skittles, and Table Skittles, Ringing the Bull, Darts
• Whiskey. Alcohol has lower boiling point than water. Vaporized alcohol captured for higher concentration (distillation). Also: vodka, rum, gin, tequila, brandy. Pasteurization: submersion, flash, spray methods.

November 15, 2010

• Corn growing on ground that has been slashed and burned. Not completely organized, but organized enough.
• Deforestation at the current rate will result in about 50% of the tropical forests being gone in about 50 years.
• Low temperatures: slow growth, very slow decomposition, build up lots of organic material, salts washed away.
• High temperatures: fast growth, very fast decomposition, low organic build-up, plants capture nutrients.
• There are a variety of different spades of different sizes that serve different purposes and meet different criteria.
• Cultural integration of spades: sadness, his face is as long as a spade. Digging with the wrong foot.

November 17, 2010

• England: moderate moisture -> moderate plant growth -> moderate decomposition -> humid, nutrient-rich soil.
• Ireland: very cool, wet -> slow plant growth -> very slow decomposition -> peaty, low-nutrient soil.
• Ireland has a rich language with 80 sounds.
• Infield: measured every year and sown with grain, distributed among individuals in strips. Outfield: five years of fallow, five years of oats, repeat.
• Religion provides conservatism.
• In peasant families, the mother runs the family.

November 19, 2010

• Essential oils that serve as defenses have been long exploited by humans for medicinal, nutritional, culinary, and dyeing purposes.
• Herbs; plants whose leaves are used. Grown in temperate climates, tend to have less potent concentrations of essential oils. Drying further concentrates oils.
• Spices: tropical origin. Tend to be the root, stem, seed. Higher concentration of essential oils, more potent. Served antibacterial purposes in food preparation.
• Plant parts used as herbs/spices. Seed: mustard, cardamon, anise. Bark: cinnamon. Leaf: rosemary, thyme, bay, sage, basil, cilantro. Seed: nutmeg, mace, coriander. Style: saffron. Flower: chamomile, calendula. Fruit: peppers, peppercorns, vanilla beans.
• Traded spices valued like gold and jewels. Monsoon winds used to trade by sea. Pepper had the highest demand.
• Plant defenses: poisons (caffeine), tough materials and protective cover (popcorn), foaming agents (latex and rubber), bitter taste (tannins, found in tea).
• Tea is made by steeping the top leaves and buds of tea plants. Coffee made by brewing roasted and ground seeds of tropical evergreen coffee plant. Coca-cola made from sources of cocaine and caffeine.
• Chinese tea practices still require skilled laborers. Devices only help in roasting and withering.
• Evolution of tea: cake -> powdered -> leaf.
• Opium: China’s dream drug. Used for medicine and pleasure. In U.S. 19th century, no laws banned opium, morphine, codeine, heroine. Chinese seen negatively -> opium smoking is foreign, opium used to seduce white women, completely banned 1914.
• Caffeine: stimulant that occurs in many widely-distributed plants. Chemically an alkaloid. Comes from Coffea arabica seeds, Theobroma cacao.
• Caffeine health: cycle, increased caffeine intake -> decreased sleep quality -> increased caffeine intake -> decreased sleep quality -> disease and fatigue -> increased caffeine intake.

November 29, 2010

• Agricultural technology improvements improve productivity drastically (ie. windmills)
• Britain got an industrial revolution with sweatshops.
• Corn: domesticated grass but fundamentally structurally different.
• Corn was used as fertility symbols for Aztecs and Pueblo Indians.
• Different varieties of corn, including poppable popcorn.
• As of 1913, corn production went up massively. We are now up to about 200 bushels per acre.
• Breeding for high/low oil/protein can be done in less than 50 generations.
• Each in-breeding generation cuts the heterozygosity in half. About 8 generations, the plant becomes nearly fully homozygous.
• Breeding A and B or C and D creates an entirely predictable plant. Combining the AB and CD plants makes (B X A) X (C X D) seed for commercial planting, but is less predictable.
• Double crossing loses genetic control but increases productivity.
• The corn begins as a 1-2-1-2 pattern but becomes much more massive.
• In corn, there’s two spikelets at each node. This causes an even number of rows.
• Corn is terminal on a lateral shoot.
• The cob twisting creates 8- and 16-row cobs.

December 01, 2010

• Adding extra features adds more things that can break. Underconnection makes the system fall apart. Overconnection makes the system tear itself apart.
• Iowa corn in the fall is stable, winter wipes it out and disconnects it.
• Increasing diversity will increase stability. Bug: “I eat corn but not beans, but they’re all mixed up in the same field.”
• Potatoes must have low protein levels to be French fried well. High-protein potatoes are used by people dependent on protein (ie. Andes).
• Potatoes are still moist and active, internal timer tells them when spring is here so they can sprout.
• Turning potatoes into potato flour is a way to keep the crop available year-round.
• Potatoes and a dairy product give a good, robust diet.
• Potato blight rots both fresh and stored potatoes, rotting potatoes smell horrible.
• Putting salt on eggplant, leaving it for 5-10 minutes, and squeezing takes the bitterness out.
• Papaya skin has papayan enzymes, which is the basis of meat tenderizer. Scraping pulp close to the skin to eat is bad.
• The less effect you have, the less side effects you experience.
• 75% of humanity in the new world was centralized around the Aztec and Incan empires.
• The Aztecs lived in Tenochtitlan, which was a lake and is now Mexico City. The Aztecs have an odd approach to religion – human sacrifice because girl was too beautiful and was thought to be long to the gods.
• The sugars of artichokes break off easily, including a delightful sweetness.
• Artichokes leave sugars undigested and send it down to the intestines, creating flatulence.
• The limiting factor in an intense system is space.
• Aztecs and Sumerians did not have iron. Soft metal was useful for organizing society.
• Highly disciplined society with strict punishments. Getting drunk or being adulterous was a capitol offense.

December 03, 2010

• Catastrophic Sexual Transmutation Theory
  • Teosinte: Female zone located inside the male zone, terminal male tassels, male and female zones controlled by hormones.
  • Environmental and genetic change: tassels on the laterals/branches are lowered into the female zone through shortening of the branches. The terminal male tassels were transformed into female spikes. Tassels outside the female zone were not transformed. Suppression of the laterals by apical dominance of the female terminal on the branch.
  • Modern Corn: through time, the continued apical dominance of the terminal females suppressed the lateral females. This leads to the gigantic corn cob. Human selection for easily harvestable packets = positive feedback loop for larger ears of corn. The structure of the cob retains the twisting and yolking proposed by Beadle.
  • Evidence of the Theory. (1) Differences in the locations of the sexes. Teosinte: males = terminals, females = laterals. Modern corn: female = terminals on branches. (2) Archaeological evidence. Teosinte: female = hard glumes. Corn: tassels = soft glumes. (3) Male tails, along with other environmentally linked sexual changes have occurred.
• John Doebley found small number of genes that achieve most of the bits of the changes from teosinte to corn.
• Mexican use of corn. Husks wrap tortillas, corn leaves are cattle fodder, stems are human food (sugar).
• Aztec and Incan Agriculture
  • Aztec diet well-balanced with variety of vegetables, herbs/plants, wild animals, and fish. Main staple was corn.
  • Aztec major agricultural trademark was chinampas, floating gardens. Mats made of reeds layered on mud. Nutrient-rich top soil and grasses layered on top of reeds.
  • Seed nurseries and transplanting maximized crop production.
  • Incans very dependent on agriculture. Developed irrigation systems and canal networks.
  • Incan diets similar to Aztecs, center around maize.
  • Terraces are broad, step-like formations cut into mountainside. Done by hand.
• Aztec Medicine
  • Aztecs cultivated 100-1200 species of plants to cure ailments. Valuable info lost when conquistadors burned Aztec library.
  • Used opposites – hot vs. cold, wet vs. dry.
  • Classified diuretics, sedatives, and purges according to properties.
• Terracing of Andean valleys was a systematic method of soil preservation and soil creation. Fit together rocks to form slopes filled area behind walls with top soil.
• Inca Culture
  • Quipus (strings with knots arranged similar to decimal system) used for record keeping.
  • Agricultural basis was cultivation on irrigated terraces. Horizontal surfaces even on steep mountains.
  • Built stone structures without mortar and round arch. Stone cut so carefully that mortar was not needed.
  • Ritual, worshipped major deities and performed ceremonies.
• Incan social structure: pyramid hierarchically, 10 citizens -> administrator, 10 administrators -> higher-level admin. Highest tier = Inca. Stable, little chance to organize/rebel.
• Protein complementarity. 22 amino acids, 8 cannot be produced by body. All 8 must be present simultaneously in correct proportions.
• Meat and dairy have abundant protein but are inefficient.
• Native American leaders: Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, Chief Standing Bear, Quanah Parker.
• Petroglyph (rock carving). 20 varieties of plants (mostly corn), bears (strength), birds, coyotes (tricks/humor), deer (gentleness), deities, eagles (spirit), flute players, hands (presences of spirits), lizards/geckos (sun/pregnancy), turtles, spiral/star patterns.