Section 1 Essays (891 words) - Philosophy, Metaphysics, Ethics

Section 1 Question 3 According to Frankfurt the difference between free action and free will is that free action is the freedom to do what one wants and free will is the freedom to want what one wants. In the reading on page 12 and 13 Frankfurt explains why you usually have free will, but the unwilling and wiling addicts do not. He says that "the unwilling addict has conflicting first order desires: he wants to take the drug, and he also wants to refrain from taking it. In assertion to these first order desires, however, he has a violation of the second order. He is not a neutral with regard to the conflict between his desire to take the drug and his desire to refrain from taking it. It is the latter desire, and not the former, that he wants to contribute his will; it is the latter desire, rather than the former, that he wants to be effective and to provide the purpose that he will seek to realize in what he actually does." "The other addict is a wanton. His actions reflect the economy if the first order desires, without his being concerned whether the desires that move him to act are desires by which he wants to be moved to act. If he encounters problems in obtaining the drug or by administering it to himself, his responses to his urges to take it may involve deliberation. But it never occurs to him to consider whether he wants the relations among his desires to result in his having the will that he has. The wanton addict may be an animal, and thus incapable of being concerned about his will. In any event he is, in respect of his wanton lack of concern, no different from an animal." Question 2 Hume proposes the argument that Liberty and Necessity are compatible be saying that determinism does not completely rule out human freedom. He makes the point that they are not in conflict with each other. He makes the argument that one rules out the other and that we all base our actions on necessity and that we have complete liberty of our behavior. The argument entails that the nature of free will is true based on the doctrine of liberty as described in the argument of liberty and necessity. By liberty Hume means the power of acting or not acting based on the will. So if the doctrine of liberty is true then free will is possible too or can coexist with necessity. Section 2 Question 5 Epicurus believed we should view death as a sensation and not fear it. In the reading page 628 it says, "Become accustomed to the belief that death is nothing to us. For all good and evil consist in sensation, but death is desperation of sensation." By seeing death as nothing in life is more enjoyable. The fact that the craving to be immortal goes away makes you lives life more. Later on in the reading Epicurus says, "death is nothing to us: for that which is dissolved is without sensation; and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us." One should not escape life or fear it one should seek the more pleasant life and the most pleasant period of time. On page 630 it says "it is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently and honorably and justly, or again to live a life of prudence, honor, and justice without living pleasantly. And the man who does mot process a pleasant life, is not living prudently and honorably and justly, and the man who does not possess the virtuous life, cannot possibly live pleasantly." He also says that the young should live a "well" life and the old man to make a good end. In more simpler words a blessed life. Question 7 According to campus Sisyphus is an absurd hero because he didn't respect the god, had a hate for death, but loved life. His punishment in the underworld was to endure hopeless struggle by pushing a rock up and down a mountain. On page 645 it says, "he is, as much though his passions as though his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death,