All About Me

Prompt: Do you agree with Leonard’s statement that we all need mirrors to remind us who we are? In the movie the mirrors were his notes, the photographs, and tattoos. What has he become by relying upon them? What would you become without your own mirrors? How does a view of self that relies upon mirrors fit with Hume’s theory?

Ultimately I agree with what Leonard is saying by how we all need mirror to remind us of who we are. Mirrors though can come in all shapes and sizes. It can be literal, it can be random, it can be a constant. For example some people and I’ll admit that I tried this once upon a time, waking up to look in the mirror feeling crappy about myself. But I learned to be positive and encourage myself to find the beauty of things while looking in the mirror. Never conceited of course; I would just think about the positives in life. That I have a family who loves me, great relationships with people around me, the material and abstract objects that I’ve been blessed with. In other ways, I also use my family, but especially my sister to remind me of who I am. She keeps me grounded. In the movie unfortunately, the main character literally needed reminders of who he was as a person in order to find the man who killed his wife. I hate to relay it in this way but the only way I could picture Leonard is like a robot, who has to be programmed with information in order to become real, because without he’s lost. He’s become extremely paranoid and when he has those short burst of memory loss, like in the beginning of the movie where he punches the one guy who’s trying to help him, he loses all reality of things. His memory was shot. The only thing that was able to help him were the notes he wrote down and the pictures he had to go with the notes.

I don’t know what I’d do without mirrors to be honest. I feel like mirrors are just apart of life, naturally we can find them anywhere, at least that’s what I think. We would be living a new life everyday I think if we didn’t have mirrors to remind us of who we are. My family reminds me of the foundation that I’ve built over the years obviously up until present day, but without that reminder, do we just go about our days? I don’t know really. But you can have heavy reminders about anything based on just passing by something on a walk in the park. Although Hume’s theory is that memories are only partially the truth, and that half is what we make it to be is essentially what Leonard is. He is going off of written memory, but those are just the basic details that took place, but what about the entire event. Its an impression that we have that must’ve taken place because nothing else would make sense.

Word Count: 452

Prompt: Show an example of something you consider to be art. It can be any kind of art. Provide links or images as needed. Explain whether or not your example matches Tolstoy’s definition and whether or not you agree. If you choose to do this blog you must also present it in class.

Art is ones creative perspective that provides views into the artist reason behind the piece that can appeal to the audience’s senses or emotions. It always funny to ask this question of what do you consider to be art. Sometimes people say it’s similar to beauty and it’s in the eye of the beholder or its whatever the viewer or audience perceives it to be. Just like how one’s man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Tolstoy’s view on art is that a piece must be original and raw with feeling. It’s true to some extent if you happen to be the creator, but what about the audiences. They have different views obviously. My example is kind of silly but it’s always something that I’ve thought to be so beautiful and clean with much thought put into it. I guess you could say interior design is the general idea, but more so the stores that sell furniture and home furnishings. The big stores like IKEA and RC Willy. I don’t have an eye for furniture I just love going in to see how organized and coordinated everything is set up. All the colors are beautifully matched with the drawers symmetrical to the mirror or the way the tables are set up in the display showroom with the fake fruit centered and the glasses set up perfectly. It clearly someone’s job to make it look this nice but I really consider it to be art. Coincidentally I was just going through old pictures from prom of some of my friends and their first choice to take pictures was at IKEA. They looked like models straight out of magazine photoshoot. They were stunning. All because of the set up of a home furnishing store. Ideally, I believe that if anyone can put effort into what they’re doing it can be art. Similarly, people who write beautifully with so much purpose and flow I considered to be art. They have such a style that they continue to practice and master in order to achieve their goals and I think that’s what art is all about.

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Just look at the picture above. It’s beautifully created to appeal to the buyers so they can buy what they think is suitable for their home environment. Albeit, the store’s goal is to sell expensive items, but in order to do so they have to appeal to the audience right. Look at the colors and the dynamic of each perfectly places chair. The lighting spotlights each piece perfectly.

Word Count: 420

How does Existenz, the film, fit into Plato’s hierarchical scheme of reality? How does the game, Trancendenz fit?

Insight to the movie:

Existenz is a sci-fi film that in my opinion was thrilling but definitely weird. It begins with the introduction of a new virtual reality video game, called Existenz, that was created by a person named Allegra Geller. Allegra offers a test run of the new video game. During this interaction, a person attempts to kill Allegra because she is wanted dead for a bounty. Allegra survives with the help of a man named Ted Pikul who is ordered to protect her since she is so vulnerable as the game designer carrying the only copy of the game Existenz. Throughout the movie both Allegra and Ted evade dangerous situations while experiencing mysterious events that leave the characters in the movie, and the audience watching the movie, to question what is the real reality.

Prompt:

After watching the movie Existenz, I witnessed many references upon the topics of reality and finding truth, many of which were addressed in Plato’s work as well. Existenz fits into Plato’s discussion about his hierarchical scheme of reality by showcasing video games as the modern art form, just as were the art form of painting or poetry during Plato’s time. Plato’s example of painters is perfect because it has a parallel with the game makers and players in the movie. Painters paint based on imagination of what they see or make up, and their viewers think they hold knowledge. This point of view is similar to the deception created by the many levels of virtual reality games being played in the film. The virtual reality games are so realistic that the characters throughout the movie struggle to realize what is real and what is not. The whole movie was honestly a bit gruesome and so pure it leaves the viewers curious to see what happens next. This reaction to the movie is exactly what Plato describes as the danger of art because art can be so far from moral truth that people are oddly intrigued by what moral contradictions it has to present, which eventually risks leading us to embody those negative qualities.

I believe the game Transcendenz would fit in the same level as Existenz does in Plato’s hierarchical scheme of reality because the game Transcendenz is yet another art form that distracts from finding the truths of reality. At first glance, the movies opening scene seemed to be the “real” reality we all claim to be familiar with, but toward the end of the movie we found out that Existenz was just a game with in a game (Transcendenz). The fact that the audience was so easily tricked into thinking Transcendenz was the real reality, was a huge turning point and left the audience skeptical in determining what is the true reality.

Word Count: 350

Is there a parallel between the status of the prisoners in Plato’s cave and the spectators in a cinema? In other words, how are we deceived by movies and other media? Do we mistake fiction for reality? Is it possible that this physical world isn’t reality?

This is my second time analyzing Allegory of the Cave and both times it was hard at first until you start to make the connections. Honestly, I think there is two sides to comparing the status of the prisoners and spectators of movies or media platforms. The prisoners were held captive from when they were born up until one tried to escape and realized that the games they played trying to guess what they saw was completely obscured from reality. I think that movies and media should be classified differently though. For movies, for the most part, are fictional and people going to watch them know that unless they bought a ticket for a documentary or something based on real life scenarios. As for media, we are still enamored with the influences out there trying to become them, with their lifestyles, clothing, eating habits, and body shapes that we sometimes mistake fiction for reality. But you could also say that there is a chance to become them, but no one’s lifestyle is exactly symmetrical to others. Answering the last question is a little weird, because people have their opinions. I personally think that the physical world is a reality. We have the choice to make it a reality and make each day ours to conquer in how we want to conquer it. Some people may think that the world is this alternate universe and not everything that appears as it’s seen is real.

Word Count: 275

Reconstruct one of his arguments (not the examples) in standard form. Then evaluate that argument for soundness and validity. What practical significance does Clifford’s thesis have? Do you see any fallacies in Clifford’s reasoning?

Fallacy: Slippery Slope

Premise: All beliefs influence action in some way or another.

Premise: Actions based on unjustified beliefs cause harm directly or they promote credulity which results in broad social ills

Conclusion: It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. (Clifford, page 7)

“He said to himself that she had gone safely through so many voyages and weathered so many storms that it was idle to suppose that she would not come safely home from this trip also. He would put his trust in Providence, which could hardly fail to protect all these unhappy families that were leaving their fatherland to seek for better times elsewhere.” (Clifford 1). In his work, The Ethics of Belief, Clifford discusses believing in something with insufficient evidence. To elaborate on this theory, Clifford explains how a shipowner is putting his trust into a boat that luckily survived countless trips for a number of years. This ship is about to carry many immigrants from their home to a new place. He reassures himself against all his doubts, that this is just one more trip to chalk up and everything/everyone will arrive safely. According to Clifford, it is always immoral to believe anything without proper evidence.

Word Count: 209

1) Begging the Question: Student: Why didn’t I receive full credit on my essay? Teacher: Because your paper did not meet the requirements for full credit.

2) Ad Hominem: How can you enjoy that bacon when you’re fighting for vegetarianism?

3) Equivocation: Giving money to charities is the right thing to do. So charities have a right to our money.

4) Slippery Slope: If I fail english 300, I wont be able to take my upper division classes. If I can’t take my upper division classes, I wont be able to graduate, and then because I don’t have my degree I wont get a good job. You may see me working at Starbucks if I keep it up.

5) Straw Man: Person 1: We should chill on the laws with alcohol. Person 2: No, because then we become addicted since its a free for all.

6) Tu Quoque: Your argument is pointless because you smoked when you were my age too!

7) Non-sequitur: I got sick from eating bad sushi. The burger was good though.

8) False Dichotomy: Rachel Carson Hall isn’t holding up well under the weather. We should tear it down and rebuild it or it can become a huge safety liability to students. Second thought, we should tear it down.

9) Argument from ignorance:Don’t move to Sacramento because it’s hot all the time.

10) Red Herring: Grading this exam on a curve would be the most fair thing to do. After all classes go more smoothly when students and the teacher get along well.

Argument from ignorance:**You can’t prove that there aren’t Martians living in caves under the surface of Mars, so it is reasonable for me to believe there are.

Begging the question:**Killing people is wrong, so the death penalty is wrong

Word Count: 299

In our group of four we came up with two broad sentences for each pair that we thought summed up our experiences with injustice. The first one was Denying service by appearance is an injustice. And the second one was An injustice is a morally wrong action negatively viewed by society done by someone who is not punished for. Our final representation of what we thought fit best to each scenario is below.

An injustice is a denial of service to a certain race or appearance, done by a figure of authority who isn’t punished.

Although this example did not apply to me directly it applied to my family and I believe that to this day, an apology is still necessary. A little background information is needed before we start. My family is extremely diverse. On one half is all Japanese and white, and on the other primarily Vietnamese, but there’s Laotian and Lebanese as well. This story relates to the Lebanese side. My two cousins go to visit their dad every year around the same time in Lebanon, but to get to Lebanon you must go through Saudi Arabia. The plan was for all three of them to come back to the United States to see the rest of the family in San Diego. You can assume by the title of this blog post some type of injustice would prevail itself. Don’t worry it’s next. Going through customs in the US is a huge ordeal, whether you’re not a citizen or you are. But customs to come into the United States is a whole other story, especially if parts of the country near you have been flagged. Continuing the story, my cousins and their dad made it to the airport, easily one might say. Yeah that didn’t last long. As soon as they reached customs and TSA, both of my cousins were let through but their dad was stopped and questioned. Not just the usual “where are you headed, how long, how’s your day, what kinda snacks you want on the plane?” type deal. No I mean question questioned. How long are you going to be there, are you on a visa, what connections do you have…blah blah blah. Bag check came next. Everything in the end was fine, but he wasn’t the only was to get stopped on his flight. There were multiple people, same background, same story. Just a bad case of racial profiling.

Word Count: 335