Setz's Journal

blog

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 02:47:59 GMT

I'm starting a blog that will be related to ethics and philosophy. It may interest those of you who like these subjects or are just bored... here's the url: http://anemptybasket.blogspot.com. I already have an essay on abortion up, so go and critique my work!

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 04:19:19 GMT

Wow, ethics is kind of hard. Here I have an article that comes to the conclusion that everyone in the First World is morally obligated to give money to relief organizations for people starving in the Third World ("Famine, Affluence, and Morality" by Peter Singer). But not just a little money, every person has a moral obligation to give money until he or she is down to "marginal utility" – essentially until he or she is at the point of mere survival.

Here are the basic premises:

1. Suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medicine are bad.
2. If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought morally to do it.

1. Small amounts of money make a huge difference: 50 cents can save a person's life.
2. There are relief agencies and it's easy to give away money. Also, most of these agencies are very good.

Essentially, every time we buy something we like, we are responsible via inaction for killing many many people. Morally, the indication is that it is just as bad letting people die in the Third World as it is to let a little kid drown in a fountain you are walking by. Just because starving people are far away it does not mean that the moral weight is lessened; also, the easy access to relief organizations gives people no excuse for not donating.

And why does this mean that we have to become poor ourselves in order to be morally responsible? Every time we buy something we don't need we are indirectly responsible for death. It becomes regressive, starting with it being morally repugnant to waste money on clothes we don't need; next, we find that human life is more important than our access to the internet or our indulgence in movies, music, dates, et cetera. Even indulging in something like ice cream or chocolate after a meal is murder by inaction. A person's life is more morally important than your gelato.

Now I just need to come up with a good counterargument.. why is it so hard?

Zizek/300

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:08:49 GMT

So, I came across an article about 300 from one of my favorite contemporary philosophers, Slavoj Zizek. It's quite interesting in that he completely turns the argument that the movie is anti-Iranian or racist. On the contrary, he sees the Persians as representing the US (with our multiculturalism and will-to-dominate) and the Spartans as representing a country such as Afghanistan, or even Iran (with their honor, will-to-die, and monoculturalism). It's a pretty interesting read, and Zizek is always fun... and you don't want to study AP's right now anyway.

http://www.lacan.com/zizhollywood.htm

Enelow

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:27:44 GMT

Anyone happen to have the details for the Enelow essay? (the link online is broken). I'm gonna read the Machiavelli now, and when I get back I hope to see either (a) someone freaking out that she doesn't have the details or (b) someone has the details and commented on this, giving me the details.

Edit: I just got the details.. I can forward them to whoever wants them.

Meh

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 05:33:49 GMT

I really just don't care.

Really.

Dreams

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 06:15:29 GMT

Disney: All dreams can come true.
Science: Anything can come true, in your dreams.
Philosophy: Reality may just be a dream.
5-Year-Old: I had a bad dream.
13-Year-Old: I can't control what happens in my dreams.
16-Year-Old: I can't get out of bed.

What if life is a scary reality where anything is possible and nothing is under your control.

The Physics of Santa

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 21:27:46 GMT

For all you non-believers, here is the explanation of how our top scientists believe Santa works.

http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2006/dec/212.html

Santa

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:52:10 GMT

I hope everyone is using our nation's (and Canada's) sophisticated satellite and anti-missile technology to track Santa! Happy Holidays everyone.

http://www.noradsanta.org

Star Wars Episode III

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:05:35 GMT

So, I just watched Star Wars, which I had previously avoided because of the horrible reviews I heard of it.. Now, after watching it, all I can say is that it was much better than Episodes I and II, and that I liked it. Liked it a lot. I mean, who could not love the twist? His dreams of Padme's fate make him cause that fate to be realized – classic Oracle of Delphi stuff. I won't go into how it all fit in well with Virgil and what we learned in History, but I will say this: Eliminating Jar-Jar – good move.

And that does it for this anachronistic journal entry.

Bare Life

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 21:16:58 GMT

You – whose name is without birth,
Who is trapped in darkness,
Sobbing in the corner,
What troubles you so?

A heart burnt with defeat,
No one is there to witness your pain,
Your Haemon has left you for other fields.
What are you waiting for?

Your salty tears roll down your cheek,
Without intention,
Tears are meant for others.
What is your purpose?

Love undefeated in the fight,
Love that makes havoc of possessions,
Love who once lived at night in this young girl’s soft cheeks,
Where are you now?

Globalization

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:39:50 GMT

I'm looking back at some of Banksy's (banksy.co.uk) work, and I really forgot how much I like it.. the lonely angel that is my LJ icon is from him, and some of his stuff can be pretty cool. Here's his take on globalization: http://banksy.co.uk/indoors/images/feeling5.jpg

Leading On

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:57:16 GMT

What is it with girls and leading guys on? I mean, seriously.. It almost seems like that's the only thing that ever happens anymore. We have the obvious Anne and the oblivious Jeff, we have me at the beginning of the year, and now one of my good friends just got shut down.

This time it's not even funny though, she gave him the impression that they had already been dating; in fact, I believe there was some formal asking out and accepting involved. I talked to one of her friends; apparently, the girl in question never liked my friend in that way, but was waiting for him to say something first – for the last couple months – what. the. fuck. mang.

Here's some simple reasoning for y'all:

Observation: Hanging out with girls does not make them like you.
Observation: Girls keep hanging out with you even if they know you like them, but don't like you.
Inference: Hanging out with a girl indicates nothing.
Observation: Girls will tell you how it is after you do something.
Observation: People start going out after a simple physical act.
Inference: Kissing a girl causes her girl to say how she feels.
Conclusion: Kiss the girl on the second date, save yourself the time.

Remember Kierkegaard: Either do it or don't do it, you'll regret both.

Woman

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 23:08:14 GMT

Okay, so this Nietzsche quote kind of got me thinking: "Man created woman – but what out of? Out of a rib of his God, of his 'ideal'...".

So obviously I, and every other guy, possess this image of women as being clean, beautiful, nice, polite, warm, etc [unless you just want to get laid, sexy etc. comes second]... And, at least to some degree, it would seem that the majority of women follow this image and act accordingly [subconsciously, consciously, whatever – it happens].

So, my question for women – what is your ideal man? Somehow I don't think being clean and polite are at the top of your list.. so what is. Or would your ideal man be more feminine, and it just so happens that you personally don't like those kinds of guys?

Stripes

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 20:49:38 GMT

Why is it that it seems like only girls can wear shirts that have stripes.. It's really aggravating because I really like stripes and kind of want to wear a nice white and black t-shirt with, perhaps, 1 inch stripes.. but nooooooooooo, they only make shirts for girls like that.. fuck. that... And even if I did find the shirt I want, because it isn't plainly seen anywhere, no one buys it. And, because no one buys it, no one wears it. And, because no one wears it, no one knows it exists [except for girls, of course]. Lastly, because no one knows it exists, everyone will think it's a girl shirt.. but it's not.

I JUST WANT SOME STRIPES, IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!?!

Rhetoric, Seinfeld, and Enelow

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 05:43:52 GMT

Note to Self: George's use of persuasion during the episode "The Subway," in Season 3 of Seinfeld is dangerous. In my essay on persuasion, for Enelow, I said that rhetoric is safe as long as the logic of it is sound, regardless of whether the speaker deceives about emotion or character; however, I no longer believe this view of persuasion is accurate. In "The Subway," George is on a train flirting with a random woman who gets his attention by rubbing her leg. After she asks him if he is looking for a job (which he is), he responds that he is "doing quite well" and is in the stocks & bonds industry: This act establishes his (false) character and paves the way for him to persuade her to give him her number (or something of the sort). After several stops, the woman says that she is about to get off and asks if he wants to come with her; George complies and winds up in her hotel room, where she tells him to "make [himself] comfortable." He decides to take his shoes off and lie down on the bed. Then, she comes out of the bathroom in lingerie and proceeds to handcuff him to the bed. Next, she comes out out of the bathroom, fully clothed, and looks through his wallet. As he is not a stockbroker, she only finds $8, gets very upset, and decides to take his clothes instead. The woman then leaves George in the hotel room, naked and humiliated. If George had not initially deceived the woman about his character, his persuasion (an implied enthymeme: I'm interested; therefore, sleep with me) would have failed and he would not have wound up tied to a bed and robbed...

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 03:40:19 GMT

Sometimes I think nihilism is the way to go – everything tends to go back to the way it was before with me anyway. Doing nothing may actually be better.

music

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 06:21:10 GMT

for now, im sick of your typical trance, techno, club, house, etc. music.

i started listening to some industiral (kmfdm and combichrist) and it kinda makes the other electronic genres seem weak.. i think im sick of girly girls singing trance cuts and bad male voices taking over house cuts. granted, most industrial males suck at singing.. from what i can tell, you have to be german to be worth anything

anyway, back to junior year.

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:09:01 GMT

I'm so sick of complicated shit.

Note to Self: I think finally fully comprehend the existentialist "HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE"... which brings some personal reflection into Sartre's "No Exit"..

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 05:15:53 GMT

My class is over!! the final wasn't bad at all; writing 3 essays is a piece of cake apparently..

tomorrow i leave for Minnesota..

the last couple entries have been pretty similar.. ill have interesting stuff when i get back from MN

c ya in a week.

-setz

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:07:40 GMT

Usually when confronted with a final we cram everything we can in order to show one last time what we know... we don't care whether we liked or hated the subject, we just are glad that it's finally over with. Studying for this philosophy final has been different.. I kind of wish i learned more about certain things (and everything i'm going back and reading is so much clearer and interesting than the first itme..) and that tomorrow isn't the last day of class..

For example, I just read Hume's argument in support of the the claim that "we have no reason to believe anything is caused by anything." It was pretty hard to grasp at first (Hume's argument is that we learn everything from experience and thus are like animals, in that we base everything off of empirical examples... i'll explain it if you ask me about it), but now it seems to make so much sense and have so much significance.

Anyway, time to get back to studying..

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 03:47:41 GMT

I'm tired and just woke up from like a two hour nap.. I started studying for my final, which i dont think will be that bad (she gave us 10 questions to take home; 4 of the questions will be on the final and we have to answer 3 of them..). Some are pretty interesting, like: "... is this paper really white?" or "... do you believe the sun will rise tomorrow?"

not much really happened today, just a lot of thinking (about the final lol).

well, that's it for today.. i think im gonna go contemplate whether im really in my room or not, see yas.

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 06:32:15 GMT

sup world, today i had philos class and then went to kimi's party.. as always, it's cool to see everyone and to just chill for a little. nothing particularly eventful happened, but it was fun none-the-less.

im leaving for MN on Saturday.. and will be gone till next Thursday.. it's gonna be crazy (im seeing relatives: my grandpa has lost his memory and may think that im his son.. yea..)

on another note, i think i've decided to grow my hair out.. tight..

papers..

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:41:21 GMT

my last (3rd) philosophy paper is due Tuesday and i'm almost done with it.. yay! tomorrow morning it is so getting done. this is tight. now i just have to write three more, in class, on thursday.. yea..

i'd talk about my day.. but all that happened was some of my relatives coming and me seeing a movie.. im too lazy to type it up, maybe tomorrow.

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 01:05:23 GMT

So, yesterday i went to the Bloc Party concert at the greek theatre. it was pretty interesting seeing as how i've never listened to a single one of their songs before (hell, i looked up their genre on wikipedia before the show..).. it was cool though, my friend Tony's friend Mara bought us tickets and took us to dinner and stuff (yea, she kicks ass). before they came on there was a two-person band who were okay and then some Canadian band that had like 20 people and was also interesting..

you have to see, im not used to real instruments.. ive been listening primarily to electronic music for like the past 5 years.. im not used to guitars and drums and trumpets and all that good stuff.. (unless they're accompanied by some sort of synth or substantial editing). it was good for a change, but i was dissapointed in that the lyrics were part-undecipherable and part-plain bad.. i had always been told that electronic music had crappy lyrics and that's why analog music is better.. i basically took that as fact, but didn't really care. but now, after this, i really doubt that bands with real instruments have better lyrics..

the only other thing is that synthetic sounds are so much clearer and distincter than analog sounds.. it was practically impossible to tell any of the bands songs apart.. the guitars and drums blended together in a big, majorly out-of-tune blur.. electronic music is complex, but there are always distinct baselines, synths, etc.

i think ill stick to the synth, but that's just me...

yesterday

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 19:40:31 GMT

so.. this is my first entry on livejournal, im not really sure if i will continue to update or not, but.. who knows haha. for that matter i dont know if anyone will ever read this seeing as no one knows that im updating.. hmm.. intriguing. anyway, as nothing interesting has happened today (i actually woke up like 20 minutes ago), i may as well start with last night. basically, i had a crush on this girl named claire (not stumpf) and after hanging out with her a couple times decided to bring her a red daisy and some cinnamon mentos (her favorite candy.. bsides the whole rose and chocolate thing is so 1934).

i gave them to her, told her i liked her, etc.. and she was basically was like "yea, i kinda figured" in a yea-i-know-it's-cool kind of way. so we just hung out like we normally do (just walked around, went to Yogurt Park, etc. etc.), which was really really fun actually. a couple hours later, when we were walking back to her car, i decided to be like "well.. what happens from here?" (note, basically everything we say is kind of in a comical-ish kind of way - we're too cool to be serious lol) and then she told me how it'd be a bad idea to start anything seeing how she's leaving for college in 20 days and stuff. i already knew this, so i was (and am) cool with it; it's kind of funny: i think that im happier that she said no. she really isn't the type of girl you date for 20 days and then stop.. and maybe i would have gotten my heart broken (hers too), or something cliché like that.

but yea, we're still going to be friends (like, actually, still going to be friends).. she said that she's known that i've liked her for a while, but thinks im too cool to not hang out with anyway. during the whole night there wasn't a single awkward moment, it was really chill. at the end she thanked me for the flower, i was like "yea, im pretty proud of myself for doing this.." and she was like "yea, im pretty proud of you too" lol.. i dunno, the whole part of the night that could've been awkward was more comical and friendly.. anyway, im sure you're sick of hearing my little story, so.. see ya soon!

oh yea, on another note.. i got a B+ on my philosophy paper!! yay! haha