Do you think our memories are more reliable than his notes?

I actually took a psychology class about a year ago where we focused largely on the memory capabilities of the human brain, and that really gives me some interesting points for this blog. From what I can remember (funny huh) the human brain actually works in certain ways to protect the person from recalling traumatic memories. The brain can certainly remember a memory accurately, but not allow you to access all components of a particular memory. In a sense, the memory is there but sometimes you may only be able to “view” the good parts. The human brain is capable of essentially purging memories. Which however is not particularly true for every single memory, because there are several cases where one can remember every detail of something they wish to forget. This process works involuntarily, so we do not have the ability to switch this on or off. Having that said, I definitely believe that notes may be more reliable than just memories alone. If notes are taken during or even immediately after an event, I would assume those will last more accurately and longerL than a memory. A great example of this could be when you flip through your old childhood photo albums. You see the photos of you in your childhood home that you can still smell your grandmothers cooking in, but just can’t remember the pattern of the living room curtains, until you look at the baby photos that is. Also consider how drugs play an affect on your memory. Were you on any medication, or drinking alcohol during a specific event? How well and reliable would your memories be then? What if you blacked out, the memories comeback in flashbacks…would you be able to trust those memories?

Do you think Hume would see Leonard’s condition as any different from our own?

Leonard’s condition is that he can recall his memories up until the day his wife was killed, and any new information he learns after that day he quickly forgets. In terms of that, I do not believe Hume would relate his condition to ours. However, I do believe he would argue that the memories he does remember from before the death of his wife give him habits to practice. Leonard being able to recognize his name, could be considered a habit. He is constantly called Leonard, and refers to himself that way, so why would that not be considered a habit? And just in the way we do the same with our names, I suppose that could be a habit as well. If Leonard could recall any hobbies he had or sports he played, and then continued to do those things, we would consider those habits as well. Again, to restate my opinion on the prompt, yes I do believe that he would see his condition differently, but I do believe he would see his previous memories as habits.

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The video I have embedded to this post is a beautiful example of art: I won’t spoil it. So watch the video before you continue reading! Although as I have stated in previous posts that in my opinion art does not have to evoke any sort of emotion to be considered a work of art, I wanted to share this one with everyone because of the meaning behind it and the overwhelming emotion I experience watching it!

To address the question of Tolstoy’s definition of art I believe in many ways the example I have provided in fact does agree to his definition. Tolstoy essentially believes that in order for something to fit the category of art, the work has to “infect” the receivers with the intended emotion of the creator. Tolstoy explains there must be a universally understood emotion “The more individual the feeling transmitted the more strongly does it act on the receiver; the more individual the state of soul into which he is transferred, the more pleasure does the receiver obtain, and therefore the more readily and strongly does he join in it.” Although I do not agree this is necessarily true, I do agree this methodology is a good way to evaluate intentionally emotional works of art.

Tolstoy’s three conditions of infectiousness:

1.On the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted.-if I am interpreting his use of the term “individuality” correctly, the example provides an overall individual emotion of happiness.

2.On the greater or lesser clearness with which the feeling is transmitted.- If you watched the video it is quite clear that the emotion given off by each volunteer is happiness. They all share laughs, and smiles in the end of the video. And I walk away from the video with a sense of happiness as well.

3.On the sincerity of the artist, i.e., on the greater or lesser force with which the artist himself feels the emotion he transmits. -comparing the question to Tolstoy’s definition of Sincerity: It is always complied with in peasant art, and this explains why such art always acts so powerfully, I can say that the work of art I provided is very sincere. It would be difficult to argue that the creator intended anything but happiness.

There really is a strong emotion obtained from the example I’ve shared. In my opinion that emotion is happiness. From the happiness in the video, I find myself smiling at the entertainment, and underlying meaning. Aside from happiness there are several underlying emotions I obtained: understanding, nervousness, excitement, lust, laughter etc.

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Tolstoy interprets art as a way to indirectly emotionally connect with others who view the piece of art, and the creator himself. As art typically expresses a feeling, a memory, or a moment in time it can be interpreted that the purpose is indeed to connect others with those truths of the creator. The “infectiousness” in a sense is how much the art work can penetrate into the emotions of the viewer. Tolstoy would essentially ask questions such as “Does the viewer feel connected to that work? Does it evoke emotion or trigger someone’s own memories?” The idea that art is infectious is that one piece of art can universally replicate the same feeling to a plethora of subjects.

This method of viewing art is one that Tolstoy strongly agrees with. In fact, he be believes if art doesn’t evoke emotion, there is essentially no point in it. Any art that is used for only pleasure is irrelevant and should be rejected in his eyes. He very simply suggests that if art does not provide his listed criteria, it should be rejected. Which is a bit extreme.

Personally I do not agree with his methodology. Art is intended to be subjective. Someone can create and INCREDIBLY sad/devastating piece of art that may be highly relatable for one group of individuals, yet completely not understandable to the next. Not all art can reach into the depths of someone’s life, history, or past experiences and pull out strong emotion. Yet that should not rule out someones hard work/creativity as not meeting standards to be qualified as art.

However, I do believe that art made with the intention to evoke emotion is incredibly important. To that point we may be able to use Tolstoy’s rules to an extent. We need art like that to purge our emotions because for some people, that is the only way they know how. Tolstoy’s criteria for critiquing art could be used to evaluate only intentionally emotional pieces. Be it any sort of emotion.

We need to remember that art made with the intention of fun, humor, and pleasure are equally if not more valuable. This includes movies, music, theatre, and physical art as well. What on earth would our world be if we eliminated all of those categories of art that only appeals to deep emotion.

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For what an interesting movie this was, I believe Plato would have a significant amount to say. The move as a whole would greatly support the thesis of the majority Plato’s claims that reality is all based off of perception. All of the participating characters who were submerged into the world of “Trancendenz” whole heartedly believed what became their new, yet shortly lived reality. The thought I had frequently while observing the film led me back to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The similarity between that and the men who believed shadows on a cave wall to be reality is a fact I could not ignore. All of the participating characters took on the new reality whole heartedly. It wasn’t until the game was approaching its end that the characters began to question if they were still in the game, or back in their own reality.

One other parallel I noticed was when the characters inside of the game would ask “are we back?” really asking if the game was over, reminded me of the man who escaped the cave, saw the “real” world for the first time, then went back to the men still captive in the cave to tell them of his findings. Both scenes depict a disconnect between what is their belief is compared to what might possibly be true reality. If you probe further you can find that again they share a moment of disbelief. As in Allegory of the Cave the other men who were receiving news of a new unseen world were hesitant and defensive to believe it could be true. As were the characters in Trancendenz who were programed to convince the game players they were back in reality several times.

Further that, I don’t believe Plato would find anything to his own liking. The entire game is a work of art. It is a creation with intention to withdraw people from reality. The movie in total was somewhat hard to understand, and took a lot of conversation to break down where characters were in moments of time. With several different questions of where was reality and where was the game, Pluto would be utterly mortified to see such a plot be turned into what i’m sure the creator intended to be ART.

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In Plato’s Allegory of The Cave he depicts life as looking through a very limited lens. The prisoners know life only as what they have been shown in the cave. This serves as a metaphor for the rest of society being limited in our “cave” of the physical world around us, believing only what we see in our everyday lives. Which that point makes logical sense to me: we will believe what our senses have been exposed to, we will believe to be true what we have known our entire lives and what is tangible. From birth we do not form majority of ideas on our own, rather they are imposed upon us. Plato somewhat touches on this ideology as he writes “For it is true, where they do not pre-exist, they are afterward created by habit and practice.” Interestingly Plato continues on to imply that we humans in the world are comfortable only with that we know to be true. When we are faced new truth or something canceling out our existing beliefs we feel we are at adversity. We become defensive, and deny that things could possibly be different from our truth. This idea most certainly plays an effect on current modern life. In our current year of 2020 we absolutely are influenced by the popular things and ideas around us. The way life is in movies and media HEAVILY influences our beliefs. For example, we see a standard for beauty in America, as every country has their own standard. America particularly we constantly see skinny, blonde, blue eyes, and large breast in the media. This in a sense implants a ideal in our minds of what women should strive to look like. Even if we don’t purposely check these things on a daily to-do list, I believe that they are subconsciously in the back of a woman’s mind. Speaking for myself, when I see this exact description in public it is hard not to wonder what I look like next to it. If someone were to tell me this is NOT true, I would have a very difficult time believing so. If a different example would suit you more, dairy farms and slaughterhouses are demonstrated as a staple to the American diet and way of life. Almost everyone in America believes there is nothing wrong with consuming animal products because this is tradition, culture, and habit. We are shown happy animals in all dairy commercials therefor, we take those images at faiths value. However when faced with the TRUTH of what consuming animal products results in, people quickly become defensive and deny the truth. Our ice cream and burger commercials depict animals in a happy state, therefor no one believes there could be suffering or cruelty involved. A lot of Americans are comfortable following their traditions because it is what we are taught by our families, our peers, by movies, and pretty much all media. Interesting that when given an alternate perspective, most people become incredibly defensive and angry very much like the captives in the cave who never saw the world outside of the cave.

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• Live Belief: a live belief is said to be subjective by James. This type only takes place if the person/thinker aligns with the subject matter. The subject matter is realistic, and truly possible. EXAMPLE: a Christian who believes in the possibilities of Heaven and Hell
• Forced Belief: James explains this as giving someone no option to avoid a choice. A fallacy of false dilemma. It either is or it is not. EXAMPLE: You either take the Plea Deal, or face the maximum sentence for your crime.
• Momentous Belief: James explains this as a some what extraordinary opportunity. Something that maybe once in a lifetime. Example: Taking a huge risk to fly to China during the Covid-19 Pandemic!

Not to be funny or controversial but religion comes pretty close to fitting all three. I grew up in a strong Christian house hold. And what i was always told to believe is “either you worship Jesus or you will go to hell” no questions asked. My family has a live belief that Heaven and Hell do exist and that Heaven is THE most extraordinary opportunity to mankind.

In regards to the question if James avoids Cliffords arguments I don’t believe he “avoids” necessarily. Clifford has a somewhat strict belief that one should only believe things that have true justifications, while James tends to break down the definition of “Belief” into sub categories. He doesn’t see things as purely black and white as Clifford does. Which is the bigger reason why I prefer James and how he sees the verb “belief”.

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1. If I steal money from any person, there may be no harm done
2. If I steal money from any person, he may not feel the loss
3. However, what hurts society is not that it should lose its property, but that it should become a den of thieves
4. Therefor I must not, so we may be a society, not savages.

I do not see any fallacies in Cliffords reasoning with this particular example. In fact, I believe this one holds a significant lesson for all of society. Clifford essentially makes the argument that if we make immoral decisions, we must hold ourselves accountable and responsible. We must perform a significant amount of self reflection to realize the further consequence of our actions rather than the immediate.

I chose this one because I believe it actually holds very true throughout any time period. If anyone choses to perform a criminal or dishonest act, perhaps there are no immediate consequences. Perhaps it does not directly negatively affect another individual. However, such acts WILL have a negative impact on who the person who commits them. If we avoid the idea of the person being caught for the crimes, fathom the consequence of internal discrepancies it has on the persons inner character. It can warp your sense of limitations and boundaries. To repetitively commit something you know is wrong and even become better at it each time, develops the detrimental qualities such as: lack of remorse, lack of morals, lack of respect. One would just become a “savage” as Clifford puts the term.

As the title implies, there are ethics to anyone’s beliefs wether they be justified or not. Cliffords over all argument in this particular writing is to address his stance on his concern that without a self moral evaluation, society can quickly turn into a black hole. This may become chaotic and unjust without the proper amount of reflection, and self responsibility.

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1. Begging the Question: Cats are stupid because everyone knows dogs are the smartest pets
2. Ad Hominem: She said she love her boyfriend but she doesn’t believe cream cheese belongs on bagels so does she really love him
3. Equivocation: Traffic cones are orange, Donald Trump is orange, therefor Donald Trump is a traffic cone
4. Slippery Slope: I don’t speak two languages. Only people who can speak two languages get the best jobs. I’ll never get a good job. I’ll become homeless. I’ll die alone.
5. Tu Qouque: Neutrogena says they care about animals, yet they still test their products on animals
6. Straw Man: I told my boyfriend i saw his messages to the other girl he’s sleeping with and then he yelled “wow so i guess you don’t respect my privacy ”
7. Non-Sequiter: there are gasoline chemicals in cigarettes, if you’re willing to smoke a cigarette then you’re willing to drink gasoline
8. False Dichotomy : Either you’re vegan or you hate animals
9. Argument from Ignorance: Fish don’t scream, so they must not feel pain
10. Red Herring: ( question )So what are police going to do about the African American teen who was wrongly incarcerated? (Answer) We at the sac city college police department understand this is a sensitive time for our students and the African American community. Should you feel unsafe or concerned we are here for you.
11. Scare Tactic: My father is one of the biggest benefactors to this university. I’m sure he would feel differently about donating if his child were expelled from this school.
12. Unrepresentative Sample: I took one class at ARC and most people in the class were rude. I suppose everyone at ARC is rude.

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(Premise 1) Justice occurs when truth and righteousness are given

(Premise 2) You have given truth and righteousness

(Conclusion) Therefor you have given justice

I suppose my own personal example would be one of the most recent things that happened last year. I was at a going away party for my co workers who were moving back to their home state. It was getting late, so around 2am my boyfriend and I said our goodbyes. The next morning at work, myself and the rest of my coworkers were huddled into the break room by all of our managers to be informed the news that around 5am that same morning, a man came into the house my friends were in and began to shoot all who were still there. I honestly could not believe the news. My heart sank into my stomach and I felt completely frozen. Frozen that I had barely missed the shooting by a few hours, and frozen in that “survivors guilt” sensation. To connect this to the topic of justice, the man who shot three people that morning was caught the next day. Truthfully, there was justice in the fact that he had been apprehended and told the truth. However, the justice never settled the pain of the injured, and the life that was lost.

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First name is Mariah, I just go by Riah. The synopsis is I grew up in a ridiculously small town in Tennessee. I was about as popular as a cross country athlete could be in a school of only 1,000 or so kids. I wasn’t arrogantly popular, or by any means a jock. I was just active, happy and friendly. However, life took quite a turn for me in my Bible Belt town when I came out as lesbian. I lost a lot of friends, and struggled a LOT with myself. I went from decently popular, to eating lunch alone in the library. Yeah. You could say Tennessee is a bit closed minded, nonconforming, and RELIGIOUS. Luckily when I was sixteen my mom, stepdad, and myself moved to California from Tennessee. We’ve been in California for five years as of this year. I’ve grown to LOVE it here.California was the BEST thing that could have happened to me when I was a teenager. It saved my life, literally. As I’ve gotten older I realized the people who matter, are the ones who love me unconditionally. It was one of my biggest hurtles to let go of my old life, but a good decision indeed. For my family and remaining loyal friends, I of course fly home to visit frequently. Everyone tells me I have become such a California girl. I don’t really deny it. Since I’ve been here I’ve discovered more about myself than I ever could in the small ass town of Clarksville, TN. Since being in California, I have been vegan for three years!!! And learned I am a huge animal advocate. Plot twist, I have actually discovered that I am Bisexual, and I have been with my boyfriend for a year as of this past December! I’m the first in my family to go to college, and stay in for longer than a semester. My grandfather was the one who really inspires me to keep going. He passed away when I was nine, and I’ll always remember some of his last words were “I just want everyone in the family to be happy”… So, here I am. Earning my happiness. Earning my happiness by majoring in the talent I got from my grandfather, music. This class is another notch in my general education belt however I actually have come to enjoy philosophy. So I am looking forward to all there is to learn this semester!

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