*new* Spring Grove Cemetery

*new* Journal of one of the first "residents" of Spring Grove.
Christine Huck, philosophy major who coordinating our visit to Spring Grove, sent this for us.  She thinks our tour guide told us about this young woman:

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/11/15/mary-janes-journal-chronicles-citys-early-history/19120447/  

Describe your experience. What did you observe? Remember that not everyone from class attended, so be detailed and descriptive.

What did you learn? What was unexpected? Most interesting? Why?

Post pictures if you have some to share.

Wit

how was the film? What did you learn? What was the most interesting part? The most difficult?  Answer these question and, collectively, write a mini film review.  (Start by answering the questions and offering your opinion/review, then others build on and debate.

Music

What songs help you when thinking about death?  What songs discuss death?  Listen to the lyrics.

I heard this interview as I was leaving from Spring Grove Cemetery on Weds.  http://www.npr.org/2014/10/22/358120457/music-review-youre-dead-by-flying-lotus

Here's a classic bluegrass song about death.  Have you heard it? What does it tell you about the people who would have sung it?
Ralph Stanley's "O, Death"

Classic, country/bluegrass although this starts more jazzy.
May the Circle Be Unbroken

More Johnny Cash
Wayfaring Stranger

Podcasts

I think you'll like these from The Really Big Questions project.
http://trbq.org/topics/death/

More on religion

1. Can Wanting to Believe Make Us Believers?

By GARY GUTTING

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/can-wanting-to-believe-make-us-believers/#more-154362
Several reasons/explanations for why 

2. NYTimes: Debating God: Notes on an Unanswered Question
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/notes-on-an-unanswerable-question/?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share  I spent the past few months interviewing philosophers on religion. Here is what I found out.

If Jesse would blog, he would want to address this essay from the philosophy Gary Gutting.  It is fascinating!  He is interviewing himself. :)  Here are my favorite excerpts:

g.g.: No, they do, but they’re against specific forms of theism. There’s a very strong case — nicely developed by Tim Maudlin in our interview — against arguing for the existence of God (in any religiously relevant sense) as a scientific hypothesis. And Kitcher gave a powerful formulation of the case against believing the doctrines of a particular faith. The point is that there’s often no more reason for believing those doctrines (say, the triune nature of God, God becoming man, the Last Judgment) than there is for believing those of other faiths. Therefore, if you deny the doctrines of other faiths, then you should also deny the doctrines of your faith.

g.g.: No, I’m an agnostic. I don’t find it reasonable to accept or reject a transcendent God, so I withhold judgment.

G.G..: How can you be an agnostic and still claim to be a Catholic?

g.g.: Because, despite my agnosticism, I still think it’s worth pursuing the question of whether God exists, and for me the Catholic intellectual and cultural tradition has great value in that pursuit.

G.G.: Still, I don’t see how you can find a place in a church that claims to be the custodian of a divine revelation, when you don’t believe in that revelation.

g.g.: The fundamental revelation is the moral ideal expressed in the biblical account of Christ’s life. Whether or not that account is historically accurate, the New Testament Christ remains an exemplar of an impressive ideal. Engagement with the practices (ethical and liturgical) inspired by that ideal is the only requirement for being a Catholic. Beyond that, historical narratives and theological doctrines can at least function as useful means of understanding, even for those who aren’t prepared to say that they are true in any literal sense. Some believers may have experiences (or even arguments) that have convinced them that these doctrines are true. But religions — even Catholicism — should have room for those who don’t see it that way.

G.G.: So it seems that you agree with most of your interviewees — believer and nonbelievers — that practice is more important than doctrine.

g.g.: Yes, and I agree with Kitcher that the greatest obstacle facing atheism is its lack of the strong communal practices that characterize religions. People need to believe something that provides a satisfying a way of living their lives, and most people need to find this in a community. So far atheism has produced nothing like the extensive and deep-rooted communities of belief that religion has.

I have never seen anything in print as close to what I believe as what Prof. Gutting has written here.  Wow!  How happy am I?  (and I'll remind you that I'm not Catholic, but Presbyterian, so I would substitute my tradition for Catholicism above.  I also expect that some of what he outlined earlier in the essay (go read the entire thing - not just these excerpts), is close to what Cpt. Christina Peters believes.

Current events

*new* 14Oct14 NCAA allows team to move game so terminally ill player can play http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2014/10/14/ncaa-terminally-ill-basketball-player-lauren-hill-mout-saint-joseph

*new* 10Oct14 "What is a Good Death?" from The Really Big Questions
http://trbq.org/topics/death/
This podcast could have come from our course.  You already know that the big questions are really about how to live well.  Listen in to others who are having conversations like ours.

*new* 10Oct14 "What's Your Story?" from The Really Big Questions
http://trbq.org/topics/stories/
check out especially the third podcast from E.O. Wilson -- whom you just read about in Chpt 10 on Darwinism.

7Oct14 Terminally diagnosed 29 year old takes her own life
http://www.cincinnatibell.net/tv/3/player/vendor/CNN/player/cnn/asset/cnn-terminally_ill_29yearold_to_end_her_life-cnn

'I am not a spy. I am a philosopher.' - The Chronicle of Higher Education

An Iranian philosopher's writing about being imprisoned:

http://m.chronicle.com/article/I-am-not-a-spy-I-am-a/149089/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Diminished sense of smell may indicate imminent death, study finds | The Rundown | PBS NewsHour

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/diminished-sense-smell-may-indicate-imminent-death-study-finds/

 
The Life and Death of My Muse: My Cat, Gracie | Next Avenue http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2014-10/life-and-death-my-muse-my-cat-gracie

Darwin (chpt 10)

*new* 10Oct14 "What's Your Story?" from The Really Big Questions
http://trbq.org/topics/stories/
check out especially the third podcast from E.O. Wilson -- whom you just read about in this Chpt.

Address a few questions, and respond to 1-2 of your classmates' posts.

• What can science tell us about human nature?  
• What, if anything, can science tell us about values?
• What is "natural"? Why might we be interested in that question?
• What is "eugenics"?  Why is it important to know something about the history and application of genetics and the heredity sciences?  (see http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/  and more generally http://www.dnai.org/ )
• and here's a new article today 14 Oct 14 about a new exhibit on eugenics http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/science/haunted-files-the-eugenics-record-office-recreates-a-dark-time-in-a-laboratorys-past.html?referrer=

Euthanasia

What is the definition of "euthanasia"?  What are the broad vs. narrow interpretations? Why are they useful distinctions?

Suicide (chpt 8)

How should we define "suicide"? 

Do you have any experience with suicide?  Feel free to discuss here if you can.

Did Oates commit suicide?

Follow up to Clergy Guests

Basic info about Vatican II (referenced by Fr. Twaddell)
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Nov2005/Feature2.asp#F6

Stevenson Historical Interlude & Chpt 6: The Bible

Pick a few questions to discuss; respond to 1-2 of your classmates.
1. "Where should we draw the line between symbolic or metaphorical talk of God and realistic, literal talk of Him?" (around p. 112-3)
2. Comment on this quote, p. 113
"Perhaps the difference between theism and atheism is not so much a question of metaphysical fact concerning the existence of a supernormal incorporeal person, but rather a question of how helpful, useful, and illuminating a person finds theistic figures of speech in talking about life.  The answer to that can be a matter of degree."
3. What is the role of humans in relation to other creation? (around p. 115)
4. Connect the material from the section "The New Testament Theory of Human Nature" to Chpt 6 Survival Hypotheses in Barry.  Should we focus on an afterlife or a new way of living in this life?  (p. 122-3)
5. What exactly do we mean by God's Salvation in Christ?  What do you think about the concepts of saved by grace vs. saved by faith vs. saved by good works.  Note that those aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
6. Comment on this, p. 127
"Many thinking Christians may acknowledge such intellectual problems.  But they remain practicing members of a Christian community, and in some sense 'accept' or 'go along with' the orthodox doctrines because of what they find in the life and worship of the Church and in reading the Bible--a certain growth in the spiritual life."
7. Do you find any tension in believing in science while believing in religion?  Comment on what Islam or Judaism or the Enlightenment philosophers say about the source of authority, whether one can be a believer as well as a scientist, about how the rise of science changed the way we see ourselves.