Diana's Bloggerific Musings

2005-01-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

Back to Blogging

After going on the web for a bit, and checking out some of the cutting edge blogs, I have been re-charged and ready to start blogging again. Besides, now that I am starting my dissertation, I need a time-stealing diversion. At any rate, instead of using this blog solely to jot down my random thoughts, I thought that I would actually use this blog to do something useful. So, I will try to use this blog to post philosophical thoughts and thoughts on nutrition, diet and exercise (things that have become important to me in the last 1.5 years). But this is not to say that I will not post random thoughts. Ok, I'm gonna try and get back on the wagon. Let's see how it goes.

2004-09-29T14:24:00.000-06:00

Bobby Pins and Socks...Appearances can be Deceiving

I just realized that socks and bobby pins share an important feature in common, despite their outward appearance that might suggest they share nothing in common. They are easy to lose. Like socks that get lost after a round in the dryer, bobby pins too magically disappear. I just realized this as I bought another 60-pack carton of bobby pins. I have no idea what happened to the other 60 I just bought recently...not one remains from the original tribe.

2004-09-27T10:41:00.000-06:00

Moose Sighting!

Being confronted by a moose was more than I had bargained for when I went hiking this weekend. This weekend while a friend and I were hiking, we encountered a moose! We were almost to the end of the trail when I saw the gigantic moose. Really, really big--20 feet right in front of us. While he stopped to take pictures of the moose, I quickly was planning an escape route. For a while, we were somewhat trapped as the moose decided to go one way down the trail and then another. We were fine, of course, but at the time, it was scary! :)

2004-09-24T21:50:00.000-06:00

Aah...what does this mean?
Friends who know me will attest to the fact that I am a dog person, despite the fact that I grew up with both cats and dogs. Though, of course, there are some special exceptions to my general rule... This weekend I am petsitting 3 cats, and one of them (her name is either Oona or Pepe--they look alike and so I cannot tell them apart) is so friendly. She sits on my lap and as I am typing this she is laying her paw on my arm very comfortably. She is so sweet and I think that I will have major difficulties leaving her at the end of the weekend. She is not like other kitties I know who stubbornly turn away the second you show them affection--you know, the emotionally unavailable kitties--the ones whose love you have to work **really** hard to earn. Anyway, a question to all of you: does this make me a cat person? Uh-oh...

2004-09-17T10:44:00.000-06:00

Hannity to Join in on the Action
Now Hannity wants to get into the act with Michael Moore at UVSC. This should be good. I wonder if the student who claimed that Michael Moore should pay his own way because he has an agenda would claim the same about Hannity. My guess is no--Hannity, after all, should have a big fan club at UVSC.

2004-09-16T09:38:00.000-06:00

Micheal Moore to visit UVSC (Utah Valley State College)

The associated students of UVSC have decided to host Michael Moore to give a talk on their campus, a couple of weeks prior to the November election. Many of the students at UVSC do not like this decision because the student associated body spent all of the budget (50.000) to bring Moore out. That they spent all the budget on one speaker is good reason to be a bit peeved, but when asked by the local news and newspapers their view on Moore coming, the following was said:

1. We should have such a controversial speaker come. A public university is no place for controversy. This is from yesterday's edition of the Deseret News and was said by a UVSC senior. I think the thought is that a public university is no place for free speech--if this is right, then maybe you ought to transfer to BYU a couple of miles away...

2. When interviewed on the local fox news, a student at UVSC said he thinks that someone who has an agenda like Moore should pay his own way. I am not sure what to think of this. But all of the commets issued by UVSC students that I have come accross regarding Moore's visit have been unreflective and just plain nonsense!

2004-09-11T15:22:00.000-06:00

The Diabetes Walk...Mixed Messages!
Right now I am working on a paper in disability and I am working on what conditions are necessary and sufficient for sending a message. On some theories of meaning (here I am thinking of the one that Grice offers) an utterer's intention is necessary and sufficient for sending a message. But I think that this theory of meaning really misses the mark because it does not give any attention to the role an audience plays in the interpretation of a message which seems to me, to have a significant role to play when it comes to determining the meaning of a message. At any rate, having theories of meaning on the mind, I think that the people who coordinated the Diabetes Walk, the one in Salt Lake at any rate, sent mixed messages! On the 5-mile course that I did, there were several rest-stops. And at these stops were great, sugar-free snacks. And this, to me, sent the message that low-sugared foods are integral to keeping diabetes in check or for preventing the onset of (type-2) diabetes. A good message, to be sure, that seemed to be reinforced with other events going on at the race. But then, at the end of the race, they had lunch for us, sponsored by Albertson's. The lunch, which I (thankfully) did not stay for, consisted of chicken, pork, and salad. Now, because Albertson's sponsored the lunch, the chicken (in all liklihood) was their fried chicken. Now what kind of a message does this send? That it's ok to eat food high in fat--when we know that Type-2 diabetes is prevalent precisely because of its link to obesity?!! Weird, for sure!

2004-09-07T17:48:00.000-06:00

Salt Lake City's Annual Diabetes Walk
This Saturday, September 11, will be the annual diabetes walk in Salt Lake. It is a great cause, and more than likely someone you know suffers from diabetes (more than likely, Type-2). I am doing the race on Saturday and everyone should spread the word around to others about doing it. It is a fantastic cause, and hey, we can all use the exercise! :)

2004-09-02T14:20:00.000-06:00

What's the Fuss About the Muss?
There is this new organization at the U that has been busily putting out merchandise, with their acronym MUSS. MUSS is a student-run group that is responsible for increasing student involvement in campus events. With today's ESPN game between the Utes and Texas A & M, MUSS T-shirts are everywhere. Now, the question that I have that I have yet to find an answer to is this: What does MUSS stand for? I think that there needs to be a stop put to acronyms that do not stand for anything.

2004-09-02T09:57:00.000-06:00

Should we trust weather forecasters?
Returning from a recent trip to Portland to visit my family, my dad was complaining on the local news channel weather forecasters for being wrong about predicting the weather. He was complaining that for the past several weeks or so, they have had a bad track record. Is weather the kind of thing, though, that crucial circumstances hinge on them getting it right. And here, I am thinking of severe deviations from the predictions. Today I experienced something similar myself. Weather reports conflicted with each other--and the difference was considerable. The weather report on the local news predicted a high of 83 for Salt Lake and the radio predicted a high of 97. What's the deal? Maybe soon I will blog on something having to do with philosophy, but don't hold me to this...

2004-09-01T11:21:00.000-06:00

Is-Ought Problem...
Does anyone know of any good, key articles in which the is-ought problem is resolved? Am I right in thinking that Searle did a piece on this? Thanks and happy blogging!

2004-08-31T08:03:00.000-06:00

"Do What You Love and You'll Probably Starve"
Check out the article by this name on MSN today...I thought it was very relevant for those of us in philosophy. And as I tried my best to cut down a paper to conference length last night, that question of whether this is what I really love popped into mind! Happy reading!

2004-08-30T10:31:00.000-06:00

Can Someone Explain this to Me?
Maybe some of you who are into politics and are closely following the Kerry campaign can explain this to me. When Kerry was in FL recently, his daughters announced that they were there with their father to support him, announcing that voters should vote for their father. And before even getting through their message, they were booed off the stage. Why???

2004-08-30T10:27:00.000-06:00

And Furthermore...
My friend's band "Furthermore" opened for the Numbs at the Cabana Club in Salt Lake. They were terrific! This Friday night, September 3 at 10pm at the Urban Lounge (500E between 200S and 300S) "Furthermore" is headlining and the Numbs are opening up for them. It will be a great show and you should all go!

2004-08-27T10:37:00.000-06:00

Blogs as Public Forums to Complain
I vowed to myself that when I got a blog I would not use it to complain. Hmm...maybe I should try to recommit myself to this original promise!

2004-08-27T10:32:00.000-06:00

Recycled Cell Phone Numbers Should be Banned!
I recently got a cell phone and I am very annoyed to learn that I was assigned a number that was recently in use. And not only was the number recently in use, but it was recently in use by two different users--one was a private individual and the other was a company called "Billing Unlimited." Calls for Billing Unlimited are very annoying because I find myself having to convince the party on the other line that this is no longer Billing Unlimited, and that no, I am not pulling their leg. At any rate, all this complaining just goes to say that cell phone numbers should not be recycled! But a question for any math geeks out there--I was under the assumption that you could generate enough permutations of a phone number so that they would not be reassigned. Am I wrong in this assumption?

2004-08-25T15:49:00.000-06:00

A New School Year Begins...

Classes just started today at the University of Utah and yesterday the philosophy department had a day long welcome/business meeting for grads. What was very obvious, even if you did not know who was a returning student and who was an incoming student, was who was an incoming student. Incoming grads could be detected from a mile away by their unrestrained enthusiasm. And while I expected this sort of energy from them, I pleasantly surprised myself by not being turned off by their enthusiasm--instead, I was re-engergized, and very happy to see that it looks like we will have an active grad group this year. And what is better, there are incomings who are interested in bioethics. Yes, it looks like it is going to be a good year...

2004-08-15T13:28:00.000-06:00

Random Thoughts
Instead of doing some last minute work that I need to be doing before I get outta Dodge, I am blogging instead. For this kind of procrastination, I blame fellow friend bloggers--you know who you are. Anyway, I hate moving. I have to move out of my office and I have just a couple of hours to do this on Monday. I have quickly realized how much junk I have collected. And some of the stuff that I am coming accross, I do not even recognize as my own...weird and definitely a sign of being a packrat. And lately I have been in the moving mode--sort of cleaning up (at least my closet). And as I was cleaning out my closet, the same thing happened, a lot of the clothes I did not even recognize. Taking a lot of clothes to the local DI has allowed me to (almost) completely clear my closet, though some of the clothes were in such poor shape that I had to toss them, as much as it broke my heart to do that, I figured that even the DI people would not want them. But a nice ending to the closet cleaning (I find it hard to part with clothes)--shopping! I need to shop for fall and a friend of mine is very willing to help me do this--that is, spend my money with her fashion advice since I have been told that I should not be allowed to shop for myself alone. Kind of like leaving a small child with matches--not a good idea. I like this stream of consciousness writing...maybe this stream will form into something coherent and philosophical, though probably not...

2004-08-13T19:05:00.000-06:00

Why do we care about effort?
A friend who is a grad here at Utah gave a job talk the other day on depression. The paper was coming out of his dissertation and part of his dissertation is devoted to refuting the claim that all cases of medicating away depression are demonstrative of weak moral character. The claim that my friend seems to be arguing against is that working through depression without anti-depressants says something positive about moral character--namely, that moral character development is achievable through struggling through depression without the help of medication. (Of course it seems as though this view assumes that depression is not a disease but a character flaw or personality defect of some sort.) It seems like this view is one in which effort is valued--whether for its own sake or only instrumentally (as a means to moral character growth). My question is this: why do we value effort? Is effort something that we value because it is an indicator of sorts--one that indicates strong moral character?

This issue, of the value of effort, is of interest to me in relation to obesity. Medicare recently announced that it will no longer have barriers that prevent people from claiming that obesity is a disease, though Medicare itself does not assert that obesity is a disease. Changes in the language of Medicare's plans have spawned new debate in the issue of whether obesity should be considered a disease, something that is of particular interest to me. Here is how I see the issue of effort connected to the debate of whether obesity should be considered a disease. If obesity is a disease (having at least (partly) genetic and biological determinants), does this change our minds about certain kinds of treatments for obesity? Consider, for example, gastric bypass surgery. Some (myself included) think gastric bypass surgery is morally problematic because of an underlying intuition regarding effort--that effort is important in some fundamental, non-trivial sense. The same goes for other similar efforts for weight loss--a recent attempt that is going through clinical test trials is an electrical device that is inserted into the abdomen (I think, though the details are now fuzzy) and will send a feeling of satiety to the brain after the individual with the device eats several bites of food, curbing appetite. This electrical device I find particularly problematic--perhaps for reasons having to do with more than just effort being valuable. Any ideas on why we might care about effort in the obesity case, making electrical devices and surgical procedures for weight loss elicit the "yuck" factor? Or am I just on a limb here?

2004-07-19T12:59:00.000-06:00

Is Obesity a Disease?
Medicare has now removed all language from its policies that ban classifying obesity as a disease. I am not sure what my feelings are on this--Medicare has just stopped short of calling obesity a disease--it seems as though no one will take a firm position on things these days. Anyway, benefits of calling obesity a disease are numerous for those who are obese. These include treatments for obesity (which might include prescription medications, or gastric bypass for those who qualify), and a de-stigmatization of obesity. In recent articles on obesity by way of a response to Medicare's move, obesity is being compared to alcoholism. In medicalizing obesity, like alcoholism, the stigma of the condition is removed insofar as obesity (like alcoholism) is not viewed as a personal moral failing anymore, but a disease, something that is out of an individual's control. Looking recently at the free will literature, most of us buy into the moral responsibility thesis whereby to hold an individual morally reponsible (praiseworthy/blameworthy) an individual must be in control of bringing about a state of events. Or, alternatively, as Frankfurt puts the thesis (a thesis he eventually rejects), an individual ought to be held morally responsible for her actions if and only if she could have chosen otherwise. Frankfurt of course presents a series of cases that falsifies this thesis, whereby we hold an individual morally responsible for her actions even though she could not have chosen otherwise. And these Frankfurt cases seem to work well because they accord with our commonsense intuitions regarding moral responsibility.

Back to the obesity case, though. I am not so sure that medicalizing obesity and calling it a disease will present us with the following dicotomy: either obesity is a disease (and individuals should not be held responsible for their condition) or obesity is not a disease (rather, it is a result that is due to lifestyle choices, and therefore completely in the control of the individual--that is, the individual is responsible for bringing about her condition). Even if obesity is a disease (and there is resistance to accept this claim aside from more interesting issues having to do with moral responsibility) it does not seem to follow that this classification precludes holding obese individuals responsible for the state of their health. This is not of course at the same time to say that we should hold the individual responsible for the state of her health. Motivation for what I am saying is coming from a piece I recently read (just yesterday, actually) by Nagel, "Moral Luck." Nagel points out that given intuitions regarding moral responsibility (like the kind Frankfurt very ably identifies), we tend not to hold individuals morally responsible for what is not in their control. If a state of events comes about that is not entirely within their control, even though they may have had some causal role to play in bringing that action about, we do not hold them morally responsible for what they have done, not at least to the extent that we would someone who was more in control of a certain course of events (take, for example, killing a person in a car accident vs. killing a person via a murder). But consider some other cases, where we seem to hold agents morally accountable for their actions, even though their actions are in part due to moral luck. For example, the brave person who stands up to some tyrannical political regime (think Germany), or the person who rescues a child from a burning building. The circumstances these individuals found themselves in are due to luck--but despite this fact we praise them for their actions. If, then, certain circumstances or states of affairs that individuals find themselves in are due to luck, and these circumstances provide them with certain opportunities to be virtuous, for example, why should we praise them for their actions when they were partly due to luck? This last point is Nagel's. Now let's return to the obesity case. Even if obesity is a disease, given cases where we hold people morally responsible where what they do is due in part to some kind of luck or other, couldn't we hold even these people morally responsible for being obese? This kind of position, holding someone morally accountable for being obese is agnostic with respect to whether we classify obesity as a disease or not. And the parallel here is that obesity (if we are sympathetic to classifying obesity as a disease) is due in part to luck, to factors outside of an individual's control, like genetic predispositions and the like. Given what Nagel says, we can either obliterate moral responsibility altogether since much of what we do is due in part to luck, or we can retain moral responsibility, identifying the relevant features necessary to hold an individual morally responsible for her actions. And presumably, thinks Nagel, this will depend on what account we give of agency.

2004-07-07T12:28:00.000-06:00

Napolean Dynomite
Last night I saw Napolean Dynamite with some friends. As a bunch of geeky philosophers, the movie was very fitting indeed, and Napolean reminded me of some friends. Napolean Dynamite is this geeky high school kid who is an outcast and gets beat up all the time. The movie is throroughly funny and you never feel sorry for Napolean because while some of us (myself included) can sympathize with Napolean, he has this attitude that just makes him gruff on the one hand (or perhaps, rough around the edges) while endearing on the other. Go see it if you haven't already!

2004-06-25T12:16:00.000-06:00

News from the Beaver Front: OSU Engineers Develop Portable Kidney Dialysis Machines

Engineers from Oregon State University in connection with a Portland research firm have developed a microtechnology that will allow for the development of portable kidney dialysis machines. This technology will allow dialysis patients to have greater flexibility--patients will no longer have to center their schedules around lengthy dialysis treatments, some of which can last up to 5 hours. Portable kidney dialysis machines would also allow for in-home treatment, with the potential for patients to dialyze while asleep. Efficiency of dialysis is also predicted to increase, increasing efficiency from 28% (efficiency with current dialysis machines) to 90%.

This is big news for dialysis patients and their families! :)

Go Beavs!

2004-06-25T12:02:00.000-06:00

Medicare's New Prescription Benefit Plan: A Lottery Approach

From today's edition of the USA Today: In 2006 a new prescription benefit plan under Medicare will come into effect. HHSS Tommy Thompson predicts 500,000 to 600,000 individuals will benefit from the plan which will cover medications for cancer and other diseases. Bush has decided to have a lottery for 50,000 people to win a chance for this coverage now before the plan comes into effect--where half of the recipients will be cancer patients. You submit your application to Medicare and hope for the best.

Reading this article evoked mixed feelings. On the one hand, hearing about the new prescription benefit plan under Medicare is good. For all the talk that Supreme Court Justices do in the context of end of life refusal of care cases regarding the state's interest in maintaining the life of its citizens, and maintaining a healthy citizenry, the government is making a step in the right direction to reinforce such a commitment. But on the other hand, the lottery plan seems inherently unjust in a sense other than the obvious. Above and beyond the fact that only a very few of the most disadvantaged will be able to (at least initially) take advantage of the prescription drug benefit plan as opposed to most or even all of those who need it, there is something more that makes this lottery plan unjust--something perhaps that is so egregious so that the good that does come from offering 50,000 people coverage does not justify the lottery plan. And I am troubled that I cannot put my finger on what that is--that is, what makes this situation especially unjust. This is bothering me...any ideas?

2004-06-24T18:17:00.000-06:00

Bill Clinton's My Life
The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Salt Lake Tribune, and USA Today (just to name a few) is reporting record sales of Bill Clinton's memoir, My Life. Are the record sales due to our overwhelming curiosity to know the intimate details of Clinton's sex scandals? And what could he possibly say that could take up 957 pages?!

2004-06-23T08:14:00.000-06:00

Portland Police Have a Lead on the BYU Case
Today on the radio it was announced that Portland police have a lead on the BYU student who was visiting family in Corvallis, OR and went missing. I am not clear whether they have charged this individual with anything yet, but the only evidence they have against him is that he has a history of stealing women's underwear--women who are undergrads at Oregon colleges and universities. What makes this count as evidence against him?

2004-06-22T21:34:00.000-06:00

What Makes a Romantic Comedy Good?
...some of my friends (those with more "sophisticated" tastes in movies) may disagree with the spirit of this post altogether and claim that there is no such thing as a good romantic comedy. I disagree wholeheartedly! But as much as I am a sucker for romantic comedies (and pretty much any romantic comedy will do) I have recently discovered that my taste for romantic comedies might be a little more discriminating than I once thought. Several weeks ago a friend and I went to see "The Prince and Me," starring Julia Stiles. (Read no further if you do not want the ending spoiled.) Stiles is a senior at a college in Wisconsin who dreams of attending med school at Hopkins, and during her senior year she meets and falls in love with Prince Edward, the Prince of Denmark (who has, by the way, posted on my blog). Of course, she falls in love with him not knowing who he is. Prince Edward goes to the states because he is tired of the royal life, and he too falls in love with Stiles. After some back and forth, they end up together, Edward assumes the throne and Stiles will become queen of Denmark.

Now, as far as romantic comedies go, I was disappointed by this one because it was too much like a fairy tale as opposed to a realistic story of requited love. I am satisfied with a romantic comedy that presents a realistic story of requited love, so that when I walk out of the movies I am instilled with a new optimism that maybe it will happen to me, too--the requited love part, that is. Though maybe I am wrong to criticize romantic comedies like "The Prince and Me" on the point of it not being realistic enough. Perhaps given the nature of love, and that it rarely is requited, we can expect no more from a romantic comedy than a fairy-tale like portrait of requited love since instances of this in real life are rare.

2004-06-22T21:17:00.000-06:00

More on Wanting Our Physicians to Care
A while back I posted on whether we want our doctors to care, or whether we would choose competence over a doctor who shows compassion, supposing in some cases cutting-edge specialists might not exhibit compassion to avoid burn out from emotional engagement with their patients.

In a conversation with a friend over this topic, I think that I might have said at the time that I wanted a doctor who was competent over one who was compassionate. My experience this weekend changed my mind. Someone who I went to college with unexpectedly came into Salt Lake and crashed at my place as his plane was re-routed due to thunder storms in Salt Lake. He is just starting his residency in emergency medicine, having just finished med school at U-Penn. Maybe it is because I do bioethics where I regularly interact with docs that I am especially sensitive to physicians who are arrogant. But his attitude was such that I was certain by the end of his visit, I would choose the compassionate doc. What is more, is that I would trust the compassionate doc more than I would the doc who might have a slightly better track record than the caring doc, especially when it comes to some surgical procedure. As I write this, this seems completely counter-intuitive, but I think there is something to be said about entrusting your life to someone who (at the very least) seems to care. Any thoughts?

2004-06-14T09:17:00.000-06:00

Medical Malpractice Lawyers Get Denied Care
It has been recently been brought to my attention, via a front page article featured in USA Today, that medical malpractice lawyers usually face difficulty getting medical care when needed, except in cases of medical emergency. The argument for refusing them care seems to be that they spear-head medical malpractice lawsuits many of which are frivolous, and have skyrocketed the costs of malpractice insurance. Physicians are trying to get the support of the AMA to back this policy, and some argue that this measure is not only necessary but justified because physicians are not required to care for just any patient that requests care (except in emergencies). On the other side of the debate are people who argue that such a practice would violate the ethic outlined in the Hippocratic Oath. Not only have medical malpractice lawyers blacklisted and typically denied care, but so are spouses as well as lawyers whose specialty is not medical malpractice. And most recently, a nurse from Good Shepherd Medical Center (Longview, TX) was fired from her position because her husband is a lawyer whose firm specializes in medical malpractice though he himself does not participate in medical malpractice litigation! Unbelievable! I think this is completely outrageous, and reading these kinds of stories (as well as personal experience with lack of health coverage as a grad student) makes it difficult for me to teach my undergrad bioethics class on issues having to do with the government having an interest in a healthy citizenry, which has been a core value at stake in many court cases, especially those involving parents who deny life-saving treatment for their child. How can the government have an interest in the health of its citizens if the citizens don't care?

2004-06-13T22:26:00.000-06:00

Lucky Charms
I must be having a Seinfeld moment, or maybe I should say a Costanza moment because I was fascinated by my bowl of Lucky Charms. The marshmallows are now bigger than the used to be. Why is that? And am I just imagining this?

2004-06-10T10:40:00.000-06:00

More Proof that Dogs are Better than Cats
...with the exception of some cats, of course. Check out this story from today's edition of USA today--you can access the article at http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2004-06-10-dogs-language_x.htm. Researchers find that some dogs (here they have a Border Collie) can understand up to 200 words.

2004-06-10T09:32:00.000-06:00

Health Insurance
For the first time since I have been a graduate student at the University of Utah, the graduate school is offering its TA's and RA's health insurance, something that many graduate schools already offer. For those of us who will be on fellowship, while the word is not yet final, it looks like (more than likely) we will not have health insurance covered for us by the graduate school. I left a message for an official at the graduate school who might be able to explain what their policy will be regarding health care coverage for fellows, and I have yet to hear from her...What do you think?

2004-06-09T20:43:00.000-06:00

Movie Heaven
My taste in movies markedly differs from that of my friends. I am a sucker for romantic comedies, as some of you may know. And if I do get to watch a romantic comedy with my friends, it is usually just because they owe me--that is, I have sat through one of their movies (usually one that involves some complex, convoluted, non-romantic plot). Tonite I am in movie heaven--I am watching "The Wedding Singer" on TBS and "Sleepless in Seattle" is on next, though I do have to agree with a friend who recently told me that movies like "Sleepless in Seattle" ought to come with warning labels for those of us who might be especially sensitive. Back to the show... :)

2004-06-08T19:14:00.000-06:00

Do we want our teachers to care?
I recently posted about whether it is we want our doctors to care, and whether we would choose compassion over competence, should the competent physician of our choosing not be compassionate. I want to ask a similar question now that came to mind after meeting with a student of mine. We both attended the same undergrad (Oregon State University) and both had a certain professor (who shall remain nameless at least for the time being) for general chemistry. Aside from not caring about the welfare of his students insofar as they walked away with a satifactory grasp of chemistry coming out of his class, he was outright rude to his students. He has since been dismissed from teaching undergraduate general chemistry, which I am sure is beneficial for everyone involved. This man is a brilliant chemist, definitely the type to be kept in the lab and away from students--his professional competence as a chemist is not at issue (in the slightest). But sharing my frustration regarding the experience I had in his class with this other person who is now a student of mine, made me wonder whether we want or expect our teachers to care. Does this make them better teachers in our eyes, if they care? Or at least give a convincing show that they do care? I think this makes the difference for me. Any thoughts on this?

2004-06-07T12:35:00.000-06:00

Fellow Bloggers Beware!
Jessica Cutler, an aide to Mike DeWine (R, OH), recently published her sexual escapades with more than one official from DC. Playboy has since cut her a deal. Seems like Monica Lewinsky is behind the times. A question for my fellow bloggers--what, if any protection, does the first ammendment offer bloggers?

2004-06-07T09:29:00.000-06:00

Ronald Reagan
It was certainly sad to hear of Ronald Reagan's passing this weekend, especially given his condition. His death made me return to a question that I often ask myself while watching news coverage on the death of someone famous--do the lives of people who die become more noteworthy than they were when they were alive? And if they do, why?

2004-06-03T21:58:00.000-06:00

Do we want our doctors to care?
A friend recently posted on his blog a conversation we recently had about whether people want their doctors to care, or whether all that matters is that a physician is competent. Since this issue is something I am currently working on, I thought blogging on it would be a good idea. In "From Detached Concern to Empathy" (which, BTW, I am not done reading yet since I am not a speed reader--my inability to speed read is probably somehow linked to my inept GRE taking ability!) Jodi Halpern argues that physicians should move away from the currently accepted model of detached concern. On this current model, to avoid burn-out that may result from becoming emotionally invested in one's patients, doctors should care for the well-being of their patients (and we expect as much) while still remaining professionally distanced. Halpern argues that patients would benefit therapeutically if physicians strive to develop an empathetic connection with their patients. My view is that this is impossible given the nature of empathy. At best, physicians can only develop a genuine sympathetic or compassionate connection with their patients which would seem to do the positive work that Halpern expects of empathy. As I understand empathy (roughly, a kind of emotional identification with another person) a necessary though not sufficient condition for empathy is that one person has experienced whatever a second person is experiencing. For example, to empathize with a breast cancer survivor, one has to have had direct experience with breast cancer. Otherwise, all you can do is establish a sympathetic connection with the breast cancer survivor. And sympathy gets a bad rap because sympathy can often come off as pity and no one wants that--fair enough. But in my view physicians who try to develop an empathetic connection with their patients are arrogant for thinking that they could ever know what it is like (where is Nagel when you need him) for their patient to be experiencing what they are experiencing. To me, sympathy masquarading as empathy is equivalent to a man telling me he knows what it is like to be a woman--the response I would have to such a person (besides a punch in the face) is that they should not even pretend for a moment that they know what it is like. Admitting, instead, that they do not know what it is like, while offering a sympathetic ear is what I would much rather. More on this to follow...

2004-06-03T21:33:00.000-06:00

Love in the Actual World?
Is love possible in the actual world? I thought about this as I watched "Love Actually" for the third time the other night. If you have not seen this movie, and you are a fan of romantic comedies, you should really see this--it is an excellent movie. And it is one that I had to watch on my own for several reasons--1) I knew I would cry and 2) my friends' tastes in movies exclude romantic comedies. Only if they owe me some favor do they allow me to watch a romantic comedy with them, and this has happened on *rare* occasions!

"Love Actually" is one of those movies that make you think about your life, and by the end of the movie you realize that your life will be markedly worse if you do not tell the one you love that you are in love with them. And this is not to say that all of the cases of love in this movie were requited, they weren't (which, sometimes is the best kind--certainly the kind I best identify with). That you should tell someone you are in love with that you are in love with them, then, is not something that should be consequentially motivated--you should not do this because you hope for a good outcome.
Chances are that the outcome won't be good--more than likely, feelings will not be mutual. The thought is that you ought to tell them for the sake of telling them. Doing this is supposed to be beneficial for two reasons: 1) you get something burdensome off your chest and 2) if you really do love them, they ought to know so that they can act as they see fit. As I see it, I think that I generally agree with these reasons for telling someone that you love them, even at the expense of looking like an incredible fool who has just served up her heart for the taking.

I think that in the best of all possible worlds that if you actually can bring yourself to tell someone that you love them, you should also be able (in the same moment) make yourself vanish...poof!

Any thoughts on this?

2004-04-30T10:58:00.000-06:00

Aristotle on Happiness
In Book 1 of the ethics, Aristotle claims that eudaimonia (happiness) is activity in accordance with virtue. The thought here is that happiness just is active participation in the moral (or practical) virtues. In book 10 of the ethics, however, Aristotle seems to give a second, incompatible account of eudaimonia. On the account given in book 10, Aristotle argues that eudaimonia consists in contemplation. So the happy life turns out to be the contemplative life. Because Aristotle offers two different accounts of eudaimonia, it seems as thought these two accounts need to be explained, and here is how one might explain the two seemingly inconsistent accounts.

1. Aristotle really means for eudaimonia to consist in virtuous activity and not contemplation. This view seems plausible if only because on textual grounds, most of the ethics (books 1-9, or at least 1-7) is committed to happiness consisting in virtuous activity. But if this is the case, then sense needs to be made of book 10 in which Aristotle seems to abandon this view and instead adopt a different view of happiness--one in which happiness consists in contemplation.

2. Aristotle really means for eudaimonia to consist in contemplation. And in book 10 Aristotle does admit that contemplation is the best of the virtues, over the practical (moral) virtues. Furthermore, he also states that contemplative life is self-sufficient, a requirement on Aristotle's view, for happiness. This seems like a problematic view if only because there would have to be an account of eudaimonia given that makes sense of a lot of textual evidence that claims happiness consists in virtuous activity. Another problem for this view might be that if Aristotle really does think that happiness consists in contemplation then (presuming certain intellectual capacities are required for the contemplative life--especially if contemplation consists (at least partly in) contemplating the higher, necessary truths of the universe) happiness is closed off from many people. But by way of response to this kind of objection, Aristotle would seem fine with this because he already argues that virtue is closed off to many people and is perfectly fine with this implication of his view. And it would seem to make good sense if happiness is closed off to many people, especially if achieving happiness has something to do with achieving human excellence, and those persons who do achieve happiness in their lives are (human) exemplars, and so should be few and far in between.

3. The two accounts of happiness are consistent.
a. Somehow the accounts mutually support eachother--maybe moral virtue is a necessary condition for contemplative virtue. But this does not seem right because it seems like the contemplative and the moral life can stand alone.
b. Maybe a biconditional relation between the two? Moral virtue iff contemplative virtue (formula for happiness). Obvious problems with this interpretation due to a lack of textual evidence.

4. Two accounts of eudaimonia are being offered--depending on what kind of person you are. Here, the idea is that happiness is tailored to certain classes of individuals:
a. Happiness account applies to those morally good persons who might fall shy of having the kinds of intellectual capacities required for a happy life.
b. Contemplation account applies to those intellectually capable persons who might not have natural tendencies towards the practical virtues. For this account of happiness, smart hermits seems to fit the bill because Aristotle acknowledges in book 10 that you do not need others around to practice the contemplative life (the-philosopher-in-the-ivory-tower kind of life) like you need for practicing the moral virtues.
c. If this interpretation is offered, then there is a considerable issue that has to be accounted for, namely why Aristotle would offer two different accounts of human happiness. After all, if happiness is an indicator of someone who is an exemplary human being, an exemplar, then why have two different accounts of human happiness? On a view that describes what it is to be an excellent human, we would only expect one account, not two accounts whereby one account applies to some persons and the other account applies to others, with still some persons left out completely of ever achieving happiness (eudaimonia).
d. This interpretation seems plausible in light of one passage: "This life therefore is also the happiest" (1178a7). Here, Aristotle is referring to the contemplative life. But this is not to say that the contemplative life is the only means to happiness--you might achieve one level of happiness (and still meet the self-sufficiency condition for happiness) if you have the moral virtues. This kind of move is the move Gardiner makes with respect to the basic and non-basic virtues.

2004-04-06T09:55:00.000-06:00

Onora O'neill on Kantian Duties of Beneficence
Onora O'neill, being the good Kantian that she is, argues that when it comes to how we ought to treat vulnerable persons, such as those who are in the midst of a famine, we ought to refrain from policies that manipulate, coerce, or deceive famine victims. Here, she is working off of the persons-as-ends-in-themselves formula of the categorical imperative (CI). On this formulation of the CI, it seems clear what kinds of actions we ought to refrain from. But when it comes to duties of beneficence, those duties that are (on my understanding) imperfect duties, it is not at all clear that Kant is directive. On Kant's view, imperfect duties are ones that one ought to promote, but at the same time seem supererogatory. But in O'neill's article, on her understanding of Kantian duties of beneficence being those duties the fulfillment of which will contribute to furthering others' ends, she gives concrete duties of beneficence that she takes follows from Kant's view. (In this article, she focuses on our duties of beneficence to famine victims.) Here is my confusion, or perhaps just a question that I have for O'neill. How can she enumerate such duties, or rather, give content to such duties if they are, at best, supererogatory? Maybe the better question to ask is: why should we be motivated to perform such duties if they are not morally required?

2004-03-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

Aristotle's Grand End
Right now there is a question in Aristotle that I am wondering about. There are some people who argue (Broadie) that on Aristotle's conception of practical wisdom, the person who has practical wisdom does not deliberate about the grand end of happiness. Instead, she contemplates about her immediate, concrete ends and about the most efficient means to achieve those. On the other side of the debate, Kraut argues that the person of practical wisdom does include contemplation of the grand end in the context of her deliberations, though not explicitly so. Here the thought is that it is not as if when we contemplate our ends we explicitly affirm a commitment to the greater end of our actions--happiness. I am sympathetic to Kraut's view because my experience seems to provide evidence in support of his view. Even though I do not overtly contemplate my greater end in the context of deliberation, implicit confirmation of the greater end does seem to contribute to how I order my projects. For example, I prioritize teaching this summer over vacationing with family because of the end that I think will contribute to my overall happiness (i.e., becoming competent in teaching philosophy on the way to earning a PhD.) Also, even though there is no explicit commitment to this greater end in the context of our deliberations, it certainly does seems as though when we assess our various projects and long-term commitments, questioning why we are engaged in such projects, we justify them in terms of our greater end of happiness.

2004-03-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Road Trip: Adventure or Disaster?
So I am going to the Pacific APA in Pasadena, and I am driving from Salt Lake. Well, I'm not actually doing the driving, another grad student is. The trip should take about 14 hours. On the way we plan to stop and play some slots in Vegas. Now, opting to drive was done for the sake of saving money. I guess by the end of today I will see whether that savings was truly worth it. Maybe (though hopefully not) I will find out that my sanity is worth the price of an airline ticket!

2004-03-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

The Woes of Falling in Love
Tell me if this is weird or not. I have this friend, who is not by any means high maintenance. In fact, she is pretty low maintenance and cool that way. She started "hanging out" with this guy. Personally, I think they are dating, but she insists on saying "hanging out." Anyway, get this--one day she is super happy and giddy from having spent time with him and the next day she is questioning whether she ought to hang out with him at all, not being too thrilled at the prospect of spending even more time with him. I am confident that her behavior could be plotted as some mathematical function--maybe the sine curve? So what is the deal? Why do women act like this? I think that this is the first time (as a woman myself) that I have felt sympathetic for the guy. So what do you think? :)

2004-03-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

Reliabilism
Ok, here is where I have difficulty with reliabilism, setting aside for a moment my main beef with reliabilism (i.e., the reliabilist blantantly disregards the skeptic or disses her). If a process is reliable (generating mostly true beliefs), its reliability might be explained either by a track-record account or a propensity account. Appealing to a track-record account is problematic because there can be processes that have wonderful track records, but ones which we would not at the same time call reliable. Similarly, there are some processes that have awful track records (perhaps because of limited use) but that we would nevertheless be inclined to call reliable. Ok, so if a track-record notion of reliability is problematic, we might want to appeal to a propensity notion of reliability. As I understand it, a propensity notion of reliability is just one in which a process is reliable just in case it is one in which if it were used, it would generate mostly true beliefs. And today in my grad class a grad brought up the concern with the propensity notion of reliability, one that I wished I would have brought up myself, though I think that I was thinking along the same lines as he... The problem with the propensity notion is that unlike a track-record notion of reliability, because the notion propensity is ambiguous and vague, we get to determine what processes qualify as being reliable in the propensity sense. If this is the case, then how can reliability be an objective concept? On the track-record account of reliability, reliability is objective--it depends on the performance record of the process, not on any judgments that we might make on whether a process is reliable or not, as is bound to occur on a propensity notion of reliability.

2004-03-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Procrastination...who is to blame?
So I have to say that this blogging is very addictive! Even more so than surfing the web. And who should I blame for this? Well, among other people, my friend Marissa.

2004-03-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

Aristotle on Virtue
I was talking the other day with this grad student at Utah who argues that in order to be virtuous we can just study the continent person since her actions are ones that are (from a third person point of view) indistinguishable from those actions the virtuous person performs. Here the difference between the continent person and the virtuous person is that the continent person does the right thing because she has to, while the virtuous person does the right thing because she wants to--she does the virtuous act for the sake of being virtuous. I disagree with this grad student, though. I am not convinced that one could become virtuous by observing what the continent person does--I think that virtue requires more than this. At least virtue as understood on Aristotle's view. And wouldn't it be unsatisfying if virtue just turned out to be nothing over and above continence?

2004-03-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hi! This is my new blog page. I hope to have some posts up soon on some hot topics!