History of Aesthetics, Fall 2007

What would Plato say? Blog away!

Philosophy of Film

The thread is now open! *Represent* your thoughts, please. :-)

Are we living in somebody's computer simulation?

Hi Everybody,
Check out John Tierney's article in yesterday's New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/science/14tier.html?ei=5070&en=258a5f406ca9d607&ex=1187755200&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all) on the possibility that we are all the products of someone's computer simulation. It's hard to take him seriously when he says such a possibility had never occurred to him, when this idea (in various other forms) has been around for so long, not only in philosophy but in fiction as well. To write this and not cite Jorge Luis Borges' "The Circular Ruins," for one, is inexcusable... Well, take a look and let me know what you think of the argument posed by Dr. Bostrom. Is the scenario he envisages really possible?

Contemporary Aesthetics

Hi All,
As promised, here's a new thread, so you can post your thoughts on the issues discussed in our course. Have fun!