lesson_3_groundless_beliefs

Unit 3,GROUNDLESS BELIEFS A.E.Mander,Contents,Warm-up,I. Aristotle & Galileo II. Warming-up Questions III. Do You Know? IV. Warming-up Activities,Aristotle. lived from 384322 B.C., a pupil of Plato, another Greek philosopher. was a tutor of Alexander the Great. his authorship includes works on ethics, logic, metaphysics, natural sciences, politics, and poetry. Some say he had a profound influence on current Western thought. his philosophical system theory follows empirical observation and logic the essential method of rational inquiry.,Aristotle (384 B.C.322 B.C.):,I. Aristotle VS. Galileo,Galileo (15641642),Galileo was an astronomer and mathematician, born in Pisa, Italy. He entered Pisa University as a medical student in 1581, and became professor of mathematics at Padua (15921610), where he improved the refracting telescope (1610), and was the first to use it for astronomy. Among his other discoveries were the law of uniformly accelerated motion towards the Earth and the law that all bodies have weight.,Do we really know what we are doing and what we are thinking? Are we sure that all the beliefs we hold with conviction and accept without question are really true or well-grounded? What constitutes adequate grounds for beliefs?,II. Warming-up Questions,III. Do You Know?,Belief Do not accept anything on mere hearsay It is your inner judgment that you must obey Do not accept anything by mere tradition Think for yourself and from your opposition Do not accept anything on account of mere rumors In this life, do not be a blind and mindless consumer,Do not accept anything by mere suppositions Find the truth, the right, the definition Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your pre-conceived notions This is a higher belief you are searching for, put aside your emotions Do not accept anything merely because it seems acceptable Be strong in your own verdict, do not be so susceptible,Choose one of these beliefs and talk about them in your familiar aspects,Communism, the Communist Party of China Buddhism Religion Beliefs History Confucianism Confucius Beliefs Daoism Daoist Beliefs Christianity Jesus Christ Christian Some other beliefs give a simple feature of your chosen belief,Group Discussion,IV. Warming-up Activities,I. Catholic Belief II. Presbyterian Belief III. William James IV. The Principles of Psychology V. Headhunting in South Asia VI. Gladiatorial Games,Background Information,Contents,Text Appreciation,Contents,About the text and the author Text Structure Theme,About the text and the author,The present text is taken from Logic for the Millions by AEMander, published by The Philosophical Library，New York，1947 A.E. Mander is an English psychologist, he writes many books, such as Our Sham Democracy, Psychology for everyman and woman, Alarming Australia and so on.,Part 1 (Para. 1) about: Part 2 (Paras. 221) about: Part 3 (Paras. 2225) about:,The authors proposition of the general practice of thinking,The authors analysis of five non-rational factors in the determination of peoples opinions,The end of Text Structure.,The authors encouragement on clear, fresh and rational ways of thinking,Structure of the Text,Mander lists five sources for many of our groundless beliefs(2-21)： 1) Result of early environment；(2-3) 2) Parroting；(4-13) 3) Self-interest；(14-17) 4) Sentimental associations；(18-19) 5) Fashion(19-21),The end of Theme.,Theme of the story: The article is meant to serve as a suggestive example of a curious, inquiring mind at work. It encourages us to find out how we came by our beliefs and manage to be bold enough to test our beliefs.,Text Analysis,I think，I believe，Im convinced，Im sure，It goes without saying，Its crystal clear，Its as simple as ABC，No doubt，etc Do thinking as a habit We cannot avoid thinking， rightly or wrongly.,II. Warming-up Questions,Warm-up question,What are the ways for people to classify their views? Popularity Usefulness Source of authority Personal taste,Ground,ground: (usu. pl.) the foundation/underlying condition for an argument, a cause or good reason for sth.根据, 理由，原因 e.g. 1.What were his grounds for wanting a divorce? 2.Neither statement can be faulted on the grounds that it is inaccurate. groundless: a. not based on reason or evidence e.g. groundless optimism Your fear is proved to be groundless. On the grounds of sth.: 根据 以为理由 He resigned on the grounds of ill-health.,Proposition: view, idea, assertion Their theory is founded on two of their propositions.,In future we are going to follow the practiceuntil it becomes a habitof classifying propositions according to their grounds.,Classifying propositions according to their grounds is important because people very often base their judgment of propositions according to their popularity, usefulness, source of authority as well as to their personal taste. They do not always accept beliefs because they are true. Often they accept them because their beliefs serv