Read
Re-read Lecture 1: Taking Ourselves Seriously
Lecture 2: Getting it Right
Think
Now that I have a good sense of the structure and the main claims of Frankfurt’s position, what questions do I have about the details?
Does his view provide a framework in which I can better understand the relations between my own feelings, beliefs, motivations, and thoughts?
Which of his claims are most directly relevant to the topics you and your group have identified as possible topics for your final project?
How does what Frankfurt has to say about these topics relate to 1) your thinking about what it is to be a person prior to taking this course, 2) the values you identified as being most important to you, 3) the aims you identify yourself with as you begin your college life, 4) your understanding of the challenges that you and your generation face in today’s world, 5) the role of thoughtful, reflective examination within the life that you want to live, 6) your understanding of what things are in your control and what things are beyond your control, 7) your hopes concerning how the things that are beyond your control relate to your actions and to the achievement of your goals.
Write
Journal Entry: I’m now thinking that the topic I will get the most out of addressing is ___________, because _________________.
I now believe that out of the topics that Frankfurt discussed, I would get the most out of addressing self-examination. This relates to my topic of which is that people should all live to a standard of good instead of pleasure, because people need to examine their selves and figure out what they love, what they hate, their flaws, and their strengths. Once they figure these things out, they can hold themselves to a higher standard of living by striving to improve themselves and live the best possibly lives. However, in order to do that they must first examine themselves and figure out who they are and how to live well by their standards.
I’m now thinking that the topic I will get the most out of addressing I love, because before this reading I did not really know what it is and now I feel that I have a much better understanding. In the reading, Frankfurt says that you can love a number of things like, a life, a quality of experi- ence, a person, a group, a moral ideal, a nonmoral ideal, a tradition, whatever. It is really interesting how love has so many different applications. He states that you can love more than one thing as well. If two of the loves some how collide, then the one that you deem greater through reasoning, will prevail. After this reading it was clear to me how much love really affects our everyday life. If you love something, Frankfurt states, then you will do anything for that love, disregarding values or even morals sometimes.
Well, as a summer student at one of the largest universities in the country, I certainly have taken into consideration my aims as a college student. Especially now that the summer courses are almost over, I can truly relate to such a topic. A typical day for me includes rushing to my not so early morning class, eating breakfast as my brilliant teacher Mr. Mark Fisher speaks, then on my way to Speech I read last night’s homework that I forgot, I get lunch, and then the rest of my day is filled with sports and my social life. Where in the world in my taking time to do my work properly though? Should I come to college to aim my identity at just being sport and social oriented? Certainly not, but why do I do it, especially when I say I am going to be different the next day? At this point in my thought process, the reader could be saying, “Wow, this kid is messed up.” In all honesty though, I think the summer session really gave me an easy transition into getting rid of my bad habits. All of us have some bad, lazy habits from high school, and in that light I think it is very important to take the aim of our identity as a college student into consideration. Why am I coming to school? It’s to get a solid education so that I can do what I want to do in the future, right? Well, how come I do not do that? With this in mind, Frankfurt says that some of our actions are controllable, whereas some of them are not. Hey, maybe some of my laziness is just a factor of me experiencing some action for so long that it is part of my human nature. As a human being that can reason though, I have the ability to choose to change this very meaning, which will ultimately change my aims in college. I don’t have control over how much rest my body needs, or how many times I need to read something before I can memorize it, but as Frankfurt agrees, I most certainly do have the power to sit down and put the effort into making myself who I truly wish to be. Whether that to be cutting my social life and sports life down or to try and establish a specific study schedule so that I can positively say everyday that all of my work was completed accordingly. By taking small steps in trying to figure ourselves out as a person by comprehending our aims at our identity, one can change themselves in way that they did not even intend to do. If I broke my lazy study habits, maybe one of the results would be me becoming a hater of people that are lazy. Who knows?
I’m now thinking that the topic I will get the most out of addressing is my understanding of what things are in my control and what things are beyond my control. I’ve always found it interesting to hear what other people think about the meaning of our existence. I feel that a lot of things are far out of our control and that doesn’t seem to bother most people. I like when Frankfurt addresses that all persons have a volitional necessity to themselves such as self-preservation, because that includes protecting oneself from things such as harm or death. I feel like we can control things like our diet, relationships, and physical activity which all contribute to healthy living. However, there is also much out of our control sometimes like disease and war. Like Frankfurt mentioned in his first lecture, we are often driven by our love and desire for things. I chose a school based on my interests and will pursue a major based on the hobbies I enjoy. I think it is interesting that all these things that make me happy are under my complete control.
Shawn Linder
I’m now thinking that the topic I will get the most out of addressing is the things in life we can control and cant control because we can benefit our lives if we take advantage of this or be hurt by it. There are many things in life we can control. First, we can control our fitness and what we eat. If one takes advantage of this one can live a healthy life. Second, one can control the decisions they make. These decisions can show what kind of person you are. For example, whether one takes drugs or not, can hurt ones reputation. Third, whether someone decides to study or fail school classes is controllable. The things that are controllable in life can always change ones life for better or worse. On the other hand many things in life are uncontrollable. For example, someone getting sick, or death. Also, when someone is born. We also cant control natural disasters. Their are many things in life which are controllable and some that aren’t and it is up to one to make the best decisions when dealing with a problem.
I’m now thinking that the topic I will get the most out of addressing is how our generation has many difficulties ahead because we are all in the same generation, and I am sure as college students the whole class would like to know the challenges that lay ahead of our long and fulfilling lives. We are seen as not as good as previous generations before us, for we have been called morally adrift, relativistic, individualistic, and consumers. Now, what does this all mean, may you ask? It means that we are viewed as selfish, technologically advanced kids who smart mouth their superiors. Okay, so maybe not all of this is true, but this is how most adults view us as of right now in this point in our lives. Some things we can control, and others we can’t. We can’t control when we were born, so why take it out on us?