death disability disease and the meaning of life midterm

What is Boorse’s definition of disease and what are his three conditions of illness?

definition: disease is the action of disfunction, something not in proper working order, he is a naturalist (sees things from a biological standpoint)

three condition: a disease is undesirable, requires special treatment, and is seriously impacting one’s life

What is Socrates accused of in the Apology? Pick one of the accusations and give a short summary of Socrates’ response to that accusation.

accused of:rejecting the gods and corrupting the youth

one accusation: roommate argument, since Socrates lives with the youth if they were being corrupted the youth would retaliate. The youth does not retaliate so that means Socrates is not corrupting them.

What three ways can mental health conditions be functional (rather than dysfunctional) according to Garson?

past trauma, adaptive behaviors, coping strategies

bring up his father

Complete an argument summary (all 4 parts: conclusion, reasons, weaknesses, validity) for the following excerpt:
“Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is great reason to hope that death is a good, for one of two things: - either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by the sight of dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the other days and nights of his life, and then were to tell us how many days and nights he had passed in the course of his life better and more pleasantly than this one, I think that any man, I will not say a private man, but even the great king, will not find many such days or nights, when compared with the others. Now if death is like this, I say that to die is gain; for eternity is then only a single night. But if death is the journey to another place, and there, as men say, all the dead are, what good, O my friends and judges, can be greater than this? If indeed when the pilgrim arrives in the world below, he is delivered from the professors of justice in this world and finds the true judges who are said to give judgment there, Minos and Rhadamanthus and Aeacus and Triptolemus, and other sons of God who were righteous in their own life, that pilgrimage will be worth making.”

a.        Conclusion: Dying will cause you to gain.

b.        Reasons:

                     i.         P1: death will be unspeakable gain because it will be asleep that is undisturbed.

                     ii.         P2: Death will allow us to journey to another place we haven’t been before.

                    iii.         Death will be a peaceful, pleasant time.

c.        Weakness: Death is not always peaceful, depending on what you believe you could go to Hell. Hell is known as a painful place of suffering. Based off this paragraph I think the author would agree with the division of Heaven and Hell so the possibility of going to Hell would mean the opposite of the premises.  

d.        Validity: Yes, the argument is valid because the reasons support the conclusion.

What are the four conditions of disease according to Conley and Glackin?

a disease is: is not tolerable, is not a moral failing, serious enough to reorganize society for, and worth spending money on

What examples does Amundson give of developmental plasticity? Which of these examples do you think best supports Amundson’s point and why?

examples: slipjer’s goat, hydrocephaly, sign language and wheelchair basketball

best: slipjer’s goats because goats we are exposed to all have 4 legs and only know how to walk that way. The goat that was born with 2 legs learned how to adapt based off what limbs is had or lacked. It shows that organisms will be able to adapt based off things it has or things it lacks.

What is the social model of disability?

The social model of disability shows that people are disabled by barriers in society, whereas the medical model sees it at the diagnosis. There are barriers placed by society either physical (inaccessibility) or mental (judgements, prejudice, stereotypes) that can stand in the way of people with disabilities.

Complete an argument summary (all 4 parts: conclusion, reasons, weaknesses, validity) for the following excerpt:

“That moral virtue is a mean, then, and in what sense it is so, and that it is a mean between two vices, the one involving excess, the other deficiency, and that it is such because its character is to aim at what is intermediate in passions and in actions, has been sufficiently stated. Hence also it is no easy task to be good. For in everything it is no easy task to find the middle, e.g. to find the middle of a circle is not for everyone but for him who knows; so, too, anyone can get angry- that is easy- or give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for everyone, nor is it easy; wherefore goodness is both rare and laudable and noble.”

a.        Conclusion: Moral virtue is in the middle of doing too much and doing too little.

b.        Reasons:

                 i.         P1: Anyone can do something good or bad, but this person must be doing something good at the right time, to the right, person, etc.

                 ii.         P2: Goodness is both rare and laudable and noble.

c.        Weakness: Doing something good doesn’t have to be the perfect timing, it can be you going through your life and being kind to everyone around you instead of just finding the right person at the right time to be noble to.

d.        Validity: I would say that is argument is valid because the reasons support the conclusion. It is not the best argument that can be made but it still supports the conclusion.

How does Gawande describe death in modern times versus death in pre-modern times?

Death in pre-modern times: people would get sick and die.

death in modern times: we try to prolong the death, and we have many interventions we will do to prevent death.

What does Lady Philosophy tell Boethius about trusting in Fortune?

Lady Philosophy tells Boethius not to trust in Fortune because it is fleeting. She says with fortune there is also misfortune that can be in the running. She tells him to put his trust in things that are self-sufficient and do not rely on outside sources.

Explain both Boorse’s view of disease and Conley and Glackin’s view of disease. How do these views differ? Which of these views would Justin Garson agree with more? Which of these views (Boorse’s or Conley and Glackin’s) do you agree with more and why?

Boorse’s view: body or mind being in a state of dysfunction, based on the species norms, he is naturalistic and believes disease is something that deviates from the proper working order.

Conley and Glackin’s view: normative, which means how something should be. They believe disease does not equal dysfunction.

differ: Conley and Glackin focus more on how disease affects someone’s life and experience while Boorse focuses on disease as a disruption of life.

which would garson: Conley and Glackin more because Garson thinks about disease from the perspective of how it impacts one’s life and how there can be different functions that evolve out of them

me: conley and glackin

What is the social model of disability according to Stromondo and Amundson? Do you think this model is right? If so, why? What do you think Carel and Plato would say about the social model?

stromondo and amundson: social model that rejects that belief that disabilities are natural individual tragedies. Instead, they both view disabilities as something that experiences oppression and disadvantages due to this model.

me: no because it causes prejudice and negative

carel: I think Carel would agree with parts. Carel has a lived experience from being able bodied and disabled so she knows how the world and society can change and treat you differently.

plato: I don’t think Plato would accept the model at all because the model creates a gap in society where he thinks we should all be treated similarly however Plato focuses on an idea that follows eugenics.

How does disease challenge our ability to live a good life? Can we be happy if we will inevitably become diseased, suffer, and die? Why or why not? Make sure to pull from three of the authors we’ve read so far in class in your answer to these questions.

name authors you could bring up