As a College professor, I start the first day of every class by asking my students this question. Needless to say, they do not know how to answer it, even though they have previously had psychology and philosophy courses prior to the Junior/Senior classes that I typically teach.

 

So, if students do not know how to answer this question right away, then my next question is, do the rest of us know how to answer this question right away or would it require some reflection?

 

Or, does anyone really care?

 

I am sure that it has different meaning for different people but would it also have different meanings for different cultures?

 

Does being human mean some different in Christianity than it does for Muslims or people of the Jewish faith or agnostics for that matter?

 

Do we need to prove that we exist in order to answer this question? 

 

And, while you are pondering this one, let me explain: I am talking about "I think therefore I am," but is this life "real" or is this life a metaphor for the life that we will all be experiencing after death?

 

If this life therefore is not real, does it matter that we exist and furthermore, does being human have any meaning at all?

 

 

• Are we human because we oftentimes do not practice what we preach?
• Are we human because we can skillfully put down the thoughts and comments of others?
• Are we human because we are arrogant or wealthy although I see the two as mutually exclusive myself?
• Are we human because we have faith and hypocritically live out that faith in our daily lives?
• Are we human because we are a racist and have found clever ways to hide why we feel that way?
• Are we human because we have cheated on our spouses?
• Are we human because we like to engage in wars all over the globe so that we can prove we are better than others, or stronger... while really wanting to impose our way of life on them?
• Are we human because we cannot accept cultural diversity as the new norm?

What are your thoughts

as to what it means to be human?

 

NEUROECONOMICS

Ethics, Morals, Integrity, and Values Entertwine

by Alex Hutchins

Ethics, a moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.  It can be divided into 3 basic areas:

• a theoretical meaning
• a practical meaning
• application

Ethics versus Morals

While these two words may seem similar, there is a very real difference.  Morals are beliefs based upon observations and/or teachings regarding how people conduct themselves when interacting with others; whereas, ethics refers to a set of principles that supports their moral beliefs.

Ethics versus Integrity

Integrity is an internal set of principles that guides our ethical or moral behavior and that is a choice that each of us have to make.

So, what can we conclude thus far?

It is one’s integrity or choice that one makes to follow moral behavior that is also ethical, assuming that there could be moral behavior that is unethical.  How so?

Well, if moral behavior is based upon what is observed or taught, then what is observed or taught in the United States could be different that what is observed or taught in other parts of the world.  Actually, what is observed or taught in the United States could also be different in different parts of the country (north versus south or east versus west); in fact, in the same parts of the US, moral behavior could be different based upon religious and/ or family values.

Values are those “things” that are important to someone by which they are known.  When values are employed by the individual, they assist that individual in making judgments, assessing probable outcomes, contemplating actions, or in choosing possible alternatives.

So, what can we conclude now?

Ethics supports our moral behavior that our integrity allows us to choose, intuitively knowing that our values help focus our integrity.  Now, even more so do we see (or should see) that our environment ultimately and directly influences that behavior and choice.

Neurons

Exploration into the criteria on which we base our decisions concerning the utilization of resources and the processes by which we compare new information with outcomes of past decisions incorporates elements of economics and psychology.  When these realms of human behavior are combined with neuroscience, there emerges a curious branch of research, known as neuroeconomics.

Psychologists have explored the human behaviors and thought processes underlying decision making for decades. Recently, economists began to apply statistical methods and mathematical approaches such as game theory to predict and model the decision-making tendencies of consumers in the 1960s and ’70s. However, the neuroscience of decision making—that is, understanding how the neurons within the human brain function to assemble information and progress toward a decision—is in its infancy.

But boy, can you imagine what will happen when neuroeconomics grows up?

Various regions in the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of the brain, have been associated with decision making. A region called the anterior cingulate cortex, which as its name suggests is located in the frontal portion of the cortex, plays a role in making optimal decisions. This region communicates with other areas, including a part known as the orbitofrontal cortex. Effective communication between regions of the brain enables all the information concerning novel inputs, memories from previous decisions, and cost-benefit assessments to be processed and evaluated and eventually compiled into a decision.

The decisions we make affect ourselves and our families and impact local, national, and global economies. Our perceptions of risk and reward also affect the health of the natural environment, an issue that is deeply entangled with personal responsibility and individual decision.

Is the force with you?

It is no longer a matter of understanding how moral, ethics, integrity, and values interact to form choices and make decisions, but now our brain is involved in that process as well. 

So, whose responsibility is it for the huge amount of influence we have on each other?

. . . SIMPLY AMAZING . . .

On the CBS Early Show that aired 1-19-12, it was announced that Paula Deen, a very popular Food Network Chef had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 3 years ago and had kept that information away from her viewers and producers of the show. 

Paula Deen is considered the “butter & heavy cream Queen” of cooking and apparently the news “pissed off” a lot of people, who for some reason must have intuitively believed that one could eat like that and not gain weight nor contract an illness like diabetes. 



The Paula Deen Breakfast Burger



    

     Hello people! 

    

It does not take a nuclear physicist to figure out that cooking and eating with butter, lard, lots and lots of salt, and other types of fats and carbs is bad for you. 



In Deen’s defense of herself, she said that she always talked about moderation when eating, but in the several times that I have watched her show, she never mentioned moderation once and jokingly asked one show if viewers had been counting the number of sticks of butter that she had used so far, and I had, and it was 5 and the show was not half over.

But, this is not about food or being over-weight or cooking with butter, it is about not being able to think for ourselves anymore which is really sad and then blaming someone because of what we, ourselves alone, did not do.  

This reminds me of a graduate class I recently taught and awarded all students on their first paper a high “D” because there were spelling errors, punctuation errors, sentence structure errors, quotes from the textbook were not used to support their thoughts, etc., and the students got mad because I did not tell them what I would be looking for on the Syllabus.  

• We have Churches that tell us what to think. 
• We have television shows that tell us how to behave and what to eat.
• We have television commercials that tell us what to buy.
• We have employers that tell us how to work.
• We have (some of us) wives that tell us how to dress.

 and, the worst of all . . .

We have technology terrorism,                                              

. . . with the constant use of cell phones, we are developing posture and neck muscle issues.  The increase in vehicular accidents is being attributing to the use of cell phones in our cars.  Interpersonal skills are vanishing like the Buffalo's because of the apps that we purchase and download to our cell phones.  And, since Steve Jobs was an introverted type of person is this what he had in mind when he introduced the iphone? 

What is truth?



Pole Dancers dance the truth



MANILA - Pole dancing to the music of a 20-piece live orchestra, including violins? Philippine pole dance troupe that seeks respect for its art and athleticism. 

Is this truth?

So, if we go to the online dictionary, we see that truth has 5 explanations

From Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy it states that truth is the largest area of the field and has been written about for years.  We have the neoclassical theories of truth which include:  correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories.  There is Tarski’s theory, Convention T, Recursive, Reference and Satisfaction theories.  There are Realism and Anti-realism theories along with Deflationism theories that include both Redundancy and Minimalist theories.  Finally there is truth as it relates to the truth of meaning (whatever that means?) theory.

I cannot imagine that anyone who seeks truth could have so many available options.

Socrates drinks the truth

Perhaps the most arresting feature of Socrates’ legacy is his unique method of teaching and arriving at the truth. Socrates didn’t claim the truth is this or the truth is that. He sought to question students in a way that would lead them to arrive at the truth themselves.  So, is this what we've been doing?

Aristotle (a student of Socrates) said, said that a statement is true if it says of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not. Aristotle's claim is in itself a harmless platitude, common to all views of truth. 

Nietzsche thinks the truth

To Plato (a student of Aristotle), love of truth is aroused by the contemplation of the beautiful ideas.

Nietzsche declares that truth is relative because of the mind's irreparable separation from reality.

So maybe what the pole dancers want is truth; and, like the pole dancers, shouldn't we as voters seek out the truth as well?

Entitlements and other obligations are driving the deficits. Specifically, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and net interest costs are projected to rise by 5.4% of GDP between 2008 and 2020. The Bush tax cuts are a convenient scapegoat for past and future budget woes. But it is the dramatic upward arc of federal spending that is the root of the problem.

Is this truth?

Truth

 

1. the true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.

2. conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.

3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.

4. the state or character of being true.

5. actuality or actual existence.

So, what's your truth?