11/22/2013 Who Are You?

by Kyle VanderWerf

     What makes you the same person as you were yesterday? Pretty much everyone believes they have an identity, or self, which persists to some extent over time. Or if they don't believe it, they almost invariably will still act as though it's true. This Friday, we will discuss what it means to have an identity. I will present a criticism of the notion that a person has a consciousness or soul or kernel of being or anything that stays constant throughout their life, and from this we will try to reach a more reasonable definition of what determines a person's identity. I will also present evidence that, even though such a thing doesn't exist, a person believing that it does (emotionally, not necessarily intellectually) can help contribute greatly to their well-being, and make it easier to adapt to major changes in their life.

11/15/2013 The Repugnant Conclusion

by Brandon Sides

     Imagine there exists a world in which a near-infinite number of people scrape by with only muzak and potato chips. These lives are worth living, though only barely so. Such an undesirable world Derek Parfit dubs the Drab Eternity.

     When I compare to you several possible worlds that contain differing amounts of total utility, average utility, and distribution of utility, you'll eventually come to prefer this Drab Eternity over the rest.

     Such an endorsement, the aptly named Repugnant Conclusion, is the topic of my lecture this Friday.