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COLLAPSE The quotation “God is dead” is a famous quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche. Often people take it to be a simple statement of atheism, but that isn’t actually what Nietzsche meant.  So, here’s your question:  what did he actually mean?  In answering this, it can be helpful to consider the difference between stating “God is dead” and “God doesn’t exist.”  In thinking of this, the ideas of other philosophers discussed in this part of the text (like Plato or Dostoevsky) may also prove helpful. In many ways relativism is one of the simplest approaches to ethics that one may adopt.  As is obvious, values vary from one culture to another:  consider food, or fashion, or what makes someone a celebrity and you can easily see these different values.  So, why not make the same claim about ethics, that it simply varies from one society, one culture, to another?  Such a view has consequences, as Blackburn discusses in the text.  Consider these two consequences, and discuss your response to each: 1)  Relativism is a conversation stopper.  Just as there is little point to trying to convince someone to like a food they don’t, there would appear to be little point in trying to convince people to change their ethical views.  If it’s all simply a matter of ‘taste’ then how could you change their mind, and why would  you even bother to try? 2)  If relativism is tied to one’s culture, one’s society, religion, nation…  why is it that that group or institution exercises this authority over us?  Why as ODU students or residents of Hampton Roads or as Americans do we have to agree with an accept those group’s values?  When societies utilize practices like slavery, or child labor, or disenfranchise women, is it *wrong* for members of those societies to disagree or oppose those practices? Like relativism, (psychological) egoism offers a pretty simple and clear ethical theory:  we’re all actually selfish, and when making decisions the final denominator, the thing we always focus on is ourselves.  A cynical disposition can lead someone to agree with this kind of statement quite rapidly.  The question is:  is it true, do we have good reason to believe that everyone is selfish (openly or secretly) and only care for themselves? So, address this in two ways:  1)  Does it make sense?  In ordinary practical terms would it be  useful and would it be accurate to describe everyone you know as simply selfish?  If you have children or visited a school, would the children be better educated if they were told that everyone at the school was selfish?  How would/should this idea change  your behavior? 2)  Does it make scientific sense?  That is, egoism is a psychological claim, so in scientific terms is this a defensible claim?  Do we have adequate evidence and clear definitions to prove or test this claim? Blackburn describes the idea that a system can be ‘input responsive’ as a way of defending against determinism.  Here’s the question, what sorts of systems (machines, physical systems, games, etc…) would you describe as truly determined, and is there a difference between them and systems that possess or allow for input responsiveness?  Put another way, can you put this distinction of his in real world terms with good real world examples? In many ways Iis is one of the most pernicious ideas in modern philosophy.  Many examples can easily illustrate that someone might be suffering from false consciousness.  But, it can be far too easy to label those that one disagrees with (ethically, politically, practically, etc…) of simply being duped by ‘false consciousness.’  As such, the concern is real but pinning it down can be nearly impossible.  So, review the readings and discuss what are the *key* features that distinguish the idea of false consciousness from simple ethical errors.  What must have occurred for it to be true that someone is suffering from false conscioussness, and how can you tell, what evidence is key to determining such a claim.  Keep in mind that this question may be difficult…if you can only provide a partial answer, that’s fine, but also consider Blackburn’s examples and what your fellow students are saying.  This is a good week to post multiple times to the topic.