PHI 104:  Moral Reasoning

Professor Eduardo Mendieta

If you want to learn about the functionality of society, I'd recommend you to take philosophy courses during your stay at Stony Brook.  PHI 104 was interesting in that it spoke to you about the truths of human nature.  Our faults, our actions, and our upbringings indicate various things about the human thought process.  For me, the most intriguing relation I learned in this class is how our morals and justifications for survival and management of society tie into the role of government.

We read a large pool of books, but the one that stuck to me most was The Defense of Socrates, Euthyphro, and Crito (also known as, The Apology) by Plato.  Honestly, I really enjoyed this read, especially because it is well written and I would highly, highly, highly suggest one reading it!  In this book you learn a lot about the human nature that underlies government and its behavior and our reliance on the supernatural for our justifications.  I know, it probably sounds boring already, but the truth of the matter is, you take a lot more out about society than you realize and retain a better grasp of human nature as a result.  Actually, points made in this book tie into things I had learned in my ANT 102 class, but more so into what Professor Hicks had specialized in:  human faith in the supernatural and its validation of our actions and reasonings.

The Defense of Socrates, Euthyphro, and Crito (The Apology) by Plato