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Name: Alex Barutis Intro. To Philosophy How Do You Know What You Can’t Know? 1. Philosophers begin to shift their focus to analyze language and logic because “language and logic are the root of all thought.” Why does the analysis of the root of thought matter for gaining philosophical insight? a. In my opinion, studying the foundation is like saying “learn to walk before you run” because it is important to have the knowledge of the foundation before you expand on it. In this case, they are going back to language and logic first because they began questioning their approach to finding the “ultimate good”. 2. What does the author attempt to illustrate with the example of the Arunta tribe? a. The point of the Arunta tribe seems to demonstrate someone who is overthinking the situation. The person from the Arunta tribe shouts one word about a rabbit he saw and this man from New Jersey is thinking about his possible topsy-turvy platonic world view. It is possible that if he had laid a foundation of knowledge about the Arunta tribe, maybe he’d know more about why the tribesperson said “Gavagai!” Watch Your Language! 3. What problems in philosophy could emerge due to ambiguities in language? a. Ambiguities in the language amongst philosophy can lead to different interpretations of the same question, reason or statement. This won’t get anyone any closer to the ultimate truth because there is nothing saying that either interpretation may be correct or incorrect. 4. What are “language games” according to Wittgenstein? a. The idea of “Language Games” is that one must think of themselves in a particular “linguistic community” which seems to just be a different culture, nationality, etc. Dependent on the “community” in which you most belong to will change the meaning and interpretation of the phrase. The Enlightened Tongue Twister 5. Heuristics are “rules of thumb” or intuitive judgement based on past experiences. As such, within language there are hidden assumptions that we just assume to be so, without considering how our judgement (assumptions) of language. The word ‘the’ in the question, “what is the right thing to do?” assumes there is one right thing to do. Why does is the word ‘the’ so important in this question? If one does not focus on the word ‘the’ what are the potential problems (in this example)? a. The word “the” is very important in the context of this question as afore mentioned, it implies that there is one right thing to do. Not focusing on “the” word “the” can cause the reader to think that there isn’t necessarily a right thing to do an/or that there is more than one right thing to do. Also shifting the focus off of “the” may cause the reader to think of more possibilities than the number allotted which is one.

Confusion Ahead 6. If texts are open to multiple interpretations, how can we understand or know anything? a. It is about having a foundation of knowledge of the creator of the text. Generally, I believe it is best to try and stick to the author’s intended meaning and the more knowledge you know about the author, the closer to the intended meaning you can get. s Do You Really Know What You’re Talking About? 7. What cultural biases are in the last cartoon? Why do biases matter for understanding how images and languages are used, particularly when making an argument? a. The last cartoon has the implication that mostly men work meaning most of women do not work. The sign says people working so therefore there should be an equal opportunity for both men and women to work. Again, in my opinion, it is about interpretation and a suitable foundation of knowledge. Knowing who made the image and or the language can help determine why some of the things are as they are.