Philosophy poster for schools - free to teachers

If you are a teacher and would like an A2 poster that has "Why Study Philosophy?" on one side and "What is Philosophy?" on the other, written by myself and produced by Heythrop College University of London, do get in touch (assuming you have not had one sent to you already).

I would need your name and school postal address (and email, plus idea of what you teach would be useful). Here's some text from the "What is Philosophy?" side of the poster.

Three Philosophy Puzzles

Philosophy addresses some of the deepest and most fascinating and questions. Philosophers try to use their intelligence - their powers of reason - to find the answers, much like a detective does when trying to solve a crime.

Philosophers don’t always succeed in figuring out the answer. But sometimes they do. And often they can at least show out that certain answers are wrong.

Here are three famous philosophy puzzles for you to think about.

Could a machine think?

Suppose technologically advanced aliens build a machine that looks just like a human being. The machine looks, talks, walks and sounds just like one of us. It replicates human behaviour perfectly down to the last detail. We are completely taken in by their alien creation. But the truth is, what we are looking at is not another flesh and blood human, but a complex piece of alien technology.

Would such a machine have a mind? Would it really feel pain when we drop something on its toe and it says “Ow!”. Would it really enjoy the taste of an ice-cream when it took lick with its mechanical mouth?

Of course, being designed to act like a human, this machine behaves as if it has a mind. It even says it has a mind. But does it really have a mind? Or does it lack any real thoughts and feelings?

If you think this machine really has a mind, try to explain why.

If you think this machine merely simulates a mind, can you explain how you know that real thoughts and feelings are missing?

IMAGE 1: SOMEONE SAYING TO US “I’M A MACHINE THAT BEHAVES LIKE A HUMAN. I’M DESIGNED TO WALK, TALK LIKE A HUMAN. I EVEN BLEED FAKE BLOOD. I SAY I HAVE A MIND. BUT DO I? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU AREN’T A MACHINE LIKE ME? PERHAPS YOU ARE!

Should I eat meat?

We suppose it’s wrong to kill and eat humans. Many of us think it’s OK to kill and eat other sorts of creature, though, such as pigs and chickens.

But why is it wrong to kill and eat humans, but not wrong to kill and eat other animals?

Is it just because other animals aren’t as intelligent as us? If that were the right explanation, it would be OK to kill and eat very stupid humans. But surely that would be wrong?.

Is it just because animals are bred for the dinner table that it’s OK to kill and eat them? But then what if bred humans to be killed and eaten? Would it then be OK to kill and eat them?

If you think it is wrong to kill and eat humans, but OK to kill and eat pigs and chickens, can you explain why you are justified in treating humans so differently? Could our attitude to other species be just another form of prejudice, like racism or sexism? Are we guilty of speciesism?!

This is a very controversial issue in philosophy. What do you think?

IMAGE 2: CHILDREN BEING LED OFF TO BUILDING MARKED “ABATTOIR”. ONLOOKER SAYS TO FRIEND – “DON’T WORRY, THEY WERE BRED TO BE EATEN”.

How Can I Know This is All Real?

How do you know you’re not a disembodied brain floating in a vat, hooked up to a supercomputer that’s generating a virtual world for you? In thee film The Matrix, Neo discovers that his whole life had been lived inside such a virtual reality. How do you know that you aren’t also living inside a similar illusory world?

But if you don’t know that the world you seem to see around you is real, how can you know anything about the world outside your own mind? How can you know that you have two hands, for example? Maybe your hands are just part of the illusion? How can you know that the Earth goes round the Sun, or that Paris is the Capital of France, or that your parents really exist?

Perhaps you can’t. Of course we think we know these things, don’t we? But do we really? What do you think?

IMAGE 3: … BRAIN FLOATING IN GLASS VAT OF LIQUID HOOKED UP TO SUPERCOMPUTER MARKED “EARTH SIMULATOR”. IN PANEL IT SAYS “LOCATION: AIRPORT”. ONE ALIEN SAYS TO OTHER HANDING OVER MONEY) “OK YOU WIN, HE REALLY IS DUMB ENOUGH TO BELIEVE A JUMBO JET CAN FLY”.