ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Damon Horowitz - Philosopher, entrepreneur
Damon Horowitz explores what is possible at the boundaries of technology and the humanities.

Why you should listen

Damon Horowitz is a philosophy professor and serial entrepreneur. He recently joined Google as In-House Philosopher / Director of Engineering, heading development of several initiatives involving social and search. He came to Google from Aardvark, the social search engine, where he was co-founder and CTO, overseeing product development and research strategy. Prior to Aardvark, Horowitz built several companies around applications of intelligent language processing. He co-founded Perspecta (acquired by Excite), was lead architect for Novation Biosciences (acquired by Agilent), and co-founded NewsDB (now Daylife).

Horowitz teaches courses in philosophy, cognitive science, and computer science at several institutions, including Stanford, NYU, University of Pennsylvania and San Quentin State Prison.

Get more information on the Prison University Project >>

More profile about the speaker
Damon Horowitz | Speaker | TED.com
TED2011

Damon Horowitz: Philosophy in prison

Damon Horowitz: Filosofia a la presó

Filmed:
1,417,089 views

Damon Horowitz ensenya filosofia mitjançant el Prison University Project (Projecte Universitat a la Presó), impartint classes de nivell universitari a presos de la presó estatal de San Quentin. En aquest discurs breu però enèrgic, conta la història d'un encontre amb el bé i el mal que ràpidament es converteix en un assumpte personal.
- Philosopher, entrepreneur
Damon Horowitz explores what is possible at the boundaries of technology and the humanities. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
MeetContacta amb TonyTony. He's my studentestudiant.
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Heu de conèixer Tony.
És alumne meu.
00:17
He's about my ageedat,
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Té més o menys la meua edat.
00:19
and he's in SanSan QuentinQuentin StateEstat PrisonPresó.
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i és a la presó estatal de San Quentin.
00:22
When TonyTony was 16 yearsanys oldvell,
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Quan Tony tenia 16 anys,
00:25
one day, one momentmoment,
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un dia, un moment,
00:28
"It was mom'smare gunarma de foc.
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"Era la pistola de la mare.
00:30
Just flashflaix it, scareespantar the guy. He's a punkpunk.
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Tan sols mostra-la, espanta el xic.
És un punk.
00:32
He tookva prendre some moneydiners; we'll take his moneydiners. That'llQue et teachensenyar him.
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Ha furtat diners; nosaltres li furtarem
els seus. Així aprendrà".
00:34
Then last minuteminut, I'm thinkingpensant, 'Can't' No pot do this. This is wrongmal.'
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I en l'últim moment, penso:
"No ho puc fer. Està malament".
00:37
My buddyamic saysdiu, 'C'mon' Anem, let's do this.'
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El meu col·lega diu:
"Vinga, fem-ho".
00:39
I say, 'Let's"Anem a do this.'"
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I jo contesto: "Fem-ho".
00:44
And those threetres wordsparaules, Tony'sDe Tony going to rememberrecorda,
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I Tony no oblidarà la seva resposta,
00:46
because the nextPròxim thing he knowssap, he hearssent the poppop.
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perquè la següent cosa que sent
és el bang de la pistola.
00:48
There's the punkpunk on the groundterra, puddlebassal of bloodsang.
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I allí està el punk, al terra,
en un bassal de sang.
00:50
And that's felonydelicte greu murderassassinat --
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I això és un homicidi qualificat,
00:52
25 to life, parolellibertat condicional at 50 if you're luckyafortunat,
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cadena perpètua, llibertat condicional
als 50 si tens sort,
00:54
and Tony'sDe Tony not feelingsensació very luckyafortunat.
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i Tony no se sent molt afortunat.
00:57
So when we meettrobar-se in my philosophyfilosofia classclasse in his prisonpresó
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Així que quan ens coneixem en
la meua classe de filosofia a la presó
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and I say, "In this classclasse, we will discussdiscuteix the foundationsfundacions of ethicsètica,"
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i dic: "En aquesta classe
tractarem els fonaments de l'ètica",
01:04
TonyTony interruptsinterrupcions me.
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Tony m'interromp.
01:06
"What are you going to teachensenyar me about right and wrongmal?
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"I què m'has d'ensenyar tu
sobre el bé i el mal?
01:08
I know what is wrongmal. I have donefet wrongmal.
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Sé el que està malament.
He actuat malament.
01:11
I am told everycada day,
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Tots els dies,
01:13
by everycada facecara I see, everycada wallparet I facecara, that I am wrongmal.
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cada cara que veig, cada paret
que m'envolta, em recorda el que sóc.
01:16
If I ever get out of here, there will always be a marksenyal by my namenom.
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Si alguna vegada isc d'ací,
el meu nom quedarà marcat per sempre.
01:19
I'm a convictconvicte; I am brandedmarca 'wrong' malament.'
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Sóc un convicte;
em titllen de 'dolent'."
01:21
What are you going to tell me about right and wrongmal?"
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"Què m'has de dir tu
sobre el bé i el mal?
01:24
So I say to TonyTony,
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Així que li dic:
01:27
"Sorry, but it's worsepitjor than you think.
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"Em sap greu,
però és pitjor del que creus.
01:30
You think you know right and wrongmal?
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Creus que coneixes el bé i el mal?
01:32
Then can you tell me what wrongmal is?
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Aleshores, pots dir-me què és el mal?
01:34
No, don't just give me an exampleexemple.
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No, no em donis sols un exemple.
01:36
I want to know about wrongnesswrongness itselfella mateixa, the ideaidea of wrongmal.
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Vull que em parlis sobre el mal
pròpiament dit, la idea de "mal".
01:39
What is that ideaidea?
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Quina és eixa idea?
01:41
What makesfa something wrongmal?
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Què és el que fa que alguna cosa
estigui malament?
01:43
How do we know that it's wrongmal? Maybe you and I disagreediscrepar.
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Com sabem que està malament?
Potser no estem d'acord.
01:46
Maybe one of us is wrongmal about the wrongmal.
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Potser un de nosaltres està equivocat
sobre què és el mal.
01:48
Maybe it's you, maybe it's me -- but we're not here to tradecomerç opinionsopinions;
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Potser ets tu, o potser jo, però
no estem ací
01:50
everyone'stothom got an opinionopinió.
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per intercanviar opinions;
tothom en té una.
01:52
We are here for knowledgeconeixement.
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Estem ací pel coneixement.
01:54
Our enemyenemic is thoughtlessnessirreflexió. This is philosophyfilosofia."
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El nostre enemic és la irreflexió.
Açò és filosofia."
01:58
And something changescanvis for TonyTony.
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I sembla que Tony canvia d'actitud.
02:03
"Could be I'm wrongmal. I'm tiredcansat of beingser wrongmal.
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"És possible que sigui dolent.
Estic cansat de ser-ho.
02:06
I want to know what is wrongmal.
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Vull saber què és el mal.
02:08
I want to know what I know."
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Vull saber què sé."
02:10
What TonyTony seesveu in that momentmoment is the projectprojecte of philosophyfilosofia,
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Allò que veu Tony en eixe moment
és el projecte de la filosofia,
02:13
the projectprojecte that beginscomença in wondermeravella --
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aquell que comença amb la curiositat,
02:15
what KantKant calledanomenat "admirationadmiració and aweadmiració
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allò que Kant anomenava
"admiració i esglaiament
02:17
at the starryestrellat skycel abovea dalt and the moralmoral lawLlei withindins."
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pel cel estrellat
i la llei moral que conté."
02:20
What can creaturescriatures like us know of suchtal things?
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Què poden saber unes criatures com
nosaltres sobre aquest tipus de coses?
02:22
It is the projectprojecte that always takes us back to the conditioncondició of existenceexistència --
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És el projecte que sempre ens retorna
a la condició de l'existència,
02:25
what HeideggerHeidegger calledanomenat "the always alreadyja there."
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allò que Heidegger anomenava
"el sempre present."
02:28
It is the projectprojecte of questioninginterrogant what we believe and why we believe it --
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És el projecte de preguntar-nos
qué creiem i per què ho creiem,
02:31
what SocratesSòcrates calledanomenat "the examinedexaminat life."
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allò que Sòcrates anomenava
"la vida examinada."
02:33
SocratesSòcrates, a man wiseprudent enoughsuficient to know that he knowssap nothing.
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Sòcrates, un home prou savi
com per saber que no sap res.
02:36
SocratesSòcrates diedva morir in prisonpresó,
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Sòcrates va morir a la presó,
02:39
his philosophyfilosofia intactintacta.
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amb la seua flilosofia intacta.
02:42
So TonyTony startscomença doing his homeworkdeures.
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Aleshores Tony comença a fer els deures.
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He learnsAprèn his whysperquès and whereforesmotiu, his causescauses and correlationscorrelacions,
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Aprén els seus perquès i les seues
raons, les causes i correlacions,
02:46
his logiclògica, his fallaciesfal·làcies.
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la seua lògica, les seues fal·làcies.
02:48
TurnsTorns out, Tony'sDe Tony got the philosophyfilosofia musclemúscul.
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I resulta que Tony
té el do de la filosofia.
02:50
His bodycos is in prisonpresó, but his mindment is freegratuït.
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El seu cos és a la presò,
però la seua ment és lliure.
02:52
TonyTony learnsAprèn about the ontologicallyontològicament promiscuouspromiscu,
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Tony aprén coses sobre tot allò
ontològicament promiscu,
02:54
the epistemologicallyepistemològicament anxiousansiós,
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epistemològicament ansiós,
02:56
the ethicallyèticament dubiousdubtosa, the metaphysicallymetafísicament ridiculousridícul.
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èticament dubtós, metafísicament ridícul.
02:59
That's PlatoPlató, DescartesDescartes, NietzscheNietzsche
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És a dir, Plató, Descartes, Nietzsche
03:01
and BillProjecte de llei ClintonClinton.
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i Joel Clinton.
03:03
So when he givesdóna me his finalfinal paperpaper,
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Així que quan em dóna el treball final,
03:06
in whichquin he arguesargumenta that the categoricalcategòric imperativeimprescindible
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en el qual argumenta
que l'imperatiu categòric
03:08
is perhapstal vegada too uncompromisingintransigent
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és, possiblement, massa inflexible
03:10
to dealacord with the conflictconflicte that affectsafecta our everydaycada dia
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per fer front al conflicte
que afecta el nostre dia a dia
03:12
and challengesdesafiaments me to tell him
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i em desafia a dir-li
03:14
whetherja sigui thereforeper tant we are condemnedcondemnat to moralmoral failurefracàs,
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si, en eixe cas,
estem condemnats al fracàs moral.
03:16
I say, "I don't know.
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I jo dic: "No ho sé.
03:18
Let us think about that."
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Reflexionem-hi."
03:20
Because in that momentmoment, there's no marksenyal by Tony'sDe Tony namenom;
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Perquè en eixe moment
no hi ha marca en el nom de Tony;
03:22
it's just the two of us standingdempeus there.
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som només ell i jo.
03:24
It is not professorprofessor and convictconvicte,
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No som un professor i un convicte,
03:26
it is just two mindsments readyllest to do philosophyfilosofia.
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només dos ments disposades a filosofar.
03:28
And I say to TonyTony,
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I li dic:
03:30
"Let's do this."
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"Fem-ho."
03:33
Thank you.
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Gràcies.
03:35
(ApplauseAplaudiments)
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(APLAUDIMENTS)
Translated by Alejandra Pérez
Reviewed by Guillermo Parra

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Damon Horowitz - Philosopher, entrepreneur
Damon Horowitz explores what is possible at the boundaries of technology and the humanities.

Why you should listen

Damon Horowitz is a philosophy professor and serial entrepreneur. He recently joined Google as In-House Philosopher / Director of Engineering, heading development of several initiatives involving social and search. He came to Google from Aardvark, the social search engine, where he was co-founder and CTO, overseeing product development and research strategy. Prior to Aardvark, Horowitz built several companies around applications of intelligent language processing. He co-founded Perspecta (acquired by Excite), was lead architect for Novation Biosciences (acquired by Agilent), and co-founded NewsDB (now Daylife).

Horowitz teaches courses in philosophy, cognitive science, and computer science at several institutions, including Stanford, NYU, University of Pennsylvania and San Quentin State Prison.

Get more information on the Prison University Project >>

More profile about the speaker
Damon Horowitz | Speaker | TED.com

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