Express II Final Exam Review.
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1. Nothing replaces re-reading everything slowly, paying great attention.

 

1. Plato wrote about Socrates. Was Socrates older or younger than Plato?

2. In class, we pointed out some difficulties involved in Plato's equating ethics and metaphysics. But what does this even mean "to equate ethics and metaphysics"? Can you give an example?

3. Plato is using unusual devices for philosophy: the cave story, the description of a visual (the divided line). In other places, Plato talks of the bad influence of mere stories and images. What gives? Why would he engage in what he also criticizes?

4. What is the progression along the "divided line"?

5. What is the crazy story "Aristophanes" tells about our creation?

6. What role does Aristophanes' crazy story play, philosophically? Let's put it this way. Clearly it is not meant to be taken as literally true. So how does it do us any good at all, when it comes to explaining the human tradition of pairing up with a mate?

7. Some interpreters of Plato argue that he really means to be promoting the idea that true knowledge is a matter of knowing a "form" of something. Do you see any evidence that the enslaved boy is encountering a "form" when he learns the proof?

8. Oh yeah, what is it exactly that the enslaved boy does, mathematically? General description is fine (see handout!)

9. At the end of the Meno Plato suggests that virtue cannot be learned. This is odd because the emphasis elsewhere in Plato is on...

10. The Greeks in general. A few questions about Plato and Aristotle.

What do the Greek think about children, as far as being role models for virtue?

11. Plato and Aristotle have some disagreement when it comes to the design of our soul (the issue is what metaphor to use.) Which one of them thinks of our soul as being composed of a Homer Simpson, a Seinfeld character, and a person thinking long term about life?

12. When it comes to the ancient Greek philosophers, were they merely recommending the conventional ethical ideals of their culture? Or were their proposals radical? What do you think? What is your evidence?

13. Both Plato and Aristotle see life as being best organized around only one goal: being a person of integrity and good character. Which of the following are implications of this view of theirs?

14. If Camus and Plato met in a bar, what would they say to each other? Think about how they might point out the differences in their views.

15. Would Plato have to deny the pyschological phenomenon that Camus ably describes (the feeling of hating everyone)? Could such a feeling exist, according to Plato?

16. If Camus were asked if our souls could be purified by doing mathematics, what would he say?

17. What worm is in what heart?

18. Which of the following is Camus' view on political causes?

19. Describe a hero on Camus' depiction.

20. How did Camus' particular manner of death suit his philosophy?

21. Describe the myth of Sisyphus, just as it is (not as one of our authors uses it.)

22. Nagel objects to Camus' take on absurdity. Why?

23. Nagel uses the pants falling down while before the Queen example to make what point?

24. What does Feinberg say about the pants falling down example?

25. Fienberg describes Camus beautifully. Why do I say that?

26. Contrast Feinberg's view of fulfillment to Nagel's view.

27. Contrast Feinberg's view of fulfillment to Wolf's view.

28. Who wrote this? “According to Camus human beings necessarily crave a certain kind of cosmic order, significant culminations of their efforts, and a kind of transparent rational intelligibility in the world of experience, but the world has no such order; it works to destroy the point of whatever temporary achievement it permits, and it is in its central core ALIEN, DENSE, and IRRATIONAL.”

29. Which of the following does Nagel rule out as the cause of absurdity?

30. Does Nagel accuse our self-centered illusions and false pretensions of causing absurdity in our lives?

31. Feinberg explains that according to Nagel's view, Sisyphus's life is not at all absurd. What point is Feinberg making?

32. Feinberg has an absolutely amazing (because very comprehensive) list of sense of absurd. He "wins" philosophically because the other authors fail to point out all of the ambiguous meanings associated with the term. Please rehearse the list and be able to explain each type of absurdity. We went over these in class.

33. Wolf explains that the question "what is the meaning of life" is poorly formed. How does she decide to respond to the question? What is her stated methodology?

34. Aristotle invented science and logic. What was his general methodology?

35. Please practice describing as much as you can about Aristotle's depiction of happiness in the Nicomachean Ethics.

36. Which of these things might Schopenhauer say?

37. If you study the handout, what advice did Schopenhauer give that modern psychology now (tenatively perhaps, given their methods) recommends? And what advice did he give that does not seem supported by research in happiness?

38. The Stoics have a view we treated rather "holistically", focussing on the differences between them and Aristotle. Can you bring up some of their more controversial ideas?

39. Rawls is the most prominent political philosopher of the 20th century (and the 21st so far, too). Why?

40. Rawls did not use ethical theory (like the Utilitarianism he discusses in our short reading) to figure out justice. What does he use instead?

41. Rawls requires religious people to give up some of their non-liberal beliefs in order to be members of a democracy? Which beliefs are these?

42. What is a common objection to the use of the "veil of ignorance"?

43. Does Rawls give freedom or equality priority, when it comes to the two principles of justice?

44. Does Rawls think his account of justice apply globally?

45. Alvin Goldman defends the 'use of intuitions' in philosophy. How does Rawls use intuitions?

46. Please explain the argument of Dave Chalmer's paper we read. What is he saying?

47. What is the "hard problem" of consciousness?

48. Can you describe a "Gettier case"?

49. What are the two features characteristic of every Gettier case?

50. Why, as befits philosophical methodology, did Gettier not have to solve the problems he raised? While you are at it, why does Chalmers not have to solve the problems he has raised?

51. How is all philosophy like Plato's philosophy?

52. Give an example of a topic that would not suit philosophy well. Then give an example of a topic that could use some more philosophy.