| Introduction to Philosophy | Richard Lee |
| Philosophy 2003 C | Spring 2007 |
A note of explanation: There is no guarantee that all the questions on the examination will be taken from this study guide. However, any student who knows, understands, and is able to formulate clearly the answers to all the questions on this study guide should do quite well on the examination. A student who can give answers to practically none of the questions on this study guide will very likely do rather poorly on the examination.
This examination counts as fifteen percent (15%) of your course grade.
This is a closed-book, in-class examination on the scheduled date.
There will be two parts.
As always, cheating will not be tolerated. No help in answering the questions may be received from anyone (except yourself) during the examination. You may not use books or notes during the examination.
What is knowledge? How, if at all, does it differ from true belief? Critically discuss.
What is philosophy?
Explain the etymology of the word "philosophy."
Name the main branches of philosophy (according to Lee) and explain what sorts of questions each asks.
Define "metaphysics," "epistemology," and "axiology."
Give examples of fundamental concepts. Give examples of fundamental beliefs
Who is the author of the "Socratic Wisdom" selection?
What were the charges being brought against Socrates?
Why, according to Socrates, does he go around questioning people who are reported to be wise?
What did the Delphic oracle say? What did it mean? Explain (giving various interpretations).
In what sense does Socrates think he is wise? Explain.
Explain the Socratic method.
How does Socrates defend himself against the charge that he corrupts the youth? Explore Socrates's argument.
Socrates was charged with corrupting the youth. Does any argument he offers in his defense on this point establish that no one willingly corrupts the youth? Critically discuss.
How does Socrates defend himself against the charge that he does not believe in the gods?
Carefully explain the argument Socrates gives to the conclusion that he believes in the existence of gods.
What "voice" does Socrates speak of hearing? What role does it play in his decision making? Explain.
What is the first alternative proposal Socrates suggests to the jury for his punishment? Why does he suggest this?
How does Socrates defend himself against the charge of not believing in the gods of the city?
Discuss Socrates' attitude toward death.
Socrates claims in the Apology that one should not fear death. What argument or arguments does he give for this? Critically discuss.
How did Socrates die?
Be prepared to distinguish arguments from non-arguments (e.g., from explanations, descriptions, conditional statements, and from unsupported statements of opinion or belief).
Be able to list, identify, and appropriately use premise indicators and conclusion indicators.
Be prepared to be able to make explicit the implicit premises or links in a given argument.
Be able to define and correctly use the following terms: argument, conclusion, premise, valid argument, invalid argument, sound argument, unsound argument, deductive argument, inductive argument.
Socrates offered an argument that death is a blessing. Explicate and critically discuss this argument.
Be able to give examples of conditional statements, to put conditional statements in standard form, to identify the antecedent and consequent of a conditional statement, and to explain what a conditional statement is claiming.
Be able to give examples of conditional statements and to identify the antecedent and consequent of a conditional statement.
Be able to make explicit the form of a given argument.
Why is it important to be able to uncover the form of an argument?
Be able to identify and give examples of arguments which have the following forms: modus ponens, modus tollens, disjunctive syllogism, pure hypothetical syllogism.
State a valid argument for the conclusion that Aristotle lived before Socrates, or explain why this cannot be done.
Atheists, skeptics, and fideists all say that the existence of God cannot be proved. Explain why.
What are Aquinas's "five ways" ways of? (E.g. Getting to heaven? Going to Rome? Proving that we can be certain of empirical knowledge? Approaching philosophy?)
How does one argue by reductio ad absurdum? Explain how a reductio ad absurdum argument works by explaining an example.
Some ask the question "If everything requires a cause, what caused God?" What would Aquinas answer to this question? Explain.
Explicate Aquinas's argument for the conclusion that there must be a first cause.
In Aquinas's "second way" of proving the existence of God he says "But if we remove a cause the effect is removed." Explain the role of this premise in his argument. That is, how is this premise used to prove the conclusion? What problem is there is Aquinas's use of this premise? Explain.
What does it mean to say something is a "contingent" being?
State the principle of sufficient reason.
Explain and critique the argument from contingency for the existence of God.
What is the "quantifier shift fallacy" and what role does it play in Aquinas's third way of proving the existence of God?
What is the "holistic version" of the argument from contingency? How does it differ from the version that Aquinas offered?
Explain argument by analogy. Give an example of an argument by analogy other than one involving God, and show how the argument fits into the form of an analogy.