Study Guide for FINAL--Wednesday, December 7th in class.

Please bring a Scantron sheet (882E) and a number 2 pencil to the test, along with a Blue test booklet.

The final is cumulative and is worth 100 points.  It will contain questions in various formats, including multiple-choice, fill-ins, definitions, short-answers, and possibly an essay. 

The following material will likely appear on the test:

Philosophy of Religion

The Ontological Argument

Who devised the ontological argument?

What is the ontological argument?

What is Gaunilo's objection to the argument?  How does Anselm respond to it?

What does it mean to say existence is not a predicate?

The Cosmological Argument

What are Thomas' first four ways?

The Teleological Argument

What is Thomas' Fifth Way?

Political Philosophy

What is the Ring of Gyges story?  Who wrote it?

What is a state of nature?

How does Hobbes describe the state of nature?

What are the laws of nature according to Hobbes?

What is a social contract?

What sort of government does Hobbes advise we should set up?

Why does he think this sort of government is the best one?

What is a leviathan?

What would Hobbes say about revolution?

How would thinkers like Locke view Hobbes?

What is the justification for government according to Locke?

What is Nozick's view of Wilt Chamberlain?

What is the difference between a negative right and a positive right?

What is the original position?  How does it relate to the veil of ignorance?

What sort of society does Rawls think would be most just and why?

What is communism?  What is capitalism?

Who are the bourgeoisie?  Who are the proletariat?

What is a class struggle?

What is the labor theory of value?  How does it relate to surplus value?

What is ideology?

How does Marx think communism will be realized?

What is planned obsolescence?

What are some problems with communism?

General Questions about Philosophy

What does the term "philosophy" mean?

What are the branches of philosophy?

Who was Socrates?

What was Socrates like?

What is learned ignorance?

Why was Socrates likened to a midwife?

Did Socrates write?

What did the Oracle at Delphi say about Socrates?  How did he interpret this saying?

What did Socrates think of the majority?  Was it good or harmful?  Explain.

No one can intentional wrong others.  Evaluate this statement in light of Socrates' position in the Apology.

What question is discussed in the Euthyphro?

What happens in the Euthyphro?

Questions about existentialism:

Explain what existentialism is with reference to the following:  alienation, death, the absurd, existence precedes essence, the other, bad faith.

Who are the characters in No Exit?  What are their individual backgrounds?  Their likes and dislikes?  Their motives and interests?

Where is the play set?  Why did Sartre set the play in this location?  What is the plot?

Why is the play called No Exit?  Why do none of the characters leave the room when given the chance?  In what sense are they “inseparables”?

Why are there no mirrors or reflective surfaces in the room?

What does the bronze statue on the mantelpiece likely represent?

How do the characters in the play illustrate Sartre’s claim that we are condemned to be free?  What does this expression mean?

What is Kierkegaard's background?

Who wrote the diary?  (This question is more difficult to answer than it might at first seem.)

What is the aesthetic?  How does Johannes exemplify this sphere?

What is the ethical?  How does the ethical differ from the aesthetic and the religious?  What does it mean to “choose oneself in despair”?  With which pseudonym is the ethical most closely associated?

What is the religious?  With what biblical figure is this sphere most closely associated?  Fear and Trembling is attributed to Johannes de Silentio.  What is the significance of this name?

In what sense is the religious absurd? 

What sphere did Kierkegaard personally believe was the best?  Why?

What are some difficulties with each of the spheres?

Whose philosophy is more convincing, Sartre's or Kierkegaard's?  Explain.

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Personal Identity

What two senses of identity do philosophers discuss?  Which one is relevant to the issue of personal identity?

What are the four theories of personal identity discussed in class?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of these theories?

Who proposed the bundle theory?

What is Hume's argument for the bundle theory?

What is the transporter malfunction problem?

Which theory of personal identity is the most convincing?  Why?

Descartes

What is rationalism?  How does it differ from empiricism?

What is solipsism?

What happens during the wax experiment?

How does Descartes interpret the wax experiment?

What is the difference between innate, adventitious and composite ideas?

What sort of idea is God?

Why does Descartes think God must exist?

What role does God play in Descartes' philosophy?  If God exists, what must follow, according to Descartes?

Hume

What is a tabula rasa?

What are impressions?

How do impressions differ from ideas?

What is the difference between a relation of ideas and a matter of fact?

What is an impression?  How does it differ from an idea?

What is the problem of induction?

What is the problem of Russell's chicken?

Free Will

What do the following terms mean:  determinism, incompatibilism, compatibilism, indeterminism?

What does Hospers say about the criminal?  Why does Hospers think free will is an illusion?  What does he think would need to exist in order for us to make free choices?

What is the connection between free will and moral responsibility?  Can we be morally responsible if we are not free to choose?

How does Stace's compatibilism attempt to redefine free will?  What criterion does Stace introduce to show that determinism is compatible with free will?  Why does Stace think free will couldn't exist if our choices were not determined?

What is the Chicken Sandwich thought experiment? 

How does James' evaluate compatibilism (soft determinism)?  Does he think it is a convincing theory?  Why or why not?

What is a dilemma?  In what sense is determinism a dilemma for James?

What is the Oxford/Divinity St. thought experiment?  What point about free will is it meant to illustrate?

What are judgments of regret?  How does James connect regret with free will?

Why does James think indeterminism is a better theory than determinism?

What is pragmatism?  How is James' evaluation of free will pragmatic?

Be prepared to discuss criticisms of Hospers', Stace's, and James' arguments