STUDY
SHEET FOR THE FINAL EXAM:
Terms: argument, premise, evidence, conclusion, fallacy,
standard form, indicator words, deductively valid argument, invalid argument,
inductive argument, abductive argument, form of an argument.
Logic & Critical Thinking:
1) You should be prepared to analyze an argument in
standard form.
2) You should be prepared to explain what is
involved in analysis and evaluation of arguments.
3) In class, we discussed several simple valid
argument forms (modus ponens and modus tollens) and two formal fallacies (affirming the consequent
and denying the antecedent). You should be able to explain each of these,
and to show that the fallacies are invalid, by providing a counterexample.
4) Explain why showing that
an argument is invalid is not the same as showing that the argument is a bad
argument.
Plato:
1) Explain the "Myth of the Cave" in
Republic
2) Explain Plato's "Parable of the Line," including a diagram. Show
how this parable relates to Plato's theory of ideas.
3) Why, according to Plato, is it a mistake to introduce dialectic to students
who are too young?
4) Very briefly, explain how Parmenides and Heraclitus
influenced Plato's thought.
5) Different people have different ways of looking at the world. Are all
perspectives equally valid? Explain Plato's answer.
6) Explain Socrates objection to Cephalus' claim the
Justice is simply telling the truth and paying your debts.
7) What is Polemarchus' proposed analysis of
'Justice?' Explain one of Socrates objections to this analysis, and evaluate
the argument. Is Socrates objection decisive?
8) Briefly explain Thrasymachus's account of justice
in Republic I.
9) Explain Socrates argument that Justice can never harm anyone, not even one's
enemies. Briefly evaluate the argument.
10) What is the point of the "lyre example" Socrates offers Thrasymachus at 349d-e in The
Republic? Which of Thrasymachus' claims is the
example intended to refute?
11) Explain "The Function Argument," which appears at 351a-352c in
the text. How is this argument related to Plato's tripartite theory of the
soul?
12) Explain Glaucon's distinction between intrinsic
and extrinsic goods. How is this distinction reflected in the three-part
challenge Glaucon presents to Socrates in Republic
II?
13) What is the point Glaucon intends to make with
the story of the Ring of Gyges?
14) Explain the "Socratic Paradox" and Plato's reasons for believing
it.
Aristotle:
1) What does 'teleological' mean, and in what sense is Aristotle's ethical
theory teleological?
2) Explain Aristotle's criticism of Plato's theory of ideas, and his
examination of "The Idea of the Good" in particular. (Hint: NE Book I
chapter 6)
3) Explain the structure of an Aristotelian 'Virtue.'
4) Briefly compare Aristotle's understanding of the relationship between virtue
and happiness with Plato's understanding of that relationship.
5) Explain Aristotle's argument for the claim that there must be a "master
good," and explain some of the properties of Aristotle's master good.
6) Explain Aristotle's conception of the human soul- how is this conception
connected with the claim that the life of reason is the best life for a human
being?
Epictetus and Epicurus:
1) Explain Epicurus's argument for the claim that
pleasure is the highest good. How would Aristotle respond to this argument?
Your answer should explain both the similarities and differences between their
views.
2) What are the three categories of pleasures that Epicurus distinguishes, and
what are his recommendations regarding them?
3) What is the status, in Epicurus's theory, of honor
and justice?
4) Explain Epicurus's argument against the fear of
death. Compare Epicurus's discussion of death to that
of Epictetus, noting similarities and differences.
5) Explain Epictetus's attitude toward "desire
and aversion," and his instructions for training and rationalizing our
desires.
6) What is "up to us," according to Epictetus,
and why does it matter?
7) How, according to Epictetus, can we guard
ourselves against misfortune, and make ourselves effectively invincible? Be
sure to explain this in terms of other features of Epictetus's
theory.
8) Explain Epictetus's attitude toward death. Would Epictetus regard Epicurus as having the wrong
attitude toward death?
9) How would Aristotle regard Epictetus's view of the
human good? Explain the most central differences between them?
Descartes:
1) Briefly explain Descartes Method of Doubt, and
explain why Descartes is not a sceptic.
2) Compare Descartes use of sceptical doubt in the
First Meditation to Sextus Empiricus
argument for scepticism in the "trilemma" on your hand-out.
3) What does it mean to say that Descartes is a foundationalist?
Compare Descartes foundationalism to Hobbes' foundationalism, showing similarities and differences.
4) What is the point of Descartes "Evil Genius" example (or the
"brain in the vat" example used in class)? If we find that we can
doubt our sensory beliefs, does it follow that they are not knowledge?
5) Briefly present and critically examine one of
Descartes arguments concerning the existence of God.
William
James-- The Will to Believe:
1) What, according to James, are the two epistemic aims? What is the error made
by extreme sceptics (like Clifford)?
2) Explain what James means by the following terms: hypothesis, living/dead
option, forced/avoidable option, momentus/trivial
option. Give an example of each.
3) Briefly explain the central thesis of James' argument in The Will To Believe. (It can be expressed in a sentence or so.)
4) What is "doxastic voluntarism," and why
is it a potential problem for a view like the one James presents? How does
James respond to this problem?
5) Briefly explain Pascal's Wager (presented in lecture) by drawing and
explaining the decision matrix presented in class. How is James's argument like
Pascal's?
Hobbes:
1) Explain the difference between psychological egoism and ethical egoism. Is
Hobbes a psychological egoist? Explain why or why not.
2) What, according to Hobbes, is power? Why do people have a restless desire
for power?
3) Why are people in a condition of war of all against all in Hobbes's state of
nature? What are the causes of this circumstance? What are the consequences of
this state of war?
4) According to Hobbes, what is a law of nature? What is a right of nature? Why
does Hobbes think that everyone has a right to everything in the state of
nature?
5) What are the first two laws of nature for Hobbes? Explain why he thinks that
they are laws of nature. What is a contract, and what is a covenant? What is a
valid covenant?
6) Why is it that the recognition of the laws of nature is not sufficient to
ensure peace? What else is necessary? What is a common power? What differences
between human society and the societies of bees and ants explain why bees and
ants do not need to live under a common power and human beings do?
7) What is the "prisoner's dilemma?" Draw a "Prisoner's Dilemma
choice matrix, and explain it. Explain how the Hobbesian
Sovereign provides a solution to the Prisoner's Dilemma.
8)
What does it mean to say that Descartes is a foundationalist?
Compare Descartes foundationalism to Hobbes' foundationalism, showing similarities and differences.
Locke:
1) What is the "Law of Nature," according to Locke, and where does
this law come from? Does Locke's "law of nature" constrain people's
choices in the state of nature, or only in civil society? Briefly compare
Locke's understanding of "natural law" to Hobbes conception of
natural law.
2) What is the "state of war," according to Locke? What is the
relationship between the state of nature and the state of war? Compare Locke's
answer to this question to Hobbes' answer.
3) Why, according to Locke, is slavery a permanent state of war between master
and slave? Does Locke believe that slavery violates the law of nature? Explain
how Locke sees the relationship between a Hobbesian
sovereign and a citizen.
4) Explain the main elements of Locke's theory of property: How are property
rights acquired? What limitations are there on legitimate acquisition of
property? According to Locke, do people have property rights in the state of
nature, or do they arise only with the advent of civil society?
5) Explain why one might think that Locke's "enough and as good"
proviso is an impossible requirement. Be sure to explain this proviso, showing
that you have a good understanding of it.
6) Explain the main elements of Locke's case against absolute Monarchy. How
would Hobbes respond? Why does Locke believe that no one could rationally submit
to an absolute monarch? According to Locke, is an absolute Monarch in a state
of perpetual war with his or her subjects?
7) How, in Locke's theory, can people move from a state of nature into the
state of civil society? Compare Locke's account of this transition to
alternative accounts found in Hobbes and Rousseau.
8) Why, according to Locke, would people consent to join civil society? What
rights are given up? What benefits are gained by this move?
9) Compare Hobbes and Locke’s
views on the obligation to obey the law.
Rousseau:
1)
What point does Rousseau intend to make, with his metaphor of the sea-encrusted
statue of Glaucus? How is the idea behind this
metaphor related to Rousseau's idealized account of "natural" human
beings?
2)
Why does Rousseau claim that we must "put aside the facts, for they have
no relevance to the case...?" How can a "conjectural history of
humankind" be relevant if it diverges from our actual history?
3)
Describe the psychological features of Rousseau's "Natural" human
being: What are the motives that Rousseau believes to be "natural"?
Why, according to Rousseau, did Hobbes mistakenly conclude that people would be
selfish and violent in the State of
4)
What 'takes the place of law' in Rousseau's state of nature? Explain why.
Briefly compare Rousseau's account of moral restraint in the state of nature
with Locke's account.
5)
Compare Rousseau and Aristotle on the relationship between reason and passion.
6)
Why can there be no oppression in Rousseau's state of nature? What makes
oppression possible?
7)
At what state in social evolution do people acquire vices of jealousy, pride,
vanity, and contempt? Explain how these vices arise. (No need to explain each
one: it is possible to give a general answer that explains all of them.)
8)
Briefly compare Rousseau's account of the origins of private property (at the
beginning of Part II) to Locke's account. Is it true that both Locke and
Rousseau believe that people held private property before the advent of
political institutions? Explain the similarities and differences in their
views.
9)
Rousseau believes that those people in modern societies who are poor and
disadvantaged are worse off than they would have been if we had never developed
political institutions and had thus never left the state of nature. Rousseau
argues, on this ground, that our social institutions are unjust, because they
cannot be justified to all participants including those who are worst off. With
what part of this argument would Locke disagree? Explain why.
10)
Explain what Rousseau means when he claims that the final stage in the
devolution of human society will be a true Hobbesian
state of nature.
11)
Explain the difference between Aristotle's use of the term "virtue"
and Rousseau's use of the term "honor."
12)
Why according to Rousseau, are radical inequalities "contrary to the law
of nature"? Briefly compare Rousseau's condemnation of the injustice of
inequality to Locke's account.
Marx:
1)
What is the characteristic that distinguishes human beings from nonhuman
animals? Compare Marx's view on this question to Aristotle's view. How is this
capacity related to Marx's theory of exploitation?
2)
What does Marx mean in claiming that exploited workers are alienated (i) from nature, (ii) from themselves, (iii) from one
another?
3)
What, in general, is Marx account of exploitation? What is the difference
between the general account, and the more specific accounts of the way
exploitation takes place in difference kinds of societies?
4)
How, according to Marx, are workers exploited in capitalist societies?
5)
Compare Marx, Rousseau, and Thrasymachus on the
nature of "justice," explaining similarities & differences.
6)
Why does Marx believe that workers will be more deeply oppressed the harder
they work?
9)
Why does Marx believe that workers' wages will be bare subsistence wages?
10)
What is the value of "work" for Marx? How is our capacity for work
connected with our need for freedom?
11) Explain the elements of
Marx's concept of "alienation" [estrangement] of labor.