Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Exam #3 Study Guide

20 of the following questions will appear on the May 5 exam (3:30 pm, in KOM 4542), with altered wording and without  the "OR" alternatives that appeared on the quizzes. There will again be a glossary. Study the relevant texts.


The extra credit DQ will be: "Who is your (new?) favorite philosopher? What did you learn about him/her this semester that you found most appealing?" You may supply an alternative DQ. You can prepare your printed response in advance.

1. What is Geist? OR, What did Hegel think he had achieved with his philosophical work? LH 129, 131

2. Who said we're stuck in a hopeless, meaningless cycle of desire and Will from which we can partially free ourselves in a way similar to that proposed by Buddhists? LH 132f.

3. Did Schopenhauer agree with Kant that we cannot encounter the noumenal world of ultimate Reality, but only the world of appearances (phenomena)? LH 134

4. What English 19th century "early feminist" prodigy (author of On Liberty and defender of the Harm Principle) thought Jeremy Bentham's version of utilitarianism was too crude, even though his father was a friend Bentham's? OR, How did JS Mill's utilitarianism differ from Jeremy Bentham's? LH 138f.

5. Who said he'd rather be related to an ape than to a human being who held back (he actually said "made a mockery of") scientific progress by making light of serious ideas and discoveries about human origins? OR, Who sailed on a ship called "The Beagle" and later had "the single best idea anyone has ever had"? LH 145f.

6. Did Kierkegaard, himself a Christian, think it might be necessary for people of faith to commit morally wrong actions? OR, Did he consider religious faith rational? LH 154

7. What 20th century atheistic French philosopher (or philosophical movement) took inspiration from Kierkegaard? LH 156

8. What was Marx's famous slogan expressing the cooperative intentions of communism? OR, What was his famous declaraction alluding to Rousseau's Social Contract? OR, What did Marx call religion? OR, What did Marx want to do that he thought previous philosophers hadn't done? LH 161-2 

9. What was the main message of Wittgenstein's Tractatus? OR the central theme of his later work? OR What did he see as his role, as a philosopher? Why did he talk about "language games"? OR What does it mean to "show the fly the way out of the fly bottle"? OR Why can't we have our own private language? LH 203-06

10. Was Eichmann the first Nazi Hannah Arendt encountered? OR What phrase did Arendt use to describe what she saw in Eichmann and other Nazis? LH 210-212

11. When, according to Popper, does science progress? OR How do scientists test their theories? OR What is the Problem of Induction? LH 214-16

12. What's the difference between science and pseudo-science? OR What was Popper's objection to psychoanalysis and Marxism? OR What's a paradigm shift? LH 218-20 

13. How did Wittgenstein think people had misconceived the relationship between language, thought, and people? OR What did he consider deeply flawed about Descartes' approach to thinking? PB 207-8

14. Who said "American dynamism" involved self-reliance, endurance, friendliness, democratic informality, aggressiveness, technology, and a sense of bigness and power? OR Who thought Socrates was a snob? OR Who admired George Orwell and wrote God is not Great?  AP 285, 288,295

15. What is the point of James's squirrel anecdote? OR, What is the pragmatic definition of truth? OR, How does James's view of truth differ from the traditional view? OR, Who did James credit with first saying that truth is not dependent on "invisible properties" but on practical consequences? LH 165-7

16. What's the difference between theism, atheism, and agnosticism? OR, What's James's view of what makes religious statements true? OR, Who made fun of James's view by saying it meant he had to believe in Santa? OR, Who carried on James's style of pragmatic thinking in the 20th century? OR, What do pragmatists think words allow us to do? OR, Does Warburton think pragmatists believe any ideas or interpretations are "correct for all time"? LH 167-9

17. Did Nietzsche believe God had literally died? OR, Did Nietzsche defend or recommend doing evil? OR, Why did Nietzsche reject Christianity as a source of values? OR, What's an Ubermensch? OR, Who distorted Nietzsche's philosophy to support their "warped" views and geopolitical agenda? OR, Whose cut-&-paste version of Nietzsche's philosophy supported racist interpretations of it? LH 171-5

18. What was the "3d great revolution in human thought"? OR, What's the method & purpose of psychoanalysis? OR, What's the Oedipus complex? OR, What do dreams symbolize? OR, Who criticized the "unfalsifiability" of Freud's theories? LH 177-9

19. Who are the "god figures" Nietzsche distinguished as representing the metaphysical tension implicit in our experience? OR, What was Nietzsche's view of suffering? PB 173-4, 179 

20. What American political philosopher declared the possible "end of history" in the 1980s? OR, In what state did a senator try to write the Ten Commandments into ethics legislation? OR, Who wrote an essay questioning the value of "loyalty" on the part of those who proclaim "America:Love it or Leave it"? OR, What Harvard linguist and political activist is the only living member of the "ten most-quoted humanist thinkers of all time"? AP 231, 238, 241, 244

21. Why did Bertrand Russell think people are drawn to religion? OR, Who was Russell's "godfather" and what was his influence on Russell's view of religion? OR,  What's an example of Russell's Paradox? OR, What puzzled Russell about phrases like "the golden mountain" and "the present king of France"? LH 184-6


22. What did A.J. Ayer think his Verification Principle enabled us to do? OR, What was the title of Ayer's famous book, or of the philosophical movement it helped inspire? OR, What was a "dirty word" for Ayer OR, The absence of what conditions made statements "meaningless," according to Ayer? OR, What do empirically verifiable statements tell us? OR, Besides metaphysics, what did Ayer attack? OR, Did Ayer's near-death experience change his view about God? LH 190-4

23. Who died before his 27th birthday in 1930, and said we don't need a theory of truth because the concept is "redundant"? OR, What does Hugh Mellor find "irritating" about the idea of an afterlife? OR, Name one of  Lakoff & Johnson's book titles OR one of their "three major findings." OR,Name one of the major classical philosophers whose views are challenged by L&J. OR, What did Robert Kaplan write about. (HINT: think Seinfeld.) PB 215-6, 221, 250-2, 255

24. What British philosopher created a runaway train (or "trolley") thought experiment, in part to elicit our intuitions on the ethical relevance of utilitarianism? OR, What American philosopher proposed the "Fat Man" scenario? OR, What is the Law of Double Effect? OR, What kind of harm is unacceptable, according to this "law"? OR, Which philosopher came up with the "Violinist" thought experiment? OR, For what is the violinist intended to be an analogy? LH 223-6

25. What book by John Rawls, published in 1971, was "quickly declared one of the most influential books of the 20th century"? OR, What did Rawls say we must do, to make our existence "bearable"? OR, What was Rawls' thought experiment called, and what was its central premise? LH 229-230

26. To what 19th century English political philosopher does Jonathan Wolff compare Rawls, saying there has been no one else of comparable stature? PB 248

27. What former Presidential aide interviews philosophers and intellectuals on public television? OR, Who said "mythology is everywhere" and advised following "your own track, kid, and not what your guru tells you"? AP 301-2, 307, 310

28. What's John Searle's "Chinese Room" thought experiment supposed to show? What was Alan Turing's "Test"? OR, What did he consider most interesting about the brain? OR, What does Searle think "understanding" requires? OR, Does he think an uploaded mind would be conscious? LH 234-7


29. Do most of us feel the same, according to Peter Singer, about a stranger dying elsewhere in the world and about a child drowning in front of us? Should we? OR, What was Singer's most influential book? OR, Why does Warburton compare Singer to Socrates? LH 240, 242, 244

30. What are some of Barack Obama's "rules for philosophical discourse"? OR, What are the "most substantial books" written by any President? OR, What's Romano's response to those overseas who mock America as a nation concerned only with power and money? AP 598, 604-5

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