Test Review Sheets

Test 1: Nature of Philosophy

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

philosophy		principle of charity
metaphysics		ontology
epistemology		axiology
ethics		æsthetics
ad ignorantiam		dilemma
gadfly		apology
sophist		idealism

Important Essays : be able to explain in depth.

1. What is philosophy? Define the main divisions of philosophy. Explain a typical example problem from each main division of philosophy.
2. Explain what John Dewey means when he points out, "The ideal of using the present simply to get ready for the future contradicts itself."
3. What is it that Samuel Scudder thinks he learned by studying with Professor Agassiz?
4. What does it mean to say that facts are theory-dependent?
5. What are some of the differences between philosophy and science?
6. What is the Socratic Paradox? What is paradoxical about this philosophy?
7. What is Socrates' argument that death is a good and not to be feared? Why doesn't Socrates believe in hell?

Important Distinctions: Be able to list differences and give examples.

1. faith and reason
2. science and philosophy
3. fact and value
4. epistemology, metaphysics, and axiology

Test 2: Philosophy of Life

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

practical mind		philosophic mind
synoptic		not-Self
enlargement of self		``arrest of life"
decoy of life		irrational knowledge
existentialism		undermine
the Absurd		Myth of Sisyphus

Important Essays : be able to explain in depth

1. According to Russell, what are the main goals of philosophy? Why should we try to avoid the dogmatism of the practical person?
2. According to Russell, what the the differences between science and philosophy?
3. How does Tolstoy characterize an arrest of life?
4. Why cannot art, science, and philosophy give meaning to life according to Tolstoy?
5. Characterize Tolstoy's use of faith and the characteristics he ascribes to faith.
6. According to Camus, how can one find the meaning of life? What does he mean by saying living is keeping the Absurd alive?

Important Distinctions: Be able to list differences and give examples.

1. faith and reason
2. practical and philosophic mind
3. science and philosophy
4. philosophy and religion

Test 3: The Philosophy of Religion

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

a priori		a posteriori
ontological		cosmological
existential import		BTWNGCBC
philosophy of religion		natural theology
efficient cause		Occam's Razor
Great Chain of Being		polar concepts
teleology		theodicy
prescriptive law		descriptive law
problem of evil		nonmoral evil

Important Essays: be able to explain in detail and give possible objections.

1. Anselm's Ontological Argument with objections
2. Aquinas' Argument From Motion (Change) with objections
3. Aquinas' Argument From (Efficient) Cause with objections
4. Aquinas' Argument From Necessity with objections
5. Aquinas' Argument From Gradation (Great Chain of Being) with objections
6. Aquinas' Argument From Governance (Teleological Argument) with objections
7. Paley's Watch Argument with objections
8. Pascal's Wager with objections
9. The Problem of Evil and Dostoevsky's Solution to the problem

Important Distinctions: be able to list differences and give examples.

1. a priori and a posteriori statements
2. material, efficient, formal, and final causes
3. potentiality and actuality
4. prescriptive and descriptive law
5. design and chance
6. moral evil and nonmoral evil

Test 4: Ethics and Philosophical Ethics

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

determinism (hard)		determinism (soft)
predeterminism		fatalism
predestination		indeterminism
chance		free will
live hypothesis		dead hypothesis
genuine option		eudaimonia
doctrine of the mean		arete
selfishness		self-interest
psychological egoism		ethical egoism
Ring of Gyges		hedonism
utilitarianism		hedonistic calculus
essence		existence

Important Essays: be able to explicate the following questions.

1. What is James' genuine option theory? How can it be applied to the problem of free will?
2. What is the hedonistic calculus and how is it related to utilitarianism?
3. What are the main points of Aristotle's ethics?
4. What is the linguistic refutation of psychological egoism? How does it refute the Myth of the Ring of Gyges?
5. Why can't ethical egoism be universalized?
6. According to Sartre, how is it that we ``condemned to be free''?

Important Distinctions: be able to list differences and give examples.

1. selfishness and self-interest
2. psychological egoism and ethical egoism
3. essence and existence
4. anguish, forlornness, and despair