Essay Exam Study Guide
Descartes
and Locke
Define rationalism and empiricism. What issue is being
debate and what are the main differences between these two positions?
What is Descartes’ purpose in the Meditations, and what are the two steps he takes to accomplish
this?
What is skepticism? Which of Descartes’ two main
skeptical arguments is more effective, and why? Is Descartes a skeptic?
What claim does Descartes take as the foundation for
knowledge? What aspect of our existence does Descartes think we can be most
certain of? What is the wax example, and how is it supposed to illustrate this?
What are innate ideas, and what examples does Locke
use to criticize this notion?
What does Locke mean when he claims that the mind is a
tabula rasa? What are the
two sources of experience?
Explain Locke’s distinction between primary and
secondary qualities how it agrees with contemporary scientific views.
Essay
question: State and defend your view
on the existence of innate ideas. Do you think that there are innate ideas,
such as the concepts of sameness or identity, selfhood, and God, or that all
ideas originate in experience? Consider Descartes’ wax example and Locke’s
claim that universals are generated through abstraction.
Mind/Body
Problem
Define and explain the differences between dualism
(both interactionist and epiphenomenalism), materialist
monism (both reductive and eliminative), and ideal monism.
Shafer argues that interactionist
dualism faces the problem of identification and giving an unnecessarily complex
account of the universe. Explain these criticisms, and how Shafer partially
resolves the first one.
What is Shafer’s criticism of the unintelligibility
thesis (i.e., eliminative materialism)? How might the eliminative materialist
respond?
What is Shafer’s criticism of identity theory (i.e.,
reductive materialism), and what does it have to do with our qualitative
experiences of the world (e.g., color and taste)?
Essay
question: State and defend your view
on the mind/body problem. Do you think that the mental and the physical both
exist as separate entities, though they may interact? State the advantages of
your view and respond to the criticisms of your view stated above.
Free Will
and Determinism
Define and explain the differences between
libertarianism, determinism, and compatibilism.
How does Stace redefine the
concept of freedom, and how does he argue that determinism is not incompatible
with moral responsibility and punishment?
How does
What is Wood’s criticism of the argument from
intuition? How does he argue that morality does not require a concept of
freedom? Explain the difference between physical and psychological determinism.
Essay
question: State and defend your view
on the debate between libertarianism, determinism, and compatibilism.
Do you think that we are able to act spontaneously, or that all of our actions
are predetermined by physical or psychological causes? State the advantages of
you view and respond to the following criticisms that pertain to your position:
Compatibilism – By freedom, we mean more than caused by
an internal psychological desire. The compatibilist
explanation of “I could have acted
otherwise” is problematic and misleading. Libertarianism – Freedom is an
obscure and mysterious thing. The argument from intuition provides no support
for libertarianism (Wood). Determinism – If we do not believe
that people are free, we cannot hold them morally responsible and punish them.
Determinism leads to boredom and lack of desire (Dostoevsky). Determinism
conflicts with the intuition of freedom found in deliberation and regret.