PHIL 110A, section 1.

Review Questions for Exam 3, March 30, 2016

The exam will consist of five 1-sentence answers, four 1-paragraph answers, and one 1-page answer. You will have some choice among questions to answer.

A. 1-sentence answers

1. What is dualism?
2. What is the difference between logical and methodological behavorism?
3. What is the mind-brain identity theory?
4. What is functionalism in the philosophy of mind?
5. What is the philosophical problem of other minds?
6. What does the mind-brain identity theory say about mental processes?
7. What is Leibniz's law according to Sober?
8. What is multiple realizability and how is it relevant to mind-brain identity?
9. According to Sober, how is determinism different from fatalism?
10. What is libertarianism?
11. What is the difference between hard and soft determinism?
12. What is hard indeterminism?

B. 1-paragraph answers

1. What is Descartes' doubt argument for dualism and what might be wrong with it?
2. What is Descartes' divisibility argument for dualism and what might be wrong with it?
3. What facts might plausibly be explained by dualism?
4. Why did logical behaviorism fail?
5. Why did methodological behavorism fail?
6. How can analogy be used to try to solve the problem of other minds and what is a better solution?
7. What is parsimony and how well does it support the mind-brain identity theory over dualism?
8. What is the functionalist critique of the identity theory and how do identity theorists respond?
9. Why does Sober prefer functionalism to mind-brain identity?
10. How can soft determinism be characterized in terms of second order desires and being able to do otherwise?
11. Why does Sober think that moral responsibility is compatible with determinism?
12. What is the brain argument against free will?

C. 1-page answers

1. What is Thagard's super argument for dualism? Critically assess its strengths and weaknesses, and evaluate its plausibility.
2. How can the problem of other minds be approached from the theories of dualism, behaviorism, mind-body identity, and functionalism? Evaluate competing solutions.
3. Evaluate the plausibility of the mind-body identity theory by considering arguments for and against. Discuss with relation to the mental act of believing that Ottawa is the capital of Canada.
4. Considering the decision of what to do after graduation, discuss whether free will exists. Give arguments pro and con, and reach a conclusion.

 

 

Review Questions for Exam 2, March 2, 2016

The exam will consist of five 1-sentence answers, four 1-paragraph answers, and one 1-page answer. You will have some choice among questions to answer.

A. 1-sentence answers

1. What is ontology?
2. What is the PKG concept of God?
3. What is the birthday fallacy?
4. What is the difference between necessity and contingency?
5. What is the analogy that Paley uses to support his argument from design?
6. What is creationism?
7. What is irreducible complexity?
8. What is testability?
9. What is the difference between naturalistic and supernaturalistic explanations?
10. What is Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection?
11. What is an explanation, according to Sober?
12. What is causality?
13. What is the difference between coherence and correspondence theories of truth?
14. What is the difference between a coherence theory of truth and a coherence theory of knowledge?
15. What is scientific realism?
16. What is the difference between prudential and evidential reasons for belief?
17. What is the atheist's wager?
18. What is the difference between Pascal's wager and James's will to believe?

B. 1-paragraph answers

1. How can reliable coherentism provide reasons for beliefs about what does and does not exist?
2. What is Aquinas' motion argument and what problems are there with it?
3. What is Aquinas' causality argument and what problems are there with it?
4. What is Aquinas' contingency argument and what problems are there with it?
5. What is Aquinas' gradation argument and what problems are there with it?
6. What is Paley's argument from design and what problems are there with it?
7. What are five different kinds of evidence that might be explained by the hypothesis that God exists?
8. What are 3 criticisms that Sober makes of creationism?
9. Why is there something rather than nothing? Consider alternative answers.
10. What facts are explained by scientific realism?
11. Draw and explain the payoff table for Pascal's wager.
12. Why is evil a problem for the existence of God? How might theists resolve this problem?
13. What reasons are there for thinking that time travel is implausible?

C. 1-page answers

1. What is Thagard's super argument for the existence of God? Critically assess its strengths and weaknesses, and evaluate its plausibility.
2. What is Thagard's super argument against the existence of God? Critically assess its strengths and weaknesses, and evaluate its plausibility.
3. Critically discuss whether science can succeed in achieving truths. Consider alternatives.
4. Is Pascal's wager a reasonable basis for believing in God? Critically discuss Pascal's argument and objections to it.

Review Questions for Exam 1, Jan. 27, 2016

The exam will consist of five 1-sentence answers, five 1-paragraph answers, and one 1-page answer. You will have some choice among questions to answer.

A. 1-sentence answers

1. What is the difference between epistemology and metaphysics?
2. What is the difference between objective and subjective beliefs?
3. What is an argument?
4. What is begging the question?
5. What is wishful thinking?
6. What is the only game in town fallacy?
7. What is the difference between know-how and propositional knowledge?
8. What is epistemological skepticism?
9. What is foundationalism?
10. What is the difference between a priori and a posteriori knowledge?
11. How is rationalism different from empiricism?
12. What is Descartes' method of doubt?
13. How is reliabilism different from foundationalism?
14. What is coherentism?
15. What is Hume's problem of induction?
16. What is Hume's principle of the uniformity of nature?
17. What is the difference between the two ideas of reliability in Sober's ch. 14 and ch. 16?
18. How does the raft metaphor for knowledge differ from the building metaphor?
    

B. 1-paragraph answers

1. What is the difference between deductive, inductive, and abductive arguments. Give examples.
2. What makes an argument deductively valid? Give examples to show the difference between valid and invalid arguments.
3. How should abductive inferences decide what is the best explanation? Give an example and consider both Sober's and Thagard's criteria.
4. Why is it plausible that knowledge is justified true belief?
5. State a Gettier example and explain how it might count against the claim that knowledge is true justified belief.
6. What is the first step in Descartes' attempt to overcome skepticism? Does it work?
7. How does reliabilism avoid the two major problems of foundationalism?
8. How does coherentism avoid the major problems of reliabilism?
9. According to Sober, how is knowledge relative to people's interests?
10. Why does Hume think that justifying induction requires the principle of the uniformity of nature?
11. Can reliable coherentism solve Hume's problem of induction?

C. 1-page answers

1. What is the Gettier problem in epistemology and what do you think is a plausible solution to it?
2. What is Descartes' foundational solution to the problem of skepticism? Does it work?
3. What is Descartes' argument for the existence of God? Does it succeed?
4. Discuss the strengths and weakness of reliabilism and coherentism as alternatives to foundationalism.
5. Pick some field in science, technology, or the humanities that you know a fair amount about. Does your knowledge fit best with a foundationalist, reliabilist, or coherentist epistemology?
6. Are people justified in believing that the future will be like the past? Discuss the plausibility of alternative answers.

PHIL 110, home page

Paul Thagard

Computational Epistemology Laboratory.

This page updated March 21, 2016