PHIL 202 QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
Locke Identity - Answers - Objects: Temporal-spatial continuity
Persons: Psychological/Memory continuity. *You can have same body and be different,
you can have the same soul and be different.
Locke Social Contract Theory - Answers - Nature: Insecure, unsafe. No gov't, no
authority. Perfect freedom. Only rule is self preservation and of others when
unconflicted.
Consent to contract: Give up freedoms to receive protection of lives and property
Limits to Authority: Law of nature (morality), civil laws must have consent of the
majority, and civil laws must be for common good.
Hobbes Social Contract Theory - Answers - State of Nature: Perpetual warfare, all are
justified to act according to self-benefit. No injustice.
Solution: Social contract. All are better off with gov't enforcing laws. It is rational to form
and keep the contract.
Jefferson Political Theory - Answers - Inalienable rights: Life, liberty, pursuit of
happiness. *property for Locke. Excludes women.
Gov't: Protect rights, acts with consent. British gov't was acting without consent and was
violating rights.
Berkeley Idealism - Answers - 1. Unintelligible External objects. Bright and hot describe
the experience or idea of fire.
2. Unimaginable: You cannot imagine a mind -independent object
3. Unjustified: Who cares if external objects exist or not? We have no reason to feel
inclined they are out there.
Leibniz BPW Theory - Answers - 1. If God is perfect, omnipotent, and omniscient, then
He could prevent unnecessary evil.
2. Evil exists.
3. God does not exist
1. If God creates, He must create the best possible (child analogy)
2. God created this world (cosmological argument)
3. So this is the best of all possible worlds
4. This world has evil
5. The best of all possible worlds has evil.
Voltaire - Answers - Leibniz says that moral evil is necessary for free will. The good of
free will and moral virtue > evil incurred.
Candide - Leibniz justification is ridiculous.
, Leibniz says that laws of nature are necessary in BPW. The good of natural order is
greater than natural evil.
There is way too much evil for this to be the best.
Hume on Induction - Answers - Problem of Induction:
Induction says that future will resemble the past.
- We can't know this by a priori, or by experience. If we say by experience, that
argument is circular.
So induction is irrational, but not to be disposed of.
Hume on Causation - Answers - No necessary connection between cause and effect.
1. Possibility argument says otherwise.
2. We do not observe a causal oomph (so we don't have that idea)
So causation comes from observed regularity.
Objection: Causation is correlation.
Response: Causation is a type of correlation
Hume on Miracles - Answers - 1. Miracle: Violates nature
2. Strong evidence of nature and weak evidence of miracle, so law > miracle
Human testimony:
1. More likely that person is deceived than miracle
2. Tendency to believe miracles
3. Unlearned culture
4. Conflicting miracles
Kant on Metaphysics - Answers - How we come to know: A priori or observation
Types of knowledge:
1. Analytic- Concept containment, true by definition. All bachelors...
2. Synthetic- not true by definition. Cat is on the mat...
Kinds of propositions:
1. Analytic- true by definition
2. Synthetic (a posteriori) on observation
3. Synthetic a priori (x entails y, but does not mean y). Y logically follows from X.
*Hume's mistake.
Synthetic a priori explains math, metaphysics and ethics.
Kantian Ethics - Answers - Deontology: Moral correctness based on maxim of an agent.
Reasons for action: Hypothetical imperative (if x do y), categorical imperative (do z
regardless).
Locke Identity - Answers - Objects: Temporal-spatial continuity
Persons: Psychological/Memory continuity. *You can have same body and be different,
you can have the same soul and be different.
Locke Social Contract Theory - Answers - Nature: Insecure, unsafe. No gov't, no
authority. Perfect freedom. Only rule is self preservation and of others when
unconflicted.
Consent to contract: Give up freedoms to receive protection of lives and property
Limits to Authority: Law of nature (morality), civil laws must have consent of the
majority, and civil laws must be for common good.
Hobbes Social Contract Theory - Answers - State of Nature: Perpetual warfare, all are
justified to act according to self-benefit. No injustice.
Solution: Social contract. All are better off with gov't enforcing laws. It is rational to form
and keep the contract.
Jefferson Political Theory - Answers - Inalienable rights: Life, liberty, pursuit of
happiness. *property for Locke. Excludes women.
Gov't: Protect rights, acts with consent. British gov't was acting without consent and was
violating rights.
Berkeley Idealism - Answers - 1. Unintelligible External objects. Bright and hot describe
the experience or idea of fire.
2. Unimaginable: You cannot imagine a mind -independent object
3. Unjustified: Who cares if external objects exist or not? We have no reason to feel
inclined they are out there.
Leibniz BPW Theory - Answers - 1. If God is perfect, omnipotent, and omniscient, then
He could prevent unnecessary evil.
2. Evil exists.
3. God does not exist
1. If God creates, He must create the best possible (child analogy)
2. God created this world (cosmological argument)
3. So this is the best of all possible worlds
4. This world has evil
5. The best of all possible worlds has evil.
Voltaire - Answers - Leibniz says that moral evil is necessary for free will. The good of
free will and moral virtue > evil incurred.
Candide - Leibniz justification is ridiculous.
, Leibniz says that laws of nature are necessary in BPW. The good of natural order is
greater than natural evil.
There is way too much evil for this to be the best.
Hume on Induction - Answers - Problem of Induction:
Induction says that future will resemble the past.
- We can't know this by a priori, or by experience. If we say by experience, that
argument is circular.
So induction is irrational, but not to be disposed of.
Hume on Causation - Answers - No necessary connection between cause and effect.
1. Possibility argument says otherwise.
2. We do not observe a causal oomph (so we don't have that idea)
So causation comes from observed regularity.
Objection: Causation is correlation.
Response: Causation is a type of correlation
Hume on Miracles - Answers - 1. Miracle: Violates nature
2. Strong evidence of nature and weak evidence of miracle, so law > miracle
Human testimony:
1. More likely that person is deceived than miracle
2. Tendency to believe miracles
3. Unlearned culture
4. Conflicting miracles
Kant on Metaphysics - Answers - How we come to know: A priori or observation
Types of knowledge:
1. Analytic- Concept containment, true by definition. All bachelors...
2. Synthetic- not true by definition. Cat is on the mat...
Kinds of propositions:
1. Analytic- true by definition
2. Synthetic (a posteriori) on observation
3. Synthetic a priori (x entails y, but does not mean y). Y logically follows from X.
*Hume's mistake.
Synthetic a priori explains math, metaphysics and ethics.
Kantian Ethics - Answers - Deontology: Moral correctness based on maxim of an agent.
Reasons for action: Hypothetical imperative (if x do y), categorical imperative (do z
regardless).
