PHIL 230- TODD LONG FINAL UPDATED ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS

PHIL 230- TODD LONG FINAL UPDATED ACTUAL
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS

Question:
1. Skeptical Scenarios
Answer:
Rene Descartes- a situation that when in it you do not know as much as you think you do
Knowledge (belief, truth, justification)

Question:
2. Rene Descartes
Answer:
-"Father of modern philosophy"
-modernism (idea that utopia was important)
-too much uncertainty about facts of knowledge
-certainty
-start a new strong/ firm foundation for knowledge (house)

Question:
3. 4 rules for D's Mediations
Answer:
1. never accept anything as true unless it's clearly and distinctly true
2. divide problems analytically (into their parts)
3. Go from the simple to the complex
4. be complete (don't leave out any steps of your reasoning, even if you think it's obvious)

Question:
4. Meditation One (reconstruction of these ideas)
Answer:
-senses, dreaming, evil demon (arguments)

Question:
5. Senses Argument
Answer:
-no belief based on the sense can go in the "foundation" (no certainty from the senses, sometimes they
deceive us)
1. my senses are faculties that have misled me in the past (into believing falsehood)
2. all faculties that have misled me in the past are not trustworthy as a certain indication of truth
3. my senses are not trustworthy as a certain indication of truth [1,2]
4. If (3), then none of the beliefs I have based on sense perception is certain for me
C. none of the beliefs i have base don sense perception is certain for me [3,4] (VALID)

Question:
6. Dream Argument

,Answer:
-there's no certainty whether you're awake or asleep (dreaming)
-can't distinguish between reality and dreams
1. there are no certain indications that distinguish waking experiences from dreaming experiences
2. if 1 than I don't know for certain that I'm awake right now
3. i don't know for certain that I'm awake right now [1,2]
4. if 3 then none of the beliefs I have based on what I take to be waking experience is certain for me
5. none of the beliefs that have based on what I take to be waking experience is certain for me [3,4]
6. if 5 then none of the scientific /empirical law is certain for me
C. none of the scientific/empirical law is certain for me [5,6]

Question:
7. Evil Demon Argument
Answer:
-there is a being powerful enough to control the world, so there can be something evil that is deceiving him
as much as possible
-D doesn't believe there's an evil genius
1. it's possible that i'm being deceived as much as possible by an evil genus/demon
2. If (1), then i can't tell for certain, which, if any, of my beliefs are true
3. i can't tell for certain, which, if any, of my beliefs are true [1,2]
4. if (3), then i know nothing for certain
C. I know nothing for certain [3,4] (VALID, fails conclusive premises test b/c #2 is false)

Question:
8. Meditation Two
Answer:
First proposition of certainty-I exist He is certain that he exists because he convinced himself that nothing
is certain and to convince himself this, he must exist (I think therefore I am) He has no reason to doubt his
existence
He does not know what he is, just that he exists

Question:
9. Wax and Knowledge
Answer:
A piece of wax changes due to temperature, and other outside factors, so how can we know what defines
wax if the properties based on our senses are always changing?
Senses don't give knowledge-mind is prone to error
The wax is a body, not the physical characteristics of the body-the necessary conditions to be wax are
unknown
Anything that is wax is extended, changeable, and flexible (properties of the wax)

Question:
10. Meditation Two
Answer:
N: Nothing is certain KN: N is certain Q: Is N true? No, because it says that there is something that is
certain even though N says "nothing is certain"
- So if N is true, KN CANNOT be true (he knows for certain that he exists)

, Question:
11. Cogito Passage
Answer:
Cogito-i think
I think therefore I am

Question:
12. Argument Interpretation for Cogito Passage
Answer:
Q1: Whats the 1st proposition known for certain?
- I exist Q2: What make that proposition known for certain?
1. i think
2. anything that thinks exists
C. I exist (Fails circularity test-- inorder to be certain about his existence he has to first know the premisses
with certainty therefore 1 and 2 can't be true) Q3: What intellectual transformation does Descartes undergo
in the passage?
- he comes to know with certainty that he exists and thereby gains a foundation for knowledge

Question:
13. Epistemic Discovery Interpretation for Cogito Passage
Answer:
Q1: Whats the 1st proposition known for certain?
- I exist Q2: What make that proposition known for certain?
- not only reasons (premises) he discovers but rather the intuition (rational insight) that he has no reason to
doubt his own existence Q3: What intellectual transformation does Descartes undergo in the passage?
- he comes to notice that even the strongest, most ultimate reason to doubt is not a reason to doubt his own
existence

Question:
14. URD and SURD (from Descartes' cogito passage)
Answer:
URD: Ultimate Reason to Doubt
- something is deceiving ME as much as possible
- implies his existence SURD: Super Ultimate Reason to Doubt
- there is as much deception as possible
- still implies something to deceive
-it could even be that his existence is a deception

Question:
15. The Matrix- Descartes
Answer:
Propositions: I have hands Earth Exists I'm eating noodles B T J B T J B T J Matrix - - - - - - - - Dreaming -
- - - - - - - Evil Genius - - - - - -

Question:
16. Meditation 3