PHIL101 EXAM REPORTED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (GRADED A+)

PHIL101 EXAM REPORTED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (GRADED A+) Benefits of studying philosophy -Answer-- If you agree that living well involves asking these deep questions, then philosophy can have a personal value for you and can deepen your quality of life - Study of philosophy is associated strongly with doing well in many post-grad landmarks and tests Philosophy is not western -Answer-- it is a global phenomenon - first examples of philosophy in India - religious speculation was around before philosophy Eastern philosophy -Answer-Example: Ancient Chinese (Tao te Ching) Tao te Ching -Answer--fundamental text of Taoism (founded 4th-5th century BCE) - contains religious and philosophical elements - philosophical side: metaphysics and normative ethics - has religious, metaphysical, normative ethical and scientific elements ***To live well, we should follow the natural order of things Lao Tze -Answer-said author of Tao te Ching, but his existence is doubted 2 senses of Tao -Answer-1. Tao as the ultimate reality 2. Tao as a way of life or path to follow - starts with nature of reality *** to live well, we should follow the natural order of things To live well we should follow the natural order of things -Answer-- filled with contrast, change, opposites, flux and therefore we ought to mirror that in our lives - Act without seeking anything - We have to simply be, not try to be - Reality simply is what it is keywords for Taoist Philosophy -Answer--simple -non-egoistic - accepting of contrasts/ opposites - non-possessive - too passive? leads to passivity? - avoid over-intellectualism - humility - openness - sincerity - naturalness - effortless action - compassion Tao (capital T) -Answer--metaphysical entity -the natural order of things is that the Tao doesn't take sides - does not wear masks or attempt anything or have goals it follows - it simply is tao (lowercase t) -Answer-ethical path one should follow subspecie aeternitatis -Answer-from the point of view of eternity; from the point of view of reality as a whole Taoism -Answer-- most important thing to do is return to simplicity - if you want to live well, you have to recapture the basic simplicity that flows through you Thomas Aquinas -Answer-- Western philosophy - - careful detailed prose to back up their arguments "The Five Ways" -Answer--5 arguments for God's existence -cosmological argument for God's existence - The Allegory of the Cave -Answer-- written by PLATO -represents facets of Plato's theories of knowledge and metaphysics - seen as a metaphor for the search for the true and the good through philosophy - prisoners chained for life against a wall in a cave and can only see shadows of artifacts that are mistaken for real world; if prisoner is released, he will be disoriented; prisoner will pity the prisoners and enlighten them; prisoners will say he is ridiculous for his unconventional truths Aquinas' Second Way -Answer--in order for something to be caused, it has to be caused by something before - you can't have something cause itself - x cannot cause x - it is impossible for things to go back into infinity -you have to have a starting place or there is no way to have a middle or end - God was the first cause - he is powerful enough to be the first uncaused cause that started everything off - God = all powerful, all knowing, all loving, personal being, wants to have agency in human affairs - argument to this: even if Aquinas is right- you have to work further to capture these attributes if you want to prove God is actually real Aquinas' Third Way -Answer-- the argument from contingency and necessity - "Contingent"- capable of existing or not existing (opposite of necessary) - come into being at a particular point and eventually will pass away and disintegrate (almost all things on the planets)- humans, computers, everything is not necessary - prior existing things have to exist before anything comes along -if you have pure void, pure nothingness-nothing can exist because nothing existed prior - non-being- being is NOT possible - if there was ever a complete void, nothing would be in existence -thought of void is false because there is existing things - there ARE necessary things in the universe ** there must be a being that is necessary itself-- necessarily existing which is GOD Aquinas' Fourth Way -Answer-- the argument from degrees of excellence - assumption there is an absolute best/most in order to understand what is more or less - things that can be more or less includes being, truth, goodness, nobility - there has to be an absolute which causes all things in the hierarchy - this source of absolute being, truth, goodness, nobility is GOD - highest degree must exist and be the source of all things- GOD Aquinas' Fifth Way -Answer-- if these things happen predictably, there must be some purpose - nature reliability - achieve certain ends and have certain habits, but have no minds, so they are guided by something that does have a mind - GOD The Watch and the Watchmaker (The Design Argument) -Answer-- Written by WILLIAM PALEY - an argument from analogy: the world and things in it are sufficiently similar to the watch for us to conclude that, like the watch, the world must have a designer **key principle: where there is order and complexity, the best explanation for how that came about is that it was designed by a mind A Critique of the Teleological Design Argument -Answer-- written by DAVID HUME - Philo's argument? Critique #1 (Hume) -Answer-if we take the analogy seriously/ strictly then we cannot say that the cosmic mind infinite because our minds are not infinite Critique #2 (Hume) -Answer-If we take the analogy seriously, then we cannot say that the cosmic mind is perfect or free from error Critique #3 (Hume) -Answer-it just as easily could have been MANY cosmic designers of reality instead of one single God Critique #4 (Hume) -Answer-are there even reasons to think that the cosmic mind (minds) are benevolent, moral, or good-willed?