UQ Final part 3

In The Republic’s “Allegory of the Cave”, what do lightness and

darkness symbolize? Of the people who experience pain in the

transitions from light to dark and dark to light, who does Socrates

believe we should feel more sorry for

Light – knowledge dark- ignorance, feel sorry for someone who has to go back into the cave  

According to Socrates, how are the cave dwellers likely to respond to

the freed prisoner upon his return? What does this suggest about

learning and acquiring knowledge

With ridicule, angry, disbelief. Learning might ostracize u from society/lonely  

What are the three equally probable possibilities about reality

according to Nick Bostrom?

destroy ourselves before technology, get there and get bored, almost certainly living in a simulation.

According to Bostrom does the possibility that we are living in a

simulation eliminate the possibility morality? Why or why not

No becasue its impossible for us to know (or we could still be rewarded or punished)  

What does the Dao De Jing suggest about humans’ ability to

understand the nature of the universe? Use examples of imagery from

the text to support your answer

Humans' ability to understand how the universe works is so limited because it's so vast “dark beyond dark” not discovered and can't be discovered  

What event inspires Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”?

What does he argue that one should do in response and why?

Famine in bengal in 1974, give up to marginal utility, not helping when we can is immoral

Why does Socrates believe knowledge is distinct from true opinion?

What implication does this distinction have for Meno’s question about

how virtue is acquired?

Tied down by reasons, virtue is not knowledge because it cant be taught  

What are the three ways that Meno attempts to define virtue? What

problem does Socrates have with his definition?

Social roles, ability to rule, desire and acquire beautiful things (all justly and moderately) doesn't define a universal definition

What definition of knowledge does Socrates offer? How does he prove

that it is true to Meno

Knowledge is recollection – in us, discovered by effort. The geometry example  

Why does Descartes begin his meditations by doubting

completely anything that admits of even a little uncertainty? How does

he resolve the doubt that he might be dreaming by the end of the text

Wants 100% foundation, resolves by dreams lack continuity oppsosed from real life

According to Descartes, why do humans make mistakes? How

does he reconcile the fact that we are imperfect with the idea that

God’s creation is perfect

The privation of error argument, having imperfect elements makes the whole perfect  

According to Descartes, we have three different kinds of ideas.

Identify and explain the three kinds of ideas he believes we have and

give an example of each

Innate (origin within us) (existance of god), adventitous (adventures/external sourse ex. Fire=hot,) fictitious (combos that make new ideas, horse+Horn=unicorn)

What do Princess Elisabeth and Descartes debate in their

correspondence? Does Descartes successfully prove that the soul is

immaterial? Why or why not

Mind body problem/connection, no, he cant explain how the mind controls the body

St. Thomas Aquinas responds to two objections to the existence

of God with five different proofs. Explain both objections and one of the

proofs he offers

Objections - Problem of evil, Occam's razor (too much assumption for how everything happened)

proofs – intelligent design of natural bodies without intelligence

What does Sartre mean by saying that, for humans, “existence

precedes essence”? How does this relate to his views about the

existence of God?

Were not born with a purpose, we chose our purpose, have to exist to have a purpose, he is an atheist because then god would make a predetermined purpose for everyone  

Explain what Sartre means when he says that we are

“condemned to be free”. Then, describe one example he uses to

illustrate this point.

You are free to chose everything except escaping freedom, tell someone you love them or stay quiet forever

Epictetus believes we should focus on the things we can control.

What does this include? What does he believe lies beyond on our

control? If we focus on what we can control, what does he think will

happen?

Control desires, actions, thoughts, aversions

cant control what other people do say etc, circumstances, our own bodies, who were born into  

have more freedom, peace of mind and emotional stability

Do McGill and Aikin believe that the Stoics were feminists? Why

or why not?

no, because they don’t challenge and accept traditional gender roles

Does Hume believe it is reasonable to believe in testimonial

reports of miracles? Why or why not? List at least 2 of the reasons he

gives to support his view on miracles

No, because human nature (people exaggerate) and bias towards ones religious miracles  

Describe Hume’s theory of mind. Be sure to include how he

divides our various kinds of thoughts and how he believes our thoughts

can be related to one another

Impressions (real experiences) and ideas ideas are copies of impressions but less vivid (exception the color blue theory)  

What does Ruth Chang mean by saying that in hard choices our

options are “on a par”? How does she think we should react to and

decide in hard choices and why?

they are in the same neighborhood of value, we should create our own reasons to not be influenced by outsiders

According to Ruth Chang, what is a drifter? What example of

being a “drifter” does she give from her own life

People who follow others, law school example, going to law school because of outside pressure instead of philosophy which she wanted  

hooks argues that love has many ingredients. What are they?

Which of the ingredients does hooks believe people often mistake as

the whole of love?

Care, trust, honesty, open-communication, affection, recognition, respect commitment, love mistaken for just care and affection 

What part of speech does hooks’ believe we should focus on

when it comes to love and why

Verb because love requires actions and we will love better if its a verb  

In Plato’s The Symposium, several characters give speeches in

praise of Eros, the god of love. Describe at least two of these speeches

and what they suggest about the nature of love

Phaedrus– love makes us do noble things and aristophanes– ‘other half’  

Who is Diotima? What story does she tell Socrates about love/

Eros? How does it inform Socrates’ view of the same topic

the philosopher who taught socrates about love, story about eros is the child of poros and penia, learned that love pushes us to strive for more