MC

Philosophy Lecture Review Session Notes

Introduction to Philosophy Lecture Review Session

Instructor Information

  • Professor: Matthew Coates

Midterm Details

Exam Significance

  • The midterm exam will be conducted in class on Tuesday, 21st October.

Structure of the Midterm

  • Duration: 1 hour and 15 minutes
  • Location: Same room as regular classes
  • Format:
    • Closed book exam
    • Sections:
    • First Section: Multiple Choice Questions (approximately 15 questions)
    • Second Section: Short Answer Questions (approximately 7 questions)
      • Derived from weekly short answer exercises
      • Includes specific focus on validating and soundness of arguments and each of the major questions covered in the course.

What to Prepare

  • The short answer questions will focus on key topics and will include:
    • Validity and Soundness
    • One question concerning each of the major philosophical questions discussed throughout the semester.
    • Clear point values for each part of each question will be noted in the exam instructions.

Required Materials for the Exam

  • Bring writing materials, preferably a Blue Book (can be acquired on campus).
  • Whatever you choose to write should be securely bound/stapled.

Accommodations

  • Students who require accommodations must inform the professor and the Testing Center as soon as possible.
  • In the event of inability to attend the class or undertake the exam on the assigned date, students are urged to notify the instructor immediately.

Content Coverage for the Midterm

Module 1: How to Do Philosophy

  • Focus on arguments: Validity and Soundness (1 Short Answer Question).

Module 2: The Big Questions

  • Big Question 1: What Do We Know? (1 Short Answer Question)
    • Discuss Descartes' ideas on Skepticism
    • Review Moore’s Anti-Skepticism
  • Big Question 2: What is Consciousness? (1 Short Answer Question)
    • Address the Hard Problem of Consciousness
    • Discuss Materialism vs. Dualism, and Sentience of Animals and Robots (1 Short Answer Question)
  • Big Question 3: Who Are We and How Do We Persist? (1 Short Answer Question)
    • Exploration of object persistence
  • Big Question 4: Do We Have Free Will? (1 Short Answer Question)
    • Analyze Determinism and Free Will
    • Address Compatibilism

Study Topics to Focus On

What You Should Know

  1. Good Arguments

    • Validity and Soundness
    • Key concepts:
      • Validity: Defined rigorously, an argument is valid if all its premises being true necessitate the truth of its conclusion.
      • Soundness: A valid argument that also has true premises, thus guaranteeing the truth of its conclusion.

  2. Skepticism

    • Relevant to Descartes’ belief in skepticism with examples including:
      • Dream Argument and Demon Argument
      • Cogito Argument and the Wax Argument supporting Rationalism
      • Distinction between Rationalism and Empiricism

  3. The Hand Argument

    • Moore’s Hand Argument contextualized within the theme of Epistemological and Ontological Idealism advocated by Berkeley.
    • Explore Moore’s counterpoints against skepticism, incorporating Empiricism and Verificationism.

  4. Consciousness

    • Explore what it is to experience consciousness through questions like "What is it like to be a bat?"
    • Differentiation between Easy Problems and the Hard Problem of Consciousness.
    • Identify and evaluate positions on Dualism vs. Materialism.
    • Discuss the Turing Test and the Chinese Room Argument regarding robot consciousness, including ethical implications from the Precautionary Principle.

  5. Persistence

    • Concepts of Identity and Persistence in objects through various philosophical lenses:
      • Endurance vs. Perdurance
      • Psychological Criterion (Locke), Psychological Connectedness (Parfit)
      • Critical definitions across Endurantism, Perdurantism, and the Stage View of objects.

  6. Free Will

    • Define free will: understanding that it encompasses alternative options, choices based on desire and will, without external constraints.
    • Analyze Determinism: the assertion that actions are predetermined by external conditions.
    • Breakdown the fundamental arguments stemming from determinism leading to Incompatibilism and Compatibilism.
    • Examine the competing positions:
      • Hard Determinism: No free will exists.
      • Libertarianism: Free will exists beyond determinism.
      • Compatibilism: Free will can coexist with determinism under certain conditions.

Summary of What You Don’t Need to Know

  • You are not required to know the specifics of Module 1 beyond validity and soundness.
  • Exclude relevance of topics like Gettier cases, writing structured philosophical papers, or motivations for engaging in philosophy.

Concepts Association with Individuals

  • Skepticism and Descartes
  • Empiricism linked to Hume
  • Ontological Idealism tied to Berkeley
  • Anti-Skepticism associated with Moore
  • Verificationism credited to Carnap
  • Hard Problem of Consciousness attributed to Chalmers
  • Dualism as per Chalmers
  • Chinese Room explained by Searle
  • Psychological Criterion of Identity by Locke, Psychological Connectedness by Parfit, Perdurance discussed by David Lewis, Compatibilism by Frankfurt.

Review Topics on Validity and Soundness

Definitions

  • Validity: An argument is valid if and only if when all premises are true, the conclusion must also be true. For instance:
    • Example:
    • Socrates is a man. All men are mortal. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
    • Here, the structure guarantees the truth of the conclusion provided the premises are true.

Argument Structure

  • Example A illustrates the validity in arguments against determinism and free will, presented schematically as:
    • (If p, then not q. q. Therefore, not p)
  • Validity is assessed in patterned structures, allowing for the focus on logical connections.

Summary of Validity

  • Understanding that a valid argument can still possess false conclusions or premises. An example:
    • If I am a spider, then the moon is made of green cheese. I am a spider. Therefore, the moon is made of green cheese.

Definition of Soundness

  • An argument is sound if it can be established as valid AND all its premises hold true.
    • Example:
    • All dogs are animals. Labradors are a type of dog. Therefore, a Labrador is an animal.

Implications of Soundness

  • A good argument is one that is sound,
  • To critique an argument, chisel away at premises' truth to challenge the conclusion's reliability.

The Moorean Shift Analysis

  • A critical examination of skepticism surrounding Moore’s argument against the dreaming hypothesis.
  • Establishing the validity of Moore’s rejoinder, wherein he rebuts skepticism by claiming his knowledge of his own hands.
  • Moore's strategic reformulation demonstrates the interconnectedness of skeptic and non-skeptic foundations in philosophy.

Persistence Concepts

Endurantism vs. Perdurantism

  • Endurantism posits that an object exists fully at each moment in time while Perdurantism expands the definition of identity to include a 4-dimensional existence across time.
  • Understanding how we perceive objects from temporal perspectives and the implications of those perceptions on their identity at different times.

Connections Between Perspectives

  • Discuss how qualitative similarities across different temporal parts of an object, like a banana’s ripeness stages, justify the perception of its identity across time.
  • Examine how Stage theory emphasizes identity through relations while rejecting strict identity between states over time.

The Debate on Free Will

Fundamental Positions

  • Defining free will as a control over actions, embedding concepts of choices and origin.
  • Recognizing determinism's challenge to free will, causing divergence into Incompatibilist views (Hard Determinism and Libertarianism) versus Compatibilism’s reconciliatory approach.

Ethical Implications

  • Discussing responsibilities based on the acceptance or rejection of determinism’s hold on free will, underscoring societal values tied to moral accountability.
  • Questioning the validity of societal constructs surrounding responsibility if conditions of determinism negate individual agency.