Philosophy Exam 1 Study Guide
Study Guide:
Assigned Reading 1: The Chewbacca Defense: A South Park Logic Lesson
Definitions for deductive and inductive arguments
Deductive arguments - the speaker intends the conclusion to follow the premises with absolute certainty; if all premises are true the conclusion must be true without any doubt
Inductive arguments - the speaker intends the conclusion to follow from the premises with the probability or likelihood such that, if all the premises are true, then the conclusion probably or likely is true, but it is still possible the conclusion is false
Distinctive features of the red herring, hasty generalization, slippery slope, false dilemma, argument from inappropriate authority, and ad hominem fallacies
Red herring - someone uses claims and arguments that have nothing to do with the issue in order to get someone to draw a conclusion they believe to be true
Hasty generalization - a person fallaciously draws a conclusion about characteristics of a whole group based upon premises concerning characteristics of a small sample of the group
Slippery slope - when one inappropriately concludes that some further chain of events, ideas, or beliefs will follow from some initial event, idea, or belief and thus we should reject the initial event, idea, or belief
False dilemma - fallacy of concluding something based upon premises that include only two options, when, in fact there are three or more options
Argument from inappropriate authority - fallacy that sounds like what it is, incorrectly drawing a conclusion from premises based upon a non-credible, non-qualified, or illegitimate authority figure
Ad hominem fallacies - someone concludes that a person’s claims or arguments are false or not worth listening to because of premises that concern an attack on the actions, personality, or ideology of the person putting forward the claim or argument
Assigned Reading 2: A Certain Point of View: Lying Jedi, Honest Sith, and the Viewers Who Love Them
Details of the Buddha’s Parable of the House of Fire
Wealthy man’s house catches fire
Children are oblivious and ignore their father and play with their toys as house burns around them
Tells kids there are carts driven by their favorite animals outside and they listen and go outside
No carts were found but instead they were carriages to carry them to safety
Buddha asks his disciple if he is guilty of falsehood
It saved their life
Know answer to the question of why the Jedi can justify some forms of lying
Believe it is for the greater good
To keep their power
Assigned Reading 3: Cartmanland and the Problem of Evil
Know why the Story of Job does not appear to constitute an objective to the Problem of Evil
An example of someone continuing to believe in God despite suffering horrendous evil, but it does not challenge a specific premise of the argument
General details of the “You Are Up There!” response to the Problem of Evil
Had to give Cartman perfect happiness for a brief period and then rip it away
Certain goods can only be accomplished by allowing evils as long as the goof outweighs the evil
General details of John Hick’s response to the Problem of Evil
God allows evil to exist so that you can respond to it, thus developing and perfecting our characters
No point in existence if God fixed everything
Not be allowed to learn and grow which is very important
Assigned Reading 4: I Am an Instrument of God: Religious Belief, Atheism, and Meaning
Definition for ex nihilo nihil fit
“Out of nothing, nothing comes”
Supports the notion that something had to exist out of which the universe came to be
Difference between moral evils and natural evils
Moral evils - misuse of free will; those who make “bad calls” can be held responsible
Natural evils - do not result from intentions or negligence
Proposed explanation for religious belief suggested by J.J.C. Smart
Ultimate ego-booster
Definition of nihilism
Belief that existence is meaningless in the absence of objective value, although it can certainty lead to it
Assigned Reading 5: Talking Trees and Walking Mountains: Buddhist and Taoist Themes in The Lord of the Rings
Three ways Tolkien’s themes connect up with Buddhist thought
Treatment of nature; sentience found not only in humans
Emphasis on the relationship of individuals have with nature
Emphasis on mentoring; Learn from a host of sources
One way Tolkien’s themes connect up with Taoist thought
Presents a view of opposites; two opposing forces exist in balance
Assigned Reading 6: You Know, I Learned Something Today: Stan March and the Ethics of Belief
Under what conditions W.K. Clifford contends it is wrong to believe some claim
Wrong to believe anything upon sufficient evidence
Distinction between prudential reasons and evidential reasons
Prudential reasons - reason to believe something if it makes you better off
Evidential reasons - believe in something if there is evidence to believe in it
Assigned Reading 7: Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole: Knowledge, Reality, and the Pit of Skepticism
Definition of skeptic
Person who believes that we can never be absolutely sure what the world is really like
Definition for Cogito ergo sum
“I think therefore I am”
Definition for naive realism
The world outside our minds basically matches our perceptions of it
Powerpoint 1
Definition of philosophy
Love of wisdom, devoted to understanding the fundamental nature of everything
Two methods employed in philosophy
Conceptual analysis - insisting on clarity in our ideas, thoughts, and words
Rational argumentation - insisting that every claim we might be inclined to accept as true is logically supported with sufficient evidence
Standard method for teaching philosophy
Historically based with readings from the philosophical canon
Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes
Two problems with the standard approach
Philosophical issues always contain historically important elements, but are always contemporary in some important sense
Historical readings in philosophy can be extraordinary difficult for undergraduates and nonprofessionals to understand
Definition of pop culture
Refers to the people’s culture in any given society
Film, literature, music
Three advantages to using pop culture to teach philosophy
Pop culture is immediately accessible and vivid to students
Philosophy permeates pop culture
Many cutting edge philosophical questions and answers can be found within pop culture
Three student learning outcomes for Philosophy and Pop Culture
Students will be able to identify philosophical claims found within pop culture
Students will be able to identify metaphysical, epistemic, and axiological aspects of these claims
Students will be able to evaluate the philosophical acceptability of these claims
Three main sub-disciplines of philosophy
Metaphysics - study of the ultimate nature of reality
Epistemology - study of knowledge itself
Axiology - study of value itself
Powerpoint 2
Both definitions for logic
Study of the correct rules of reasoning
Study of arguments, with the goal of distinguishing good arguments from bad arguments
Definition of argument
Set of sentences some of which - the premises
Are supposed to provide sufficient evidence for believing one another - the conclusion
Conditions for argument to be good argument
Has to be logical with true premises
Conditions for logical argument
If all the premises of the argument were true, then the conclusion of the argument would be more reasonable to accept rather than reject
Conditions for premise of argument to be true premise
Given everything I know to be true about the premise, it is more reasonable for me to accept the premise is truth than reject it as false
Definition of informal fallacy
Logical error in an argument
Powerpoint 3
Definition of metaphysics
Study of the ultimate nature of reality
Definition of philosophy of personal identity
Study of what is necessary and sufficient for some past, present, or future self to be you
Keep it real
Powerpoint 4
5 aspects of the concepts of God
X is God
God is an intelligent entity who created the universe
God is omnipotent
God is omniscient
God is omnipresent
God is omnibenevolent
Premises of the Problem of Evil argument against existence of God
If God omnipotent, then God could rid the world of evil
If God is omniscient, then God would know how to rid the world of evil
If God is omnibenevolent, then God would want to rid the world of evil
There is evil in the world
Premises of the Design Argument for the existence of God
The universe is exactly like a watch in that it is orderly and is fine-tuned to serve human needs
If there exists a watch, then there must exist a watchmaker
Powerpoint 5
Definition for axiology
Study of value itself
Definition of ethics
Study of right and wrong action
Distinction between descriptive terms and normative terms
Descriptive - merely depict objects or events in the world as having certain publicly accessible properties - example: might depict what an object looks like or when an event happened (apple is red, WW2 began in 1939)
Normative or value laden - describe objects or events in the world, they also tell us how we ought to treat the object in question or how we ought to respond to the event - example: nope was a “terrifying” movie (if nope is terrifying and we don’t like to be scared, that implies that we shouldn’t watch that movie)
Three epistemic questions related to values
Is the source of all or some value claims purely objective?
Is the source of all or some value claims purely subjective?
Is the source of all or some value claims somewhere in between?
Metaphysical and epistemic aspects of Pure Objectivism (Platonism)
Metaphysical - all value terms refer to objects in some reality that is inaccessible to us by way of our senses, the realm of the forms
Epistemic - we know to what objects value terms refer via the fact that our reason is in continual intellectual contact with the above mentioned reality
Metaphysical and epistemic aspects of Pure Subjectivism (Humeanism)
Metaphysical - all value terms refer to our own personal attitudes toward various objects, events, individuals, etc.
Epistemic - we know to what objects value terms refer via the fact that we have direct access to our own personal attitudes
Powerpoint 7
Definition for epistemology
Study of knowledge itself
Definition for philosophy of science
Study of scientific knowledge and critical inquiry into the scientific method
5 possible sources of knowledge
Sensory experience - believing some claim because you saw something, heard something, etc.
Memory - believing some claim because you remember its being true
Testimony - believing some claim because you read about it or were told it was true by someone else
Introspection - believing some claim because the claim is about what is going on in your own mind, e.g., what you are currently thinking or currently feeling
Reason - believing some claim because you logically inferred it was true
Definition for rationalism
Reason is the only true source of knowledge
Definition for empiricism
Sensory experience is the only true source of knowledge
Two problems with rationalism
It sounds metaphysically spooky - that is, it seems to allow the possibility that I could know very specific facts about literary history without doing any research at all
Our intuitions are easily contaminated by non-evidential factors - i.e., by aspects of our culture, upbringing, education, current emotional states, personal biases, desires, etc.
Two problems with empiricism
It sounds metaphysically incomplete - that is, it does not seem to be able to account for knowledge we have of logical or mathematical truths, claims about the future, claims about unobservable entities, or even claims about empirical knowledge itself
Our experiences are also easily contaminated by non-evidential factors
I.e., by aspects of our psychology, by personal expectations, by changes in normal perceiving conditions, by biases and desires, by the drunken state of the speaker and/or the drunken state of ourselves, etc.
Powerpoint 8
Distinction between local and global skepticism
Local skepticism - view that we lack knowledge of a certain specific claim or of a set of claims that are related in some way
Global skepticism - view that no one knows anything or that there is almost nothing that anyone truly knows
Premises of the Matrix Argument for global skepticism
In order for me to have any knowledge (other than that I exist), I have to know that I am not in the Matrix
I don’t know that I am not in the Matrix