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PHIL 1000
Study Questions


A. What is philosophy?
1. What is the etymology of the term 'philosophy'?
2. According to Dr. Stufflebeam, doing philosophy requires which two things? Is doing
philosophy often a matter of determining what is most reasonable to believe?
3. What sort of questions do philosophers attempt to resolve? What are the features of these
questions? How do those questions differ from empirical ones?
4. What is the definition for each subfield of philosophy?
5. What are metaphysical questions? What are epistemological questions? What are moral
questions? Give (or be able to identify) some specific examples of each.
6. What are some common misconceptions about philosophy?
7. What is an argument? What are the parts of every argument? What is the difference
between an argument expressed in prose and an argument expressed in standard form.
8. Must the conclusion of an argument expressed in prose be explicit? Must the evidence?
9. State the RIFUT Rule. What is it a rule for? What may we say about an argument that
violates this rule? What may we say about an argument that does not? Which errors in
reasoning violate the 'R' criterion, the 'I' criterion, the 'F' criterion, etc.?
10. Define: 'cogent', 'fallacy', 'non sequitur', 'ad hominem', 'ad populum', 'appeal to authority',
etc.
11. Given a passage in prose that contains a fallacious argument, be able to identify its
conclusion, its evidence (premises), the fallacy it commits, and which part(s) of the RIFUT
Rule it violates.
12. What are the four periods in the history of Western philosophy? In which period was
Socrates, Plato, ..., Anselm, ...., and so on for each philosopher we studied?
13. Who was Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle? What was their relation to one another?
14. Why was Socrates on trial? What were the specific charges against him? How does he
defend himself against those charges? What is the outcome of his trial?
15. Of the two classes of accusers Socrates identifies during his trial, which class worries him
the most? Why?

B. Does God exist?

16. Know the difference between religion and philosophy of religion, between natural theology
and revealed theology, and between a theist and an atheist.
17. What is the traditional conception of God? What are the divine attributes? What is the
problem of evil in relation to the divine attributes? How is free-will used to solve this
problem? Does it? Explain.
18. What is the traditional analysis of the concept of person? Is being a human being
necessary? Why does it matter whether something is a person?
19. Explain the difference between cosmological arguments, teleological arguments, and
ontological arguments for the existence of God.
20. Reconstruct St. Anselm's argument. What kind of argument is it? Is the argument cogent?
Explain.
21. Reconstruct St. Aquinas' "2nd way." What kind of argument is it? Is the argument cogent?
Explain. At best, what does the argument establish?
22. Reconstruct Paley's argument. What kind of argument is it? Is the argument cogent?
Explain.
23. About analogical reasoning, Hume says: "Now it is certain that the liker the effects which
are seen and the liker the causes which are inferred, the stronger the argument. Every
departure on either side diminishes the probability and renders the experiment less
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conclusive. You cannot doubt the principle; neither ought you to reject its consequences"
(p. 77). How do proponents of the teleological argument draw an analogy between watches,
houses, ships, and cities to the universe? For Hume, what are the problems with using
evidence about the causes of such man-made things to claim that God is the cause/creator
of the universe?
24. What is anthropomorphism?

C. Is knowledge possible?
25. What fundamental epistemological questions are raised in the movie The Matrix? As it
occurs in the movie, what is a matrix? How is being in a matrix like being a brain in a vat?
Can you know that you are not now connected to a matrix or a disembodied brain in a vat?
26. Generally speaking, what two types of knowledge are there? How is each type of
knowledge expressed? Which type of knowledge is of particular interest to philosophers?
27. What is the traditional analysis of the concept of (propositional) knowledge? What are the
three necessary conditions that must be met for someone to know that something is true?
Give a nontrivial example of something you know.
28. What is the difference between rationalism and empiricism? What kind of theories are
they? Who was a rationalist? Who was an empiricist?
29. With respect to a theory of knowledge, what is Descartes trying to discover? Why? What
does he discover? Explain the role doubt plays in doing so.
30. What are innate ideas? Do we posses any?
31. According to Locke, how do we acquire knowledge and ideas? What is the name for this
epistemological view? With respect to innate ideas, how does this view differ from
rationalism? According to Locke, what types of knowledge are there?
32. According to Russell, what kinds of things can be true or false? What are the three
conditions a theory of truth must meet? Which theory of truth does Russell defend? What
are the two major difficulties with the coherence theory of truth? What is the
correspondence theory of truth?

D. What makes you you and me me?

33. The problem of personal identity is really three problems. What are they? What kinds of
problems are they? (Epistemological? Metaphysical?) Explain. What is the relation of
minds to those problems?
34. Know 'the sameness of soul criterion', 'the sameness of body or brain criterion', 'the
continuity of memory (or consciousness) criterion', and 'the psychological continuity
criterion'. What are these criteria for? Identify one problem with (or counterexample to the
necessity of) each criterion. Which criterion do you believe is the best answer? Defend
your view.
35. Explain the meaning of dualism (or 'Cartesian dualism'). What is the relation between
dualism and the sameness of soul criterion of personal identity? Is dualism a metaphysical
view or an epistemological one? Explain. What is monism? What types of monisms are
there? Is monism a metaphysical view or an epistemological one?
36. What is the mind-body problem? Is it a problem for dualists or monists (or both)?
37. What is a category mistake? Give an example of a category mistake not discussed in class
or in the text. According to Ryle, what is the category mistake committed by dualists?
38. Who was Phineas Gage and what happened to him? The case of Phineas Gage is
evidence FOR which of the criteria of personal identity? The case of Phineas Gage is
evidence AGAINST (or a counterexample to) which of the criteria of personal identity?
39. What is a transorbital lobotomy? The effects of this procedure offer evidence against which
criterion/criteria of personal identity? Explain.
40. According to Locke, what makes you the same individual today that you were yesterday,
last year, etc.? Explain.
41. Explain the "gallant officer" objection (or counterexample) to Locke's view of personal
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identity. Is this objection fatal to Locke's view? Explain.
42. Why does Hume deny the existence of the self? According to Hume what is the self really?
43. Suppose you step on the scanner at Site A. In Case 1, is the person who steps of the pad
at Site B you? What about in Case 2? Defend your answers using your knowledge of the
four theories of personal identity we explored.
44. What fundamental epistemological questions are raised in the movie Total Recall? After
he turned on the machine that creates the atmosphere, who is the guy with Melina
standing on the surface of mars: Quaid or Houser? In your answer, defend a theory of
personal identity we explored.

E. How can we know whether something has a mind?
45. What is the main philosophical problem of other minds? Is it a metaphysical problem or an
epistemological one?
46. Russell: What is the argument from analogy for other minds? Why do we use it?
47. What is a function? What is the difference between a functional description (or analysis)
and a physical one? Illustrate this difference using an example not discussed in class (and
using the black box metaphor).
48. What is functionalism? What is the computer metaphor? What is multiple realiziability?
49. What is the relation between functions and programs? How does implementing a function
bear upon whether something is a computer?
50. What is the Turing Test? How is the test related to the problem of other minds? Explain
how the test works, who the participants are, etc. What is it supposed to be a test of? What
was Turing's prediction? Do you think the test does what it is supposed to do? (HINT: The
Turing Test and the Imitation Game are NOT the same thing.)
51. Is the Flash mind reader, Larry Learner, Deep Blue, or Eliza intelligent? Explain why or
why not.
52. Explain Searle's distinctions between STRONG AI and WEAK AI. With which view does he
have a problem?
53. Explain Searle's Chinese room thought experiment. What is the relation between what
goes on in this room and what goes on in a digital computer? On the basis of this
experiment, what does Searle conclude about whether computers have minds and whether
cognition is computation? Do you agree with Searle? Explain why or why not.
54. What is the robot objection and Searle's reply? Does his reply meet the objection?
55. Nagel: What is reductionism? How does he characterize consciousness? Does he believe
that consciousness can be reduced? Explain why or why not.
56. What is the main metaphysical question explored in the movie Bicentennial man and the
TV episode The measure of a man? Using evidence from the movie and the TV episode,
would Andrew Martin and Lt.Cmdr. Data pass the Turing Test? Explain why or why not. On
the traditional analysis of person, are Andrew and Data persons? Explain why or why not.

F. How should we tell right from wrong?
57. What is ethics?
58. Explain the difference between moral objectivism and moral nonobjectivism. Of the ethical
theories we explored, which were objectivist and which were nonobjectivist?
59. What is ethical (moral) relativism?
60. What is the difference between cultural relativism and ethical relativism? Explain why all
types of ethical relativism are types of moral nonobjectivism. Is it possible for someone to
be an ethical relativist and to believe in human rights or that some actions are objectively
right or wrong? Explain.
61. What was the significance of Herodotus' story of the Callatians and Greeks comparing
funerary practices?
62. What does Ruth Benedict call actions that fall outside the limits of expected behavior for a
particular society? Identify 3 examples Benedict cites of behavior that is normal in one
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society but abnormal/deviant in another. Identify 3 more examples of such behavior not
mentioned by Benedict.
63. For Ruth Benedict, what is morality? Do you agree with Benedict that It is morally good' is
synonymous with 'It is habitual'? Explain.
64. According to James Rachels, what is the "cultural differences argument"? What are his
main criticisms of this argument?
65. Citing the practices of Eskimos, Rachels defends the idea that there is less disagreement
than it seems. How?
66. What is the difference between psychological egoism and ethical egoism? Which is
descriptive and which is normative? Explain why the latter is a type of consequentialism
(and hence a type of moral nonobjectivism).
67. Who was Gyges and what did he do? How is his behavior consistent with ethical egoism?
How does Glaucon use the story of Gyges to illustrate the origin of justice?
68. Which moral theory does the character Sebastian Caine exemplify in the movie Hollow
Man? Explain how.
69. How does Hobbes characterize human life in the "state of nature"? Who does he cite as
people living in the state of nature? How is human life in the state of nature consistent with
ethical egoism? According to Hobbes, what is required to bring humans out of the state of
nature? Do you agree? Explain why or why not.
70. Pojman: What is the difference between individual ethical egoism and universal ethical
egoism? What are his major criticisms of each type? Explain the sociobiological study
involving "Suckers," "Cheaters," and "Grudgers." Who does Mackie say are the egoists, the
Christians, and the reciprocal altruists. In terms of self-interest, what is the difference
between ethical egoism and reciprocal altruism?
71. What is a virtue? What does Aristotle mean by happiness and how is it related to
morality? What does he say is necessary for us to achieve happiness? For Aristotle, is
happiness a momentary feeling of pleasure? Explain.
72. For Aristotle, how does reason determine right action? How is this related to the general
principle that virtuous action is a mean between extremes? Illustrate.
73. Why is Kant's ethics a type of moral objectivism? For Kant, an action is right only if what?
74. What is an imperative? For Immanuel Kant, imperatives may be either categorical or
hypothetical. Give an example of a hypothetical imperative.
75. State the categorical imperative (CI). Give an example of the CI being used.
76. Why is utilitarianism a type of moral nonobjectivism? Why is it a type of consequentialism?
77. What is the Greatest Happiness Principle (GHP)? What does it mean both in terms of
quantity and quality? In relation to 'utilities' and 'disutilities', explain how is it used to
determine whether an action is moral.
78. Is utilitarianism consistent with moral egoism? What does Mill say on the subject?
79. What is the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism? Which type was
Mill's?
80. What is the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism.
81. Identify at least one strength and one major criticism of each moral theory we studied.
82. Which ethical theory do you find to be the most satisfactory: ethical relativism, moral
egoism, Kant's ethics, or utilitarianism? Explain.
83. Are the philosophical issues raised in Star Trek: Nemesis mainly epistemological or
metaphysical? What philosophical issues concerning personal identity are raised in the
movie? Using evidence from the movie, would Lt. Cmdr. Data pass the Turing Test?
Explain why or why not. On the traditional analysis of person, is Lt. Cmdr. Data a person?
Explain why or why not.