Phil 1223/IAS 1223: Introduction to Asian Philosophy

Review for Second Exam

The exam will be April 17.

We will begin promptly at the start of class. Please arrive on time.

Your exam will address all of the material we have covered since the first exam. It
will, that is, address Kupperman, chapters 5-8 and the readings from: the Analects,
the Mencius, the Daodejing, and the Zhuangzi.

Basic Concepts and Vocabulary

As on the first exam, you should work to master the terminology and concepts
through which the philosophical ideas are expressed. Below is a list of some of the
most important concepts. You should have a sufficient command of these terms that
you can answer questions about how they feature in various philosophies and
readily understand questions that employ them. You should also know which text
employs each concept as part of its philosophical claims and how the concept is
employed.

Philosophical Concepts:
Ren – innate altruistic goodness
filiality (xiao) – filial piety toward living parents.
roles
 Father to son – kindness from father, filial piety from son
 Big bro to lil bro – politeness in older, humility in younger
 Husband to wife – benevolent husband, listening wife
 Elder to junior – consideration among elders and deference among juniors
 Ruler to subject – benevolence from rulers, loyalty amongst subjects
junzi – gentleman; traits: does things in moderation, courageous, following the way
 courageous and well-mannered compared to small people
ritual (li) – traditions that nurture virtues; can draw people together if performed
genuinely
ritual vs. law – Confucians placed higher emphasis on ritual versus law
dao
 Confucian way of life so engrained that it is natural to behave with virtue,
following rituals.
 Daoist dao: natural dynamic and patterns in which the world unfolds and
operates
o Includes primitive emotional structures of humanity
four sprouts – emotions that lead to good actions, with consistence turn into virtues
 Compassion  benevolence
o Child in well.
 Disdain  righteousness – even beggars won’t eat trampled food
o Money from corruption is not worth it.
 Deference  propriety (ritual) – respect is natural
 Approval/disapproval  wisdom – knowing right from wrong
human nature
 Mengzi believed that we all have sprouts of goodness that can turn into
virtues. This was new and not from Confucius.
 Daoist belief is that human nature is good per se.
impartial care (Mohists)
 Utility-based morals – filiality stupid because we should care of everyone
 Objected to Confucian funerals b/c of elaborate 25 month mourning period
 Regarded Confucian ritual as often impractical and wasteful
Yangists –
 best to live natural nature
 look out for the self (ethical egoism)
 believed that ritual was not of genuine intentions
o therefore putting us in harm’s way, being unsatisfied
o (Mencius argued that virtue is natural.)
thought experiment – hypothetical scenarios, e.g. child dangling over well
giveaway argument – behaviors that tell true feelings, flashes of benevolent thought
passive cultivation
 setting the right environment for moral development
 meeting needs and encouraging goodness.
active cultivation (focus, reflection, extension)
 focusing on sprouts, natural feelings
 reflecting on cases and cultivating tendencies
 extending tendencies to be consistent, and extend virtues to others
mysticism – big picture view, very nonstandard
“Laozi’s Law” – pushing something often results in moving in opposite direction
 teaching virtues leads to conspicuous achievement, which leads to vices and
frustration
language skepticism –inadequate for representing dao defies language and rational
pursuit
epistemological skepticism – not being sure that human intellect can understand all
anti-rationalism – suspicion that rationalism is a weakness if it excludes all else
therapeutic skepticism – refute existing claims and recommend suspension of
adoption of points of view
doctrinal philosophy – persuades folks to accept and adopt conclusions
therapeutic philosophy – aims to alter behavior/attitudes without need for
agreement with a conclusion
metaphysical anti-realism – no claims we make about the world actually mirror it
 nobody is really right, some views may be better than others
o nobody has a final perspective
 talk lightly (lack of finality  lack of seriousness)

On the exam, there will be 3 styles of questions, with approximately the same
distribution of questions as on the first exam:

1. Passage Identification.
In this section, you will identify the text for the passage given and provide a short
interpretation of what the passage claims. These passages will generally concern
core elements of the texts, key claims, or will be passages we addressed in class.
Please keep in mind that giving an interpretation of the passage is different than
merely re-stating, in your own words, what the passage says. I.e., your
interpretation should illuminate the meaning of the passage in the context of the
philosophical view it expresses.

2. Multiple Choice.
You will be given prompts that will describe a philosophical position or
philosophical concept. You will be asked to identify the concept or position,
choosing from a selection of possible answers.

3. Short Answer.
This section will include questions about basic doctrines and arguments. In it, you
will be expected to write brief (approx. 3 sentence) responses. These questions will
be targeted to address specific and relatively narrow elements of the philosophical
works. They will not require that you formulate a point of view with respect to the
material but only ask that you accurately represent the material itself.