Philosophy Final

Question 1

What is a fallacy?

Answer 1

It is an error in logic. A mistaken belief that is based off of unsound ground.

Question 2

Distinguish between a formal and an informal fallacy.

Answer 2

A formal fallacy has error in form, arrangement, or structure of the argument. Whereas an informal fallacy has error in the meaning of the argument.

Question 3

Give the names of and a brief description of four informal fallacies.

Answer 3

Argument from ignorance( there is no proof of aliens, therefore aliens do not exist),
circular fallacy ( A is true because B is true and B is true because A is true) ,
Fallacy of composition ( If one person stands up at a game, he can see better, so if they all stand up at the game they can all see better).
Middle Ground- Some people claim that God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good. Other people claim that God does not exist at all. Now, it seems reasonable to accept a position somewhere in the middle. So, it is likely that God exists, but that he is only very powerful, very knowing, and very good
Strawman-Attacking a weaker form of the argument and claiming to have a defense against its stronger form.

Question 4

Briefly, what is the ontological argument for the existence of God?

Answer 4

By definition, God is a being that which none greater can be imagined. A being that exists in reality is greater than a being that does not exist. If God exists as an idea and not in reality, then we can imagine something greater than God. But we cannot imagine something greater than God. Therefore, God exists.

Question 5

Briefly, what is the cosmological argument for the existence of God?

Answer 5

1. Everything that exists has a cause of existence.
   2. The universe exists.
   3. Therefore, the universe has a cause of existence.
   4. If the universe has a cause of existence, then that cause is God.
   5. Therefore, God exists.

Question 6

Briefly, what is the argument from design for the existence of God?

Answer 6

1. We see that natural bodies work toward some goal, and do not do so by chance.
   2. Most natural things lack knowledge.
2. But as an arrow reaches its target because it is directed by an archer, what lacks intelligence achieves goals by being directed by something intelligence.
   
   4. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.

Question 7

Summarize Pascal’s wager .

Answer 7

His wager is that if you believe in God and and God exist, then you have an infinite gain. If you do not believe in God and God does not exist then you have a finite gain. If God does exist and you do not choose to believe, then you suffer an infinite loss. If you do not believe and God doesn’t exist then you suffer a small cost.

Question 8

Briefly, what is the argument from the existence of evil for the nonexistence of God?

Answer 8

If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent (completely good), then evil would not exist in the world because he would know how to, want to, and be able to eliminate all suffering/evil. Suffering/evil is still a part of life, so God cannot exist.

Question 9

Briefly, what is Hume’s problem of induction?

Answer 9

Hume asks whether this evidence that we arrive with inductively is actually good evidence. He does not believe that we can use our previous experiences and use them to justify things in the world that we have not justified for ourselves.

Question 10

What, according to Plato’s dialogue Theatetus, is knowledge?

Answer 10

Knowledge is true judgment plus an “account.”

Question 11

What does Gettier think he has proved concerning the claim that knowledge is justified true belief?

Answer 11

Justified true belief is not knowledge. Justification is not enough, we need something else to constitute knowledge.

Question 12

In his Meditation I, what does Descartes say can be doubted, and why?

Answer 12

Almost everything can be doubted and questioned, even our own dreams, conclusions, and perceptions can be questioned. The only things that could potentially not be doubted is geometry and mathematics. Even our senses can be doubted and we must view things through the mind since we know it exists via being capable of thinking it can in fact exist.

Question 13

In Meditation II, what does Descartes say is better known than the body, and why?
The

Answer 13

The mind is known better because we are the most conscious of it. Even when are doubting something we are conscious of us doubting and reasons for it as well.

Question 14

What is the role of “clear and distinct” in Descartes’ philosophy?

Answer 14

Descartes believed that an idea must be clear and distinct in order for it to be truthful. For something to be “clear” it has to be content and precise and for something to be “distinct” it has to be distinguish from another idea.

Question 15

What it the point or purpose or conclusion from the wax example in Meditation II?

Answer 15

The conclusion that Descartes came to using the wax example is that we come to know things through intellect rather than through the senses. We know, through our senses that wax is solid and we know that wax can be melted but it is due to our intellect that we connect the two phases of the wax and consider it one.

Question 16

What are the main or central points of Descartes (alleged) proof for the existence of God in Meditation III?

Answer 16

He uses the efficient argument and said that some of his perceptions and ideas could not have come from him alone but from God. Since he has a clear, distinct perception of God, God must exist. He also stated that if the Mediator could exist without God, then he would have to come to be out of himself or from something less perfect.

Question 17

In Meditation IV, how does Descartes account for human error?

Answer 17

First he tries to discover where and why he makes errors in judgment. He believes that error is not the lack of true beliefs but having some false beliefs. This is what sets us apart from God as well. He reasons that his own propensity to err must be his own failure to use his method to approach the knowledge sent to him by God.

Question 18

According to Christopher Grau, what is Hilary Putnam’s response to the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis?

Answer 18

The hypothesis would not work because you can’t be in that state of mind and realize that you are a brain in vat.

Question 19

According to Grau, what was Robert Nozick’s response to a possible “experience machine”?

Answer 19

He objected it. We want more than to just be hooked up to a box and fed information. We want to be able to question the knowledge that we learn and agree/disagree. We also want contact with the real world.

Question 20

According to David Hume in his “Of Scepticism With Regard to the Senses,” justification of our belief in the idea of continued existence requires four things. What are they?’

Answer 20

explain the principle of identity
give a reason why the resemblance of our broken interrupted perceptions induces us to attribute an identity to them.
account for the propensity, which this illusion gives, to unite these broken appearances by a continued existence.
explain that force and vivacity of conceptions that arise from the propensity.

Question 21

In his his “Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,” Hume divides all the perceptions of the mind into two classes or species. What are his names for and brief descriptions of those two?

Answer 21

The two classes are thoughts and ideas, and impressions. The less forcible and lively are commonly denominated thoughts and ideas. Impressions are more lively perceptions when we hear or see or fear or love or hate or desire, or will.

Question 22

According to Hume, what is the principle by which humans reach or form a conclusion about cause and effect?

Answer 22

Custom or Habit

Question 23

What conclusion does W.C. Salmon reach about scientific knowledge, based on Hume’s discussion of inductive (or ampliative) reasoning?

Answer 23

It doesn’t have one; Scientific knowledge rests on ampliative inferences ­­which, cannot be shown to be certain. There is no certainty in scientific procedure, so there is no certain foundation of scientific knowledge

Question 24

What is meant by the term “Descartes Dualism”? What is monism?

Answer 24

Descartes Dualism is the belief that the mind is separate from the body due to to the fact that it is not a physical thing (physical things take up space, and are not conscious). On the other hand Monism is the belief that the mind and body are one.

Question 25

What is the problem of personal identity (p. 243)?

Answer 25

If one being can have at different times, different bodies then personal identity cannot be said to be bodily identity.

Question 26

What is materialism? What are some possible alternatives to materialism? What is idealism?

Answer 26

It is the belief that only materials exist and all things are as a result of material interaction. Some alternatives to materialism include idealism, and dualism. Idealism is the belief that reality is a mental construct.

Question 27

What is the argument from analogy for other minds?

Answer 27

The analogy argument says i have mind because i can think and thinking causes certain behaviors. when i see those behaviors in other people i can conclude that they have minds too.

Question 28

What is interactionism?

Answer 28

The belief that the mind and the body are distinctly separate and easily interact with one another.

Question 29

What is behaviorism?

Answer 29

A discipline of philosophy which emphasizes on observing behavior to gain an understanding of the mind.

Question 30

What according to Gilbert Ryle is the problem of the Freedom of the Will?

Answer 30

The problem of the freedom of will is the question of whether “free will” actually exists in a world of cause and effects. Do we actually have a choice when cause and effect can determine what we will do beforehand? Ryle tries to reconcile freedom with the apparent determinism of the world.

Question 31

What is determinism?

Answer 31

It is the belief that all things are determined by events independent of the will.

Question 32

According to David Armstrong, how can we think of perceptions?

Answer 32

That perception is a key to a door, the door being action. The unlocking of the door, and therefore action, is optional, but one cannot open the door without the key. A blind man, for instance, lacks certain keys. And so, cannot operate in an environment in the same way that a sighted man can.

Question 33

According to Paul Churchland, what is eliminative materialism?

Answer 33

Eliminative Materialism is the belief that claims that everyday mental concepts such as beliefs, feelings, and desires are part of folk psychology and are wrong.

Question 34

Churchland gives three possible arguments for eliminative materialism. Briefly, what are they?.

Answer 34

1st eliminative materialist will point to the widespread explanatory, predictive, and manipulative failures of folk psychology

• 2nd tries to draw an inductive lesson from our conceptual history. Our early folk theories of the activity of the heavens, fire, the nature of life were all wildy wrong. Except folk philosophy, not because it’s right, but because what’s talked about is so complex, that any handle on them is unlikely to be displaced
• 3rd attempts to find a priori advantage for eliminative materialism over the identity theory or functionalism, which attempts to counter the common intuition that eliminative materialism is distantly possible, but is much less probable than either the identity theory or functionalism

Question 35

Briefly, give Alan Turing’s test, what has come to be called the “Turing test.” What is this test, if successful, supposed to show or demonstrate?

Answer 35

The test engages a human judge in a conversation with both a human and a machine that is designed to perform just like a human, and the judge is asked to distinguish the human from the machine. The purpose of this is to see if machines can have intelligence similar to that of a human.

Question 36

What was Lady Lovelace’s objection to Babbage’s Analytical Engine?

Answer 36

the analytical engine has no pretensions to originate anything. it can do whatever we know how to order it to perform

Question 37

What Was John Searle’s objection to what he calls Strong AI? What is his thought experiment that, he thinks, refutes strong AI?

Answer 37

A machine doesn’t have intelligence in that sense that it is able to do more than look up information from a table, like a Human could respond to a chinese question, given a question in text and responding based off of preset chart of responses without actually knowing Chinese. This was called the Chinese room argument.

Question 38

In his essay “So It Goes,” what does J. David Velleman say about the problems of endurance and temporal passage?

Answer 38

He says these problems are not solved by presentism, since presentism describes “a single, static structure of past-prospective and future-perfect facts”. He continues by stating that a better solution for the problems of endurance and temporal passage is to think of them as interdependent illusions.

Question 39

What does Daniel Dennett give as the best answer to his question “Where am I?”

Answer 39

That at any given time a person has a point of view, and the location of the point of view is also the location of that person

Question 40

What is Roderick Chisholm’s distinction between transeunt causation and agent causation?

Answer 40

trans- one event causes another event to occur, agent- an agent is the cause of an event

Question 41

According to Chisholm, what is the difference between the Hobbesian approach and the Kantian approach to the question whether there is a logical connection between what we want or desire and what we will do?

Answer 41

According to Hobbism, if we know, of some man, what his beliefs and desires happen to be and how strong they are, if we know what he feels certain of, what he desires more than anything else, and if we know the state of his body and what stimuli he is being subjected to, then we may deduce, logically, just what it is that he will do - or, more accurately, just what it is that he will try, set out, or undertake to do. But according to the Kantian approach to our problem, there is no such logical connection between wanting and doing, nor need there even be a causal connection.

Question 42

According to Peter van Inwagen, what are the views of the incompatibilists and the compatibilists on the question of free will and determinism?

Answer 42

Incompatibilists hold that free will and determinism are incompatible. Compatibilists hold that free will and determinism are compatible.

Question 43

What is Inwagen’s No Choice Principle?

Answer 43

Suppose that p and that no one has (or ever had) any choice about whether p. And suppose also that the following conditional (if-then) statement is true and that no one has (or ever had) any choice about whether Q is true: if p, then q. It follows from these two suppositions that determinism implies and its no choice principle.

Question 44

What is a consequentialist moral theory?

Answer 44

Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of one’s conduct are the true basis for any judgment about the morality of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission) is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence.

Question 45

What is a nonconsequentialist moral theory?

Answer 45

One that judges the rightness/wrongness of an action based on properties intrinsic to the action

Question 46

Who are the two founders of utilitarianism and what is its central claim about ethics?

Answer 46

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
It says that if an action is right, it tends to promote happiness and if it is wrong, it produces the reverse of happiness

Question 47

What does Kant say is good without qualification.

Answer 47

A good will,good in itself

Question 48

What does Kant mean by the term “categorical imperative”?

Answer 48

A moral obligation that all must unconditionally follow with no exception

Question 49

What is Kant’s first formulation of the categorical imperative?

Answer 49

“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction”

Question 50

What is Kant’s distinction between autonomy of the will and heteronomy of the will?

Answer 50

A heteronomous will is one in obedience to rules of action that have been legislated externally to it. An autonomous will, on the other hand, is entirely self-legislating: The moral obligations by which it is perfectly bound are those which it has imposed upon itself while simultaneously regarding them as binding upon everyone else by virtue of their common possession of the same rational faculties.

Question 51

What does Aristotle say is the end (or goal) for man?

Answer 51

happiness

Question 52

What does Aristotle say human good turns out to be (p. 548)?

Answer 52

It turns out to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue and in the case of more than one virtue the best and most complete.

Question 53

What makes plain, according to Aristotle, that none of the moral virtues arises in us by nature?

Answer 53

Nothing that exists by nature can form a habit contrary to its nature.

Question 54

For Aristotle, most virtues are a ________ (what?) between two vices, which are what? (excess and deficiency).

Answer 54

Most virtues are a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depend on defect

Question 55

What is necessary in order to develop the virtues?

Answer 55

Discipline

Question 56

For Aristotle, what is the highest virtue?

Answer 56

that people should achieve an excellent character before attaining happiness

Question 57

For John Rawls, what is the first virtue of social institutions.

Answer 57

Justice

Question 58

Rawls theory of justice is known as what kind of theory? (Contractarian-egalitarian theory)

Answer 58

Contractarian-egalitarian theory( I personally think this is social contract theory- found it there )

Question 59

What does Rawls say about political bargaining or the calculus of social interests with regard to justice?

Answer 59

That the rights secured by justice, are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests

Question 60

What is the role of the notions of the original position and the veil of ignorance in
Rawls’ theory?

Answer 60

It is designed to be a fair and impartial point of view that is to be adopted in our reasoning of justice.

Question 61

What are the two principles of Justice according to Rawls?

Answer 61

1) Principle of Equal Liberty: Each person has an equal right to the most extensive liberties compatible with similar liberties for all. (Egalitarian.)
2) Difference Principle: Social and economic inequalities should be arranged so that they are both (a) to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged persons, and (b) attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of equality of opportunity.

Question 62

Robert Nozick’s theory of justice known as?

Answer 62

(Entitlement-Libertarian theory)

Question 63

What does Nozick mean by the terms “entitlement” and “holding”?

Answer 63

Entitlement is the rights one is born with and naturally given by society
Holding is an item or right inherited or given as one is entitled to

Question 64

What are Nozick’s three points of justice in holdings

Answer 64

1. A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in acquisition is entitled to that holding
2. A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in transfer, with someone else entitled to the holding, is entitled to the holding
3. No one is entitled to the holding except by (repeated) applications of 1 and 2

Question 65

According to Nozick’s libertarian-entitlement theory, what is the status of taxation-supported social welfare systems? Why?

Answer 65

The status of taxation-supported social welfare systems is one of forced labor and distinguishes it from other cases of limited choices which are not forcings because others intentionally intervene , in violation of a side constraint of aggression , to threaten to limit the alternatives, in this case paying taxes or bare subsistence.(presumably the worse alternative)…um what lol
makes no sense!!

Question 66

What is the point of Nozick’s Wilt Chamberlain example?

Answer 66

It is an attempt to show that patterned principles of just distribution are incompatible with liberty

Question 67

What does Nozick mean by “Lockean rights” and “side-constraints”?

Answer 67

Lockean rights: One has the basic right to live as one chooses as long as one does not harm others in certain determinate ways ; force,theft;fraud, physical violence and so on.
Side constraints - a right should enter the determination in what one morally ought to do

Question 68

What does J.L. Mackie say about objective values? What are three of his arguments for his conclusion?

Answer 68

He says there are no objective values because:
The relativity or variability of some important starting points of moral thinking and their apparent dependence on actual ways of life.
The metaphysical peculiarity of the objective values in that they would have to be intrinsically action-guiding and motivating.
The problem of how such values could be consequential or supervenient upon natural features.

Question 69

Does Gilbert Harman support or reject the view that moral principles can be tested and confirmed? Why or why not?

Answer 69

Gilbert Harman rejects the theory that moral principles can be tested because unlike in science the observations made in ethics are always ‘theory laden’. What is perceived depends to some extent on the theory one holds either consciously or unconsciously.

Question 70

What does Nicholas Sturgeon say is the only argument with weight for moral skepticism (p. 736)?

Answer 70

The argument from the difficulty of settling disputed moral questions. Anyone who finds Harman’s claim about moral explanations plausible must already have been tempted toward skepticism by some other considerations.