Sample Questions Flashcards
What is the nausea?
A novel to explain the human existence in the world. Reflection on the relationship between the world and our ways of representing it.
True or False?
Rousseau claims that the ‘feeling of existence’ is the feeling that emerges out of a self-reflection on life’s deepest purposes?
False.
What is the logic of desire?
- The capacity for desire moves us. Our power enables us to strive for satisfaction.
Issue: If we could only satisfy our desires, would we be happy?
Solution: We will be happy if we match our desires to our power. (capacity) - Figure out what to desire/what can satisfy this desire.
Issue: We need to figure out what to desire, or what will satisfy our desire.
Solution: Our desire can indefinitely reshape and remodel our desire, therefore it is indeterminate.
Desire is indeterminate (imagination)
Desire is contagious (imitation)
What does this mean, “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Even in our everyday life, we find meaning in seemingly repetitive tasks and can be happy. We must imagine Sisyphus happy while doing his tasks even if they are meaningless because just being able to do something can be fulfilling enough.
What is the point of Plato’s story of Gyges’s ring?
Gyges is a shepherd who was in service for the king of Lydia. After a storm, he found a ring that gave him the power of invisibility. He used this power to be many immoral things that benefitted him, such as seducing the queen, killing the king, and overtaking the kingdom.
Thought experiment = an experiment carried out only in the imagination
First thought experiment:
Glaucon then says to imagine that there are 2 rings, and a just and unjust person each put one on. The actions of the just would be the same as the unjust. Therefore, humans are only just out of necessity.
Second thought experiment:
To be a just person yet your reputation is unjust vs. being an unjust person yet your reputation is just. People prefer to be unjust with a reputation of being just. Therefore, humans act justly out of appearances.
What can counter the phenomenon of levelling associated with the expansion of the public sphere?
If the public sphere expands (our ideas can be freely exchanged), to counter levelling (the mass distribution of information) we need to be engaged. As spectators, we are disengaged. To counter to mass amount of public opinions, we need to be aware of this phenomenon and analyze all options and also ensure that no matter what happens, we have a thought process that challenges the conversations at hand.
Explain Plato’s cave allegory?
ESSAY.
Is freedom a burden? Explain using terms from the course.
NO.
Freedom is always seen in the negative, as freedom from something. But freedom is what actually allows us to have something. From this course, that something can be described as meaning and purpose. As intelligent beings, we have the freedom of higher thought and reason (unlike animals). It is this freedom that does not burden humanity, but instead creates the meaning of human life.
- Meaning = purpose gives meaning to human life
- Purpose = human action is structured by reason
Aristotle: Human beings act for a reason.
Allegory of the cave: the prisoner is ‘free’ when he escaped the cave. Although he gains knowledge about the truth, and his perception of what his old life used to be is changed, he is not burdened. He is given consciousness which frees him of the burden of being restricted of his human nature; to desire meaning and purpose. This freedom he gains supports his natural way of higher reason as he is able to gain more knowledge. He is free to choose to stay in the cave or to leave, but one could argue that if he did not have this choice then in fact he would be burdened. He would be burdened by the restrictions that this situation holds on his human nature. To not be allowed to act on human nature is the ultimate burden life can give, thus freedom supports human nature of curiosity and is not a burden.
