UWB CUSP 192: Cross-Cultural Religions and Philosophies

The Midterm will be May 4. Here are some questions that may appear on the Midterm:
  1. Explain the distinction between giving an explanation for a certain set of behaviors and giving a moral justification for a certain set of behaviors.
  2. Explain Moral Objectivism.
  3. Explain Moral Relativism. (Supplement your explanation with examples.)
  4. Explain the five problems with Moral Relativism. (Supplement each explanation with examples.)
  5. Explain the two reasons (given in class) why people are sometimes drawn toward Moral Relativism.
  6. Explain Moral Perspectivalism.
  7. What are two reasons to think that we should NOT interpret the question "What is the Meaning of Life?" as "What is the purpose (or point, or goal, or plan) of life?" ?
  8. Explain the difference between intrinsic and instrumental value.
  9. What are three reasons to doubt that happiness plays an especially important role in The Meaning of Life?
  10. Explain the distinction between Existentialism and Essentialism. (Supplement your explanation with examples.)
  11. (a) Explain what the word telos means, and (b) the role that telos plays in Aristotle's ethical theory. (c) What does Aristotle think that the telos for humans is. (d) Why does Aristotle think that that is what our telos is?
  12. Explain what Eudaimonia is. [hint: it's NOT 'happiness'!]
  13. Explain what Aristotle thinks that practical reason implies. (Supplement your explanation with at least two examples.)
  14. Explain Aquinas's First Order Principle. (Supplement your explanation with examples.)
  15. Explain what synderesis is.(Supplement your explanation with examples.)
  16. Explain Aquinas's Six Natural Inclinations. Next to each one, also write down the second-order rule that corresponds to each inclination.
  17. What would Aquinas say about homosexuality? How might someone who disagrees with Aquinas respond to this?
  18. Explain two big objections to Aquinas's ethical theory.
  19. I'll give you a scenario. Now suppose that you agree with Kant's ethical theory. Take me through the steps that you need to go through in order to determine what is the morally correct course of action in this scenario. (Make sure that at the end of going through these steps you actually say what the right thing to do (according to Kant) would be.) The purpose of this question is for you to demonstrate to me that you understand Kant's ethical theory.
  20. What are the two formulations of the Catagorical Imperative. Explain what they mean.
  21. What are the objections to Kant's ethical theory?
CASCADIA CC: Philosophy 101, Spring 2010.

The Midterm will be May 4. Here are some questions that may appear on the Midterm:
  1. What is an argument?
  2. What are the two main ways to object to an argument?
  3. What is philosophy? (We talked about this in class. I'm looking for the definition that I gave in class. If there are terms that need to be explained, explain them. Feel free to use concrete examples to make your explanation clearer.)
  4. Necessary & Sufficient Conditions. I will give you examples and you have to fill in the blank with 'necessary (but not sufficient)', 'sufficient (but not necessary)', 'necessary AND sufficient' or 'neither necessary nor sufficient'. So for example: "Being a mammal is ___________ for being a human"
  5. Explain the views of Heraclitus.
  6. (a) Explain the views of Parmenides. (b) We discussed two arguments that Parmenides gives for his positions. Write down and then explain these two arguments.
  7. Explain the Paradox of Bisection. (Remember to say what the conclusion of this argument is supposed to be.)
  8. Explain the views of Plato (in particular, his theory of Forms)
  9. Explain the Traditional Account of Knowledge. Give an example of someone knowing something, and explain what that means under the Traditional Account.
  10. Explain the distinction between Empiricism and Rationalism.
  11. Descartes: explain Descartes? epistemological project (in 10 steps or so). Be sure to include the objections to his views (steps 9 & 10). [NOTE: I don't care so much about the NUMBER of steps as I do that you include all the relevant parts.] Show me that you understand this well enough to be able to explain it to someone who had never taken this class before.