Introduction to Philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy - New York Times

Prof. Gary Varner, Texas A&M

1. In his famous statement "I think, therefore I am," Descartes was arguing that:

a. Humans are superior to animals because we think but they do not.

b. Because minds have phenomenal consciousness while bodies do not, minds have greater perfection or substance than bodies.

c. Even if he was completely mistaken or deceived about all of his thoughts, he could still say with certainty that he exists as a thinking thing, because in order to be mistaken or deceived, he must exist as a mind.

2. Which of the following is the conception of philosophy that is implicit in the abbreviation Ph.D.?

a. Being philosophical means reflecting on events intellectually rather than reacting to them emotionally.

b. A philosophy is a summary statement of one's general approach to a task or one's opinion on an issue.

c. Philosophy is all rational, systematic knowledge.

d. Philosophy is, or at least should be, the systematic study of certain non-empirical but enduring questions emphasizing clearly stated arguments and analysis of key terms.

3. Which of the following could a valid argument have?

a. False premises and a true conclusion.

b. True premises and a true conclusion.

c. False premises and a false conclusion.

d. Any of the above.

e. Either a. or c. but not b.

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Quiz Answers Swarthmore

Prof. Alan Baker explains his answers:

1. b. If there is such a species, then it exists in reality. But since it is undiscovered, nobody has formed a concept of that particular species. Hence it does not exist in the understanding.

2. e. In epistemology, knowledge is more than just psychological certainty. To know a proposition, not only do you have to believe the proposition, but the proposition must be true. So if the earth isn't flat, then no one (including medieval Europeans) could know that it is.

3. a. If local customs and habits lead to conflicting beliefs about what is the case concerning the world in general, then not all of these beliefs can be true.

4. d. Reason is the paramount source of knowledge for Descartes. The senses are reliable if used carefully, since (according to Descartes) a benevolent God would not allow us to be systematically deceived by them. Imagination is not reliable because it is easy to imagine things (e.g., flying pigs) that are not real.

Texas A&M

Prof. Gary Varner explains his answers:

1. c. This answer best reflects Descartes's reasoning.

2. c. To the ancient Greeks, philosophy was "love of wisdom," meaning all systematic knowledge that was acquired through reasoned inquiry. This lives on in the label "doctor of philosophy," which Ph.D. still abbreviates, whatever the field of study.

3. d. Logicians and philosophers make a distinction between a valid argument and a sound argument. In a valid argument, if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true as well. It is also possible to have false premises and a true conclusion. For example: All the students in the class are male (false). John is a student in the class (false). Conclusion: John is male (true). But in a valid argument it is impossible to have true premises and a false conclusion.

SUNY-Albany

Prof. Bonnie Steinbock explains her answers:

1. a. Even if b. is true, it applies only to a specific class of offenders, and the idea of being incapacitated, in c., is a distinct concept from deterrence. As a. makes clear, those on death row are apparently not deterred by the threat of death.

2. c. Furman said nothing about rape. (Besides, in Coker v. Georgia, the Supreme Court held that death is too severe a penalty for rape.) Two justices in Furman held that the death penalty is inherently unconstitutional, but the majority held the position in c.

3. b. In Roe, the Supreme Court said that women have a constitutional right of privacy that includes the right to decide whether to have an abortion, and therefore it struck down all state laws that infringe on this right. If Roe were overturned, states could decide for themselves whether to prohibit abortions. You might be tempted by c., since Roe also held that the fetus is not a person within the language and meaning of the 14th Amendment and therefore not entitled to its protection. If Roe were overturned on those grounds, c. would be a remote possibility. But b. is certainly correct.

4. c. Since stem cells are removed from (and destroy) embryos created outside the woman's body, the issue of bodily self-determination, which is central to the abortion debate, is not raised in the embryonic stem cell research debate.

SUNY-Stony Brook

Prof. Harvey Cormier explains his answers:

1. a. Kant thought that, whether we realize it or not, the thing of ultimate value to human beings is a good will - to be motivated by human reason and moral law rather than by animal drives for pleasure.

2. d. James, in "The Will to Believe," defined a live hypothesis as an idea that an individual finds at least somewhat credible or potentially acceptable and a "living option" as a choice between two live hypotheses. The question asks the reader to identify the living option, but there is no such thing as an option that is simply living. Options are living only to individuals in particular cultural circumstances.