King’s College London

University of London

This paper is part of an examination of the College counting towards the award of a degree. Examinations are governed by the College Regulations under the authority of the Academic Board.

BSc/BA/BEng EXAMINATION

6AAN4053

FACTS AND VALUES IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Summer 2013

TIME ALLOWED: THREE HOURS

ANSWER THREEQUESTIONS, EACH FROM A DIFFERENT SECTION

Candidates should avoid overlap in their answers

DO NOT REMOVE THIS EXAM PAPER FROM THE EXAMINATION ROOM

TURN OVER WHEN INSTRUCTED

2013 © King’s College London

6AAN4053

Section A

1.What is Socrates’ conception of happiness? Answer by reference to the Apology, the Crito, the Meno, or the Phaedo.

2.Is the theory of recollection a plausible account of how we acquire knowledge? Answer by reference to the Meno or the Phaedo.

3.Is virtue teachable? Answer by reference to the Meno or the Protagoras.

4.Is Socrates’ argument for the immortality of the soul in the Phaedo convincing?

Section B

5.Outline the main stages of the process by which the geocentric picture of the world inherited from the Greeks came to be replaced by the modern heliocentric picture. What were the main obstacles that had to be overcome before it gained wide acceptance?

6.What are the main features of a way of thinking that makes it appropriate to describe it as magical? How much did the rise of modern philosophy and science in the seventeenth century contribute to the decline of such beliefs?

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6AAN4053

7.Corpuscularian and mechanistic explanations became increasingly popular during the course of the seventeenth century. Why was this? How close is the connection between these two ways of thinking about nature?

8.Did the Scientific Revolution have any impact on the way people thought about ethics, either directly or indirectly?

Section C

9.Does Kant have compelling anti-consequentialist arguments?

10.What is the Categorical Imperative procedure? Is it a plausible means of determining our moral obligations? Discuss with reference to one of Kant's examples.

11.Is Kant's claim regarding the relation between self-legislation and moral value a coherent one?

12.What is the relationship between morality and freedom in Kant's view? Is it a plausible position?

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6AAN4053

Section D

13.What does Nietzsche mean by a genealogy of morality? What (if anything) does Nietzsche’s genealogy contribute to our understanding of morality?

14.How, and how well does Nietzsche explain the genesis of the concept of guilt in the Second Essay of the Genealogy?

15.Explain and assess the role played by the ascetic ideal in The Genealogy of Morality.

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