HZT4U Philosophy
Final Exam Review – June 2012
PART A: Knowledge & Understanding; Thinking & Inquiry
A1. Multiple Choice / 25 marks
A2. Matching / 10 marks
A3. Fill in the Blanks / 10 marks
A4. Logic Problems / 5 marks
PART B: Communication; Application
B1. Short Answer / 15 marks (complete on lined paper)
PART C: Communication; Application
C1. Essay / 25 marks (complete on lined paper)
TOTAL: / 90 marks
Knowledge Based Topics (N.B.: refer also to review sheets from earlier in the semester)
philosopher/philosophy branches of philosophy Plato
pragmatism argument structures red herring
faulty analogy straw man ad hominen
post hoc tu quoque post hoc ergo propter hoc
non-sequitur syllogism subjectivism
Alan Turing soft determinists categorical imperative
Chinese Room T.E. ontological argument rationalism
empiricism utilitarianism Sartre
existentialism Descartes anti-foundationalism
atheism Socrates foundationalism
evil cynicism ethics
teleological deontological St. Thomas Aquinas
metaphysics epistemology cosmological
deism monotheism Aristotle
pantheism axiology remembering
determinism deism forgetting
autonomy nihilism
Thinking/Communication/Application-Based Themes
· Identifying fallacies
· Natural law, Church teaching on sexuality
· Arguments for the existence/non-existence of God
· Films we’ve watched/reviewed from a particular philosopher’s viewpoint
· How cynics, hedonists, pragmatists and existentialists might respond to a “disaster” or moral dilemma
· Plato and Aristotle’s ethics: the “good life”
· Strict determinism’s perception of chaos theory, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and William James’ arguments in “The Dilemma of Determinism”
· Knowledge to be claimed as truth: conditions needed; Gettier’s challenge and theory
Note: bring your half-page “roster” of logical fallacies
MDTYGKFTE*
(* More Dumb Things Ya Gotta Know For The Exam)
Intro: What is Philosophy?
* branches of philosophy
* nature of philosophical questions
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Logic:
* what is an argument?
* informal fallacies: straw man, red herring, etc.
Epistemology:
Descartes & rationalism
* the cogito – how he got from radical doubt to knowledge of and belief in God
Locke & empiricism
* impressions … sensations … ideas
Kant & “categories” of perception – bridging the rationalist-empiricist gap
Skepticism and chaos theory (Note: this latter does NOT mean everything is random!)
Distinction between rationalism & empiricism, & the reasons people opt for one or the other
Knowledge, Belief, and Opinion
· “justified true belief” & Gettier’s objections to it; etc.
· Direct & indirect knowledge, & other distinctions
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Metaphysics:
Varieties of Theism/Atheism
Arguments for the existence of God: strengths and weaknesses
The nature of the person:
* free will and determinism (& its major weaknesses: James)
* criteria for defining “personhood”: Church teaching (catechism)
The mind-body problem: what it is, and various solutions
Permanence & change: various views
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Ethics:
Various approaches to ethics: Plato, Aristotle, Natural Law (C.S. Lewis & natural law theory: the impact of natural law philosophy on the Church’s understanding of sexuality and reproductive technologies, etc.), Hedonism/Cynicism/Stoicism, Pragmatism, Utilitarianism, Existentialism, Kant (C.I.) – be ready to illustrate with applications to specific issues
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Some key philosophers and their ideas:
Socrates
* the nature of virtue & evil – the “unexamined life”
* human learning = remembering; evil = forgetting (what you knew in pre-existence)
Plato
* the ideal world of “forms” – the allegory of the cave
* his ethics – philosopher kings – & the nature of happiness
Aristotle
* ethics – the golden mean – & the nature of happiness
Aquinas
* connection to Aristotle/empiricism
* the Five Ways + others’ “proofs” for the existence of God (Anselm, Pascal)
Mr. Phillips’ Web Page: http://www.start.ca/users/chesswiz/philosophy.html
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