Write in the Spaces Provided for Each Question

VCE PHILOSOPHY

Unit 3 and 4

Trial Paper 8

Advice:

Write in the spaces provided for each question.

You will need to supply your own writing paper for the Section D essay questions though you will not bring any paper into the actual Examination.

There are 4 sections: A, B, C and D.

Take note of the marking scheme for each question and answer accordingly.

Each section is worth 15 marks.

Read every question carefully.

Look for key verbs telling you what you need to do in your answer.

Do not use liquid paper or tape as you cannot use it in the actual Examination.

Read the paper for 15 minutes.

Write only for 2 hours.

SECTION A

Instructions for Section A: Answer all questions.

Question 1

Why is it worse to do wrong than suffer wrong according to Socrates? Is he right?

______

(4 marks)

Question 2

Aristotle argues that “human good turns out to be activity of the soul exhibiting virtue”. What does Aristotle mean by virtue?

______

(4 marks)

Question 3

Explain the difference between the master (noble) morality and the slave morality according to Nietzsche.

______

(3 marks)

Question 4

Weil identifies obligations as being central to her conception of the kind of society in which someone can live a good life. Identify and evaluate at least two (2) features of obligations according to Weil.

______

(4 marks)

End of Section: Total 15 marks

SECTION B

Instructions for Section B: Answer all questions.

Question 1

To what extent would Nietzsche argue humans are free to choose their own lives? How would Socrates respond to this?

______

(6marks)

Question 2

What are at least three (3) conditions required by Weil for living the good life and how would Aristotle respond to these?

______

(5marks)

Question 3

Identify and explain one (1) contemporary application of any of the ideas from the philosophers you have studied in Unit Three to living the good life.

______

(4marks)

End of Section: Total 15 marks

SECTION C

Instructions for Section C: Read the extract about the Turing Test and then answer all questions.

The Turing Test

The [Turing] test was introduced by Alan Turing in his 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," which opens with the words: "I propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?'" Since "thinking" is difficult to define, Turing [chose] to "replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words. Turing's new question is: "Are there imaginable digital computers which would do well in the imitation game? This question, Turing believed, is one that can actually be answered.

[In] the Turing test, a human judge engages in a natural language conversation(a conversation on any topic and in without stylistic constraints) with a human and a machine designed to generate performance indistinguishable from that of a human being. All participants are separated from one another. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test. The test does not check the ability to give the correct answer; it checks how closely the answer resembles typical human answers. The conversation is limited to a text-only channel such as a computer keyboard and screen so that the result is not dependent on the machine's ability to render words into audio.

Source: Wikipedia

Question 1

Define physicalism (materialism) and dualism as they relate to the mind and body debate.

______

(2 marks)

Question 2

How would either a physicalist (materialist) or a dualist respond to the Turing Test’s aim to re-define what thinking entails?

______

(2 marks)

Question 3

How does Descartes define thinking and what implications would this have for the debate over the possibility of artificial intelligence?

______

(4 marks)

Question 3

Would a behaviourist, as characterized by Armstrong, accept that a machine could think if it passed the Turing Test?

______

(3 marks)

Question 4

How does Armstrong define the mind (and thinking)? Is this a better definition than the one Turing provides?

______

(4 marks)

End of Section: Total 15 marks

Examination continues on next page.

SECTION D

Instructions for Section D: Write an essay on oneof the following topics.

Question 1

In what ways do the words ‘knowledge’, ‘science’ and ‘truth’ vary between the set texts for Unit Four?

Question 2

What are the implications of adopting the philosophical perspectives of either Hume, Popper or Kuhn for areas such as religion, alternative medicines and knowledge used in our daily lives?

Question 3

Can science discover truth? Discuss with reference to at least two (2)philosophers from Unit 4.

(15 marks)