Topics:

• What Is Philosophy?
• Philosophy of Religion
• Free Will
• Ethics

• What, according to Socrates, is wisdom?
  
• What "charge" does Socrates feel the gods have laid on him?
  
• Why does Socrates not fear death?
  
• What were the charges brought against Socrates?
  
• How does Socrates treat his accusers?
  
• What does Socrates say about the unexamined life?
  
• Is philosophy dangerous? Is it necessary?
  

• Where must the value of philosophy be sought?
  
• What is the primary aim of philosophy?
  
• With what sorts of questions is philosophy concerned?
  
• Would Russell agree that philosophy requires a sense of wonder?
  
• Is there such a thing as an everyday thing? For you? For the philosopher?
  
• Does philosophy deal with certainties?
  
• How can philosophy be the search for Truth if it can never provide an answer to the question of what is true?
  
• What does it mean to be open-minded?
  
• Compare Russell's view of philosophy with that of Socrates.
  

• What hierarchy does Augustine present regarding existence, life, and understanding? Where do animals fall in this scale? Humans? Plants?
• What, according to Augustine, is God?
• How can reason "see" God?
• Does this passage ever address faith, as such? How?

• What, according to Anselm, is God? How does this compare with Augustine's conception of the divine?
• How does Anselm "trick" the "fool" in his argument? Or does he?
• Why does Anselm find the non-believer to be irrational?
• Can God be conceived not to exist? Why/why not?
• Does Anselm present a deductive or an inductive argument for the existence of God?
• What IS Anselm's argument for God's existence?

• What are Aquinas' "five ways"? What do they have in common?
• What are the objections to the existence of God that Aquinas lists? How does he address these objections?
• Does Aquinas present a deductive or an inductive argument for the existence of God?
• What IS Aquinas' argument for God's existence?

• What analogy does Paley present in his argument for the existence of God? Is this an inductive or a deductive argument?
• Do you think that this is a valid analogy to make?
• How does Paley address potential critics within the body of his argument?
• What IS Paley's argument for God's existence?

• Why does Kierkegaard not attempt to "prove" God's existence?
• Why (for Kierkegaard) do all arguments attempting to prove or disprove the existence of God commit a logical fallacy?
• What does it mean to reason from existence rather than toward it?
• What does Kierkegaard mean by the following statement, "Reason has brought God as near as possible, and yet he is as far away as ever"?
• What, for Kierkegaard, must faith involve? What is faith?
• What is the Unknown?
• What is the paradoxical passion of Reason?

• How does Russell define a Christian?
• How does Russell dispense with the "First Cause" or cosmological proof of God's existence? With the argument from Natural Law? With the argument from design?
• According to Russell, why do most people believe in God? Do you agree?
• How does Russell attempt to show that Christ was less than the wisest, most moral man who ever lived? Does he succeed?
• Does Christianity cause people to be moral? Why? Why not? Would morality suffer without Christianity?
• What, for Russell, is the foundation of religion? How does this influence how it it practiced?
• Does Russell idealize the role of science in making humans more "humane"?
• What would a good world require (for Russell)? For you?

• Does Hume believe the world to be ultimately ordered, designed, and purposive? Why? Why not? Why is position on this issue central to his skepticism?
• Hume says that the world is CONSISTENT with the idea of God, but that it cannot afford an INFERENCE concerning the existence of God. What does this mean?
• What are Hume's main points concerning the presence of evil and suffering in the world? What, in his opinion, would a benevolent Creator do about this?
• What, for Hume, is the only "stance to which we are entitled" in matters concerning God?

• What is the absurd? Have you ever experienced it?
• When/how does awareness of the absurd occur?
• Should the "absurd" individual give up on life? Why? Why not?
• What is The Point?

• How does James answer the religious skeptic?
• Why is it logical, according to James, to believe in religious tenets that may not be proven in our lifetime, or any lifetime?
• How does James sum up the skeptical position?
• What is the difference between a dead hypothesis and a live one? Are these intrinsic or relational? What does that mean?
• What is an option? How many kinds of options does James elucidate, and what are they?
• According to James, what kind of option is religion? Why?
• What is the value of religion (over skepticism) for James?
• How does James conclude? Is he trying to prove that one should or must be religious, or is this a "softer sell"?

• Is it possible to be religious and not hold any supernatural beliefs? How?
• Why is ritual important?
• Is all ritual performed for supernatural or superstitious purposes, or can it serve a more pragmatic function?
• What are the two types of prayer? How can someone pray without praying TO anything or anyone?
• Can a person be moral yet not believe in God?
• What is the meaning of this question: "Are actions right because God says they are right, or does God say actions are right because they are right?" Who says this, and in what context? What does the meaning of this statement imply for Cahn's argument?

• What is the distinction between voluntary and involuntary action?
• What types of involuntary action are there?
• Is a voluntary act a free one? Does Aristotle believe that free acts are possible?
• When is an act compelled?
• When is an act ignorant?
• Into what category do drunken acts fall?

• Does d'Holbach believe that any human acts are free?
• What constitutes human "will" (in d'Holbach's view)?
• What (for d'Holbach) is at the root of our insistence on freedom of the will?
• Why are "so many crimes witnessed on the earth"?
• Does d'Holbach feel that a system of punishment and reward can be upheld in the face of hard determinism?

• Does Hospers agree with Aristotle on the subject of what constitutes a free act?
• Does Hospers believe that any human acts are free?
• How does Hospers dispense with the soft determinist position (as presented by Schlick)? Why does he believe Schlick's position to be too shallow?
• How does Hospers dispense with G.E. Moore's criterion for a free act?
• What is the basis for our illusion of free will, according to Hospers? What determines our wants and desires?
• Does Hospers feel that a system of punishment and reward can be upheld in the face of determinism? What does it mean to distinguish between moral responsibility and legal responsibility?
• Does Hospers succeed in his attempt to add another level to the process of deliberation?

• What does Sartre mean when he asserts that "man being condemned to be free carries the weight of the world on his shoulders"?
• Is there anything "external" to the self in Sartre's conception?
• Even if determinism were true, would it be relevant for Sartre? Why or why not?

• How is Skinner's vision of an ideal society similar to Plato's in The Republic? (discussed in class)
• Why is the democratic philosophy of human behavior at odds with the political goals of democracy?
• What are Skinner's goals in forming a completely socially engineered society?
• Is education a form of control? Reasoned persuasion? How/why?
• Is control of human behavior inevitable for Skinner? Why/why not?
• Is force allowed in Skinner's vision of the ideal society? Why/why not?
• What systems will be in place to guard against tyranny in Skinner's society?

• What distinction does Kane make between surface freedoms and deeper freedoms?
• When we speak of freedom of the will, which type of freedom are we referring to?
• What is one indication of how important free will is to us?
• What does it mean to truly have free will?
• How does Kane combine soft determinism and indeterminism (libertarianism)?
• What is a "self-forming choice"?
• What is Kane referring to when he speaks of "value experiments"?

• What does Grimshaw's criticism of Aristotle's notion of voluntary action have in common with other criticisms?
• How is Grimshaw's criticism unique?
• What do the feminist thinkers cited by Grimshaw all assume about the (female) self? Why is this assumption important to their position (or is it)?
• How is the line between external coercion and internal desire blurred?
• Is autonomy possible for Grimshaw?

• Why does Aristotle seek to ground his ethic in the "end" of human activity?
• What is this end, and why?
• What is the function of man? What is the good of man? How can this be attained?
• In other words, for Aristotle, who can be moral?
• Should people take pleasure in their noble deeds?
• How does Aristotle define happiness?
• What role do learning and habit play in cultivating the moral character?
• Is a virtuous character dependent on acts?
• What is the "mean"? What role does it play in morality?

• Who, for Kant, can be moral?
• Does happiness play a role in Kant's morality? Do the results of actions play a role?
• What is the "good will"?
• What is the "categorical imperative"? What does it mean?
• What is the "practical imperative"? What does it mean?
• What is all this based on, for Kant?
• How is Kant's theory consistent with the Golden Rule?

• What is the utilitarian "creed"?
• What is utilitarianism based in (what Ancient Greek belief)?
• Why does Mill bring quality of happiness into his version of the theory (in addition to quantity)?
• What kinds of pleasure are preferable?
• What is it that Mill says r.e. pigs and Socrates? What point is he trying to make?
• Is Mill's standard only relevant for the individual? Why or why not?
• How is Mill's theory consistent with the Golden Rule?

• What would Nietzsche say about the Golden Rule?
• What are systems of morals based upon, for Nietzsche? Why is this construed by him as such a negative?
• What are the two divisions that Nietzsche imposes upon morality?
• In Nietzsche's favored morality, who creates values?
• Why/how does the phrase "beyond good and evil" apply to Nietzsche's favored morality?
• Describe Nietzsche's "despised" morality.
• Categorize the previous moralities we have studied according to Nietzsche's division of moralities.

• What is the basis for a division in male and female approaches to morality?
• How can moralities of privilege ("justice") and those of the oppressed ("care") produce vices?
• What contradiction is involved regarding women and morality in the traditional philosophical canon?
• For example, what was Kant's view of women and principles?
• What two views (according to Card) do women use to criticize this patriarchal contradiction?
• What relationship would Card base her ethical theory upon?
• How does this relationship (or does this relationship) reconcile theories of justice and theories of care?
• How can women's "connectedness" be dangerous?
• Is Card's ethic potentially open to both men and women?

• What is pluralism? Why or how does this create uncertainty?
• What is ethical relativism? How does it result from the fact of pluralism?
• What is the root of present problems about values?
• What two things have we "lost" as a result of pluralism and uncertainty?
• What is the point of Kane's citing of the C.S. Lewis Perelandra story?
• What conclusion do ordinary persons come to in the face of pluralism?
• What does Josephy Brodsky say about the dangers of moral absolutism?
• What does Allan Bloom say about the dangers of ethical relativism?
• What does Kane conclude? Are the instincts of the ordinary person sound?

The URL for this page is http://web.utk.edu/~lshoema1/questions.htm
Last updated: 27 October 2002