Hi Friends,
Here are our Midterm Tests. Very nice.
We will conduct our reviews next week, after Spring Break. I will continue, during Spring Break, to post podcasts and as they are always available, it is up to you when you listen through them.
Remember: The Midterms will be After the reviews. We have not had the reviews at this point and will not until after Spring Break. Anything else would be inhuman in my book!
Enjoy spring break! I am and will.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
_________________________________________________
Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy
2021
Dr. Lee Basham
Here it is my friends. Please answer the questions as fully as you can. Look at your notes and listen in at Drlabasham777.podbean.com for our review. You have 5 days from After Our Review to do so. Anytime within that 5 days is fine. Please submit your tests to our Bb.
And get your enrollment going. Don't let the Chinese government hold you back. We got this!
- What is Rawls’ project? What two things does he want to fight? How does he broadly understand Justice? What are Rawls’ 3 primary social goods (rewards)? What is Meritocracy (rule by Merit) or the Individualist Work Ethic (same thing)? Define. What is the Brute Luck argument against Meritocracy/Individualist Work Ethic? What is its conclusion? (Give the actual argument.) How does Rawls defend its premises? Does Rawls endorse total equality of the 3 basic goods (at least income?). That is, does Rawls endorse “equal outcomes” or, more vaguely ("vague" =s "unclear in meaning") "equity"?
- What is the veil of ignorance? Detail the various “knows and not knowns”. What is the basic goal Rawls offers for choiceof the principles of justice, once we pretend the veil of ignorance? What is the first principle we will choose? Why can it never be compromised for the others? What are the next two, 2a and 2b. Explain the reasoning for 2a, given the veil of ignorance and the basic goal while pretending the veil of ignorance. What is 2b? Explain the reasoning for 2b, given the veil of ignorance and the basic goal while pretending the veil of ignorance. What is the difference between a Theory of Justice and its implementation? Are you a Rawlsian? Explain why or why not.
- What is Utilitarianism? Define. What was one of Jeremy Bentham’s motives for developing it in England? Where is Bentham now? Why? Explain.
- How would Rawls and Bentham respond to the story of the Little Red Hen? The Lazy animals take the bread by force. She gives the lazy animals some of the bread. Or she does not give the bread to the lazy animals. And to make things more fun, tomorrow, a meteor comes down from space and blows the cat, Goose and dog to kingdom come (kills them).
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chmxGSi7x98
Thanks!
_________________________________________________
Introduction to Philosophy
2021
Dr. Lee Basham
Here it is my friends. Please answer the questions as fully as you can. Look at your notes and listen in at Drlabasham777.podbean.com for our review. You will need to submit your test answers to our Bb. You have 5 days from After Our Review to do so. Anytime within that 5 days is fine.
And get your enrollment going. Don't let the Chinese government still hold you back. We got this!
- What is hard determinism about freedom? What is causal determinism? How does the hard determinist define freewill? Give the basic argument for hard determinism. What is de Holbach’s Tower example? Explain how it illustrates Hard determinism.
- What is libertarianism about freedom? How does the libertarian about freewill define freewill? What is the basic argument for libertarianism about freewill? How does skepticism (doubt) about the basic sanity of mathematics and therefore, of science, open the door for libertarianism? Explain.
- What is “soft determinism” or compatibilism about freewill? How does the compatibilist define freewill? (It’s a rather long list). How does this help the compatibilist escape the implications (results) of hard determinism? Explain.
- What is the standard definition of God in Western philosophy? What is the relationship between facts and truths? What is a “fact” as a fact? Give the correspondence theory of truth. What is closed theism about knowledge? What is open theism about knowledge? What is the paradox of God’s knowledge for freewill (on closed theism)? How can a libertarian about freewill respond to and escape the paradox? Explain. Would you, if you are or were to be a theist (belief in the existence of God), be a closed or open theist? Explain your view.
Thanks!
_______________________________________________
Ethics
Midterm Test, 2021
Dr. Lee Basham
Here it is my friends. Please answer the questions as fully as you can. Look at your notes and listen in at Drlabasham777.podbean.com for our review. You will need to submit your test answers to our Bb. You have 5 days from After Our Review to do so. Anytime within that 5 days is fine.
And get your enrollment going. Don't let the Chinese government hold you back anymore. We got this!
- What is Nihilism about ethics? What is the “ethics as non-rational belief” argument? Provide. What must we do to answer nihilism successfully and directly.
- What is the principle of entailment? So, what is subjectivism about ethics?
- What are three basic questions about it? What are the answers, and why? How do these compare to your own answers? Is subjectivism about ethics, given your responses, true or false? Explain. Does subjectivism effectively answer nihilism? Explain.
- What is cultural relativity about ethics? Define. What are three basic questions? What are the answers, and why? How do these compare to your own answers? What is “tolerance” of other cultures? Does belief in CR necessarily promote tolerance? Explain. Does CR effectively answer nihilism? Explain. What is Utilitarianism? Define. What was one of Jeremy Bentham’s motives for developing it in England? What is the organ donor problem? Explain. What feature of morality does the organ donor problem appear to violate?
- Apply Nihilism, Subjectivism, Cultural Relativity and Utilitarianism to the story of the Little Red Hen. What should the Cat, The Pig and The Duck do under each theory? What should the Hen do? Explain as fully as you can. Be careful, because none of these theories can handle this story very well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chmxGSi7x98
- In the case of Utilitarianism, consider 2 options: A) The Lazy animals take the bread by force. B) She gives the lazy animals the bread. Or she does not give the bread to the lazy animals. Explain how Utilitarianism might explore these 2 options. Would it matter if an astroid destroyed the planet a few minutes later? Explain. Q: If you could steal the bread, get away with it...well, why wouldn’t you? Or would you? Again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chmxGSi7x98
Thanks!
_________________________________________
Philosophy of Religion
Midterm Test, 2021
Dr. Lee Basham
Here it is my friends. Please answer the questions as fully as you can. Look at your notes and listen in at Drlabasham777.podbean.com for our review. You will need to submit your test answers to our Bb. You have 5 days from After Our Review to do so. Anytime within that 5 days is fine.
And get your enrollment going. Don't let the Chinese government hold you back anymore. We got this!
- Why study the Philosophical issues surround the naturalism (no super-natural) and existence of God conflict? What is the standard Western definition of God? How does this illustrate the question in the first sentence? Please explain.
- What is the Realist Question about God? What are the three options of response? Explain the varieties. Can we define “God is Love” and just move on? Why or why not?
- What is Ibn Sina’s objection to God as “all powerful”? Explain what is wrong with a circular square, in detail. How does St. Aquinas respond? What is the relation between knowledge and power? How does open theism about knowledge limit power in ways beyond logical impossibility? Explain.
- What is the Divine Command Theory (DCT). How does it resemble Subjectivism about Ethics? Give an example, for instance, the Job story. While the Job story need npt be a subjectivist one, let’s consider it in that light as the DCT in action.
- How does the Vedic (“Hindu”) tradition understand the existence of God? What is the three-part doctrine of nonseparation? How do they argue for the existence of God on this basis?
- What is the relationship between facts and truths? What is a “fact” as a fact? Give the correspondence theory of truth. What is closed theism about knowledge? What is open theism about knowledge? What is the paradox of God’s knowledge for freewill (on closed theism)? How can a libertarian about freewill respond to and escape the paradox? Explain. Would you, if you are or hypothetically are a theist (belief in the existence of God), be a closed or open theist? Explain your view.
- Are you an open or closed theist (in concept)? Please explain.
Thanks!
_________________________________________
To All of us: Send your test answers to our Bb within 5 days After the Review! Any time within that 5 days is fine.
Do well!
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
PS. Yes, that's me.