Senior Comprehensive Exams: Western Philosophy

Senior Seminar, Comprehensive Exam Questions

Western Philosophy

What are some of the significant differences between concepts of nature found among the philosophies of ancient Greece and those of the European Renaissance?
What were the major themes of Pre-Socratic philosophy?
Discuss what Heraclitus meant by saying that you cannot step into the same river twice. What were some of the opposing positions among the Pre-Socratics? Discuss this question in terms of the one and the many, or the temporal and the eternal.
Compare the theories of change given by Heraclitus and Parmenides. Does either of them provide an acceptable theory? Why or why not?
Discuss the central philosophical idea associated with Pythagoras, how it distinguishes his thought from that of his Milesian naturalists, and how it prepares the way for Platonic idealism.
Discuss the view of Protagoras from the fragments and particularly Plato's reconstruction in the Theaetetus. Critically assess the legitimacy of his view.
Explain Socrates and Euthyphro's discussion of piety. With special reference to the dilemma reached, provide a solution to their issue, or at least explain why some solutions don't work.
Explain Socrates' view of civil disobedience (Crito, Apology). Responding to his view, in which circumstances do you believe (or not) that civil disobedience is morally acceptable?
What is the soul? Explain Plato's theory of "recollection" from the Phaedo and Meno, and its bearing on belief in the nature of the soul and its immortality.
What is the nature of love? Explaining the various views presented in the Symposium, explain why you think Diotima's speech does or does not help us to know Eros.
What is the function of the Forms in Plato's philosophy? From the discussion of the arts in the Republic Book X, account for Plato's theory of the nature of art. Do you agree?
Sketch Plato's theory of knowledge, distinguishing knowledge from opinion, and also indicating the role of recollection and the Forms as well as Plato's arguments for them. What is Aristotle's critique of Plato's epistemology?
Describe Plato's ideal state, including the roles of the guardians, soldiers, and craftsmen. Explain why they do what they do. How do they make the state just?
A. N. Whitehead once remarked that the tradition of Western philosophy consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. Write an essay either supporting or refuting that large generalization.
What is the difference between the epistemologies of Plato and Aristotle?
Explain Aristotle's categories. How are they an advancement (or not) on the theories of his predecessors?
Explain Aristotle's four types of cause (or "explanation"). Show how an analysis of some topic could benefit from such an approach.
What is the soul, as conceived using Aristotle's first principles and theory of substance?
What is the role of eudaimonia (or happiness) in Aristotle's ethics? How is it manifested in our lives?
Explain how the Epicureans, the Stoics, and the Skeptics each sought to achieve happiness.
For Aquinas, what are the relationships between eternal law, natural law, divine law, and human law?
What is Augustine's analysis of the nature of religious faith?
What is Thomas Aquinas' analysis of the difference between material and immaterial substance?
Discuss the development of Western Philosophy through its origins in Ancient Greece, through the medieval era, into the Modern era, and ending with a discussion of the Contemporary era. What are distinctive of each era? What events, cultural, or philosophical developments help bring about the changes in each era?
In the Leviathan, Hobbes argues that the natural state for human beings is one of war. According to Hobbes, how do we get out of this state of war? What criticism could be made of Hobbes' concept of a natural state?
By what reasoning did Descartes justify the existence of the world external to consciousness?
Explain the role of clarity and distinctness in Descartes' quest for certainty.
What is Descartes' argument for the existence of material objects?
How does Descartes manage to affirm the existence of anything more than his own mental states? Does he succeed?
Explain Hume's three principles of association of ideas and their function. What are Hume's critiques of causality and self-identity?
What criticism does Hume make of scientific knowledge?
What is George Berkeley's argument against the existence of being independent of mind?
Discuss the major developments in the empiricist approach to epistemology in Locke, Berkeley and Hume.
Discuss the ontological argument for the existence of God as set forth by Anselm and/or Descartes, and the criticism of the argument made by Immanuel Kant.
What does Locke and Rousseau believe about the natural state of human beings, the purpose of the social contract, and the system of governance? Compare and contrast their viewpoints.
Leibniz believed that the universe was totally filled with monads. Why did he believe this?
Locke argued that the mind is a blank slate from birth. What are the implications of such a claim and what are arguments against it? Discuss his distinctions among primary, secondary and tertiary qualities and how these distinctions influence concepts of perception and reality.
Explain Descartes' theory of the nature of physical and mental substances, and of human persons. Argue your stance on whether his dualism is an acceptable view.
What is the role of God in the philosophy of Descartes, in all its manifestations? Defend the merits or weaknesses of the role God is intended to play.
Between Spinoza and Leibniz's theory of substance, there are intriguing differences. Explain their theories. Does either theory of being offer an acceptable account of what is? Which, if either, offers a better view of what it is that makes us what we are?
Explain Locke's theory of substance, particularly in relation to his distinction between primary and secondary qualities.
What does Locke and Rousseau believe about the natural state of human beings, the purpose of the social contract, and the system of governance? Compare and contrast their viewpoints.
Explain Berkeley 's idealism: is he correct in his rejection of matter?
What is Hume's theory of causal relations? Is he correct about how things happen?
Explain Hume's theory of personal identity.
Show the development of modern empiricism through the philosophies of John Locke, George Berkely, and David Hume.
Explain Kant's theory of Space and Time: do they provide his defense of transcendental idealism with adequate justification?
Kant argues that the Categories are needed to explain the possibility of our experience: explain and evaluate his theory. Does our experience follow such principles?
Kant argues that the consequences of an action do not establish the moral status of that action. Upon examining his argument for this view and the alternative that he proposes, defend your own stance on the source of morality.
What did Immanuel Kant mean by the term "synthetic a priori" and what were its consequences for his theory of knowledge?
What response did Immanuel Kant give in the Critique of Pure Reason to Humean skepticism?
Give Kant's categories of the understanding and explain their function in human reasoning.
How important is the separation between sense impressions and ideas to the empiricist claim that experience is a foundation for knowledge?
What is Martin Heidegger's critique of the tradition of Western philosophy?
What are Nietzsche's criticisms of the tradition of Western morality and philosophy?
Discuss Hegel's master / slave dialectic in the Phenomenology of Spirit. How does it influence Sartre's treatment of desire in Being and Nothingness?
What critique of philosophy is to be found in the later writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein?
What is the postmodern critique of the tradition of Western philosophy found among contemporary French philosophers?
What are the major themes of Christian mysticism during the Middle Ages?
What are some of changes in the concept of time in the history of Western thought?
What are some of the changes in the concept of motion in the history of Western thought?
What is the critique of the Western intellectual tradition made by feminist philosophy?
Using a figure from each of three eras, discuss philosophy's understanding of Eros.
Using a figure from each of three eras, discuss the relationship of truth and power.
What contribution did monotheism make to the scientific movement of the past three centuries?
Discuss Heidegger's notions of authenticity and inauthenticity.
Discuss Merleau-Ponty's critique of Descartes' mind / body dualism.
Discuss the origins of existential philosophy in Kierkegaard as a reaction against the idealism of Hegel.
Pragmatism is said to be the first (and only) philosophy that carries the label "made in America ." What is distinctive about pragmatic philosophy and who are its major representatives?
What were the main themes that characterized the earlier and later phases of Wittgenstein's philosophical career?
Describe Hegel's concept of God, and why he identifies God as history. What criticism by other nineteenth-century thinkers were made of Hegel's concept?
Explain how capitalism functions, citing the roles of property, business organizations, markets, competition, and the profit motive. Consider the factors that favor a capitalist economy and those that count against it.
In his Essence of Christianity, Ludwig Feuerbach offers a projections theory of religion. Explain this theory.
Discuss the concept of "soul" in Western philosophy, noting as many distinct views of the concept as you can, and the philosophers who were associated with each view.
Explain how a common law system, like that of the United States, relies more on inductive reasoning than civil law systems like that of France.
Why is public documentation of legal arguments so critical in the legal system of the United States ?
Explain Marx's view of dialectic materialism and offer some criticism.
Why does Derrida question the emphasis upon authorial intent in the process of interpretation?
Explain Marx's view of dialectic materialism and offer some criticism.
Why does Derrida question the emphasis upon authorial intent in the process of interpretation?
Explain the moral stance that agreement provides the source of morals, and some consequences of that stance (as defended by Hobbes). Argue whether or not you believe that morality has such a source.
Compare and contrast Heidegger's Dasein with Nietzsche's ubermensch (overman).
Explain Schopenhauer's and Kierkegaard's rejection of Hegel's system.
How do Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Daly, Carol Gilligan, and Simone de Beauvoir understand their own female gender?
Describe Foucault's use of genealogy as a means of critique and his concept of power-knowledge.
What is the difference between philosophy understood as episteme, praxis, and poiesis?
What is Nietzsche's criticism of realism?
What is Edmund Husserl's take on what Descartes is doing when he speaks of the Transcendental Ego, the suspension of the thesis of the natural standpoint, constitutional intentionality, and the epoche?
What are some of the arguments for and against the claim that a machine can be constructed that has the capability of consciousness and thought?
What are some prominent theories concerning the relationship between language and the world?
Explain the distinction between syntax and semantics and how Searle uses this distinction to argue against strong AI.
Explain the functionalist theory of mind using the two versions of the Turing Test as an illustration.
Explain Frank Jackson's knowledge argument from "What Mary Doesn't Know". Does his argument successfully disprove physicalism? Argue for your answer.