Phil. 181 sample questions Prof. Dowden   A centipede was happy quite, Until a frog in fun Said, "Pray, which leg comes after which?" This raised her mind to such a pitch, She lay distracted in the ditch Considering how to run. You might feel like the centipede after taking this course.   In our course, if you are asked to discuss a position or claim, this means (a) to explain it, to say what it means and what it doesn't mean, (b) to introduce famous philosophers and their positions on the issue, both pro and con, and perhaps (c) to say what position you hold on the issue and why. 1. Discuss A. J. Ayer's views on metaphysics. 2. Discuss both why there is something rather than nothing, and why, given that space exists, it is not empty. Do not discuss the question of why something exists now but not earlier. 3. Describe and discuss the relative strength of (a) several empirical arguments for and against the existence of God. 4. Describe and discuss the relative strength of (b) several a priori arguments for and against the existence of God. 5. Discuss this remark: “The destiny of the world has been etched into the fabric of nature since the dawn of existence.” 6. According to the philosopher Daniel Dennett, the wasp Sphex ichneumoneus is sphexish. If Baruch Spinoza were alive today, he would agree and would say this illustrates his point (made in 1677 in his Ethics, Part II, Prop. XXXV, Note) about the human condition. Explain this. Also, why do you or don’t you agree with Spinoza? Why don’t all the other philosophers agree with you? What does all this have to do with the Consequence Argument mentioned by Sean Carroll and with Fried's research or Libet's research at UCSF? 7. Compare the positions of Alvin Plantinga (U. of Notre Dame) and Harry Frankfurt (Princeton U.) on what free will is. If you agree or disagree with either position, say why. Include a discussion of Jones and her sinister demon Black. 8. Very briefly describe these philosophies of mind: idealism, dualism, physicalism, functionalism, and eliminative materialism. 9. Describe and discuss the hard problem of consciousness. 10. Describe and discuss functionalism in the philosophy of mind. Also, comment on Clark Glymour’s claim: “The human brain is a biological computer, and the cognitive activities of humans are produced by computational procedures within this biological computer.” 11. Discuss some of the major arguments that were mentioned during class for and against physicalism in the philosophy of mind, giving special attention to Paul Churchland’s response to Frank Jackson’s thought experiment involving Mary in the black and white room. 12. Discuss the following metaphysical problem. If a changing thing really changes, there can't literally be one and the same thing before and after the change. However, if a changing thing literally remains one and the same thing (that is, retains its identity) throughout the change, then it cannot really have changed. 13. What makes you be you? That is, what unites all your experiences? Focus on the ontological question of what makes you be you and not on the epistemological question of how someone would be able to recognize you or know that you are you. Is it that all your experiences have the irreducible and unanalyzable monadic property of you-ness? What views on personal identity do you reject? Why? Discuss four ways that we “stressed” the concept of personal identity in class discussion, and what (it is claimed) can be learned from this. 14. Are there fewer existent objects than non-existent objects? 15. Describe and discuss what Quine would be likely to say about the following: (a) Names tell us what exists. (b) Plato's beard often dulls the edge of Occam's Razor. (c) No entity without identity. (d) To be is to be the value of a variable. (e) There’s a possibility that there are blue swans somewhere on Earth. 16. Some philosophers have claimed that Bertrand Russell’s 1905 article “On Denoting” is the most significant article in the history of 20th century metaphysics. Explain and discuss this claim. 17. Briefly describe the graph below plus four other, different, contested metaphysical issues involving space or time, and then discuss just one of them in detail. 18. Discuss the various reasons to believe that there is no time travel to the past. 19. In 1715 and 1716, Gottfried Leibniz and Isaac Newton discussed the nature of space in a series of letters. The issue is still controversial today. Discuss the reasons presented on this controversial issue by Leibniz, Newton, Kant, Mach, and Einstein. 20. (a) What does the term “the infinite” mean? (b) Discuss the problem of whether the infinite is beyond the grasp of the human mind. (c) Does the infinite exist in the physical world? (d) Zeno said that, because of a problem with the infinite, motion is an illusion. Briefly discuss his remark. 21. Do any numbers exist? Discuss mathematical realism. 22. Discuss the pros and cons of scientific realism that were mentioned in class discussion.