Philosophy 1030 V: Study Guide

Final Exam

The final exam in this course will consist of 30-50 multiple-choice items drawn from the assigned reading material and video presentations. A very good way to prepare for the exam is to review the texts in relation to the following subjects.

After completing the assignments in this course, you should know ----

the general areas of concern basis to each of the three branches of philosophy;

the view of reality held by such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Sartre, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, etc;

the view of reality espoused by materialists, idealists, and pragmatists;

the basic positions on god expressed by theism, monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, panentheism, agnosticism, deism and atheism;

the difference between rationalism and empiricism;

the difference between Locke’s empiricism and Berkely’s’

the basis of Hume’s skepticism;

the theory of government espoused by Hobbes, by Locke, by Rousseau;

the basis of Hume’s skepticism;

the theory of government espoused by Hobbes, by Locke, by Rousseau;

the basic premise of the contract theory of government;

the three major truth tests (correspondence, coherence and pragmatic);

the views of human nature espoused by Plato, Freud, Hobbes, Skinner, Maslow and Rogers, Buddha, Christianity, and Sartre;

the basic ethical principles established by egoism, utilitarianism (act and rule), the divine command theory, and Kant’s categorical imperative;

the nature of knowledge as described by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkely, Hume and such pragmatists as Dewey, Peirce and James;

the differences that distinguished such political theories as democracy, totalitarianism, anarchy and republicanism;

the basic position stated by Werner Heisenberg’s Principle of Interminency;

who claims that “to be is to be perceived”;

who says that all people are “condemned to be free” and distinguishes between such modes of being as “being-in-itself” and “being-for-itself”;

who announced “I think; therefore, I am”;

who provided a written record of the ideas expressed by Socrates;

who described the human mind in its initial state as a “blank slate,” or tabula rasa;

who insisted that the “unexamined life is not worth living”;

who taught Plato;

who taught Aristotle;

what main points Socrates makes in The Apology and The Crito;

what Plato meant by the Myth of the Cave;

what Plato meant by his world of Forms;

what Buddha described as the Four Noble Truths;

which philosophers believe that our view of reality is largely determined by our language system;

the meaning of such Eastern concepts as karma, samsara, nirvana, avidya;

the Buddhist view of the human ego;

AND the contrasting views of human freedom expressed by Skinner (a determinist) and Sartre (an existentialist)

NO STUDY GUIDE CAN POSSIBLY COVER ALL IMPORTANT POINTS PRESENTED IN A SEMESTER LONG COURSE, BUT THE PRECEDING SHOULD HELP YOU TO PREPARE ADEQUATELY FOR THE PHILOSOPHY FINAL. GOOD LUCK!