MA Philosophy 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which philosopher argued in the 'Critique of Pure Reason' that space and time are forms of intuition imposed by the mind, not properties of things-in-themselves?
- David Hume
- Immanuel Kant (Correct answer)
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
- Arthur Schopenhauer
Correct answer: Immanuel Kant
Kant argued that space and time are a priori forms of sensible intuition through which the mind structures experience, not features of external reality.
Question 2: In Plato's theory of Forms, what is the relationship between particular things and their corresponding Form?
- Particulars are identical to Forms
- Particulars participate in or imitate Forms (Correct answer)
- Forms are abstractions derived from particulars
- Particulars and Forms are causally unrelated
Correct answer: Particulars participate in or imitate Forms
Plato held that particular sensible things participate in or imitate the eternal, unchanging Forms, deriving their properties from those Forms.
Question 3: The philosophical problem of personal identity over time is most directly concerned with which question?
- Whether free will is compatible with determinism
- What makes a person the same individual across different moments (Correct answer)
- Whether moral judgments can be objectively true
- How we gain knowledge through sensory experience
Correct answer: What makes a person the same individual across different moments
The problem of personal identity asks what criterion — psychological continuity, bodily continuity, or something else — makes someone the same person over time.
Question 4: Which position in philosophy of mind holds that mental states are identical to brain states?
- Property dualism
- Eliminative materialism
- Type identity theory (Correct answer)
- Functionalism
Correct answer: Type identity theory
Type identity theory, associated with Smart and Place, claims that mental state types (e.g., pain) are identical to physical brain state types.
Question 5: John Rawls's 'veil of ignorance' is a device used to determine principles of justice by imagining that individuals do not know which of the following?
- The laws of their society
- Their place in society, class, or natural abilities (Correct answer)
- The moral theories available to them
- The historical origins of their government
Correct answer: Their place in society, class, or natural abilities
Rawls's veil of ignorance strips decision-makers of knowledge of their social position, talents, and conception of the good to ensure impartial principles of justice.
Question 6: The philosophical concept of 'supervenience' is best described as which of the following relationships between two sets of properties?
- If A-properties supervene on B-properties, A-changes can occur without B-changes
- If A-properties supervene on B-properties, no A-change can occur without a B-change (Correct answer)
- Supervenience means A and B properties are numerically identical
- Supervenience means A-properties cause B-properties
Correct answer: If A-properties supervene on B-properties, no A-change can occur without a B-change
Supervenience holds that there can be no difference in higher-level (A) properties without a difference in lower-level (B) properties, establishing a dependency without necessarily claiming identity.
Question 7: Which of the following best characterizes the philosophical method known as 'phenomenology,' as developed by Edmund Husserl?
- Analyzing the logical structure of language to resolve metaphysical problems
- Describing the structures of conscious experience as they present themselves to the first-person perspective (Correct answer)
- Reducing all knowledge claims to empirically verifiable statements
- Studying social institutions and their effect on individual consciousness
Correct answer: Describing the structures of conscious experience as they present themselves to the first-person perspective
Husserl's phenomenology is a first-person, descriptive method focused on the intentional structures of conscious experience, bracketing questions about external reality through the epoché.
MA Philosophy 1
Which philosopher argued in the 'Critique of Pure Reason' that space and time are forms of intuition imposed by the mind, not properties of things-in-themselves?