MH Philosophy 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which philosopher argued that 'existence precedes essence,' making existentialism a human-centered philosophy?
- Albert Camus
- Jean-Paul Sartre (Correct answer)
- Martin Heidegger
- Simone de Beauvoir
Correct answer: Jean-Paul Sartre
Sartre argued that humans first exist and then define themselves through choices, reversing the traditional view that essence precedes existence.
Question 2: What is the central claim of Kant's 'Copernican Revolution' in epistemology?
- The mind passively receives knowledge from the world
- The mind actively structures experience through innate categories (Correct answer)
- All knowledge derives from sensory experience alone
- Reason cannot know anything beyond immediate perception
Correct answer: The mind actively structures experience through innate categories
Kant argued that rather than the mind conforming to objects, objects must conform to the mind's innate structures like space, time, and causality.
Question 3: In Plato's allegory of the cave, what does the sun outside the cave represent?
- Empirical science
- The Form of the Good (Correct answer)
- Physical reality
- Democratic freedom
Correct answer: The Form of the Good
The sun symbolizes the Form of the Good, the highest form in Plato's theory, which illuminates all other truths.
Question 4: Which of the following best describes Hume's 'problem of induction'?
- We cannot trust deductive reasoning in empirical matters
- Past regularities do not logically guarantee future occurrences (Correct answer)
- Inductive logic always leads to contradictions
- Scientific laws are purely arbitrary conventions
Correct answer: Past regularities do not logically guarantee future occurrences
Hume showed that the inference from past observations to future events has no logical justification, since the future could differ from the past.
Question 5: Aristotle's concept of 'eudaimonia' is best translated and understood as:
- Sensory pleasure maximized over a lifetime
- Human flourishing or living well in accordance with virtue (Correct answer)
- Freedom from all pain and suffering
- Obedience to divine moral commands
Correct answer: Human flourishing or living well in accordance with virtue
Eudaimonia refers to flourishing or well-being achieved through virtuous activity in accordance with one's rational nature.
Question 6: What distinguishes analytical philosophy from continental philosophy in the 20th century?
- Analytics focus on logic and language clarity; continentals emphasize history, existence, and culture (Correct answer)
- Analytics reject science; continentals embrace formal logic
- Analytics study ethics only; continentals study metaphysics only
- Analytics are European; continentals are American
Correct answer: Analytics focus on logic and language clarity; continentals emphasize history, existence, and culture
Analytic philosophy prioritizes logical rigor, language analysis, and science, while continental philosophy engages with phenomenology, hermeneutics, and social critique.
Question 7: Which ethical framework holds that the moral worth of an action depends solely on its consequences?
- Deontology
- Virtue ethics
- Consequentialism (Correct answer)
- Natural law theory
Correct answer: Consequentialism
Consequentialism judges actions entirely by their outcomes, most famously in utilitarianism's principle of maximizing overall welfare.
MH Philosophy 2
Which philosopher argued that 'existence precedes essence,' making existentialism a human-centered philosophy?