MH Philosophy 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the main thesis of Descartes' method of radical doubt?
- All beliefs are equally uncertain and should be abandoned
- By doubting everything possible, one arrives at indubitable foundations for knowledge (Correct answer)
- Skepticism proves that knowledge is impossible
- Scientific method replaces philosophical inquiry
Correct answer: By doubting everything possible, one arrives at indubitable foundations for knowledge
Descartes systematically doubted all beliefs that could be doubted to discover a certain foundation, arriving at 'cogito ergo sum.'
Question 2: In social contract theory, Rousseau's 'general will' (volonté générale) refers to:
- The sum of all individual private interests
- The collective interest of the community as a whole (Correct answer)
- The will of the majority in a democracy
- The will of a benevolent sovereign
Correct answer: The collective interest of the community as a whole
The general will for Rousseau represents what is genuinely good for the entire community, which may differ from the aggregated will of all individuals.
Question 3: Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of 'will to power' is best understood as:
- A drive to dominate and control other people politically
- A fundamental drive toward self-mastery, creativity, and growth (Correct answer)
- The Darwinian instinct for biological survival
- A nihilistic rejection of all values
Correct answer: A fundamental drive toward self-mastery, creativity, and growth
Nietzsche's will to power is primarily a drive toward self-overcoming, creative expression, and the expansion of one's capacities.
Question 4: Which of the following best represents the philosophical problem of personal identity over time?
- Whether consciousness is identical to brain states
- Whether a person who changes completely remains the same person (Correct answer)
- Whether free will is compatible with determinism
- Whether moral judgments are objective or subjective
Correct answer: Whether a person who changes completely remains the same person
The problem of personal identity asks what makes a person the same individual across time despite physical and psychological changes.
Question 5: What is the doctrine of logical positivism's 'verification principle'?
- All propositions can be verified through logical proof alone
- A statement is meaningful only if it is empirically verifiable or analytically true (Correct answer)
- Scientific theories must be verified by a single crucial experiment
- All philosophical claims must be verified by peer review
Correct answer: A statement is meaningful only if it is empirically verifiable or analytically true
The Vienna Circle's verification principle held that a statement is cognitively meaningful only if it can be verified through sensory experience or is true by definition.
Question 6: Immanuel Kant's 'categorical imperative' in its first formulation states:
- Act so as to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number
- Act only according to that maxim you could will to be a universal law (Correct answer)
- Act as you would want others to act toward you
- Act in accordance with your natural inclinations and virtues
Correct answer: Act only according to that maxim you could will to be a universal law
The Formula of Universal Law requires that you act only on principles that could be consistently universalized as laws for all rational agents.
Question 7: Which philosopher is primarily associated with the development of pragmatism as a philosophical method?
- William James
- Charles Sanders Peirce (Correct answer)
- John Dewey
- Richard Rorty
Correct answer: Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce coined the term 'pragmatism' and developed its core method: the meaning of a concept lies in its practical consequences.
MH Philosophy 3
What is the main thesis of Descartes' method of radical doubt?