MH Philosophy 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the key distinction between 'a priori' and 'a posteriori' knowledge?
- A priori is certain; a posteriori is merely probable
- A priori is known independently of experience; a posteriori requires experience (Correct answer)
- A priori is logical; a posteriori is mathematical
- A priori is innate at birth; a posteriori is learned in school
Correct answer: A priori is known independently of experience; a posteriori requires experience
A priori knowledge is justified independently of sensory experience (e.g., mathematics), while a posteriori knowledge depends on empirical observation.
Question 2: The philosophical position of 'eliminative materialism' in philosophy of mind holds that:
- Mental states are identical to brain states
- Folk psychological concepts like belief and desire do not refer to real entities (Correct answer)
- Matter is the only reality and mind is an illusion
- All mental properties can be eliminated through meditation
Correct answer: Folk psychological concepts like belief and desire do not refer to real entities
Eliminative materialists like Paul and Patricia Churchland argue that common-sense mental vocabulary will be replaced by a mature neuroscience.
Question 3: Michel Foucault's concept of 'power/knowledge' (pouvoir/savoir) claims that:
- Those who have power naturally accumulate more knowledge
- Knowledge and power are co-constitutive—each produces and sustains the other (Correct answer)
- Scientific knowledge liberates people from power structures
- Power can only be legitimate if based on true knowledge
Correct answer: Knowledge and power are co-constitutive—each produces and sustains the other
Foucault argued that knowledge claims are inseparable from power relations—what counts as truth is shaped by power, and knowledge itself exercises power.
Question 4: Which argument for the existence of God concludes that God must exist because existence is a perfection?
- The cosmological argument
- The teleological argument
- The ontological argument (Correct answer)
- The moral argument
Correct answer: The ontological argument
The ontological argument, classically formulated by Anselm, holds that since God is the greatest conceivable being, and existence is a perfection, God must exist in reality.
Question 5: In philosophy of language, what is the distinction between a term's 'sense' (Sinn) and 'reference' (Bedeutung) according to Frege?
- Sense is the spoken word; reference is the written word
- Sense is the mode of presentation of an object; reference is the object itself (Correct answer)
- Sense is the emotional connotation; reference is the denotation
- Sense applies to proper names only; reference applies to predicates only
Correct answer: Sense is the mode of presentation of an object; reference is the object itself
Frege introduced this distinction to explain how 'Morning Star' and 'Evening Star' have the same reference (Venus) but different senses (modes of presentation).
Question 6: What is 'reflective equilibrium' as a method in ethical theory, associated with John Rawls?
- Achieving inner emotional balance before making moral judgments
- Iteratively adjusting moral principles and intuitions until they cohere (Correct answer)
- Reflecting on past actions to determine their moral worth
- Applying a single supreme principle consistently to all cases
Correct answer: Iteratively adjusting moral principles and intuitions until they cohere
Reflective equilibrium involves moving back and forth between specific moral intuitions and general principles, revising each in light of the other until achieving coherence.
Question 7: Which of the following correctly describes the philosophical position of 'compatibilism' regarding free will?
- Free will and determinism are mutually exclusive and both true
- Free will is an illusion that determinism entirely eliminates
- Free will and determinism are compatible—freedom means acting without coercion, not without causes (Correct answer)
- True free will requires indeterministic quantum events in the brain
Correct answer: Free will and determinism are compatible—freedom means acting without coercion, not without causes
Compatibilists argue that free will, properly understood as acting from one's own desires without external compulsion, is perfectly consistent with causal determinism.
MH Philosophy 5
What is the key distinction between 'a priori' and 'a posteriori' knowledge?