Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Qualifying Examination in Philosophy — Questions and Answers

Question 1: Heidegger's concept of 'Being-in-the-world' (In-der-Welt-sein) in Being and Time challenges traditional Cartesian metaphysics by emphasizing that:

Knowledge begins with sense data
The subject observes the world from outside
Consciousness is a substance distinct from matter
Humans are always already embedded in a world of practical engagement (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Humans are always already embedded in a world of practical engagement

Heidegger argued that Dasein's primary mode is practical involvement — using tools, acting with others — not detached theoretical observation of objects.

Question 2: Platonism in metaphysics holds that abstract objects such as numbers and properties:

Are useful fictions
Are mental constructions
Exist independently of minds and concrete things (Correct answer)
Reduce to physical patterns

Correct answer: Exist independently of minds and concrete things

Plato argued that abstract entities like the Form of Beauty or the number 7 have objective, mind-independent existence in a non-physical realm.

Question 3: A philosopher claims that moral facts are objective features of reality, like mathematical truths, independent of what anyone thinks. This position is called:

Emotivism
Moral anti-realism
Moral relativism
Moral realism (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Moral realism

Moral realism holds that moral facts are mind-independent and objectively true, discoverable through reason or intuition, analogous to how we discover mathematical truths.

Question 4: The 'is-ought gap' (Hume's guillotine) refers to:

The logical gap between descriptive facts and normative conclusions (Correct answer)
The problem of other minds in moral reasoning
The impossibility of moral knowledge
The distinction between justice and charity

Correct answer: The logical gap between descriptive facts and normative conclusions

Hume observed that one cannot validly derive normative 'ought' statements from purely descriptive 'is' statements without additional normative premises.

Question 5: Which scenario best illustrates the philosophical concept of 'bad faith' (mauvaise foi) as used by Sartre?

A philosopher changes her position after encountering a strong counterargument
A researcher discovers her hypothesis was wrong and revises it
A student accurately assesses her academic strengths and limitations
A person tells themselves they had no choice but to obey orders, denying their freedom (Correct answer)

Correct answer: A person tells themselves they had no choice but to obey orders, denying their freedom

Bad faith is Sartre's term for self-deception that denies one's radical freedom by pretending one's choices are determined by role, nature, or circumstance.

Question 6: John Rawls' 'veil of ignorance' is a device used in his theory to ensure that principles of justice are chosen:

Through divine command
Based on utilitarian calculations
Without knowledge of one's place in society (Correct answer)
By elected representatives

Correct answer: Without knowledge of one's place in society

Behind the veil of ignorance, rational contractors do not know their class, talents, or conception of the good, motivating fair principles.

Question 7: Communitarianism, associated with Michael Sandel and Alasdair MacIntyre, criticizes liberal individualism for failing to account for the role of:

Individual rights
Community and tradition in shaping identity (Correct answer)
Universal reason
Market mechanisms

Correct answer: Community and tradition in shaping identity

Communitarians argue that persons are constituted by their communal attachments and traditions, not pre-social atoms as liberals assume.

Question 8: Supervenience, a key concept in metaphysics, states that properties of type A supervene on properties of type B when:

No two things can differ in A-properties without differing in B-properties (Correct answer)
A-properties are reducible to B-properties
All A-properties are identical to B-properties
A-properties cause B-properties

Correct answer: No two things can differ in A-properties without differing in B-properties

Supervenience is a dependency relation weaker than reduction: mental properties supervene on physical properties if there can be no mental difference without a physical difference.

Question 9: Social epistemology studies how social factors and institutions affect:

Individual cognitive processes only
The metaphysical nature of truth
The acquisition, distribution, and transmission of knowledge (Correct answer)
Mathematical proof procedures

Correct answer: The acquisition, distribution, and transmission of knowledge

Social epistemology, developed by Alvin Goldman and others, examines how group dynamics, testimony, and institutions shape what we collectively know.

Question 10: Physicalism (or materialism) in metaphysics holds that everything that exists is:

Abstract and non-spatiotemporal
Mental or dependent on mind
Physical or dependent on the physical (Correct answer)
Neutral between mind and matter

Correct answer: Physical or dependent on the physical

Physicalism is the view that all facts, including mental facts, are ultimately physical facts or fully determined by physical facts.

Question 11: The debate between presentism and eternalism in philosophy of time concerns whether:

Only the present exists vs. past, present, and future are equally real (Correct answer)
Time is absolute or relative
Change is real or illusory
Time is objective or subjective

Correct answer: Only the present exists vs. past, present, and future are equally real

Presentists hold that only present entities exist, while eternalists (four-dimensionalists) hold that past and future entities are as real as present ones.

Question 12: The ship of Theseus paradox raises questions about which of the following metaphysical topics?

Identity conditions for persisting objects (Correct answer)
The existence of abstract objects
The nature of causation
Free will and determinism

Correct answer: Identity conditions for persisting objects

The paradox asks whether an object replaced plank by plank remains the same object, challenging our criteria for identity through change.

Question 13: A philosopher argues that language does not simply describe reality but actively shapes and constitutes our experience of it. This position is most consistent with:

Logical atomism
Eliminative materialism
Naive realism
Linguistic idealism or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in philosophy of language (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Linguistic idealism or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in philosophy of language

The view that linguistic structure shapes thought and experience—ranging from Wittgenstein's later work to strong versions of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis—challenges the picture theory of language.

Question 14: What is the classical tripartite definition of knowledge according to Plato's Theaetetus?

Logical necessary truth
True rational belief
Justified true belief (Correct answer)
Empirical verified fact

Correct answer: Justified true belief

The classical definition holds that knowledge is justified true belief, though Gettier cases later challenged its sufficiency.

Question 15: Descartes' method of doubt in the Meditations is an example of which epistemological approach?

Contextualism
Pragmatism
Methodological skepticism (Correct answer)
Reliabilism

Correct answer: Methodological skepticism

Descartes used systematic doubt as a method to strip away uncertain beliefs and find indubitable foundations for knowledge.

Question 16: Ernest Nagel's account of intertheoretic reduction requires that:

The terms of the reduced theory be connected via bridge principles to the terms of the reducing theory (Correct answer)
The reducing theory must have fewer theoretical entities than the reduced theory
The reduced theory must be shown to be empirically false by the reducing theory
Both theories explain the same phenomena using identical mathematical formalisms

Correct answer: The terms of the reduced theory be connected via bridge principles to the terms of the reducing theory

Nagel argued that reducing one theory to another requires bridge laws that connect the vocabulary of the higher-level theory to that of the lower-level reducing theory, allowing the former to be derived from the latter.

Question 17: Carol Gilligan's ethics of care challenged Kohlberg's moral development theory primarily on the grounds that it:

Relied on virtue ethics rather than principled reasoning
Ignored cultural differences in moral development
Privileged a justice-oriented, typically male moral voice over a care-oriented one (Correct answer)
Overemphasized emotion at the expense of reason

Correct answer: Privileged a justice-oriented, typically male moral voice over a care-oriented one

Gilligan argued Kohlberg's model was gender-biased, neglecting the relational, care-focused moral reasoning more common among women.

Question 18: Modal realism, defended by David Lewis, holds that all possible worlds are:

Useful fictions for logical analysis
Abstract sets of propositions
Genuinely existing concrete realities (Correct answer)
Mental constructs

Correct answer: Genuinely existing concrete realities

Lewis argued that each possible world is a concrete spatiotemporal reality just as real as the actual world, differing only in being spatiotemporally isolated from ours.

Question 19: G.E. Moore's 'open question argument' was designed to refute:

Moral skepticism
Divine command theory
Social contract theory
Ethical naturalism (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Ethical naturalism

Moore argued that for any natural property F, it remains an open question whether 'what is F is good,' showing goodness cannot be identified with any natural property.

Question 20: Moral relativism holds that moral judgments are:

True or false relative to cultural or individual standards (Correct answer)
Universally valid across cultures
Always derived from natural law
Irreducibly emotional expressions

Correct answer: True or false relative to cultural or individual standards

Moral relativism maintains that the truth of moral claims is relative to the norms of a particular culture or individual.

Question 21: There are literally many things that _____ Craig says.

exists somewhere
is meaningless
is possible
cannot exist (Correct answer)

Correct answer: cannot exist

William Lane Craig, in his defense of the Kalam cosmological argument, often discusses the impossibility of an actual infinite. He argues that if an actual infinite number of things (like past events) could exist, it would lead to absurdities and contradictions. Therefore, he concludes that an actual infinite cannot exist in reality, meaning the universe must have had a beginning rather than an infinite past.

Question 22: The phenomenological method developed by Husserl involves 'bracketing' assumptions about the external world—a procedure he called:

Transcendental deduction
Dialectical synthesis
Epoché (phenomenological reduction) (Correct answer)
Deflationism

Correct answer: Epoché (phenomenological reduction)

The phenomenological epoché suspends the 'natural attitude' toward the existence of the external world to focus purely on the structure of conscious experience.

Question 23: Epistemic injustice, a concept developed by Miranda Fricker, refers to a wrong done to someone specifically in their capacity as a:

Social contract participant
Political citizen
Moral agent
Knower or epistemic subject (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Knower or epistemic subject

Fricker identifies two types: testimonial injustice (unfair credibility deficit) and hermeneutical injustice (gaps in collective interpretive resources).

Question 24: The philosophical problem of 'dirty hands' in political ethics refers to:

Moral disagreement within democratic legislatures
The situation where doing what is morally right in politics may require committing a moral wrong (Correct answer)
Corruption caused by prolonged exposure to power
The problem of identifying corrupt politicians

Correct answer: The situation where doing what is morally right in politics may require committing a moral wrong

Dirty hands cases (discussed by Michael Walzer) involve political leaders who must commit genuine moral wrongs (e.g., torture) to achieve morally important ends.

Question 25: Which philosophical position claims that scientific theories are merely useful instruments for prediction and do not describe an underlying reality?

Instrumentalism (anti-realism) (Correct answer)
Naturalism
Scientific realism
Rationalism

Correct answer: Instrumentalism (anti-realism)

Instrumentalism holds that scientific theories are tools for organizing and predicting experience rather than literal descriptions of unobservable entities.

Question 26: The 'separateness of persons' objection to utilitarianism, associated with Rawls and Nozick, argues that utilitarianism:

Illegitimately aggregates welfare across individuals, ignoring their distinctness (Correct answer)
Wrongly treats all pleasures as commensurable
Cannot explain why justice matters more than happiness
Fails to account for future generations

Correct answer: Illegitimately aggregates welfare across individuals, ignoring their distinctness

Critics argue that by summing welfare across persons, utilitarianism treats society as a single individual and ignores that sacrifices imposed on one person cannot be compensated by gains to another.

Question 27: Testimony as a source of knowledge is debated between reductionists and anti-reductionists. Anti-reductionists hold that testimony is:

Only justified if corroborated by perception
Always subject to inductive verification
A basic and irreducible source of justification (Correct answer)
Inferior to perceptual evidence

Correct answer: A basic and irreducible source of justification

Anti-reductionists argue we have a default entitlement to accept testimony without positive independent evidence for the speaker's reliability.

Question 28: The debate between reductionism and emergence concerns whether higher-level properties such as life or consciousness can be fully explained in terms of:

Teleological functions
Lower-level physical components and their interactions (Correct answer)
Irreducible holistic principles
Divine impartation

Correct answer: Lower-level physical components and their interactions

Reductionists claim higher-level properties are exhaustively explained by lower-level physics, while emergentists argue new properties arise that are irreducible to the base level.

Question 29: The view that beliefs are justified by their coherence within an interconnected system is called:

Foundationalism
Reliabilism
Contextualism
Coherentism (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Coherentism

Coherentism, associated with thinkers like BonJour, judges justification by how well beliefs fit together in a web.

Question 30: Kant's 'Copernican Revolution' in epistemology claimed that:

Empiricism fully explains knowledge
Knowledge mirrors an independent reality
Mathematics is empirically derived
Objects conform to our cognition, not the reverse (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Objects conform to our cognition, not the reverse

Kant argued that our cognitive faculties impose structure on experience, making the mind constitutive of objects of knowledge.

Question 31: Skeptical theism, as defended by Michael Bergmann and Stephen Wykstra, responds to evidential arguments from evil by contending that:

Human cognitive limitations make it unsurprising that we cannot identify all the goods that justify God's permission of evil (Correct answer)
The existence of moral saints proves that evil serves redemptive purposes
Gratuitous evil is actually logically impossible if God exists
We have good independent reasons to expect God to permit all actual evils

Correct answer: Human cognitive limitations make it unsurprising that we cannot identify all the goods that justify God's permission of evil

Skeptical theism argues that our inability to see a justifying reason for an evil does not imply there is none, given the vast cognitive gap between human and divine perspectives (CORNEA principle / 'sceptical theism').

Question 32: Bernard Williams's critique of utilitarianism centers on the claim that it violates:

Personal integrity and agent-relative commitments (Correct answer)
The universalizability of moral rules
The greatest happiness principle
The social contract between citizens

Correct answer: Personal integrity and agent-relative commitments

Williams argued that utilitarianism alienates agents from their deepest projects and commitments, undermining personal integrity.

Question 33: The social contract tradition, represented by Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau, grounds political authority in:

Historical tradition
Actual or hypothetical consent of the governed (Correct answer)
Divine right
Natural hierarchy

Correct answer: Actual or hypothetical consent of the governed

Social contract theories hold that legitimate political authority derives from an agreement — real or hypothetical — among free and equal persons.

Question 34: The distinction between a priori and a posteriori arguments rests on whether justification depends on:

Formal structure or content
Deduction or induction
Universal or particular claims
Experience or reason alone (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Experience or reason alone

A priori arguments are justifiable by reason alone without empirical evidence, while a posteriori arguments require observational evidence.

Question 35: When you hold a belief because it is comforting rather than because evidence supports it, you are engaging in what philosophers call:

Epistemic virtue
Wishful thinking (motivated reasoning) (Correct answer)
Reflective equilibrium
Coherentism

Correct answer: Wishful thinking (motivated reasoning)

Motivated reasoning is the tendency to evaluate evidence in ways that confirm what we want to believe, an epistemic vice studied extensively in social epistemology.

Question 36: What does it mean for a moral theory to be 'agent-neutral'?

It prioritizes the agent's own welfare above all others
It applies only to impartial spectators, not ordinary agents
It treats all cultures as morally equivalent
The reasons it generates are the same for every agent regardless of their personal relationships (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The reasons it generates are the same for every agent regardless of their personal relationships

Agent-neutral theories give every agent the same reason structure (e.g., 'reduce suffering wherever it occurs'), unlike agent-relative theories that give different reasons to different agents.

Question 37: You experience a profound sense of alienation from your own choices and wonder whether 'you' are the author of your actions at all. This is closest to which philosophical concern?

The paradox of the heap
Questions of personal agency and free will in the context of determinism (Correct answer)
The trolley problem
The problem of other minds

Correct answer: Questions of personal agency and free will in the context of determinism

Existential alienation from one's own agency connects to longstanding debates about whether determinism undermines genuine authorship of one's decisions.

Question 38: According to Aquinas, ______ is the first effective cause of everything.

nature
God (Correct answer)
an infinite series
the universe

Correct answer: God

In his 'Five Ways,' Thomas Aquinas argues that there must be a first efficient cause, an uncaused cause, for the chain of causality to begin. He concludes that this first efficient cause, which is not itself caused by anything else, is what everyone understands to be God. Without such a first cause, there would be an infinite regress of causes, which Aquinas deemed impossible.

Question 39: Quine's criterion of ontological commitment states that we are committed to the existence of all entities that are:

Named by nouns in our language
Values of bound variables in true statements (Correct answer)
Logically necessary
Perceived by the senses

Correct answer: Values of bound variables in true statements

Quine argued that to find what a theory says exists, ask what objects must be quantified over for its sentences to be true.

Question 40: Substance ontology, dominant in the Aristotelian tradition, holds that the fundamental entities of reality are:

Relations between things
Properties or qualities themselves
Individual substances that bear properties (Correct answer)
Events and processes

Correct answer: Individual substances that bear properties

For Aristotle, substances — individual cats, stones, people — are the primary beings, while properties like 'white' or 'running' exist only as attributes of substances.

Question 41: The realism vs. anti-realism debate in metaphysics concerns whether the objects studied by a given domain:

Are defined by cultural consensus
Exist independently of human minds and practices (Correct answer)
Are useful constructs for scientific prediction
Are identical to sense data

Correct answer: Exist independently of human minds and practices

Realists hold that entities like electrons or numbers exist mind-independently; anti-realists argue that such entities depend on human conceptual schemes or practices.

Question 42: Which view holds that the meaning of a concept is determined by its role in a network of inferential relations rather than by reference to objects in the world?

Semantic externalism
Descriptivist theory of names
Conceptual role semantics (inferential role semantics) (Correct answer)
Causal theory of reference

Correct answer: Conceptual role semantics (inferential role semantics)

Conceptual role semantics identifies meaning with inferential role—what a concept licenses you to infer—rather than with external referents.

Question 43: William James in 'The Will to Believe' argues that adopting religious belief without sufficient evidence is justified when:

The belief produces positive social outcomes for the community
Moral duties require postulating God's existence as Kant argued
The believer has had a direct mystical experience confirming the belief
The hypothesis is live, the option is forced and momentous, and evidence is insufficient to decide (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The hypothesis is live, the option is forced and momentous, and evidence is insufficient to decide

James held that on genuine options—live, forced, and momentous—where evidence cannot settle the question, one's 'passional nature' may legitimately tip the balance toward belief.

Question 44: In applied ethics, the principle of double effect permits harmful side effects of an action when:

The majority benefits from the action
The agent intends only the good effect and harm is merely foreseen, not intended (Correct answer)
The agent lacks the power to prevent the harm
The harm is greater than the intended good

Correct answer: The agent intends only the good effect and harm is merely foreseen, not intended

The doctrine of double effect allows an action with bad side effects if the bad effect is foreseen but not intended and the good effect is proportionate.

Question 45: The problem of personal identity over time asks what makes a person at one time the same person as a person at another time. Psychological continuity theories hold that identity consists in:

Social recognition by others
Persistence of a non-physical soul
Continuity of memories and psychological connections (Correct answer)
Continuity of the same physical body

Correct answer: Continuity of memories and psychological connections

Locke and later Parfit argued that personal identity is constituted by overlapping chains of memory and psychological continuity.

Question 46: Global Workspace Theory, associated with Bernard Baars, proposes that consciousness arises from information being broadcast to:

The limbic system
A single dedicated brain region
A global workspace accessible to many cognitive processes (Correct answer)
The prefrontal cortex exclusively

Correct answer: A global workspace accessible to many cognitive processes

Baars' GWT likens consciousness to a theater spotlight that broadcasts selected information globally, making it available to many specialized brain systems.

Question 47: The No False Lemmas condition was added to the JTB account to handle Gettier cases by requiring that:

The inference chain contain no false intermediate steps (Correct answer)
Beliefs be produced by reliable faculties
Justification be non-defeasible
Knowledge be certain

Correct answer: The inference chain contain no false intermediate steps

The No False Lemmas response to Gettier requires that no false propositions play an essential role in the justificatory chain for knowledge.

Question 48: Foundationalism in epistemology holds that all knowledge ultimately rests on:

Pragmatic utility
Basic or foundational beliefs (Correct answer)
Social consensus
Coherent webs of belief

Correct answer: Basic or foundational beliefs

Foundationalism posits a structure of basic non-inferred beliefs that support all other justified beliefs.

Question 49: The trolley problem is primarily used in ethics to illustrate tension between:

Consequentialist and deontological intuitions (Correct answer)
Contractarianism and libertarianism
Divine command theory and natural law
Virtue and vice

Correct answer: Consequentialist and deontological intuitions

The trolley problem highlights the clash between maximizing outcomes (consequentialism) and the prohibition on using people as means (deontology).

Question 50: Deliberative democracy, associated with Habermas and Cohen, holds that legitimate political decisions must result from:

Expert technocratic judgment
Inclusive rational public deliberation (Correct answer)
Market competition
Majority vote alone

Correct answer: Inclusive rational public deliberation

Deliberative democrats argue that laws are legitimate when they arise from free and equal public reasoning open to all affected parties.

Question 51: Ontology is the branch of metaphysics that investigates the nature and categories of:

Knowledge and justification
Logical inference
Moral value
Being and existence (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Being and existence

Ontology asks fundamental questions about what exists, what kinds of things there are, and what it means for something to exist.

Question 52: Feelings are _____ in the moral life.

reason based
an unerring guide
essential and inevitable (Correct answer)
essential to impartiality

Correct answer: essential and inevitable

While moral philosophy often emphasizes reason, feelings (emotions) are widely recognized as an essential and inevitable component of human moral experience. They motivate moral action, inform our perceptions of right and wrong, and are deeply intertwined with our values and empathy. Although not an unerring guide, emotions play a crucial role in our moral judgments and responses.

Question 53: Edmund Gettier's 1963 paper challenged the JTB account of knowledge by providing cases where justified true belief is:

Insufficient for knowledge (Correct answer)
A form of skepticism
Equivalent to wisdom
Unnecessary for knowledge

Correct answer: Insufficient for knowledge

Gettier cases show that a person can have a justified true belief yet still lack knowledge due to epistemic luck.

Question 54: Which term refers to the view that scientific theories are merely useful instruments for prediction, not descriptions of unobservable reality?

Coherentism
Scientific realism
Naturalized epistemology
Instrumentalism (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Instrumentalism

Instrumentalism holds that scientific theories need not be literally true about unobservable entities as long as they produce accurate predictions.

Question 55: The philosophical concept of 'aseity' when applied to God means that God:

Is the cause of all contingent beings
Exists necessarily in all possible worlds
Exists from and through Himself, dependent on nothing external (Correct answer)
Has always existed without beginning in time

Correct answer: Exists from and through Himself, dependent on nothing external

Aseity (from the Latin a se, 'from itself') denotes God's complete ontological self-sufficiency and independence from any external cause or ground of being.

Question 56: Supererogatory acts are those that are:

Praiseworthy but beyond the call of moral duty (Correct answer)
Morally required under all circumstances
Defined as duties within virtue ethics
Morally forbidden but commonly excused

Correct answer: Praiseworthy but beyond the call of moral duty

Supererogatory actions go beyond what morality demands—they are morally good but their omission is not a moral failure.

Question 57: In virtue ethics, eudaimonia is best translated as:

Flourishing or well-being (Correct answer)
Duty fulfillment
Pleasure
Moral perfection

Correct answer: Flourishing or well-being

Eudaimonia, central to Aristotle's ethics, refers to human flourishing or living well rather than mere pleasure.

Question 58: Process philosophy, associated with Alfred North Whitehead, holds that the basic constituents of reality are:

Physical particles
Mental monads
Events and processes rather than static substances (Correct answer)
Eternal unchanging substances

Correct answer: Events and processes rather than static substances

Whitehead's process philosophy treats dynamic events, experiences, and relations as fundamental, replacing the traditional substance ontology with a philosophy of becoming.

Question 59: Pyrrhonian skepticism, associated with Sextus Empiricus, recommends achieving tranquility through:

Relying on divine revelation
Suspension of judgment (epoché) (Correct answer)
Adopting Stoic certainties
Embracing empiricism

Correct answer: Suspension of judgment (epoché)

Pyrrhonists advocate epoché — withholding assent on all non-evident matters — as a path to ataraxia (mental peace).

Question 60: Higher-order theories of consciousness hold that a mental state is conscious when it is accompanied by:

A first-order sensory state
Phenomenal qualia
A higher-order mental state representing it (Correct answer)
Global availability in a workspace

Correct answer: A higher-order mental state representing it

HOT theories, associated with David Rosenthal, argue that consciousness requires a higher-order thought that one is in a given mental state.

Question 61: A crucial moral standard of sufficiency is called as _____.

consistency with our considered moral judgments (Correct answer)
fallibility
simplicity
fruitfulness

Correct answer: consistency with our considered moral judgments

In moral philosophy, a robust ethical theory or standard should be consistent with our 'considered moral judgments' or 'moral intuitions' – those deeply held moral beliefs that we maintain after careful reflection and without obvious bias. While not the sole criterion, a theory that radically contradicts these widely accepted judgments often faces significant challenges in gaining acceptance. This consistency helps ensure the theory is plausible and applicable to real-world moral dilemmas.

Question 62: The 'hiddenness of God' argument, developed by J.L. Schellenberg, concludes that non-resistant non-belief in God is evidence against theism because:

Non-belief is always a result of moral failure or willful rejection
A perfectly loving God would ensure that all non-resistant seekers can relate to God personally (Correct answer)
God would not create beings incapable of belief
The existence of divine hiddenness proves God is testing humanity

Correct answer: A perfectly loving God would ensure that all non-resistant seekers can relate to God personally

Schellenberg argues that a perfectly loving God would never allow inculpable non-belief, since personal relationship with God requires belief, making wide-spread non-resistant non-belief evidence against theism.

Question 63: W.D. Ross's concept of 'prima facie duties' means that moral duties are:

Binding unless overridden by a stronger duty in a given situation (Correct answer)
Absolute and never overridden
Derived entirely from consequences
Valid only within social contracts

Correct answer: Binding unless overridden by a stronger duty in a given situation

Ross argued that prima facie duties (e.g., fidelity, non-maleficence) are real moral obligations that can be outweighed by more pressing duties in specific circumstances.

Question 64: Kant asserts that only _____ can be characterized as "good" without further explanation.

good consequences
happiness
a good will (Correct answer)
right action

Correct answer: a good will

Immanuel Kant famously argued that the only thing that is 'good without qualification' or 'good in itself' is a good will. He believed that qualities like intelligence, courage, or even happiness can be used for bad purposes, and thus are not inherently good. A good will, for Kant, is one that acts purely out of duty and respect for the moral law, regardless of the consequences or personal inclinations.

Question 65: Virtue epistemology, associated with Ernest Sosa and Linda Zagzebski, grounds knowledge in:

Coherence among propositions
Intellectual virtues of the knower (Correct answer)
Social justification norms
Reliability of belief-forming processes

Correct answer: Intellectual virtues of the knower

Virtue epistemology holds that knowledge and justified belief are grounded in the exercise of intellectual virtues such as open-mindedness and thoroughness.

Question 66: Søren Kierkegaard's concept of the 'teleological suspension of the ethical,' illustrated by Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac, is meant to show that:

Abraham's act was morally justified on consequentialist grounds
Religious duty is always subordinate to universal moral law
Faith can require acting against universal ethical norms by divine command (Correct answer)
Ethics and religion are fundamentally identical domains

Correct answer: Faith can require acting against universal ethical norms by divine command

In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard argues that Abraham's obedience to God suspended the universal ethical prohibition on murder, placing the religious stage above the ethical.

Question 67: In William Rowe's evidential argument from evil, the existence of 'gratuitous evil' refers to evil that:

Results from natural disasters rather than human action
Is freely chosen by human agents
God permits for reasons we cannot comprehend
Serves no greater good that an omnipotent being could not achieve otherwise (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Serves no greater good that an omnipotent being could not achieve otherwise

Rowe's evidential argument holds that some evils appear gratuitous—serving no outweighing good—making theism improbable even if not logically impossible.

Question 68: The original set of claims must be false as a whole if you can infer a false or ludicrous statement from a set of truths that you believe to be true. Arguments of this nature are referred to as _____.

modus ponens
modus tollens
hypothetical syllogism
reductio ad absurdum (Correct answer)

Correct answer: reductio ad absurdum

Reductio ad absurdum, meaning 'reduction to absurdity,' is a common form of argument that attempts to disprove a statement by showing that it inevitably leads to a ridiculous, absurd, or contradictory conclusion. If the logical consequences of a premise are untenable, then the premise itself must be false. This method is used to demonstrate the falsity of a claim by revealing its impossible implications.

Question 69: Moral particularism (Jonathan Dancy) holds that:

Moral reasons are context-dependent and a feature that is reason-giving in one case may not be in another (Correct answer)
General moral principles are the foundation of all correct moral judgments
Only particular consequences, not rules, determine moral value
Moral knowledge is only possible through intuition

Correct answer: Moral reasons are context-dependent and a feature that is reason-giving in one case may not be in another

Dancy's particularism denies that there are universal moral principles; instead, the moral relevance of any feature varies across situations.

Question 70: It is attributed to _____ that the proverb "An unexamined life is not worth living" was first said.

Aristotle
John Locke
Socrates (Correct answer)
Plato

Correct answer: Socrates

The famous dictum 'An unexamined life is not worth living' is a central tenet of Socratic philosophy, attributed to Socrates during his trial as recorded by Plato in the Apology. It encapsulates his belief that critical self-reflection, moral inquiry, and the pursuit of wisdom are essential for a meaningful human existence. Without examining one's beliefs and values, life lacks true purpose and understanding.

Question 71: Frege's sense/reference (Sinn/Bedeutung) distinction distinguishes between the meaning of a term and its:

Syntactic role in a sentence
Psychological image in the mind
Actual object or referent in the world (Correct answer)
Pragmatic use in context

Correct answer: Actual object or referent in the world

Frege showed that 'morning star' and 'evening star' have the same reference (Venus) but different senses (modes of presentation), explaining how identity statements can be informative.

Question 72: Mereology is the study of the relationship between:

Space and time
Causes and effects
Mind and body
Parts and wholes (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Parts and wholes

Mereology examines questions like when parts compose a whole, whether wholes are distinct from their parts, and what determines an object's boundaries.

Question 73: Which philosopher argued that all knowledge comes from sensory experience, coining the phrase 'tabula rasa'?

Gottfried Leibniz
René Descartes
Immanuel Kant
John Locke (Correct answer)

Correct answer: John Locke

Locke held in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding that the mind begins as a blank slate filled by experience.

Question 74: According to Mill, we must _____ to decide which pleasures are more valuable than others.

determine which pleasure most experienced people prefer (Correct answer)
determine which one is objectively most pleasurable
consult philosophers of the past
consult science

Correct answer: determine which pleasure most experienced people prefer

John Stuart Mill, a proponent of utilitarianism, distinguished between higher and lower pleasures, arguing that the quality of pleasure is as important as its quantity. To determine which pleasures are more valuable, Mill proposed consulting the judgment of those who have experienced both types of pleasures. These 'competent judges' are considered the most qualified to assess the relative worth and desirability of different pleasures.

Question 75: The problem of induction, highlighted by Hume, questions the rational justification for inferring:

God's existence from design
General laws from particular observations (Correct answer)
Mathematical truths from logic
Moral claims from facts

Correct answer: General laws from particular observations

Hume showed that no logical necessity forces future cases to follow patterns observed in the past, undermining inductive inference.

Question 76: Alvin Goldman's reliabilist epistemology defines justified belief as one produced by:

A reliable cognitive process (Correct answer)
Self-evident intuition
Cultural agreement
Logical deduction alone

Correct answer: A reliable cognitive process

Reliabilism holds that a belief is justified if it is produced by a cognitive process that reliably yields true beliefs.

Question 77: Which metaethical position holds that moral statements express attitudes rather than describe facts?

Natural law theory
Intuitionism
Emotivism (Correct answer)
Moral realism

Correct answer: Emotivism

Emotivism, associated with A.J. Ayer and C.L. Stevenson, treats moral utterances as expressions of emotional attitudes, not truth-apt propositions.

Question 78: A priori knowledge is best described as knowledge that is:

Derived from empirical observation
Based on inductive reasoning
Independent of sensory experience (Correct answer)
Culturally transmitted

Correct answer: Independent of sensory experience

A priori knowledge, like mathematical truths, can be known through reason alone without relying on experience.

Question 79: Moral luck refers to the phenomenon where:

Chance determines the existence of moral facts
Moral rules apply differently to the wealthy and poor
Moral judgments are influenced by factors beyond an agent's control (Correct answer)
Lucky individuals are always more virtuous

Correct answer: Moral judgments are influenced by factors beyond an agent's control

Thomas Nagel and Bernard Williams identified moral luck as the troubling way in which factors outside our control affect how we are morally judged.

Question 80: Tarski's semantic theory of truth defines a sentence as true when:

It coheres with other accepted sentences
It corresponds to the facts described — e.g., 'Snow is white' is true iff snow is white (Correct answer)
It is verifiable by empirical observation
It is accepted by a community of users

Correct answer: It corresponds to the facts described — e.g., 'Snow is white' is true iff snow is white

Tarski's T-schema provides a deflationary correspondence account: a sentence S is true iff the state of affairs it describes obtains.

Question 81: Nominalism in the debate over universals holds that only:

Mental images exist
Both particulars and universals exist
Particular individual things exist (Correct answer)
Abstract universal forms exist

Correct answer: Particular individual things exist

Nominalists deny the existence of abstract universals, claiming that general terms like 'redness' refer only to collections of similar particulars.

Question 82: In the debate over divine foreknowledge and human freedom, 'Molinism' resolves the tension by appealing to:

God's timelessness making foreknowledge compatible with freedom
Open theism's denial of exhaustive divine foreknowledge
Middle knowledge of counterfactuals of creaturely freedom (Correct answer)
The distinction between God's absolute and ordained power

Correct answer: Middle knowledge of counterfactuals of creaturely freedom

Molinism, developed by Luis de Molina, holds that God knows 'middle knowledge'—what every free creature would do in any circumstance—enabling providence without predetermining free choices.

Question 83: Which position holds that moral properties are identical to or reducible to natural properties discoverable by science?

Moral constructivism
Moral intuitionism
Ethical naturalism (Correct answer)
Non-cognitivism

Correct answer: Ethical naturalism

Ethical naturalism claims that moral facts are a subset of natural facts and can in principle be studied by empirical methods.

Question 84: The distinction between 'doing' and 'allowing' harm is most directly relevant to which moral debate?

The problem of moral relativism
The foundations of contractarian justice
The nature of supererogation
The doctrine of acts and omissions in applied ethics (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The doctrine of acts and omissions in applied ethics

The acts/omissions distinction holds that actively causing harm is morally different from merely allowing harm to occur, even with identical outcomes.

Question 85: The principle of parsimony (Occam's Razor) in metaphysics recommends not multiplying:

Entities beyond necessity (Correct answer)
Intuitions without evidence
Definitions without precision
Arguments beyond their scope

Correct answer: Entities beyond necessity

William of Ockham's principle holds that when two theories explain the same facts, prefer the one that posits fewer kinds of entities.

Question 86: The distinction between 'knowing how' (procedural knowledge) and 'knowing that' (propositional knowledge) was famously articulated by:

W.V.O. Quine
Alvin Goldman
Edmund Gettier
Gilbert Ryle (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Gilbert Ryle

Gilbert Ryle in 'The Concept of Mind' (1949) drew the distinction between knowing how to do something and knowing that a proposition is true.

Question 87: In debates about causation, counterfactual theories hold that event C causes event E if and only if:

Had C not occurred, E would not have occurred (Correct answer)
C preceded E in time
C and E are constantly conjoined
C transfers energy to E

Correct answer: Had C not occurred, E would not have occurred

David Lewis developed counterfactual analysis of causation, defining causal dependence in terms of what would have happened in the nearest possible world where the cause was absent.

Question 88: Contextualism in epistemology holds that the truth conditions for knowledge attributions vary with:

The reliability of the process
The coherence of the system
The context of the attributor (Correct answer)
The content of the belief

Correct answer: The context of the attributor

Epistemic contextualism, defended by DeRose and Cohen, argues that what counts as 'knowing' shifts depending on conversational context.

Question 89: Robert Nozick's entitlement theory holds that a distribution is just if it arises from:

Maximizing overall welfare
Equal shares for all
Just acquisition and voluntary transfer (Correct answer)
Democratic deliberation

Correct answer: Just acquisition and voluntary transfer

Nozick argues in Anarchy, State, and Utopia that justice in holdings depends entirely on the historical process by which they were acquired.

Question 90: Modus ponens is a valid argument form that proceeds from 'If P then Q' and 'P' to conclude:

If Q then P
Not Q
Q (Correct answer)
Not P

Correct answer: Q

Modus ponens (affirming the antecedent) is: given the conditional and its antecedent, the consequent follows necessarily.

Question 91: John Hick's 'Irenaean theodicy' differs from Augustinian theodicy primarily in claiming that:

Free will alone explains the existence of moral evil
Evil is privation of being and has no positive ontological status
God permits evil only to punish sinners for the Fall
Humans were created immature and evil is necessary for soul-making toward moral perfection (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Humans were created immature and evil is necessary for soul-making toward moral perfection

Hick's soul-making theodicy, drawing on Irenaeus, holds that humans are created in God's image but must develop toward His likeness through moral and spiritual struggle with evil.

Question 92: According to contractualism (T.M. Scanlon), an act is morally wrong if:

It transgresses a divine commandment
It conflicts with the agent's virtuous character
It produces less happiness than available alternatives
It violates a principle no one could reasonably reject (Correct answer)

Correct answer: It violates a principle no one could reasonably reject

Scanlon's contractualism holds that wrongness consists in acting on principles that others, motivated to find mutually justifiable terms, could reasonably reject.

Question 93: According to Socrates, a lack of _____ is harmful to the soul.

community
wealth
courage
knowledge (Correct answer)

Correct answer: knowledge

Socrates famously equated virtue with knowledge, believing that wrongdoing stemmed from ignorance rather than malicious intent. He argued that true knowledge, particularly self-knowledge and understanding of ethical principles, is essential for the soul's health and moral flourishing. A lack of such knowledge prevents individuals from living a virtuous life, thus harming their soul.

Question 94: Pragmatic theories of truth, associated with James and Peirce, hold that truth is a property of beliefs that:

Are accepted at the end of inquiry by all
Correspond to mind-independent facts
Work satisfactorily or prove useful in practice (Correct answer)
Cohere with all other accepted beliefs

Correct answer: Work satisfactorily or prove useful in practice

James argued that a true idea is one that 'works' — that leads to successful action and prediction — making truth an instrumental, not metaphysical, property.

Question 95: The 'original position' with a 'veil of ignorance' is a thought experiment developed by:

John Rawls (Correct answer)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Robert Nozick
Thomas Hobbes

Correct answer: John Rawls

John Rawls used the original position and veil of ignorance in A Theory of Justice to derive fair principles of justice.

Question 96: Peter Singer's utilitarian argument for famine relief concludes that affluent individuals are morally obligated to give until:

They have given 10% of income
Giving more would cause comparable moral harm to themselves (Correct answer)
Government foreign aid becomes sufficient
Local needs are fully met first

Correct answer: Giving more would cause comparable moral harm to themselves

Singer argues we must give until the point where giving further would sacrifice something of comparable moral importance.

Question 97: The via negativa (apophatic theology) in thinkers like Pseudo-Dionysius and Maimonides holds that:

All positive attributes truly apply to God in a supereminent degree
Religious language is purely expressive and carries no cognitive content
God can only be described through analogical predication drawn from creatures
No positive predicates can properly be applied to God; we can only say what God is not (Correct answer)

Correct answer: No positive predicates can properly be applied to God; we can only say what God is not

Apophatic theology maintains that divine transcendence is so radical that all positive predications are inadequate; the proper path is negating attributes derived from finite creatures.

Question 98: The 'reformed epistemology' of Plantinga, Wolterstorff, and Alston holds that belief in God is:

Justified only through natural theology and cosmological arguments
Best grounded in mystical experience alone
Properly basic and not requiring inferential justification (Correct answer)
A matter of practical reason rather than theoretical reason

Correct answer: Properly basic and not requiring inferential justification

Reformed epistemologists argue that theistic belief can be properly basic—rationally held without being inferred from other beliefs—analogous to beliefs about the external world or other minds.

Question 99: Which philosopher introduced the concept of 'divine simplicity' as developed in medieval scholasticism, holding that God has no parts or properties distinct from His essence?

William of Ockham
Duns Scotus
Anselm of Canterbury
Thomas Aquinas (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas developed the doctrine of divine simplicity most systematically, arguing in the Summa Theologiae that God's essence, existence, and attributes are all identical.

Question 100: You apply a utilitarian calculus to a policy decision and conclude that harming one person to benefit thousands is justified. A critic argues this violates the one person's rights. This tension is central to:

The problem of free will
The is-ought gap
The analytic-synthetic distinction
The conflict between consequentialism and deontology (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The conflict between consequentialism and deontology

The classic tension between consequentialist maximization of aggregate welfare and deontological constraints that protect individuals regardless of aggregate outcomes is a foundational debate in normative ethics.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Qualifying Examination in Philosophy

The PhD qualifying examination tests doctoral candidates on core areas of academic philosophy including epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and philosophy of mind, requiring mastery of major philosophical traditions and the ability to critically analyze philosophical arguments.

100

Questions

120 min

Time Limit

70%

To Pass

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