PhD Doctor of Philosophy Philosophy and You 2

Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

Wishful thinking (motivated reasoning)

Answer

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 2

The Socratic method primarily aims to:

Accepted Answer

Expose contradictions in interlocutors' beliefs to prompt deeper inquiry

Answer

Socratic elenchus uses probing questions to reveal inconsistencies, spurring the interlocutor toward genuine self-examination and clearer understanding.

Question 3

Which scenario best illustrates the philosophical concept of 'moral luck'?

Accepted Answer

Two equally reckless drivers, one of whom happens to hit a pedestrian who steps out suddenly

Answer

Moral luck, as discussed by Nagel and Williams, occurs when factors beyond an agent's control influence the moral judgment we make of them.

Question 4

You discover that your most cherished ethical principle leads to an absurd conclusion in an extreme case. The philosophical move of using that absurd conclusion to reject the premise is called:

Accepted Answer

Tollensing the ponens (modus tollens applied to ethics)

Answer

Running the argument backward—treating the unacceptable conclusion as evidence against a premise—is sometimes called 'tollensing the ponens' in contemporary metaethics.

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

Gilbert Ryle

Answer

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

PhD Doctor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhD Doctor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhD Doctor of Philosophy Philosophy and You 2