Philosophy (3 hours)
211 Philosophy in the 17th and 18th Centuries
Answer three questions selecting your questions so as to show a knowledge of
at least three authors studied in the course.
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1. Explain in outline the notion of the 'Form' as plays a part in the Scholastic conception of perception. Compare this conception with that developed by Descartes. Discuss the significance for the Modern world view of the Form's displacement.
2. Explain the course of the argument in Descartes which concludes that the only thing I can be sure about is my own existence. Explain your evaluation of the validity of this line of argumentation.
3. Thomas Hobbes said that 'mind is nothing more than motion occurring in various parts of an organic body.' Explain how Descartes' view differed from this, and how he defended it. Evaluate the defence.
4. Give an exposition of Locke's account of the nature of reason and discuss its significance for the outlook of the Enlightenment. Is there another way of thinking about the role of reason in human life?
5. Explain the distinction Locke attempts to make under the terms primary and secondary qualities. Set out the arguments he puts to defend the claim that some qualities are secondary and say in the case of each argument what your reasons are for judging it to be valid or invalid.
6. Berkeley's doctrine that to be was to be perceived was criticised on the grounds that many things would then be likely to oscillate in and out of existence. Expound and evaluate Berkeley's response to the criticism.
7. Natural philosophy is, in Berkeley's view, 'just the study of the uniformities and regularities of our experience.' (Woolhouse) Explain this thesis of Berkeley's and offer a critique.
8. Explain what Hume meant by 'necessary connexion', and set out his account of causality. Offer a critique of this account, setting out arguments for and against.
9. "Hume was convinced that the self and its synthetic power were names for nothing but actual connections between ideas..." (Brett's History of Psychology). Expound Hume's argumentation regarding the 'self' and bring out the extent to which you think Brett has here an accurate summary of it.
10. Kant is said to have heralded the Romantic Movement in attributing an active role to the mind. Explain what features of Kant's philosophy might be said to involve such an 'active' conception of the mind, set out the argumentation that he puts forward in defence of it and subject those arguments to critique.
11. Set out and evaluate the argumentation Kant uses in his attempt to show that there is a sense in which time is a concept which cannot simply be given to us through sense experience.
12. 'All the objects of human reason or enquiry may naturally be divided into two kinds, to wit, Relations of Ideas, and Matters of Fact' (Hume). Do you agree? Set out your arguments.
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