Master list of short answer questions A selection of these will be presented on the midterm You will be required to answer a selection of that selection Each question requires about 3 4 sentences for a full answer Note by studying for these questions you will possess all the information necessary to answer the multiple choice true false questions Descartes 1 What is the purpose of supposing that there is an evil demon supremely powerful and cunning who works as hard as he can to deceive me 1 To explain he has accepted many falsehoods and everything he based on them is unreliable Uses the Demon to help him stick to doubting all of his beliefs and avoid slipping back to his own habits like trusting the senses 2 The reason for doubt deception senses realistic dreams 3 Who is deceiving him and why God is supremely good but sometimes he permits me to be deceived Rather than supposing God is real at all he decides to suppose of the evil demon 4 He does not want to blame God for his situation 2 What is the one thing Descartes thinks he knows even supposing the Demon hypothesis to be true Why does he think he knows it 1 Himself I am I exist 2 Since the Demon deceives him he must exist He is the object of the Demon s deception 3 What does Descartes attempt to show with his example of the piece of wax 1 His point physical objects are not really known through sensation or imagination but are grasped by the understanding alone We know things by intellectual understanding of them 2 He understands the wax that it can take different shapes its properties 3 The mind can be misled by the senses Physical objects are grasped in virtue of their being understandable rather than tangible or visible 4 What is Descartes basic argument for mind body dualism 1 Mind he is a thinking thing without thought he would cease to exist Mental images imagination understanding 2 I am really distinct from my body and can exist without it He classifies himself as only a thinking thing but he has a body that is very tightly bound to me 3 Mind and body are different therefore they can exist without the other 4 The mind isn t directly affected by all parts of the body but only by the brain 5 Whenever the brain is in a given state it exhibits the same thing to the mind regardless of what is happening to the rest of the body Hume 1 What is the difference between impressions and ideas What is the relation between them Divisions of all the perceptions of the mind which are distinguished by their different degrees of force and vivacity a Impression all our more lively perceptions when we hear or see or feel or love or hate b Ideas the less lively perceptions of which we are conscious when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned 2 What is the difference between relations of ideas and matters of fact What kinds of reasoning does Hume think are reserved for each Divisions of all the objects of human reason of enquiry a Relations of Ideas the sciences of Geometry Algebra and Arithmetic every affirmation which is either intuitively or demonstratively certain Reasoning Discoverable by the mere operation of thought without dependence on anything Relations between two things EX The idea that 7 is greater than 5 is dependent upon our ideas of each You can reach the conclusion just by thinking about it b Matters of Fact can never imply a contradiction and is conceived by the mind with the same facility and distinctness as if ever so conformable to reality Reasoning seem to be confounded on the relation of Cause and Effect and using that relation to go beyond the evidence of our memory and senses Things you need to observe 3 What is the problem of induction What is Hume s solution a We infer from observation that things in the past will be the same in the present For example you are concluding from the many times in the past that bread has nourished you that it will also do so this time It isn t a necessary analytic or a priori truth that this piece of bread will be like the one s you ve eaten before b Hume points out that the future application of general principles found reliable in the past is not reliable You don t know 100 c Solution we can t help but reason inductively Statements about generalizations of things should be reconceived as statements about the connections in our mind of those things We shouldn t say this bread will nourish me but instead bread and nourishment are associated in my mind Chisholm 1 What is the problem of the criterion a We get stuck in a circle Are things how they seem to be i We must have a procedure for distinguishing appearances that are true from those that are false ii But to know if the procedure is a good procedure we have to know if it really succeeds at distinguishing truth from falsehoods iii We cannot know whether it succeeds because then we would already have to know whether things are true or false 2 What does it mean to offer a Methodist or Particularist response according to Chisholm a Methodist think they have an answer to B and use the terms of it to figure out the answer to A EX John Locke somehow able to find the answer to B Similar to empiricism begin with a criterion and use it to throw out things that don t fit it b Particularist think they have an answer to A and use the terms of it to figure out the answer to B Chisholm assumes this option is the most reasonable Mind and Body 1 What is Armstrong s main argument for materialism about the mind a Materialism is the doctrine that reality consists of material objects and their physical properties physicalism Materialists believe that a complete account of man can be given in purely physico chemical terms i Behaviorism opposes dualism The mind is nothing more than behavior The mind is part of the physical behavior of the body it is an outward act EX anger is not some spiritual substance but the aggressive behavior itself 2 How does Armstrong define mental states c Mental State some state of the person which under suitable circumstances brings about a certain range of behavior d Perhaps minds can be defined not as behavior but rather as the inner cause of certain behavior 3 What reasons does Churchland advance in favor of eliminative materialism a Eliminative Materialism there are no minds or mental properties the terms that seem to refer to them are just parts of a discredited theory of how people work When neuroscience is more developed we will get rid of those terms b 1 Point out Folk Psychology s failures