All Questions and answers and SOS notes for the Philosophy Open Book Exam
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Course
Philosophy
Institution
Universiteit Van Amsterdam (UvA)
Book
Exploring Humans
These are 30 pages of notes that contain all possible exam questions but also most answers to these questions. There is additional SOS remarks that will help you do really good in the part of the closed book period in the exam.
Philosophy Open Book Exam Questions Answers and SOS
Philosophy of Science and Methodology: Answers to Study Questions from lecture 1 to 5
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Philosophy
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PHILOSOPHY STUDY QUESTIONS AND SOS
WEEK1
P15-18
1.
What is meant by scientism and, in scientism, what is meant by science.
- ‘science is superior to all other attempts at securing knowledge: its laws provide
certainty, science is about everything - no limits
- associated with modernism
2.
What do the writers mean by the notion of the mind as a “crooked mirror”?
- in scientism our mind is a perfect mirror of reality
- in skepticism our mind is a crooked mirror, no objectivity, uncertainty in science
3.
What is meant by post-modernism? Which concept could be its opposite ‘within the
framework of thinking about science.
- post (after) modernism, pluralistic thinking
- the opposite is modernism : modern thinking- rational reasoning, think for yourself
4.
What is meant by scepticism? And what is meant by ‘anything goes’?
- ‘science does not give certainty, it is equal to other forms of knowledge, science is a
faith”, all is relative
- associated with post modernism
5.
Explain what the debate between scientism and scepticism entails? Give a current example of this debate.
- in science a carnival of approaches should be allowed - FEYERABEND
- Philosophical skepticism is critical thinking about science within the boundaries of
philosophy
- A current example can be society and maybe covid ??
- Personal : no such thing as truth
- Societal : no one believes scientists
6.
Which questions are the most important in this book, according to the authors?
- Why is it important to know the facts ?
● to make choices
● decisions
● policies
● and distinguish true and false
- Where do we usually look for facts ?
● the ‘ crowning achievement of human mind’
● science
Dolly and Snuppy -> cloned animals
Paul Feyerabend
-> icon of skepticism, ‘there is only one principle thatDW can be defended under all +
circumstances and in all stages of human development- the principle of ANYTHING GOES’
P23-34
What is the current philosophical definition of knowledge?
- knowledge is justified(with good reason) true belief
2.
What was the definition of knowledge in Plato’s Theatetus?
- knowledge is perception
- true jugment is knowledge
- true judgement with an account is knowledge
3.
What is meant with the ‘correspondence theory of truth’?
- if we believe somethin g is true and it corresponds the reality of the description of the world then
it is correspondence of the truth no one can know that the earth is flat as the statement is false
,4.
Explain what is meant with the following sentence: “However, although a belief must be true in order to qualify as knowledge,
its truth is not sufficient for that believe to qualify as knowledge” (p. 24).
- the belief will not count as knowledge as it lacks justification. The justification of a belief is
formed by your reason
5.
What is meant by epistemolog and ontology ?
- Epistemology= what we know of the world, the study of knowledge
- Ontology= study of being- ‘how the world is’ - ontological questions are also
metaphysical questions
6.
Why can Plato be seen as a rationalist?
- first text in history about knowledge
7.
What does the Socratic method entail?
- 3 steps
● Anamnesis = recollect from the world of forms (ideas)
● Hermeneutics = interpretation of your recollection
● Intelectual midwifery = helping to give birth to knowledge
8
What is meant by metaphysics?
- study of what is beyond nature. OR : the study of the first causes of things , that we
cannot observe
9.Name a difference between the ontologies of Heraclitus and Parmenides.
- Hercaclites: ‘ nothing is, everything changes’ due to the evr changing nature of
appearances- most people are not able to attain knowledge
● change is real - being is not
- Parmenides: - rationalist- ‘ we may be inclined to believe that reality is changing all the
time but appearances deceive us, ‘ everything is, nothing becomes’
● being is real - change is not
10.In what way does Plato follow Heraclitus and in what way does he follow Parmenides?
- Plato supported the change idea
- Cave = our perceptions deceive us
11.In your own words describe the Allegory of the Cave.
- it is about the difference between appearances and reality
12.What is meant by Plato's nativism?
- human beings posses innate- inborn ideas - already at birth - we do not have tp rely to
our senses for knowledge
13.What does Plato mean by 'learning is remembering'?
- thinking to recollect and learn true knowledge
14.What does Socrates try to prove in Plato's Meno?
- knowledge possessed in the soul’s previous existence in the world of forms can be recollected
- by meno and his slave
P35-43
1. Why can Plato be seen as a rationalist and Aristotle as an empiricist?
2. Why can Aristotle also be seen as a rationalist?
- he was a pupil of plato but disagreed with him
3. Is Aristotle a nativist? If yes, how does he express this side of himself? If no, how does he
believe that people are born?
- he was not , be bel3ieved that babies are born with no knowledge … - tabula rasa
,4. What is Aristotle's Peripatetic Axiom?
- ‘ nothing is in the intellect which was not first in the senses’
5. According to Aristotle, what is science?
6. What is a syllogism? Think of a syllogism which isn't in the book.
- reasoning has the form of syllogism
● inferences are steps of reasoning, how humans come to conclusions, logic of
reasoning
● statement 1 (major premise) - statement 2 (minor premise) - statement 3
(conclusion)
7. What's the difference between induction and deduction?
- Deductive: from a general law to a particular case - from broad to narrow
- Inductive: From a particular case to general law - from narrow to broad
9. Which principles can be seen as the foundation for Aristotle's scientific- knowledge? Explain.
10. What is the induction problem?
- the premises do not entail the conclusion
11. What is meant by nous?
- it is the mind-intellect-intelligence
12. Give a (self-thought of) example of Aristotle's four causes doctrine.
1. the formal cause -> shape of statue
2. the material cause -> the marble of the statue
3. the efficient cause -> scultptor
4. the final cause-> the aesthetic, the goal
13. What are some criticisms on Aristotle's philosophy?
P49-67
Describe "Ockham's razor" and come up with a contemporary example.
- ‘entities must not be multiplied without necessity’ - start development of principles of
scientific thinking
- when confronted with 2 different explanations we should choose the ontological more
parsimonious one (what saved your life- airbag or guardian angel?)
, 2. Explain what is meant by "[...] Ockham's razor is a principle of parsimony and not of
simplicity" (p. 51).
- in the airbag example the more parsimonious explanation happens ot be the simplest
one but in other concepts a more economic choice might be the less simpled one
3. What does the medieval Aristotelian worldview entail?
- Cosmos has 2 parts : 1. Superlunary : objects move in perfect circles , 2. Sublunary :
objects move in a straight line to their natural place
- doctrine of 4 elements : earth , air, fire, water
4. In what way did this view change because of Copernicus’ books?
- things start to move, no fixed places or final causes
- not in accordance with christian theology
- From Geocentric to Heliocentric = the sun is the center of the universe, not the earth
5. What did Francis Bacon contribute to the philosophy of science according to
the authors? - Empiricist
- the new method
- knowledge through the senses through observation and experiment and not through
argumentation and authority
- he said that aristotle was not a true empiricist, he was too rationalistic and ‘magical’
6. According to Bacon, what should happen to the ‘idols of the mind’? What
idols did Bacon describe and what do they entail?
- Beware of our IDOLS; characteristic errors, distortions of the mind, idols chain us
- we should purge the mind of these idols in order to distinguish between opinion and
observation
- by observtation in combination with theory
7. What does the scientific revolution entail and when did this happen?
- Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
- Observation and calculation : planes do not move in perfect circles but in elliptical
trajectories
8. What are the most important features of the scientific revolution?
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