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1 Augustine College P H I L O S O P H Y I N T H E M O D E R N W O R L D Final Exam The exam covers both terms, but the questions are as follows. Rather than studying all the material be prepared to answer these questions. The exam is a closed-book exam: no books, outlines, or notes may be brought to the exam. If you do not it, bring only your answer to the takehome portion. Question 1. / 20% 2 0 S H O R T - A N S W E R Q U E S T I O N S 1.1. The propositions list twelve reasons given by the Apostle Paul for being good. Name six. PROPOSITION 118 Be good (e.g., forgive) out of gratitude to God for the same good done to you by God forgiveness PROPOSITION 119 Be good because God wishes it, to please God that is, out of love for God (since you seek to please only those whom you love) PROPOSITION 120 Be good to glorify God that is, because of the God you know (since you honour only those deserving of honour) PROPOSITION 121 Be good 1 to be judged well, 2 to be what God made you to be, 3 to enjoy the life that God intended you to have, 4 to avoid the destruction bought by failure, & 5 to enjoy the Lord s presence PROPOSITION 122 Be good 1 for love of the family of God & 2 in such a way as to build up your brothers & sisters PROPOSITION 123 Be good to benefit outsiders PROPOSITION 124 Be good to overcome opponents 1.2. According to either Augustine or Aquinas (say which you have chosen) the task of philosophy is... PROPOSITION 136 The task of philosophy has been to establish the purpose of life (the final end, Summum Bonum, supreme good, man s happinessthat in which man can rest content) PROPOSITION 212 The purpose of the study of philosophy is not to learn what others have thought, but to learn how the truth of things stands 1.3. Give either Augustine s or Aquinas definition of prudence. PROPOSITION 151 Prudence is the ability to determine what helps or hinders at all levels & especially with reference to the final end PROPOSITION 197 Prudence is the knowledge of what things are to be done 1.4. In The Prince, Machiavelli sets aside considerations of absolute right and wrong. Why? PROPOSITION 216 Ideal political theories concerned with how people should behave are ineffective at achieving political ends PROPOSITION 224 In politics metaphysical commitments must be rejected as unproductive PROPOSITION 225 In politics, ethics (decisions about right & wrong made with reference to absolute duty or the purpose of human life) must be rejected as unproductive 1.5. What two kinds of power does Aristotle say virtue is? PROPOSITION 64 Virtue is power: the power both to know the right way to respond to the events of your life & to do that thing 1.6. Plato said that all of man s passions give him trouble, but how could a higher passion give trouble? (In your explanation give a good example.) PROPOSITION 39 All of man s passions give him trouble 1.7. With what one thing does Augustine associate all the virtues? PROPOSITION 150 The virtues are forms of love 1.8. What is the meaning of vanity in Ecclesiastes? Give three different aspects of its Biblical meaning and, given that threefold meaning, explain how wisdom is vain. PROPOSITION 1 Everything on earth will let you down because earthly things are elusive, fleeting, & ultimately dissatisfying 1.9. What, according to Aquinas, is evil? PROPOSITION 169 Evil is too little good: in evil good is always sought & good is always ignored (one good is pursued while another good, called for, is not) What, according to Pascal, is restlessness and why does he say it makes human life wretched? PROPOSITION 235 To live without escape in such a state of restlessness (the ceaseless abandoning of fading goods) is a wretched existence

2 thus, back to 231 PROPOSITION 231 We seek pleasure not with the expectation of satisfaction but to be distracted from the awareness of our wretched condition Why does Pascal say that reason cannot settle the question of whether God, understood as the summum bonum, exists? PROPOSITION 237 Reason cannot establish that the final end exists (i.e., that beyond death a completely sufficient good in which we can rest awaits us) In what way, according to J.S. Mill, have past views of ethics have failed? PROPOSITION 263 Ethical thought has failed in the search for the criterion of right & wrong According to Mill, TV-producers should base their programming decisions on what TV-watchers say gives them the most pleasure. True or false? (Justify your answer.) PROPOSITION 260 THE GREATEST HAPPINESS PRINCIPLE An act is good if its consequences are good measured in terms of happiness (i.e., pleasure, and the absence of pain ) PROPOSITION 267 Pleasures are greater & lesser not just in intensity & duration but in quality PROPOSITION 268 The greater of two pleasures is that preferred by a person who has not just experienced but is knowledgeable about ( competently acquainted with ) both pleasures According to Nietzsche, that God is dead means... (A complete answer will make three separate points. So it is clear that you understand these points, express them in your own words.) PROPOSITION 269 That God is dead means that men must rise to the place of God as divine servants of a sacred, holy life What is the superstition of modernity and whose expression is this? PROPOSITION 291 Modern thinkers believe that truth can be vindicated & error refuted via theoretically neutral rational debate (i.e., the superiority of the right theory ofethics can be conclusively demonstrated) PROPOSITION 292 Superstition being belief in imaginary things belief in that conception of Reason expressed in 291 is the superstition of modernity According to Aquinas, three features of all the Theological Virtues are... PROPOSITION 198 The THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES are all virtues that 1 have God as their object, 2 are given to us by God, 3 we learn of only by God s intervention & 4 strengthen the life lived in relation to God Name the one cardinal / theological / or other virtue (those we discussed in connection with Aquinas) that is best suited to each of the listed accomplishments (A to F). A B C D E F Working out the right thing to do next year Not falling into despair about doing well on this exam Eating the right amount Increasing your trust in God Correcting a person as to what Nietzsche actually believed Patching a bicycle tire PROPOSITION 191 THE INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES Science (Scientia) is the ability to ascertain the truth PROPOSITION 192 THE INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES Art (Ars) is the knowledge of how things are to be (correctly) made PROPOSITION 193 THE INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES Wisdom (Sapientia) is the knowledge of the highest things (such as the nature of the final end) PROPOSITION 197 THE INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES Prudence (Prudentia) is the knowledge of what things are to be done PROPOSITION 194 THE MORAL VIRTUES Justice (Justitia) is the knowledge of what is due to others PROPOSITION 195 THE MORAL VIRTUES Temperance (Temperantia) is the knowledge of what is due to others PROPOSITION 196 THE MORAL VIRTUES Fortitude (Fortitudo) is the knowledge of what is due to others PROPOSITION 198 The THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES are all virtues that 1 have God as their object, 2 are given to us by God, 3 we learn of only by God s intervention & 4 strengthen the life lived in relation to God PROPOSITION 201 THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES Faith (Fides) is fear of God PROPOSITION 202 THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES Hope (Spes), which has God as its object, is the ability to persevere in the faith, overcoming despair in relation to God PROPOSITION 203 THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES Love (Caritas) is the ability to love God Himself Define, according to Aquinas, the Concupiscible Appetites (also known as the Simple Passions) and give one example of such an appetite/passion. PROPOSITION 184 The simple or CONCUPISCIBLE passions move us to goods on account of their good

3 1.19. What, according to Aquinas, is despair? Explain how it operates, and is it bad or good? PROPOSITION 185 The emergency or IRASCIBLE passions move us to goods by overcoming obstacles to those goods: HOPE (absent but attainable good) COURAGE (threatening but conquerable evil); DESPAIR (absent but unattainable good); FEAR (threatening but unconquerable evil) According to Aquinas, a good action is, first, good in NATURE. What does Aquinas mean by an act good in nature? (Explain briefly giving an example.) PROPOSITION 204 A GOOD ACTION is, first, good in NATURE: i.e., is a good MEANS to the end, an act of the right kind relative to the act s immediate objective (Sawing in a workshop is good because suited to the end of building) Question 2. / 5% 5 R E V I S I O N Q U E S T I O N S (each answer is worth 1% of the exam): Answer ALL of the following. The following statements either (a) are correct, (b) misrepresent the views they describe, or (c) are potentially misleading. (a) If the statement is correct, just write correct ; (b) if the statement is incorrect, simply correct it by rewriting it; (c) if the statement is not incorrect but misleading, rewrite it in a way that averts the potential misunderstanding OR simply write a qualifying sentence that does the same thing). 2.1 Stoicism is the only philosophy to treat serenity and contentment as centrally important. In part this statement refers to PROPOSITION 89 Happiness is serenity, submission to fortune (Τύχη / Tyche / fortuna), accepting the part that God has allotted you 2.2 In saying that reason is the slave of the passions David Hume puts desire in charge, completely overturning the Platonic idea affirmed by C.S. Lewis: that the head (reason) can and should control the heart (the passions). Re. PROPOSITION 248 Reason is the slave of the passions, since it directs the passions only under the direction of passion 2.3 According to Aquinas, the MOTIVE of an action is the explanation a person would give as to why he performed that action. Re. PROPOSITION 206 A GOOD ACTION, third, serves a good END, i.e., is good in MOTIVE (a motive being not what you tell yourself you are acting to achieve, but the good that is actually moving you to act) 2.4 As Aristotle said, acts are demonstrably right and wrong, because an act is good if it serves human flourishing, and it is really quite clear to everyone what human flourishing is and isn t. Re., for example, PROPOSITION 57 The good for man is his excellent functioning (i.e., the purpose of life is to actively use the soul, & excellently) 2.5 Kant says that reality as we experience it is in certain ways shaped by the categories of our minds, and as a result there is no objectivity. Re. PROPOSITION 254 The condition for having true knowledge of the world is the mind, which shapes unkowable input (NOUMENA) into experience (PHENOMENA) by means of mental CATEGORIES (time, space, causality, non-contradiction, etc.) Question 3. / 25% 5 M E D I U M - A N S W E R Q U E S T I O N S Write at least 1/2 page each in answer to 5 of the following (you may skip one; each answer is worth 5% of the exam): 3.1 Why does Aristotle say that the art of life must be learned? PROPOSITION 60 No one knows, naturally, how to live: the art of life (how to produce a human being) must be learned 3.2 Who said that untruth and immorality may sometimes be a condition of life and what did he mean? PROPOSITION 272 Untruth & immorality may sometimes be a condition of life since truths of morality can, in certain circumstances, turn against life 3.3 How is Aquinas s view of what makes an action good related to Aristotle s? 3.4 Does the following state the position of Alasdair MacIntyre? In your answer both explain and justify MacIntyre s view of this issue. Because the presumptions of a Utilitarian are fundamentally different from those of, say, a Thomist, there is no way for a Thomist to criticize Utilitarian claims. For a Thomist to criticize a Utilitarian, the Utilitarian must first be made to accept the fundamental

4 presumptions of a Thomistic outlook. 3.5 What are the four steps to relativism, and which steps in this argument are mistaken, according to MacIntyre? Explain why they are mistaken. PROPOSITION 301 The steps to relativism: 1 There are multiple worldviews; 2 Everyone has the same experience of worldviews (each worldview looks correct to members & false to outsiders) ; 3 All worldviews are therefore equal (none truer than any other) ; 4 Thus there is no truth PROPOSITION 302 But step 3 does not follow, since equivalence of experience (step 2) provides no reason to believe that all views are equally good PROPOSITION & step 4 does not follow, since equivalence of experience (step 2) provides no reason to doubt the correctness of any ethical view you hold 3.6 What is the strongest way that you could attack Machiavelli s claim that metaphysical commitments have no real bearing on the task of the politician and can be ignored by the politician? Re. PROPOSITION 224 In politics metaphysical commitments must be rejected as unproductive Question 4. / 20% L O N G - A N S W E R Q U E S T I O N S Answer 2 questions (each worth 10% of the exam), writing at least 2 pages each in answer to question 4.1 (mandatory) and either question 4.2 or What have you learned philosophy is? If you are a Christian, feel free to answer as one, providing you stick to the question. In your answer, pay some attention to the nature of change in philosophy over the centuries. (Do not turn this question into a routine chronicle first there was this, then that saying very little of substance; paying attention to the underlined words, say something of substance and illustrate your point.) Please NOTE that you will have to think in advance about the question you choose, either 4.2 or 4.3 below. You will have to ask questions such as the following and come up with good answers: What should I take issue with in this statement? What is my counterevidence? You will not be able to sit down at the exam and answer this question off the top of your head. The final question is a test as to whether this course has equipped you to respond intelligently to the claims of a trained philosopher. This is quite possible to do if you have learned about the philosophies we have studied and think clearly. Your objective is not to demolish this person s entire view but to say something knowledgeable in opposition to some aspect of it. Preamble for the second question please read carefully: In a recent debate (January 2018) at the University of Toronto, philosopher and public intellectual Rebecca Newberger Goldstein criticized traditional moralities that, she said, explain what makes good acts good and bad acts bad supernaturally (making reference to God). Goldstein argued that modern ethical philosophies (e.g., by Hume, Kant, or Mill) which are modern in that they determine what is good naturally (i.e., by making reference to things that we can recognize for ourselves, to commonly available experience, etc.) are superior in their effectiveness. They, she said, are responsible for the fact that in the modern period we have made actual progress in human decency. Throughout the whole [modern] history of moral philosophy, she noted, philosophers have given completely naturalist arguments to try to ground morality and they are in fact the kinds of arguments by means of which we ve made [actual] progress... All of the individual rights movements (anti-slavery, the emancipation of women, and on and on...) have been made on the basis of completely naturalist arguments. 4.2 Respond in some way to Goldstein s implication that pre-modern ethical outlooks (Socrates, Aristotle, the ethics of the New Testament, Thomas Aquinas discuss whichever you like) are prevented from making moral progress by their dependence on unshared supernatural claims (such as, This is good because it is ordained by the gods/decreed by God/etc. ), rather than relying on what we share with everybody else (upon arguments that others could accept based on unavoidable reasoning or common experience). (In question 4.2, then, you are assessing the accuracy of Goldstein s characterization of pre-modern ethics.)

5 4.3 OR, respond to Goldstein s suggestion that modern ethics is persuasive, powerful, and effective, by assessing the ethics of one modern philosopher (Hume, Kant, or Mill) in the light of that claim. Could this modern ethical philosophy be the kind of philosophy that Goldstein claims is superior to pre-modern alternatives: an ethics with the power to change people and make the kind of mortal progress mentioned (overcoming slavery, or prompting the emancipation of women)? (In question 4.3, then, you would be assessing the accuracy of Goldstein s claims for modern ethics, with respect to the philosopher you choose.) Question 5. / 30% T A K E - H O M E Q U E S T I O N Answer in approximately 4 double-spaced pages or 1,000 words), neither more nor less. You may this prior to the exam or bring your already printed answer to the final exam and attach it to your exam. Choose one philosopher from the second term whose views have made a difference to you. (5a) In the first part of your paper, answer the following by way of introduction: What have you learned from this thinker that you value and did not know before coming to this College? (Go into specifics on this in part [b] but say enough here to encourage interest in the idea or ideas you have chosen.) What is the significance or importance of learning this? Is this new view compatible with your outlook as a Christian? Why is it relevant, to a Christian, to have learned this? Please do not simply list answers to these questions, one after the other, but put together a sensibly structured paragraph. Beware of retailing vague generalities, such as talking about attaining a greater understanding (what is the greater understanding, and why would you call it greater?), etc. (5b) Select 1 or 2 major propositions to represent that philosopher s thought and give an account of each proposition, both explaining what it means and presenting a justification for it (explaining why you are convinced about it). Do not mention proposition numbers. Do not treat these propositions as quotations from the author. Some quotation or paraphrase of the author is recommended. (5c) Then, taking these views together, explain why it might be important to believe these things. (For instance, an application might be helpful. Is there some current difficulty that people are encountering that these views, if people understood them, would help to free people from?) NOTE: You might, alternatively, choose to answer this question negatively. That is, you would choose a philosopher (say, Machiavelli) who advances a view (captured in one of the propositions) that, before this term, you believed to be true; now, however, you believe it to be false. Adjust the above instructions accordingly.