Topic Page number in textbook Important Information (historical details; philosophical teachings) What is the meaning of the name philosopher?
Midterm Exam Study Guide
Based on the following assigned readings:
Sophie’s World: chapters “The Garden of Eden” through “The Baroque”
A Short History: pages 1-174
| Topic | Page number in textbook | Important Information (historical details; philosophical teachings) |
| What is the meaning of the name philosopher? | ||
| Describe the philosophical perspective of Siddhartha Gautama – identify the central philosophical question he sought to answer | ||
| Philosophical perspective of Confucius — identify his two main concerns | ||
| What was the foundation of ancient Chinese society? | ||
| What perception of the world currently follows a variation of Confucianism? | ||
| When did Pythagoras live? What was his explanation of the nature of reality? | ||
| How did Thales explain the structure of the cosmos? What is the philosophical significance of Thales? | ||
| What was Heraclitus’ view of the universe? What statement expresses his basic philosophical insight into the nature of reality? | ||
| What “shared belief” was held by the earliest philosophers about the nature (root) of change in the universe? | ||
| Why are the earliest Greek philosophers called “natural philosophers”? | ||
| Empedocles’ view of the nature of reality (how many elements) | ||
| Who was the most important of the Eleatic philosophers? | ||
| What did Parmenides say about the reliability of sense perceptions of reality? | ||
| Anaxagoras’ view of the nature of reality (how many elements) | ||
| Define Democritus’ atom theory | ||
| How was Democritus’ view of “design” in nature different from other early Greek philosophers? | ||
| What is the philosophical lesson to be learned from the Homeric poets? | ||
| Who were the Sophists? What did they believe? | ||
| What did Protagoras mean by the statement, “Man is the measure of all things”? | ||
| Define epistemic relativism | ||
| Identify Socrates – dates, basic philosophical beliefs, crimes for which he was accused, importance in history of philosophy | ||
| Explain Plato’s Myth of the Cave – what is the main theory it expresses? What happens to the freed prisoner when he returns to tell his fellow prisoners what he has learned and what is the meaning Plato attaches to this? | ||
| Explain Plato’s theory of the soul. What are the implications of this theory for ethics? According to Plato, what are the implications of this theory for politics? | ||
| What did Aristotle think of Plato’s Theory of the Forms? | ||
| What did Socrates and Aristotle believe was the primary purpose of human life? | ||
| What was Aristotle’s notion of god? | ||
| Explain the difference between accidental and essential properties according to Aristotle | ||
| Explain Aristotle’s theory of the “mean” | ||
| Explain, with examples, Aristotle’s theory of “causes” | ||
| What is the ideal government according to Plato’s Republic? What does Plato think about democracy? | ||
| How did Plato and Aristotle disagree over the nature of women? | ||
| Who were the Cynics? What did they believe? | ||
| Who were the Stoics? What did they believe? | ||
| Who were the Epicureans? What did they believe? | ||
| Who was the most important Neoplatonist philosopher? | ||
| What was Augustine’s theory of evil? | ||
| According to Augustine, what is God’s role in determining who is saved and who is damned? | ||
| Augustine was the first philosopher to include _______ into his philosophy. | ||
| Muslim philosophers and their contributions to the history of philosophy | ||
| Thomas Aquinas Christianized ________. | ||
| When did the Protestant Reformation begin? How? By Whom? | ||
| What is Francis Bacon’s most famous saying and what is its philosophical meaning? | ||
| What era did Renaissance philosophers look to for inspiration? | ||
| What Renaissance thinker was the first to champion a heliocentric world picture? | ||
| Which Renaissance thinker was the first to posit the law of inertia? | ||
| Which Renaissance thinker formulated the Law of Universal Gravitation? | ||
| What were the main philosophical emphases of Renaissance philosophers? | ||
| Who was Martin Luther? What were his philosophical views? | ||
| Explain the difference between Rationalism and Empiricism | ||
| What is the key belief of John Locke about how we learn? What is his famous saying that expresses this? | ||
| Explain, with examples, Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities | ||
| Explain John Locke’s view of freedom | ||
| Who were the most important Empiricist philosophers? What country/ies did they come from? | ||
| Who were the most important Rationalist philosophers? What country/ies did they come from? | ||
| According to Descartes, what makes us human? (i.e., What is the defining characteristic of human beings?) | ||
| What is Cartesian dualism? | ||
| What argument did Descartes advance for the existence of God? | ||
| What was Spinoza’s view of God and nature? | ||
| What philosopher used a “wager” to argue for the rationality of believing in God? | ||
| How did Spinoza’s view of the path to happiness compare to the views of the Stoics? | ||
| What were the important philosophical insights of Leibniz? | ||
| What were the main philosophical ideas of George Berkeley? | ||
| How did David Hume believe we create ideas about “things”? | ||
| What was David Hume’s ideas about the “ego” and how does it relate to Buddhist ideas? | ||
| What were David Hume’s basic ideas about ethics? |