B. Phi. Writing Prep

Question 1

What are the 4 steps of examination?

Answer 1

1) Summarize 2) Translate 3) Critique 4) Add Details

Question 2

Metaphysics

Answer 2

Study of nature, examining what truly exists and the meaning of things.

Question 3

Epistemology

Answer 3

Study of knowledge; it acknowledges the limits of understanding.

Question 4

Ethics

Answer 4

Study of what’s write and wrong.

Question 5

Kagan’s Knowledge: Instrumental & Intrinsic

Answer 5

Instrumental - Dependent on other factors. Intrinsic - Independent; it’s already there just because it is.

Question 6

Aristotle (Virtue Ethics) Overview

Answer 6

Nothing is exempt from purpose, and the greatest things in life have high character in terms of virtue. 4 Clauses - Material, Formal, Efficient, Final.

Question 7

Utilitarianism Overview

Answer 7

Can the ends justify the means? Balance who is helped/harmed. All actions are neutral until they face consequences. Cost-Benefit, Jeremy Bentham vs. John Stuart Mill.

Question 8

Kant’s Deontology

Answer 8

Pleasure can be immoral and we shouldn’t make decisions based on cost-benefit analysis. Supreme principal of morality (pure practical reason): we respond to our internal senses and feelings; we’re not acting autonomously but rather according to natural preferences. Kant believes that it’s–intentions not consequences–that determine the moral worth of an action.