Study Guide: Second Midterm

I. Gobbets.

Two or three of the following passages will be duplicated on the midterm exam (Nov. 6). You will be asked several questions about each, testing your comprehension of the passage and its argument.

A. Gilson, Methodical Realism, pp. 20-21.
B. Gilson, Methodical Realism, pp. 35-36
C. Gilson, Methodical Realism, pp. 98-100
D. Gilson, Methodical Realism, pp. 120-121.
E. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, pp. 25-26, 30.
F. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, pp. 45-48.
G. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, pp. 59-60
H. MacIntyre, After Virtue, pp. 19-20.
I. MacIntyre, After Virtue, pp. 31-32.
J. MacIntyre, After Virtue, pp. 52-53.
K. MacIntyre, After Virtue, pp. 66-67.
L. Lewis, Mere Christianity (in Supplement), pp. 33-34.
M. Schaeffer, He is There and He is not Silent, pp. 30-31
N. Kelly Clark, Return to Reason, pp. 23-24.
O. Kelly Clark, Return to Reason, p. 37.
P. Kelly Clark, Return to Reason, pp. 38-39.
Q. Richard Swinburne, The Existence of God (in Supplement), pp. 145-146.
R. Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aqinas, "Sic Sublimis Veritas" (in Supplement), pp. 92-93

II. There will be several general-knowledge multiple-choice questions.

Here, the class handouts, available also on the class web site on the "Lecture Notes" page, will be your best guide.

III. Essay Questions.

There will be one essay question, to be answered in three or four relatively short paragraphs. The question will be taken from the following list:

1. Gilson argues that, although modern idealism pretends to begin with radical doubt, it is actually mired in an inflexible dogma about method. Pick either Descartes or Kant and explain how Gilson's charge might apply to his philosophy.
2. How do realists like Gilson explain the phenomena of human error, including errors of perception? Does the existence of error through all of our perceptions into doubt? Why or why not?
3. What is the subjective theory of value that Lewis sets out to refute in The Abolition of Man? Why is it such a popular view today? How does Lewis attempt to refute it?
4. Is Lewis right in thinking that radical ethical innovation is impossible? Is Lewis's position one of hidebound conservatism? Defend your answer.
5. Can evolutionary biology provide a basis for an objective moral realism? If not, why not? If so, what would be the character and limitations of such an ethical system?
6. Is murder wrong because God forbids it, or does God forbid it because it's wrong? Or, are both somehow true? Defend your answer, with reference to Adams's moral command theory.
7. If God command someone to lie, would that act of lying be right or wrong? Explain your answer.
8. Does theism provide a basis for objective values? (Make reference to either Mackie, Schaeffer or Adams.)
9. Is Clark right in rejecting the possibility of the kind of "classical apologetics" defended by Geisler, Sproul and Gerstner? Is there any way to know, without looking at each specific argument, whether there can be an absolute proof of the existence of God?
10. Choose either the teleological or cosmological argument for Godıs existence. Which form of this argument seems most promising? What is the most effective objection to it?
11. Which of the arguments for God's existence is, to you, the most convincing? Why? What is the best objection to that argument? Taking into account just this argument and this one objection, how would you assess the strength of the case for God's existence?
12. Is the existence of God ³evident² (in Gilsonıs language) or ³properly basic² (as Plantinga defines this)? Defend your answer.

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