Phil 202 Modern Mid-Term: Topics for Study

Descartes

• Arguments for skepticism (know what each argument is, what it shows and what it doesn’t, and how Descartes eventually responds to that argument later in the Meditations)
• Proof of D’s own existence
• The nature of the self and how D proves that this is his nature
• D’s proofs of God’s existence(from Meds 3 and 5); you need to know at least one of these well
• The problem of error in Descartes (Med 4) and how D solves this problem
• D’s account of human and divine freedom
• D’s proof of the reality and nature of the external world
• D’s view of the relationship between mind and body (distinct substances but substantially united); Elizabeth’s objections to D’s account; and D’s response to Elizabeth

Spinoza

• You should be able to explain the meaning and significance of any of Spinoza’s definitions, axioms, or propositions
• You should be able to give, at least in outline, the arguments for Book I, P11, P14, and P28.
• You should be able to explain Spinoza’s account of the nature of God, including the definition of God, God’s monism, and at least some properties of God
• You should be able to explain Spinoza’s account of the nature of particular things and how these relate to God
• You should be able to explain the (double) necessity of particular things (dependence upon both God and prior things)
• You should be able to explain the three sorts of knowledge
• You should be able to offer a Spinozist account of the relationship between mind and body
• You should be able to offer a Spinozist account of the relationship between metaphysics and epistemology

Conway

• Explain Conway’s conception of God and at least one important implication of one key attribute of God.
• Give at least two of Conway’s arguments for the “mediator”/logos/Christ
• Briefly explain Conway’s account of time
• Describe Conway’s account of freedom (divine and created) and give at least one reason for this account.
• Explain in what sense there are infinite creatures, including Conway’s argument for them
• Explain the monism of created substance, Conway’s argument for that monism, and at least one important implications of it.
• Explain Conway’s account of the persistence of individuals: why must there be persistent individuals? How much can individuals change?
• Describe Conway’s approach to the unity of mind and body.
• Explain in what sense, for Conway, every created thing has “life.”
• Explain the nature of causation within Conway’s thought.
• Briefly lay out the role of infinite divisibility in Conway’s epistemology \

Leibniz

• The difference and relationships between perception, apperception, and appetite
• The nature and types of monads (substances, souls, minds)
• “Interactions” among monads (including mind-body interaction)
• Leibniz’s account of personal identity (monads, entelechy, haeceitty)
• Pre-established harmony
• The identity of indiscernibles
• Leibniz’s account of the distinction between necessity and contingency
• Human freedom, human motivation