Study Questions for Mid-Term

Introduction to Philosophy, Sudduth

Spring 2004

Mid-term details: The mid-term will consist of 50 questions, some of which are multiple choice and some true or false. This exam is designed to test your knowledge of content related aspects of the course. Keep in mind that you will have only the class period (roughly an hour and 15 minutes) to answer these questions. The exam will begin promptly at the beginning of class. My past experience has been that this is sufficient time for students to complete the exam if they have adequately prepared for the exam. Please bring a couple of no. 2 pencils to class for the exam and make sure that you fill out your name, class, and ID number in the appropriate bubbles. Failure to follow these directions may result in errors in reading your exam. The results of the exam will be available the week you return from spring break.

Below you will find questions intended as a guide as you prepare for the mid-term. As a result, some of these questions are general in nature. Be sure that you have highlighted relevant sections of the readings based on these questions and what was discussed in class as we went through these texts. Also take some time to examine the relevant handouts, to which I have provided links below.

http://www.homestead.com/philofreligion/files/Plato3.html (sections 1-3 only)

http://www.homestead.com/mscourses/files/PlatoHandout1.htm

http://www.homestead.com/mscourses/files/PlatoHandout2.htm

http://www.homestead.com/mscourses/files/PlatoHandout3.htm

1. What is the name of the period of philosophy prior to Socrates? What was the main interest of philosophers at this time?

2. What is epistemology?

3. What is metaphysics?

4. What is dualism, materialism, and immaterialism?

5. Who were the sophists?

6. What were the charges brought against Socrates at his trial?

7. What happens in the “allegory of the cave”?

8. What is the basic message of the allegory of the cave?

9. What is the first and second question of the Meno? How are they related?

10. How does Meno initially respond to Socrates’ request to define virtue?

11. What is Meno’s second response to Socrates’ request to define virtue?

12. Who is Gorgias?

13. What is Meno’s Paradox?

14. How does Socrates attempt to refute Meno’s Paradox?

15. Meno continues to fall into a common mistake in his answers in the first part of the dialogue. What is it?

16. After addressing Meno’s Paradox, Socrates and Meno change their approach to Meno’s first question. How?

17. What reasons are put forward to support the idea that virtue is knowledge?

18. Why is the above proposal (in no. 17) rejected?

19. What is the relationship between true opinion (or true belief) and knowledge?

20. What is the conclusion of the dialogue regarding the origin of virtue?

21. Explain the social and political structures in Greece at the time of Socrates.

Some words and phrases to remember: philosophy, Meno, ad hominem, logos, sophist.