Phil.

1000
Spring 2019
Exam One

EXAMS ARE DUE FRIDAY FEB. 8, 11:59 PM, VIA TURNITIN LINK ON OUR MOODLE PAGE

Directions: Please follow all directions.

For clarity, do not include the questions in your exam.

Late exams will suffer a ten (10) point deduction per day late (including the due date), per the syllabus.

All answers must cite directly from the primary text, with page numbers (Citation examples provided below). You may not
cite from internet summaries of the material, or from external sources. You may not cite the lectures. Answers that do not cite
the text will be penalized four (4) points each.

Appropriate use of text: You should use the text to indicate major points made by the author. This is not a complete answer,
however. Appropriate use of text also means the student unpacks and explains the ideas contained in the quote in their own
words. Answers that simply quote text without explanation or that are made up almost exclusively of quotes will receive only
partial credit.

You may not cite from the handouts. Students’ answers must be in their own words. Answers that cite the handouts will be
penalized four (4) points. Copying from the handouts, or simply slightly altering the wording of the handouts, is not acceptable and
will be considered plagiarism. All cases of plagiarism at LSU must be reported as academic misconduct.

You may not work together on the assignment. Students who are found to have done so will be reported for academic misconduct.

Section I. Paragraph Length Responses: Paragraph Responses: Write paragraph length response. Your answer should
carefully address each part of the question and should explain how the arguments work, rather than listing ideas. (25 pts.
each)

1. Choose one of the following two options:

In Plato’s Meno, early in the dialogue Socrates asks Meno to define virtue. Meno tries, but fails to do so because Socrates explains
that there is a problem with the kind of answer Meno gives. Explain first how Meno tries to define virtue (not just by stating the
specific answer he gives, but by explaining how he’s answering). Next, explain why Socrates claims Meno’s definition fails, i.e.,
doesn’t answer the question: “What is virtue?” Explain what Socrates says we need to understand in order to understand virtue.

Explain “Meno’s Paradox.” In doing so, make sure to explain what the paradox claims, as well as each part of the paradox and why it
would produce that conclusion. Finally, what is the “theory” Socrates offers in response to this potential problem and how does it
“solve” the “paradox?” In answering this last question, explain both what Socrates literally claims, as well as (briefly) how we can
interpret it as a statement about who possesses rationality, the relationship between rationality and learning and how the Socratic
Method prevents Meno’s paradox from being true.

2. Choose one of the following two options:

In the Apology, Socrates is charged with “corrupting the youth” of Athens. We discussed how Socrates responds to this charge
through what we called his “horse training” example. First, explain what the example claims, with reference to producing good,
healthy horses. Next, explain how Socrates applies this to human beings and what the main claim he is making is. In answering,
explain the main takeaway of the example by connecting it to the idea of “the good” and what’s necessary for a “good” human life.
Wrap up by explaining what/who Socrates thinks really “corrupts the youth.”

In the Republic, Plato presents a theory of the “tripartite soul,” or three part self (as we called it). Explain what the three parts of the
self are and what each of them concerns, controls, or seeks. Which part is said to be best? What is the relationship between the three
parts of the self in a “well ordered” person and why does Plato thinks this is the proper relationship between the three?

Section II. Essays: Write an essay (approx. 2-2.5 pages double spaced) for the following question. The essay should carefully
explain not only what the author states, but how the author argues for that position and it should be careful to explain (not
simply state) each major idea. (50 pts)

3. Explain Descartes’s “cogito” (containing, as we explained it, the first two “necessary truths” we discover by working through the
method he provides us; you do not need to go into the other “truths” we uncover). In doing so, first explain what we must do in order
to inquire into what we can know to be true with certainty, i.e., what must we do toward the things we currently believe to be true?
What kinds of things does Descartes tell us to distrust in doing so? Next, what do we find must be the case, when we follow that
methodology and why must they be the case? Further, what does this tell us about what human beings essentially are? In answering, be
careful not to simply list or bullet point ideas. Rather, you should work carefully, step by step, through each idea and explain fully
both what Descartes claims and why he claims it.

Examples of Citation Form (choose one):

MLA In-Text Citations:

Example (author and page number): “A man’s maturity – consists in having found again the seriousness he had as a child, at play”
(Nietzsche, 83).

Bibliography Entry:
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York:
Vintage-Random House, 1989.

Chicago Style Footnotes:

Example Footnote (placed at end of textual reference):

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage-Random House, 1989), 83 (page number).
(All following references to this text can take a shortened form: Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 97.)

Bibliography Entry:
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Translated by Walter Kaufmann. New
York: Vintage-Random House, 1989.