Chapter 18: Modern Philosophy Flashcards
(25 cards)
What feature of philosophy contributes to the common understanding that philosophers are irrelevant to modern life?
a. Philosophers refuse to update themselves on new technologies.
b. No one thinks that ethics matters anymore.
c. Most philosophers write in a detached, impersonal voice.
d. Philosophers were responsible for the exclusion of women from education and public life.
c. Most philosophers write in a detached, impersonal voice.
What sources do philosophers use when they do not remain objective, when they argue it is impossible or undesirable to be only detached minds?
a. Autobiography and personal advocacy
b. Quantitative results of the hard sciences
c. Poetry, fiction, and other works of art
d. Qualitative social science data
a. Autobiography and personal advocacy
How is the current critique of objectivity connected to the general critique of Enlightenment philosophy?
a. The Enlightenment commitment to objectivity put science in charge and made philosophers supportive assistants; rethinking objectivity is essential for returning philosophy to its place as the primary mode of all inquiry.
b. Objectivity is the right value, but the critique revealed how far short of it we fell in the Enlightenment and charts a path toward true objectivity for the future.
c. The critique says philosophers were never objective, but they shared a set of social locations and did philosophy that in fact reflected the special interests of highly educated, wealthy white men.
d. The objectivity of the Enlightenment did not result in enough progress in science, politics, or economics, and so we should try other less objective methods now.
c. The critique says philosophers were never objective, but they shared a set of social locations and did philosophy that in fact reflected the special interests of highly educated, wealthy white men.
Why do so many philosophers continue to insist on an objective rational method for philosophy?
a. The opposite of objective is biased, and all biases by definition lead to falsehoods rather than truth.
b. Philosophers study value, and the only things truly of value are what is common to all humans regardless of their class, race, religion, or gender.
c. Some philosophers are concerned that changing the method of philosophy now would mean losing our connection to the history of philosophy that insisted on objective rationality.
d. Philosophical questions are just those that help us transcend the specificity of our own lives to follow rational arguments to logical conclusions available to any thinker.
d. Philosophical questions are just those that help us transcend the specificity of our own lives to follow rational arguments to logical conclusions available to any thinker.
What is the ad hominem fallacy?
a. The fallacy of failing to remain objective
b. Makes an argument against the person who says something rather than focusing on the content of what is said
c. The fallacy of arguing only for what benefits or applies to human beings
d. A conclusion is accepted (or rejected) because of where the claim came from
b. Makes an argument against the person who says something rather than focusing on the content of what is said
What is the emerging archetype of the literary social critic?
a. This kind of person is the continental philosopher teaching in an English or Communication department.
b. This kind of person is trying to bring back the French salon culture of the Enlightenment but in an updated and socially inclusive way for the twenty-first century.
c. This kind of person offers critical comments on current events often in shorter writing formats or alternative media, such as podcasts or YouTube channels.
d. This kind of person uses popular works of literature, film, and television to help connect today’s students to the history of philosophy.
c. This kind of person offers critical comments on current events often in shorter writing formats or alternative media, such as podcasts or YouTube channels.
Slavoj Žižek, Agnes Callard, Sam Harris, and Nick Bostrom are examples of which emerging archetype?
a. Literary social critics
b. Philosophical advocates
c. Wise sages
d. Public philosophers
a. Literary social critics
Which emerging archetype uses a person’s own personal background and perceived social status as relevant to their work making philosophical questions relevant to addressing injustice?
a. Public philosophers
b. Literary social critics
c. Wise sages
d. Philosophical advocates
d. Philosophical advocates
What is the emerging archetype of the public philosopher?
a. A person who advocates for social justice and will use any means of communication to get their message across
b. A person whose communication is accessible to a broad audience; and their life, adhering to their ideas and values, is lived out in the open
c. Someone who does philosophy as a member of the general public, not at a university
d. A person who seeks fame and attention from the public
b. A person whose communication is accessible to a broad audience; and their life, adhering to their ideas and values, is lived out in the open
Martin Luther King, Jr., was what kind of emerging archetype?
a. Public philosopher
b. Philosophical advocate and a public philosopher
c. Wise sage
d. Literary social critic and a philosophical advocate
b. Philosophical advocate and a public philosopher
What makes Simone de Beauvoir’s book The Second Sex a foundational text of feminism?
a. Beauvoir argued for a rereading of the origin of Eve in the Genesis story of the Bible.
b. The basic existentialist view of absolute freedom was the basis of French feminist resistance to restrictive laws and social norms.
c. Beauvoir was the first woman to publish a mainstream philosophical text.
d. Writing that “one is not born, but rather becomes, woman” offers analysis of gender as a socially constructed identity.
d. Writing that “one is not born, but rather becomes, woman” offers analysis of gender as a socially constructed identity.
What did Sartre, explaining the basic belief of existentialism, mean when asserting that we are condemned to be free?
a. Freedom is a gift from a perfect God who wills it to us whether we want it or not.
b. Eternal punishment for a life poorly lived would be a hell of total freedom where one must take responsibility for every choice they make.
c. We are not free not to be free. Without any fixed nature we are free, but once we exist, our freedom is what makes us.
d. Existentialists think that we would be better off if we were determined because freedom is just too much to bear.
c. We are not free not to be free. Without any fixed nature we are free, but once we exist, our freedom is what makes us.
What stuck out starkly as a problem for Carol Gilligan when reviewing psychological research on human development, particularly the development of moral outlooks?
a. That all the samples were all male and no one seemed to be bothered by that as supposedly representative of all human thinking
b. That all the research considered only deontology versus consequentialism, with no consideration of virtue ethics
c. That all the research was conducted on children between the ages of six and ten, not any younger or older children
d. That there was no agreement about the meaning of morality such that any of the research could be compared or contrasted with other research
a. That all the samples were all male and no one seemed to be bothered by that as supposedly representative of all human thinking
How does Carol Gilligan say that the contribution of women’s thinking about the moral domain is expressed?
a. In a different voice, the voice of care
b. In a different voice, the language of rights
c. In a mystical and a rational mode of judging
d. In deeds, whenever we act justly
a. In a different voice, the voice of care
What is epistemic injustice?
a. A wrong done to those who are denied admission to schools they are qualified for
b. A kind of unfairness or injustice that occurs when some kinds of knowledge or knowers are excluded or marginalized
c. Unfairness in the distribution of sources of knowledge, including libraries, the internet, and educational funding
d. Injustice that occurs when professors grade students according to how well they agree with the professor
b. A kind of unfairness or injustice that occurs when some kinds of knowledge or knowers are excluded or marginalized
When women in consciousness-raising circles talked and discovered an all too common shared experience of mistreatment at work, an experience they came to call “sexual harassment,” they were fighting against what type of injustice?
a. Testimonial injustice
b. Hermeneutic injustice
c. The glass ceiling
d. Discrimination
b. Hermeneutic injustice
How, according to Martin Luther King, Jr., does nonviolent resistance differ from passive acceptance of injustice?
a. Nonviolent resistance lasts longer and thereby refuses to accept injustice.
b. Nonviolent resistance always takes advantage of massive media appeals.
c. Nonviolent resistance is always religiously based.
d. Nonviolent resistance deliberately interferes with whatever is being opposed.
d. Nonviolent resistance deliberately interferes with whatever is being opposed.
What does Martin Luther King, Jr., say is the relationship between nonviolent resistance and moral tension?
a. Nonviolent resistance creates moral tension.
b. Nonviolent resistance reduces moral tension.
c. Nonviolent resistance avoids moral tension.
d. Nonviolent resistance exposes moral tension.
d. Nonviolent resistance exposes moral tension.
Peter Singer—a notorious and controversial philosopher—argues for what position on euthanasia and infanticide?
a. Euthanasia and infanticide are purely private concerns that both philosophers and the government must stay out of.
b. Neither is ever morally acceptable, although they may be justifiable on non-utilitarian reasoning.
c. Euthanasia and infanticide are sometimes necessary given the complexities of the modern world.
d. Euthanasia and infanticide are two of the insoluble moral controversies that philosophers must stay out of if they are to be effective advocates for social reform.
c. Euthanasia and infanticide are sometimes necessary given the complexities of the modern world.
What did Singer argue, in a 1999 public philosophy essay, that everyone not already living in poverty should do for famine relief?
a. Give all income over $100,000 to famine relief
b. Give $20,000 annually to famine relief
c. “Adopt” local poor people by providing them one meal a day
d. Give all income over $30,000 to famine relief
d. Give all income over $30,000 to famine relief
What is Martha C. Nussbaum’s criticism of most professional intellectuals?
a. They choose to study social science and overlook literature and philosophy.
b. They only dabble in current affairs.
c. They get too involved in social justice causes.
d. They fail to use their abilities to improve the human condition.
d. They fail to use their abilities to improve the human condition.
Martha C. Nussbaum became the first female to hold a fellowship in the Harvard Classics Department. An important member of the faculty welcomed her with a letter containing what he thought was a funny joke about struggling with new titles for a female colleague. Because fellow is a male word, with Greek roots, he thought he could refer to her as a fellowess. What does that Greek word really mean?
a. “Colleague” (a co-worker)
b. “Courtesan” (a high-class prostitute)
c. “Comrade” (a fellow with communist tones)
d. “Crony” (a friend who will lie to protect you)
b. “Courtesan” (a high-class prostitute)
Martha C. Nussbaum argues that the most influential views tend to be those of the most powerful or rhetorically adept individuals and groups in the absence of what?
a. Public deliberation
b. Economic justice
c. Democracy
d. Women in positions of leadership
a. Public deliberation
Because of the challenges of communicating something in the domain of the existential, which Pierre Hadot reminds us is most important for human beings, he suggests finding philosophical insights that “glimpse this unsayable in an indirect way” where?
a. Anthropological studies
b. Songs and dances
c. Children’s games
d. Poems or biographies
d. Poems or biographies
