I. Plato

A. Euthyphro

1. Why are Socrates and Euthyphro at the “Hall of the King”?

2. What is Euthyphro’s first attempt to define piety (sec. VI), and why does Socrates reject it (sec. VII)?

3. What is Euthyphro’s second attempt to define piety (end sec. VII), and why does Socrates reject it (VII)?

4. What is Euthyphro’ third attempt to define piety (end sec. XI), and why does Socrates reject it (sec. XII and beg. sec. XIII)?

B. Apology

1. What are the “older false accusations” against which Socrates defends himself?

2. What does Socrates say has “given rise to the prejudices against” him?

3. How does Socrates defend himself against the charge that he corrupts the youth of Athens?

4. How does Socrates defend himself against the charge that he does not believe in the gods of the state?

C. Crito

1. Why does Crito think that Socrates should escape?

2. Why does Socrates think that the opinion of the masses does not matter?

3. Why does Socrates think it would be unjust to escape?

4. What obligations if any do you think you have to your country/government?

II. Descartes

A. Meditation One

1. Why does Descartes want to knock down his entire system of beliefs, and how does he plan to go about doing that?

2. How does Descartes try to use the unreliability of the senses to generate skepticism?

3. Why does Descartes move to a consideration of dreaming, and what kinds of claims does Descartes think he can know whether he is dreaming or not?

4. Is there in principle any test that you can perform to know whether you are dreaming or not? Explain.

B. Meditation Two

1. What proposition or propositions survives the doubt generated by the evil genius argument? Explain why the EG argument is incapable of causing us to doubt those propositions.

2. Given that I can know for certain that I exist, what kind of thing must I be?

3. What is the argument about the piece of wax? What is the point of that argument?

4. Are you convinced that you can be certain that you exist and are essentially a thinking thing? Are you convinced, for example, that you could exist without a physical body? Explain.

C. Meditation Three

1. What general principle about truth does Descartes think can be derived from the arguments of Meditation Two? What problems does he raise for that principle, and how does he respond to them?

2. What is Descartes’ argument for the existence of God?

3. Why can’t Descartes himself be the source of his idea of God?

4. Explain Descartes’ argument that God must be the ‘author of his being’—i.e., the one responsible for bringing Descartes into existence.

III. Ayer

A. The Elimination of Metaphysics

1. What is Ayer’s thesis regarding the metaphysician who claims to have knowledge of a reality which transcends the world of science and common sense? How does his claim differ from other critiques of transcendental metaphysics?

2. What is the criterion that Ayer will use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact? What are some difficulties involved in formulating that principle, and what is Ayer’s final formulation?

3. Explain a couple of examples of how Ayer uses his criterion to condemn metaphysical claims.

4. How do philosophers end up spouting nonsense?

B. The Function of Philosophy

1. How does Ayer reject the view that “the business of the philosopher is to construct a deductive system” and “search for first principles”?

2. What is the problem of induction, and how does Ayer resolve it?

3. Provide and explain at least 3 direct quotations of Ayer concerning the function of philosophy.

IV. Searle

A. Can Computers Think?

1. Explain the view Searle calls “strong AI”. How does this view conflict with Searles outline of a solution to the mind-body problem?

2. Describe Searle’s Chinese Room thought experiment. How is this thought experiment supposed to undermine strong AI?

3. What do you think—will computers ever be able to think in the way we do? Explain/justify your answer.