Study Guide, revised

I have added three questions: Part I Q 6 and Part II Q 27, 28. I will not add any more questions. This is a draft. I am not likely to remove questions. I will add more questions. In particular, I will add questions concerning Anselm. If you spot any obvious errors, please let me know.

Instructions

• The Final Exam will be on Wednesday, Dec 10, from 11:30 – 1:18 PM, in our usual room, Baker Systems Engineering 0285. It will be closed book, closed notes. Bring a couple of pens. I will supply “blue books”.
• The exam will consist of three sections: (1) multiple-choice; (2) short-answer; (3) essays.
• A short answer question is a question you can answer in one or two sentences. Essay questions should take no more than two or three blue book pages to answer (adjust this if you have abnormally small or large handwriting).
• All essay questions will be taken word-for-word from Part II of this study guide [any comments in square brackets will be omitted]. All short-answer and multiple-choice questions will either be related to essay questions from Part II, or will be as indicated in Part I.

Questions after the jump!

Part I: Multiple-choice and Short-answer Questions

1. Put the following figures in chronological order: [insert here a list of 5 or 6 figures we’ve studied in the course. By my reckoning the figures we’ve covered (in no particular order) are: Anselm, Ghazali, Plato, Ockham, Philo, Henry of Ghent, Boethius, Philoponus, Averroes, Maimonides, Scotus, Aquinas, and Aristotle.]
2. For each of Plato, Aristotle, Philoponus, Simplicius, Ghazali, Averroes, Maimonides, Aquinas, and Ghent, you should be able to briefly state their position when it comes to the eternity of the world. That is, you should be able to say how each would answer each of the following questions (in some cases, the issue is complicated, and you should be able to say that and briefly explain why):
   1. Does the world have a beginning or not?
   2. Is it possible for the world to have a beginning?
   3. Is it possible for the world to have no beginning?
3. You should be able to explain the distinction between generation [coming to be from something] and creation ex nihilo.
4. You should be able to explain the difference between kalam and falsafah.
5. Explain Ghent’s distinction between having made-being and having been made.
6. Explain Anselm’s definition of freedom of will.

Part II: Essay Questions

1. Explain Plato’s account of the creation of the world. Be sure to indicate clearly the role of the Demiurge, the motive of the Demiurge, and the role of the Forms, and the role of Chaos.
2. Present Aristotle’s first argument for the conclusion that there is no first motion (not the one based upon the definition of a ‘now’). Present one objection to the argument made by one of the historical figures we studied. Be sure to identify who made the objection, and which premise of the argument they are objecting to.
3. Present Aristotle’s second argument for the conclusion that there is no first motion (the one based upon the definition of ‘now’). Present Philoponus’ objection to this argument.
4. According to Philoponus, fire is already moving upward at its first moment of existence. Explain why Philoponus thinks this, and what why he thinks it causes trouble for Aristotle.
5. Present and evaluate Philoponus’s argument against an infinite past, based upon the impossibility of traversing an infinite.
6. Present and evaluate Philoponus’s argument against an infinite past, based upon the ratios of the rotations of the heavenly spheres.
7. According to Ghazali, there can be a delay between cause and effect. He discusses, in this context, the example of a divorce. Explain the example, and what Ghazali thinks the example shows.
8. Present Ghazali’s argument against an infinite past, based upon the ratios of the rotations of the heavenly spheres. Present Averroes’ response.
9. Averroes and Ghazali disagree concerning the nature of the will. What is the nature of this disagreement? How does it bear on the question of the eternity of the world?
10. Zaid is hungry, and he wants a date. Several equally desirable dates dangle before him. According to the philosophers, what does Zaid do? Why? According to Ghazali, what does Zaid do? Why? According to Averroes, what does Zaid do? Why?
11. Explain Aristotle’s account of deliberation and choice. Explain why, on that account, it is impossible to choose between two equally desirable options. Explain how Ghazali’s account of the will avoids this problem.
12. Maimonides gives an example of a man who argues that fetal development is impossible. What mistake does Maimonides think this man makes? How is this supposed to bear on the question of the eternity of the world?
13. Present Ghent’s argument for the conclusion that a world with no beginning would be necessary, not contingent.
14. Aquinas and Ghent both agree that there is some sense in which, for a creature, non-being must precede being. Explain what this claim comes to, according to Aquinas; why Ghent finds Aquinas’ view lacking; and what the claim comes to for Ghent.
15. On one interpretation, Aristotle avoids logical fatalism by denying bivalence. Explain.
16. On one interpretation, Aristotle avoids logical fatalism by making a distinction between definite and indefinite truth and falsehood. Explain.
17. Present an argument, taken from Boethius, for the conclusion that divine foreknowledge is incompatible with future contingency. Explain why, according to Boethius, the argument fails.
18. According to Boethius, freedom comes in degrees, with God and the angels being perfectly free, while we are at best imperfectly free. Explain why, for Boethius, God and the angels are perfectly free. Explain how, according to Boethius, our freedom is less than perfect.
19. Explain how, according to Boethius, God knows future contingents. Explain why, according to Boethius, this shows that divine foreknowledge is compatible with the contingency of the future.
20. Explain Boethius’ principle that “an object is known according to the nature and power of the knower, not according to its power to be known,” and now he uses that principle to support his account of divine foreknowledge.
21. According to Scotus, one reason given in support of the view that God sees the future from eternity is the view that eternity is limitlessness with respect to time. According to Scotus, the view that eternity is limitlessness with respect to time provides no support for the view that God sees the future from eternity. Explain.
22. Provide Anselmian counterexamples to each of the following claims:
    1. Justice is willing what one ought.
    2. Justice is willing what one ought with awareness of rectitude.
    3. Justice is knowingly willing what one ought.
    4. Justice is knowingly willing what one ought and willing to be under that obligation.
    5. Justice is knowingly willing what one ought because it is what one ought to will.
23. According to Anselm, even God cannot take away your freedom of will. Explain.
24. According to Anselm, an angel with no will cannot begin willing something on his own. Explain why not.
25. According to Anselm, an angel with one will cannot begin willing something else on his own. Explain why not.
26. According to Anselm, an angel with two wills can stop willing something on his own. Explain how.
27. According to Anselm, Satan, after the fall, cannot regain the will for justice, but nevertheless retains his freedom of will. Explain.
28. Present Anselm’s example of the Miser and explain what he takes it to show.

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