This examination counts as twenty percent (20%) of your grade. You will be asked to write two (2) essays, each worth ten (10) points, with a maximum possible of twenty (20) points.
At the start of the examination I will list the "names" of at least four (4) questions from which you must choose two (2). Please print out this document, put your name on it, and bring it (without notes written on it) to the examination for reference. It will be collected at the end of the examination.
Be sure to bring a blue book with you to the examination.
1. Naturally no help in answering the questions may be received from anyone (except yourself) during the examination. The work you hand in should be your own work.
2. Undergraduate students: You may bring with you to the examination one (1) 3" x 5" card (crammed as full as you care to make it) of notes to use during the examination. You may use any abbreviations or diagrams on the card you find helpful (as well as English, of course). You may not use any unusual aids (e.g., magnifying glass, microfiche reader) during the examination to read the card. (Your usual spectacles and contact lenses are not "unusual aids.") No other books or notes may be used during the examination. What appears on the card you bring to class should be your own work. Each person should be the "author" of his or her own card. One exception: you may include quotations (but not photocopied) on your card from the textbook or from any handout I have given. Everyone who uses such a card must hand it in with the examination with her or his name clearly on it. (The card does not have to be legible otherwise--just so you can read it.) The card will not be used to help determine a grade for the examination. (So on the examination don't say "see point 6a on the card".) I will return these cards to you when I return your graded examination.
| "Name" | Question |
|---|---|
| A-RELA | What is moral relativism? How does surface relativism differ from deep relativism? Is either a plausible view? Critically discuss. |
| A-FIRS | What is the opening sentence of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and what does it mean? Critically discuss. |
| A-HAPP | Early in his Nicomachean Ethics (See chapters 4 and 5 of book I) Aristotle considers and rejects several accounts of what happiness is. Specify two of these accounts and explicate and critique Aristotle's reasons for rejecting them. |
| A-CHIE | Aristotle writes: "Since there are evidently more than one end, and we choose some of these (e.g. wealth, flutes, and in general instruments) for the sake of something else, clearly not all ends are final ends; but the chief good is evidently something final. Therefore, if there is only one final end, this will be what we are seeking, and if there are more than one, the most final of these will be what we are seeking. Now we call that which is in itself worthy of pursuit more final than that which is worthy of pursuit for the sake of something else, and that which is never desirable for the sake of something else more final than the things that are desirable both in themselves and for the sake of that other thing, and therefore we call final without qualification that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else." (NE I.7) What is the chief good that Aristotle then identifies and how does it fit this account? Critically discuss. |
| A-SUFF | Aristotle claims that happiness is self-sufficient. What does he mean by this? What reason or reasons does he give to think it is true? Critically discuss. |
| A-FINA | Aristotle writes "Happiness, then, is something final ... and is [the chief good] and the end of action." What does this mean? What argument does he offer in defense of this claim? |
| A-EXTE | "... goods have been divided into three classes, and some are described as external..." (Nicomachean Ethics I.8) What are external goods in Aristotle's view? |
| A-DEAD | Aristotle asks whether it is "true that a man is actually happy after he is dead." Critically discuss Aristotle's answer to this question. |
| A-PROD | Explain Aristotle's distinction between "products" and "activities." What does Aristotle say about the relative value of products and activities? Is he right? Critically discuss. |
| A-HEAR | Aristotle claims that "a young man is not a proper hearer of lectures on political science." (NE I.3) Explain the reasons he offers in support of this claim. Do they seem to be good reasons? Explore. |
| A-FSE | Aristotle concludes that "Happiness, then, is something final and self-sufficient, and is the end of action." (NE I.7) How does he reach this conclusion? Critically discuss. |
| A-CONT | In chapters 6 through 8 of book X of the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle argues that "perfect happiness is a contemplative activity." Explicate and critically discuss his argument for this claim. |
| A-AS | Aristotle writes, "Actions, then, are called just and temperate when they are such as the just or the temperate man would do; but it is not the man who does these that is just and temperate, but the man who also does them as just and temperate men do them." (NE II.4) Explain this remark. |
| A-TRIO | "Since things that are found in the soul are of three kinds--passions, faculties, states of character--virtue must be one of these." (NE II.5) Which one is virtue, according to Aristotle? And how does he show that it can't be either of the other two? |
| A-TRIL | Aristotle claims (in Nicomachean Ethics Book II chapter 5) that virtues are dispositions or states of character (depending on the translation). Critically discuss his argument for this claim. |
| A-MEAN | Explain Aristotle's doctrine of the mean. |
| A-AIM | Aristotle writes: "... with regard to actions there is excess, defect, and the intermediate. Now virtue is concerned with passions and actions, in which excess is a form of failure, and so is defect, while the intermediate is praised and is a form of success; and being praised and being successful are both characteristics of virtue. Therefore virtue is a kind of mean, since, as we have seen, it aims at what is intermediate." Explain, being sure to use examples. |
| A-TABL | Aristotle considers a "table" of virtues and vices Explain what Aristotle's account of virtue is by going through many of the items in his "table" and showing how the virtues and vices he identifies are virtues and vices according to his theory. Critically discuss. |
| A-NATU | Aristotle argues (NE II.1) that "Neither by nature ..., nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us ..." Explicate and critically discuss his argument(s) for this point. |
| A-CIRC | Aristotle says "The question might be asked what we mean by saying that we must become just by doing just acts, and temperate by doing temperate acts; for if men do just and temperate acts, they are already just and temperate ..." (NE II.4) What is the issue here? How does Aristotle resolve it? Critically discuss. |
| A-3CON | Aristotle indicates three conditions which must be satisfied in order that an action may be said to be virtuous. (Nicomachean Ethics Book II chapter 4) What are these conditions? For each condition provide an example of an action which fails to satisfy that condition but satisfies the others and which on Aristotle's account would therefore not be considered a virtuous action (but which would be if the remaining condition were satisfied). (If the demand for such examples is impossible to satisfy in one or more of these cases, please indicate the reason for this.) |
| A-EXER | Aristotle says "the virtues we get by first exercising them." (NE II.1) Explain, using examples. In II.4 Aristotle considers an objection to this position. What is the objection and how does he answer it? Critically discuss. |
| A-GENU | What kind of thing is a virtue, according to Aristotle (i.e., what is its "genus")? Carefully explain and critically evaluate his argument for this conclusion. |
| A-MEAN | What is Aristotle's doctrine of the mean? Show how Aristotle applies it to a virtue or two (take your pick) and the related vices. Critically discuss. |
| A-BADN | Aristotle says "not every action nor every passion admits of a mean; for some have names that already imply badness." (NE II.6) Explain what he means by this. Is there a way that the troublesome cases can fit more readily into the general Aristotelian position? Explain and critically discuss. |
| A-MIXD | Explain Aristotle's account of "voluntary" and "involuntary" actions. Give examples. How do what he calls "mixed actions" fit into this account? What of actions which he calls "not voluntary?" Do his distinctions seem reasonable? Why or why not? Critically discuss. |
| A-IGNO | Aristotle claims that an action is not voluntary if it is done in ignorance of the particular circumstances of the action. Explain, with the help of examples, what Aristotle has in mind here. Are there cases in which an action is voluntary in spite of the agent's ignorance of some particular circumstances? Critically discuss. |
| A-CHOI | Aristotle distinguishes what he calls "choice" from other things. What other things does he distinguish it from? Explain his arguments to show that choice is not to be identified with any of those things. Critically discuss. |
| A-DELI | What sorts of things does Aristotle claim we do not deliberate about? Explain his reasons for this claim. What, according to Aristotle, do we deliberate about? Explain, using examples. Is Aristotle right? Critically discuss. |
| A-WICK | In chapter 5 of book III of the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle argues that "wickedness is voluntary." Explicate and critically discuss his argument for this claim. |
| A-DRUN | Explain and critically discuss Aristotle's account of a person's responsibility for actions done while drunk. |