PHI 240 Final Exam Questions And Correct Verified Answers.

How does Aristotle define nature? What are the distinctions between 'having a nature' and 'existing by nature'? (Physics II 1-2) - correct answers Having a nature means that you have an internal principal motion in rest (plants, animals, humans, cosmos, etc.). Existing by nature means that you live alongside the things that do have an internal principal motion of rest (mountains, sand, etc.). Aristotle's definition of soul, and the distinct powers of soul (those being, vegetative, animal, and human). (On the Soul II 1-3) - correct answers First actuality of a body capable of life. To be a plant is to be a process of maintaining itself with nutrition. To be an animal is to be a being that can take on the form of the world around it without the matter (sensation) and also to be able to move oneself. To be a human is to be receptive to concepts/to have passive intellect/mind/thinking. In what respect is the principal vegetative power "active" for Aristotle, while the principal animal power is "passive"? (On the Soul II 4-5, 12) - correct answers active; doing something to something- vegetative passive; receptivity of the activity without doing the thing. sensation- animal What is Aristotle's account of Mind or Intellect? What are its unique characteristics, compared to the other powers of the soul? How (and why) does Aristotle make use of a comparison between sensation and intellect in his discussion in Book III, chapter four of On the Soul? (On the Soul III.4-5) - correct answers There are no organs of intellect like there are organs of sense. Sensation is the thing acting upon you What is the meaning of the distinction between "active" and "passive" intellect? (On the Soul III.4-5) - correct answers Active intellect is to create ideas, and it is always divine. Passive intellect is understanding ideas, experiencing them and receiving them. What is the so-called "functional argument"? (Nicomachean Ethics I.7) - correct answers The function of a human being is to be a mixture of rational and irrational parts that can be shaped by reason. If the rational parts Why does Aristotle consider one part of the soul both irrational and in a sense rational? (Nicomachean Ethics I.13) - correct answers Rational: Does account for what it does. Irrational: Not something that you need to think about for it to be done. Emotional life. Both: desires, sensations, does whatever it wants but we can shape it with moral virtues. How you experience the world and how you act upon it. Use this to help improve our habits. What role does habituation play in Aristotle's ethics? (Nicomachean Ethics II.1-2) - correct answers Our emotional responses to a situation that sticks with us from the start, producing tendencies that become habitual. A cluster of these habits create our character. Habits can be virtuous or vice. Virtues sit in the 'mean' of two vices. What is the so-called "doctrine of the mean"? (Nicomachean Ethics II.2) - correct answers Virtues sit on the mean between the vices. Be clear about what the virtues of courage and temperance (or moderation) are, what their excesses and deficiencies are, and what area of human emotion or human action they are connected to. (Nicomachean Ethics II.6-7) - correct answers In what sense do the virtues and vices have to do with 'passions and actions? (Nicomachean EthicsII.6) - correct answers Passions are the way you experience things with emotions and how you respond to them. Virtues are not actions, they are dispositions. It's all about how you receive the world and how you respond/ act upon it. Virtues will help you respond with good actions and vices will make you respond with bad actions. In what respect are the Stoics characterized as materialists? - correct answers Stoics believe that the only things that exist, occupy space. Existing things are either active or passive. Everything is matter. Explain the Stoic distinction between "existence" and "subsistence". - correct answers Existence is anything in the cosmos with everything being connected to one another and the cosmos. Subsistence involves such things as the void, time, place, and the meaning of those words, not material. What is the relationship between the "principle" and the "elements"? - correct answers Principles are active, indestructible, all principals together create God. Principles are expressed through elements. Elements are passive, destructible, components of material things, destroyed in the conflagration. Elements are how God expresses himself between conflagrations. Be familiar with those things that the Stoics characterize as "good" "evil" and "indifferent" as well as why the Stoics categorize things as they do. - correct answers good: prudence, justice, moderation, courage - are in accord with nature evil: cowardice, licentiousness, injustice, imprudence - go against nature indifferent: live/death, health/illness, wealth/poverty - Explain the Stoic attitude towards passions (or emotions), and why they hold the view they do. - correct answers some passions and emotions could be good but some of them can also encourage the evils. to what extent do they encourage evils. What is Aristotle's account of Mind (or Intellect)? What are its unique characteristics, compared to sensation? What implications does Aristotle draw about the mortality of the soul from the distinctive features of the mind? Do you agree? Justify your position. - correct answers Give account of active and passive components of intellect. Commonalities and differences of intellect and sensation. Aristotle's moral theory is different from the moral theory of the Stoic tradition, especially with respect to the passions (or the emotions). Present the basic features of Aristotle's ethics, paying attention to his ideas concerning human emotions. Contrast this with the Stoic position, assessing their respective theories. - correct answers Aristotle's ethics: Virtues fitting between the mean of two vices of excesses and deficiency. Habituation. using examples to get sense of Aristotle's theory. Stoic Ethics: There are goods and four evils (list them out) and everything else is indifferent. Talk about how Aristotle's and the Stoics Ethics deal with emotions and how they contrast to each other. Are either good or are either bad, maybe one or the other? talk about why Why does Aristotle claim that matter is always "relative to" form? In answering the question, be sure to define your terms, and to refer to Aristotle's account of nature from Physics, Book II. - correct answers Soul is the first actually of a body capable of life. Present what a materialist would say to argue against Aristotle's theory. Talk about what the materialists' strengths are and how they are against Aristotle. How would Aristotle argue his side?