Each answer to each question should be at least one paragraph or more. Answers may come from only from resources provided in this course, your textbook, and your mind. No work should be submitted from Internet or other sources. See the sample in Getting Started for an example of what is required.
Be sure to use standard English grammar and spelling.
1. Explain and critically evaluate Descartes argument from "doubt" that he uses to try to prove that the body is a different thing from the mind.
2. Explain the Socratic Method of Teaching. How is it used in the "Myth of the Cave" (see the reading excerpt from Plato at the end of Chapter 2)?
3. Explain how critical thinking can be used to analyze a philosophical issue, and illustrate with an example.
4. Explain the phrase "cogito ergo sum", and the role it plays in Descartes' version of Foundationalism.
5. Could God have a reason to deceive humanity? Explain Descartes' answer, and discuss whether you agree or disagree (and why).
6. What is deduction and what is induction? How are they different? Give an example of each type of argument.
7. Explain the atomist view of Democritus. What ethical view does Epicurus develop from this kind of materialist metaphysics? Discuss and critically evaluate.
8. Compare and contrast Plato and Aristotle's views of reality; how are they similar, and how do they differ?
9. Explain and discuss the difference between a priori and a posteriori knowledge.
10. Compare and contrast pragmatic theories of truth with the correspondence theory of truth.