Oral examination
Oral examination
Social and Political Philosophy II (PHIL 242)
Instructor: Sandy Berkovski
Bilkent University
May 2011
- The exam will have the weight of 25%.
- The exam will be conducted on a lottery basis. Each student will randomly draw two questions from the list below.
- Clarifying or additional questions can be put to the student in the course of the exam.
- No use of books or any other auxiliary materials will be permitted. Draft sheets will be retained by the examiner.
- The exam will take place on 21.05.11. The venue is BZ-06. It will start at 9:00 for Section 08 and at 14:00 for Section 11.
Exam questions
During the exam you will be given approximately thirty minutes for
preparation. Answer each question in as much detail as possible. The
focus should be on your knowledge of the texts, rather than on your
own opinions on the topic.
- Discuss two or three laws of nature. [Hobbes]
- What is the state of nature? [Hobbes]
- What are the conditions for emerging from the state of nature? [Hobbes]
- Discuss two or three rights of the sovereign that you find objectionable. [Hobbes]
- What does the Foole claim? What is Hobbes's reply?
- Should freedom of speech be allowed, according to Hobbes? Why?
- Why can't reason teach us our duty? [Hume]
- What is the significance of the difference between a mistake of fact and of right? [Hume]
- `In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view.' Explain. Give an outline of the relationship between morality and utility. [Hume]
- Is friendship a modification of self-love? Why? [Hume]
- What is the source of justice? Discuss it with regard to two or three thought-experiments considered by Hume.
- What is the justification of the principle of utility? [Bentham]
- Explain Bentham's arguments against the principle of
asceticism.
- `Few human creatures would consent to be changed into any of the lower animals for a promise of the fullest allowance of a beast's pleasures.' Discuss.
- What is Carlyle's objection to utilitarianism? What is Mill's
response to it?
- What is the role of tranquility and excitement in achieving happiness?
- Does utilitarianism require people care for the entire world? Why?
- `Nobody argues that the art of navigation is not founded on astronomy because sailors cannot wait to calculate the Nautical Almanac.' Discuss.
- Is moderation unconditionally good? Why? [Kant]
- Why happiness could not be the natural end of reason?
- What is the difference between acting out of duty and acting
in accordance with duty? Discuss with regard to two examples.
- What is the connection between ideology and material production? Illustrate with a couple of examples. [Marx]
- Give a brief explanation of: alienation of labour, alienation of man from nature, alienation of man from man, alienation of man from himself.
- What is the connection between the division of labour and alienation of labour?
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On 18 May 2011, 01:07.