Readings (in Philosophy in the Flesh)

Reading for Tuesday, November 2, 1999: Read Chapter 19

Due at the Beginning of Class Tuesday, November 2, 1999.

Ground Rules: Discuss the exam with the members of your group. No group notes are to be taken. Write up your exams individually. They should be in 12 point type, either 1 & 1/2 spaced or double spaced, with at least 1 inch margins. No late exams.

www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~bbergen/cs108/

We suggest the following: Go to the website and download a copy of the exam. Copy the questions into a new file, and fill in your answers after each question, using a different font (e.g., put the questions in italics and the answers in roman). This way it will be clearer to the grader which answer goes with which question, and you will have an overview of all your answers to questions, one by one, at the end of the course.

Question 1.

1. When Plato says, "The Good is the causal source of all that is." which of the metaphors for causation in Chapter 11 is he using? (Name the metaphor.)
2. Which of the metaphors for causation in Chapter 11 are used by Aristotle in his four causes? (Name the metaphors.)
3. If the metaphysics of a philosophy is determined by its metaphors, then how do the two metaphors, Plato's Essences are Ideas and Aristotle's Ideas are Essences result in different metaphysical ontologies, that is, different claims as to what is real?(Respond in a sentence or two.)
4. How does the essence of being in Plato differ conceptually from that of the Presocratics and what metaphorical difference does this arise from? (Identify the conceptual difference and the metaphorical difference.)
5. How is Plato's Idea of the Good related to conceptions of God? Discuss the notions of God as (1) the prime mover (e.g., the ultimate cause), (2) the All-powerful, (3) the source of all that is good, and (4) incomparable to lesser forms of being. (Each subpart can be answered in a sentence.)
6. How does Aristotle's definition of "definition", together with the metaphors Categories are Containers and Predication Is Containment, give rise to his Logic? (One or two sentences should suffice.)
7. What leads Aristotle to his traditional theory of metaphor? Why could Aristotle not permit the existence of conceptual metaphor without a contradiction in his philosophy? (Two sentences response are appropriate.)

Question 2. Modern science has inherited ideas from the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle? Discuss this with respect to (at least) the following statements (for each, identifying the Greek source in a sentence):

1. There must be a single, consistent Theory of Everything in physics.
2. Science seeks the smallest number of general laws from which all physical phenomena follow.
3. Mathematics is the language in which the laws of nature are written.
4. The theory of computation is an abstract mathematical theory. All physical systems that function in a way that accords with the theory of computation are literally "computers" that "perform computations."
5. In any science or branch of mathematics, all terms bust be defined using precise necessary and sufficient conditions.
6. There is only one correct biological taxonomy.