material cause
formal cause
final cause
moving (or efficient) cause
causes of something deliberately made, e.g., a doorknob, a spelled word
Aristotle's three-level (potency, 1st act, 2nd act) analysis of living organisms
How does the human soul relate to the human body?
How are souls of plants similar to, and different from, souls of animals, in A's theory?
How rational souls differ from sensitive souls.
Two aspects of Reason/Intellect: Theoretical reason and
Practical reason
eudaimonia (a good translation of it); the ccrresponding adjective is "eudaimon"
Aristotle's own description of eudaimonia?
(Can we be passively eudaimon?
Can we be morally bad while eudaimon?
Can we have lived a eudaimon life if we slept through most of it?)
What are the two basic kinds of excellence (aretê)?
The intellectual virtues sophia, technê, phronêsis?
How Aristotle understands by "moral virtue":
Concepts related to that: Habituation (repeated practice), aiming at the "mean,"
avoiding excessive and deficient actions, causing us to feel the passions appropriately (i.e., when appropriate,
where appropriate, to the appropriate extent, toward the appropriate persons/objects, etc.)
Essays (Tentative List)
60 points out of a possible 100 on the test. The test itself will
be weighted 42 points out of the semester's 200 possible.
You should do one essay under two of the capital letters at 30 points each or
one essay under the three capital letters at 20 points each. A 20 point essay
should be about 200-250 words, a 30-point essay about 250-350 words.
People who write
clearly, concisely, and with a good grasp of the subject matter can sometimes do better with fewer words.
The point is for you to demonstrate understanding. A mix of general and specific points
is desirable. If you answer the main subquestions satisfactority, it may not be necessary to
address all the subquestions. For some topics, I have made what I consider the "main subquestions"
bold to help you focus.
A. 1. In Plato's Republic, the Sophist Thrasymachus claims that the strong person who is
able to rule unjustly will be happier than a just or virtuous person. What is Plato's
theory of the soul? (What are the parts of the soul and how do they differ?) How does
he understand the connection between virtue (or justice) and the "political"
arrangement within the soul? How does this enable him to "refute" Thrasymachus' claim?
A. 2. When will the problems of society (the polis) finally be solved, according to
Plato? What kind of person will constitute the ruling group in this society? How will he
or she be produced, trained, educated? What sort of order will his soul be in? What
things will he know and use to guide the state in its main functions? Time permitting, you may answer: Describe the way of life of this ruling group.
What kind of person is in the ruling group of a timarchy, an oligarchy, a tyranny?
(What is the ruling element of his soul?)
A. 3. How does Plato's Timaeus describe the creation of the universe? (He mentions
three basic beings or kinds of being.)
B. 1. Name the four Aristotelian "causes" or explanatory factors. How is each defined? Analyze a relatively simple
human-made object using the questions associated with the four "causes" (but don't use the pot-making example we have
already discussed). Analyze a written sentence (a special type of human-made object) or an individual living
being (say, a plant) using the questions associated with the four "causes."
B. 2. What, according to Aristotle, is moral virtue?
Explain how human beings become morally virtuous? How does Aristotle characterize the moral
virtues in general? Explain the relation of virtue and
vice to the "mean" and the "extremes." Discuss two specific virtues (e.g. "open-handedness" and "mildness") and the vices that
correspond to them, in terms of the mean and the extremes. Does possessing a virtue affect what one does or how one feels? Explain briefly or give examples.
Does any intellectual virtue play an important role in excellent moral activity? (If so, which one? how?)
B. 3. How does Aristotle understand eudaimonia ("happiness") or the good life? Can
we be happy without moral or intellectual excellence? With moral or intellectual excellence but not much use of it?
How does he distinguish the happiness of the practical life from "theoretical" happiness based on wisdom?
B. 4. How does Aristotle
introduce an ultimate cause of movement into his account of the universe? Is it divine? Does it move in space? How does it
"produce" its effects? (What analogy is Aristotle using?)
You may also describe Aristotle's distinction between celestial and terrestrial physical forms, linking the former to the ultimate cause(s).)
C. The heart of Theravada Buddhism is arguably its relationship to the notion of the
enduring self. How is that related, positively or negatively, to craving, to the
unsatisfactoriness of life,
being reincarnated, to Nirvana? How does the teaching about the skandhas help the Theravada
Buddhists to overcome the set of interlocked problems (most of) these terms try to
identify? What is the point of the dialogue involving a monk and a king
about the flame that burns all night? (Only available to those who did not write their SWA1 on this topic.)
D. Why does Socrates insist he is not wise? What kind of wisdom is Socrates seeking?
In what somewhat odd way is Socrates wiser than other humans? How does he try to prove to the
reputedly wise that they are not? How does Socrates conceive his mission in life in the recent
years before the trial? Who or what,
in his view, assigned him this mission? What should we really care about, according to Socrates?
How important, in his view, are reputation and things related to the body?
(Only available to those
who did not write their SWA1 on the Defense Speech of Socrates.)
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