Philosophy: Short and Long Answer Questions

Running head: PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy
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1PHILOSOPHY
Short answer questions
1. Modus Tollens, in the case of propositional logic, is a kind of argument form where a
rule of inference is applied; it denies the consequent in order to affirm the argument. It states that
if a given statement happens to be true, it would be contra-positive (Demetriou, Spanoudis and
Shayer).
2. A human being’s life lacks an objective meaning; every value or moral that a person
tries to base his or her life on is preconceived or a creation of man himself – thus rendering it
impossible to find objective meaning in one’s life. On the contrary, life’s meaning can be found
within oneself, in his goals and objectives and what he chooses to do with his life (Lambert et
al.).
3. John Stuart Mill’s “Greatest Happiness Principle” presents a unique view of pleasure;
according to him, happiness can be defined as the absence of suffering or intended pleasure and
that to assess if an action is right or wrong, one would have to compare it to the amount of
happiness derived from it (Loizides).
4. In philosophy, sentience may be defined as an individual’s ability to perceive, feel or
even experience sensations in a subjective way. It can also be used to refer to the metaphysical
quality that is evident in all things, requiring them to be treated with care and respect (Caballero
and Vera).
5. In sociology and philosophy, the term privilege refers to the advantages that have been
made available to only a specific person or group of people. This discrimination could be on the
grounds of age, ethnicity, disability, gender, religion or social classes (Lenski).

2PHILOSOPHY
6. According to Plato’s Theory of Forms, men perceive forms and concepts based on their
ability to see the actual reality concealed in the world of day to day existence; for him, all
conceivable things, both living and non living, have a definite corresponding form (Cornford).
7. With regards to Descartes’ epistemology, it can be said that he was a foundationalist
because he believed his indubitable knowledge about his existence to be his foundation.
Foundationalism can be defined as the ability to structure knowledge in a rational and logical
manner, like an architectural edifice, which Descartes demonstrates (Lehrer).
8. Category mistake in philosophy may be defined as an ontological or semantic error,
where things which belong to a specific category are mistakenly presented as being part of a
different group altogether. For example, in linguistics, category mistake would mean the use of
superficial grammar in a word which betrays the expected logical form, presenting a radically
different logical form (Magidor).
Medium answer questions
1. Iris Marion Young, one of the leading political theorists in the States, has formulated a
theory of distributive justice associated with race, gender, democracy, equality, globalization
and so on. According to Young, structural inequalities have pervaded groups in the society which
may be defined as social processes reinforcing each other to constrain or enable individual
actions, thus granting a specific segment of society more privileges than others; this
discrimination has its roots in certain attributes like race, gender, class or age (Clifford). Through
her concept of groups and distributive justice, she attempts to assess if such group conscious
practices of examining inequality would be justified. As a matter of fact, she associated the