Final Exam (Intro)

What is the primary question about personal identity?

• what is it about persons that makes it true that they are the same person over time?

• what are the conditions for being a person?

• What are the most important aspects of a person's self-concept?

What kind of identity is the primary concern of philosophers?

• Qualitative Identity

• Numerical Identity

What is the general story of the Perry dialogue?

• Sam and Dave try to convince Gretchen that she will survive her bodily death.

• Gretchen is convinced of the psychological continuity view of personal identity

• Sam and Dave are unsure whether Gretchen is the same person they saw before her accident.

Gretchen is primarily concerned with the question of whether surviving bodily death is _______

• conceivable

• consistent with physical laws

• necessary

Nozick's entitlement theory includes two principles of justice. Which of the following are these principles?

• Principle of Justice in Liberty

• Principle of Justice in Transfer

• Principle of Justice in Acquisition

• Principle of Justice in Equality

According to Nozick, the following would be a patterned principle: "Every person who was born in 1970 should be given 100 dollars."

• True

• False

A compatibilist might object to Chisholm's view by arguing that a person can act freely even if they only had one action open to them. Perhaps they are so morally good that they could not have avoided doing good for others. Many of us would not think that they are not less free just because they are such good people. Chisholm's response is that:

• Our intuitions would change if we think about someone so bad they cannot avoid harming others.

• If they are free, they must have had freedom in becoming the kind of person who cannot avoid doing good for others.

• It is too much up to luck if a morally good person acts well.

• None of the above

In response to the objection that agent causation adds nothing to our understanding of the world, Chisholm argues that:

• agent causation does add to understanding of the world, by helping us to better understand our own agency..

• If agent causation does not add a whole lot to our understanding of the world, then event causation does not add much of anything either.

Hume thinks that indeterminism threatens free will because, if true, there is nothing in the agent (e.g., their beliefs, desires, values, motives) that causes their actions, and therefore the agent is not answerable.

• True

• False