MIDTERM EXAM will be on THURSDAY, JULY 04.

STRICTLY CLOSED NOTES & THE EXAMINE'ES WILL BE

SEATED ONE METER APART. KEEP YOUR SMART PHONES INSIDE YOUR BAG. NO GOING OUT WHILE THE
EXAM IS ONGOING. BELOW ARE THE POINTERS FOR REVIEW: (many questions require recalling the
names of personalities who revolutionized our thinking in their respective areas)

1. "We are living in a hyper-real world, moving forward to a reality of virtual, augmented, AI & quantum
computing. " Jean Baudrillard “hyperreality”

2. "The meaning of a word is just used by people to refer to many different activities which share family
resemblances. " Ludwig Wittgenstein “Philosophical Investigations”

3. Logo-centrism; Jacques Derrida (1930) “language of reason” “mistaken identity”

4. Falsification Theory; Karl Popper (1902-1994) “science procedure”

5. "Existence precedes essence." Jean-Paul Sartre(1905-1980) “Existentialism”

6. "All signs have sense but not all signs have reference." Gottlob Frege (1848-1925)

7. Who is Heidegger? Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), a student of Husserl, Being in Time (1927)
“fundamental ontology”,

8. Who is Saussure? Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), a Swiss linguist, founder of Structuralism and
Serniology, code of Binary Opposites

9. "Meaning and testability are the same." Logical Positivists or Vienna Circle, Moritz Schlick(1882-
1936) Otto Neurath(1882-1945) and Rudolf Carnap(1891-1970)

10. What is the Principle of Intersubstitutivity of Co-referential terms & who authored it? Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz - (Salva Veritate) if two terms refer to the same thing (co-referential), then you can
substitute one for the other in a sentence without affecting the truth-value of the sentence (salva
veritate means "preserving truth").

11. "We are all condemned to be free and the freedom to choose WHO I AM is a frightening thought.
Jean-Paul Sartre

12. "Our thoughts are trapped in language." Ludwig Wittgenstein

13. Who is Simone de Beauvoir? was a French writer, philosopher, and feminist theorist, born on
January 9, 1908, and passing away on April 14, 1986. She is perhaps best known for her groundbreaking
work "The Second Sex" (1949), a foundational text in feminist philosophy. De Beauvoir explored
existentialist themes in her writings, often examining issues of freedom, ethics, and the social
construction of gender. She was a lifelong partner of Jean-Paul Sartre, another prominent existentialist
philosopher, and her works have had a lasting impact on feminist theory and existentialism.

14. What is the mindset of all lawyers or at least they are trained to adopt this paradigm? Skepticism
and Questioning (Descartes): René Descartes' emphasis on methodical doubt aligns with the lawyer's
critical thinking approach. They question everything, seeking the truth and challenging assumptions to
ensure they have a complete picture.
15. What is the Realist Viewpoint? refers to the belief that things exist independently of our perception
of them

16. Who claimed that official histories filter, select, prioritize and exclude other interpretations?
Michel Foucault

17. What is the view that claims that scientific knowledge produced by the "hard" physical sciences are
just one of the several kinds of discourses (aka social constructs)? Who is the proponent of this view?
The Realist Viewpoint

18. "Scientific and logical realities are constructed by language and there are many different
constructions possible." Thomas Kuhn “what about science” relativist viewpoint

19. LGBTQ+ members are not sexually abnormal-- they are simply preferences. This statement reflects
a modern understanding and acceptance of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. It
emphasizes that being LGBTQ+ is not a form of abnormality but rather a natural variation in human
sexuality and identity. This viewpoint is supported by many LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, health
organizations, and the broader scientific community, which recognize that sexual orientation and gender
identity exist along a spectrum and are part of the normal diversity of human experiences.

20. What is the duck-rabbit illusion? is a famous optical illusion that features a single ambiguous image
where you can perceive either a duck or a rabbit.

It was first published in a German humor magazine in 1892.

Psychologists use it to study perception and how our brains process visual information.

Some studies suggest that the speed at which you can switch between seeing the duck and the rabbit
might be related to creativity.

21. Who claimed that Institutionalized Knowledge are an instrument of power? Michel Foucault (1926-
1984)

22. Who is Ludwig Wittgenstein? He was from a rich, talented but tragic Viennese family – three of his
brothers committed suicide. He rejected the academic teaching of philosophy as useless. A privately
religious man who changed Western Philosophy. He served in the Austrian army in World War 1. He
published the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus(1922) and Philosophical Investigations(1953)

23. What is the Principle of Indiscernibility of Identical? sometimes called Leibniz's Law, is a principle in
metaphysics that deals with identity and properties of objects.

24. Who said that all consciousness is intentional? Franz Bentrano (1838-1917)

25. What is the main difference between problem and paradox? A problem is open to a solution. That
what makes it a problem. A paradox, on the other hand, is gated by boundaries that make a solution
impossible.

26. What is the view that claims that science deserves to be worshiped because it can solve all human
problems? Scientism is the belief that the methods of the natural sciences, or the categories and things
recognized in the natural sciences, form the only proper elements in any philosophical or other inquiry,
and that science, and only science, can ultimately provide all the meaningful knowledge we need about
the world, effectively solving all human problems.

27. What are performative-speech acts? Who authored this concept? J.L. Austin(1911-1960)
Performative speech acts are utterances that perform an action simply by the act of being spoken.

28. Who is Lyotard? Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and
literary theorist who emerged as a key figure in contemporary continental philosophy, he published
“The Postmodern Condition (1979)”, best known for his contributions to the field of postmodernism

29. What is the so-called paradigm shift? Who authored this concept? The term "paradigm shift" refers
to a fundamental change in the basic concepts and practices within a field. It's most commonly used in
the context of the philosophy of science. Thomas Kuhn (1922)

30. What are language-games? Language-games emphasize that the meaning of words and sentences is
not fixed or absolute. Rather, it's determined by how we use language in specific contexts and activities.

31. Who claimed that a study of the structure of language will eventually prove to be a scientific study of
the human mind? Ferdinand de Saussure and Claude Lévi-Strauss ‘Structuralism”

Noam Chomsky is the linguist most associated with the claim that studying language structure is
essentially studying the human mind. This idea is a core tenet of his theory of Universal Grammar,
which proposes that there are innate language abilities built into the human brain

32. "The end of grand narratives, i.e.if these are the end results of objective reason, then there must be
something wrong with objective reason." Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998)

Meaning of the Statement:

Grand Narratives: Grand narratives, also known as meta-narratives, are overarching stories or
explanations that claim to provide comprehensive and universal truths about the world. Examples
include the Enlightenment narrative of progress through reason, Marxism’s narrative of class struggle,
and religious narratives promising salvation or enlightenment.

End of Grand Narratives: Lyotard argues that in the postmodern era, these grand narratives have lost
their credibility. They can no longer convincingly explain the complexity and diversity of human
experiences. The failure or decline of these grand narratives signifies the end of the belief in universal
explanations.

Objective Reason: The concept of objective reason refers to the Enlightenment ideal that human reason
and rationality can objectively and universally explain all aspects of life and the world. It underpins many
grand narratives.

Critique of Objective Reason: If the end results of objective reason are the collapse or discrediting of
grand narratives, then Lyotard suggests there must be something fundamentally flawed with the notion
of objective reason itself. He implies that reason and rationality are not as objective and universal as
previously thought; instead, they are influenced by social, cultural, and historical contexts.

Implications:
Postmodern Condition: This term encapsulates the idea that in the contemporary world, we must
navigate a landscape without overarching, unifying narratives, relying instead on a patchwork of smaller,
situational understandings.

33. One question will be asked to each of the FIVE EXCERPTS (headed by the WHAT AM I? excerpt).
“Who am I?”

34. Do you own your body? The concept of owning your body is a complex one, and the answer depends
on the perspective:

Legally: Laws don't grant us absolute ownership of our bodies. There are restrictions, such as:

Mandatory vaccinations in some cases.

Laws against self-harm or suicide attempts.

Restrictions on organ donation or selling organs.

Philosophically: There are different viewpoints:

Bodily autonomy emphasizes our right to control what happens to our bodies.

We are our bodies suggests a more integrated view, where the body is not a possession but inseparable
from who we are.

So, there's no simple yes or no answer. We have significant control over our bodies, but there are also
legal and ethical limitations.

35. The Picture-Theory of Language.

The Picture Theory of Language, also known as the Picture Theory of Meaning, is a theory about how
language works developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his early work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
Here are the key points:

Language as Pictures: The theory suggests that language functions by creating pictures of reality.

Propositions and States of Affairs: Meaningful sentences, or propositions, are like pictures that depict
states of affairs in the world. These states of affairs are how things actually are or could be.

Elements and Structure: Just like a picture is made up of elements arranged in a specific way, a
proposition is made up of words (representing objects) arranged in a particular grammatical structure.

Logical Form: The key idea is that the logical form of the proposition, how the words are put together,
must mirror the logical form of the state of affairs it represents. This allows the language to accurately
picture reality.
For example, the sentence "The cat is on the mat" would be a picture of a state of affairs where there is
a cat and a mat, and the cat is located on top of the mat. The words "cat," "on," and "mat" each
represent an object, and the sentence structure shows the relationship between these objects.

Wittgenstein himself later abandoned the Picture Theory in his Philosophical Investigations, arguing that
language is more complex and its meaning depends on how it's used in specific contexts.

The Picture Theory remains an influential concept in philosophy of language, even though it's not a
complete theory. It provides a foundation for understanding how language can be representational and
how it connects to the world.