SECTION A Plato, Meno
1 If the slave is not recalling prior knowledge, how does he come to know
geometry?
2 What is the connection between being virtuous and being wise?
3 Is it odd that good men sometimes have bad sons?
4 Does one need a definition of virtue to be virtuous?
SECTION B Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
5 What is the best argument for the view that the world has an intelligent
designer? How would you defend that argument against Hume?
6 Either (a) Critically assess the role of Pamphilus.
Or (b) Critically assess the role of the a priori/a posteriori
distinction in Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
7 ‘Only the existence of God can explain why there is something rather
than nothing.’ Discuss.
8 Is scepticism about theology the correct conclusion to draw from
Hume’s Dialogues?
SECTION C Mill, On Liberty and The Subjection of Women
9 ‘If either a public officer or any one else saw a person attempting to
cross a bridge which had been ascertained to be unsafe, and there
were no time to warn him of his danger, they might seize him and turn
him back without any real infringement of his liberty; for liberty consists
in doing what one desires, and he does not desire to fall into the river.’
(MILL) Discuss.
– 3 – PHT0/4
10 Either (a) How, if at all, is Mill’s discussion of marriage
philosophically and politically relevant today?
Or (b) ‘But, it will be said, the rule of men over women differs
… in not being a rule of force: it is accepted voluntarily; women make
no complaint, and are consenting parties to it.’ (MILL) Discuss.
11 Is Mill right about the nature of the sexes? Is it important for his
position that he is right?
12 Either (a) Does Mill present the right sort of defence of freedom of
speech?
Or (b) Is Mill right to argue that speech should be treated as a
self-regarding action?