Historical survey with essential readings

No. 1 will consist of 2 of the following questions, chosen randomly for each student. You will have 90 minutes to complete the test once you begin.  Advance preparation is recommended. Don’t cut and paste from the Internet. Write your own essays.

1. Describe Socrates’s dialectic method, provide an example, and discuss whether it is an effective way to gain knowledge.
2. There are conceptual similarities between Plato’s allegory of the cave and his metaphor of the divided line. Explain where each of the components of the cave story fit into the divisions of the divided line.
3. Protagoras defended relativism, as reflected in his statement that “Man is the measure of all things.” How might Plato use his theory of the Forms to respond to Protagoras’s relativist position?
4. Aristotle used the example of a sculpture to explain his four causes. Come up with your own example and relate it to each of the four causes.
5. On the Internet, search for “School of Athens” and look at the images of the famous fresco by Italian artist Raphael. Plato and Aristotle are in the center, Plato pointing up, and Aristotle pointing down. Explain how this symbolizes the differences between their two philosophies.