PHL 302: World Philosophy

Fall 2008

Review for the midterm exam

You will be asked to write an essay on a topic similar to the one sketched below (50%).

You will also be tested on terms listed on the first glossary as well as the required reading (50%).  Please review the reading in conjunction with the class web pages.

SAMPLE QUESTION: Jainas argue that an ethics of ahimsa, "nonharmfulness," follows from appreciating that other people and animals are like oneself in being capable of pleasure and pain and in disliking being harmed.  So, from appreciating moral worth (moral pull) should we be vegetarians?  Reconstruct the Jaina argument.  Is it cogent?  Somewhere in your essay take up the view of Kant on moral worth, namely, that moral worth is grounded in our shared autonomy and ability to appreciate, indeed legislate for ourselves, moral law.  Are the Jaina and Kantian positions compatible?  Does the Kantian position show a fallacy in the Jaina argument?  Does the Jaina argument reveal a flaw in the Kantian system?