CVSP 201 Final, Fall 2007

Dr. Hermann Genz 29.01.2008 Final Examination for CS 201-11 In your own interest please write in a way that I can read your text! I. Choose between one of the two short questions on the philosophical works. Answer in five to six sentences (10%). Question 1: What are the main points of Aristotle’s ‘Doctrine of the mean’? or Question 2: Socrates obviously is not afraid of dying. How does he imagine what might happen to humans after death? II. Choose between one of the two short questions on the non-philosophical works. Answer in five to six sentences (10%). Question 3: Is Oedipus just a passive victim of fate, or is there room for free will? or Question 4: Which are the three experiences in Gilgamesh’s life that lead to his development from a tyrant to a wise king? III. Choose between one of the two essay questions (40%). Question 5: Explain Plato’s simile of the cave and draw a sketch of the cave. Plato, The Republic (Book VII, 514b): ‘Imagine an underground chamber like a cave, with a long entrance open to the daylight and as wide as the cave. In this chamber are men who have been prisoners since they were children, their legs and necks being so fastened that they can only look straight ahead of them and cannot turn their heads. Some way off, behind and higher up, a fire is burning, and between the fire and the prisoners and above them runs a road, in front of which a curtain-wall has been built, like the screen at puppet shows between the operators and their audience, above which they show their puppets.’ or Question 6: Poets and philosophers have always struggled to explain why humans have to suffer. Who is responsible? The gods? Humans themselves? Compare the approach suggested by the poet Sophocles in his tragedy ‘Oedipus the King’ with the explanation given by the philosopher Lucretius. Oedipus the King, lines 1678-1684 (Chorus): ‘People of Thebes, my countrymen, look on Oedipus. He solved the famous riddle with his brilliance, he rose to power, a man beyond all power. Who could behold his greatness without envy? Now what a black sea of terror has overwhelmed him. Now as we keep the watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.’ Lucretius, On the nature of the universe (Book 1, lines 106-115) ‘For, if men saw that a term was set to their troubles, they would find strength in some way to withstand the hocus-pocus and intimidations of the prophets. As it is, they have no power of resistance, because they are haunted by the fear of eternal punishment after death. They know nothing of the nature of the spirit. Is it born, or is it implanted in us at birth? Does it perish with us, dissolved by death, or does it visit the murky depths and dreary sloughs of the Underworld?’ IV. Essay question, obligatory for all (40%) Question 7: During the course we have learned that heroes, philosophers and other prominent figures act as role models for the society. Which of the characters we got to know impressed you most? (It does not have to be one of the main characters; you can also choose a minor character). Explain your choice.