The Final Examination

Philosophy 4360


Place:   Hellems, Room 245

Time:  7:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., Saturday, December 11

Format

1.  The final examination will be a two and one-half hour, essay-type examination.

2.  The examination will be a closed book examination.

3.  You will be asked to answer 3 questions, and there will be no restrictions upon your choice of questions.

4.  The examination will contain 12 questions on the topic areas that we will have covered in class, except for the introductory material, with at least one question on each topic.

5.  Of those 12 questions, five will contain two alternative topics, and three will contain three.  In the case of those questions, you should answer only one part.

6.  Since some people are interested in areas that we didn’t cover, and may in some cases have written essays in those areas, there will also be one question on each of those five topics, namely, topics XII.  Causation:  Realist Versus Reductionist Views, XIII.  Freedom of the Will: Logical Fatalism, XIV.  Freedom of the Will:  Theological Fatalism, XV.  Freedom of the Will:  Freedom and Causal Determinism, and XVI.  Realism Versus Idealism.

7.  Of those five questions, one will have two parts, and one will have three.  Here, too, if you do one of those questions, you should answer only one part.

8.  The upshot is that the exam will contain a total of 17 questions, ten of which will involve either two or three alternatives.


9.  The questions will generally focus upon issues, rather than upon detailed knowledge of specific articles in the readings.

10.  Some of the examination questions may be very similar in style to the essay topics.  If it turns out that there is a question on the exam that is similar to one on which you wrote an essay, you do not need to avoid that question.

11.  In answering a question, should you try to incorporate as much material as possible into your answer?  The answer is that you do not need to do this.  Instead, the thing to aim for is giving clearly structured answers where you focus upon the most important issues and arguments that are relevant to the question.

Reviewing Material for the Examination

     What is a good way to prepare for the final examination?  I would suggest doing things in the following order:

(1)  It's very important to see the big picture, and to have an overview of the fundamental issues and the different positions that one might take in given area.  So before you review the material for a particular topic area, I would suggest that you read through the relevant material in the "Philosophy 4360 – Metaphysics – An Overview" handout

(2)  Next, it is probably best to read through the material in your lecture notes, focusing especially on the material dealing with the questions in which you're most interested.

(3)  Finally, look over articles that you found especially helpful and that are most relevant to the areas in which you're likely to answer questions.