Oppression on Women, Man of Consciousness, and the Concept of Freedom
This time the work is a take home final exam. It’s very important!!! The topics will be given on December 16th. But there's something you can review before December 16th.
There’s document named Final exam format 2019, it shows the exam instructions, what will it looks like and how to answer it.
The document named Final exam topics 2021, it shows the topics that may appear in the exam. Teacher maybe will choose topics from this document.
Others documents and PowerPoints are our course materials that may help you review before December 16th and during the test.
By the way, it’s very very important!!!
PART I: SHORT QUESTIONS.
SECTION I: WRITE A SHORT (1-2 PARAGRAPH) ANSWER TO ONE (1) OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS (1 QUESTION X 10 MARKS = 10 MARKS TOTAL): (Note: answers to these questions must be clear, complete and accurate. The aim is to demonstrate understanding of the relevant concepts and arguments. Make sure all the steps of the relevant arguments are explained.)
SECTION II: WRITE A SHORT (1-2 PARAGRAPH) ANSWER TO ONE (1) OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS (1 QUESTION X 10 MARKS = 10 MARKS TOTAL): (Note: answers to these questions must be clear, complete and accurate. The aim is to demonstrate understanding of the relevant concepts and arguments. Make sure all the steps of the relevant arguments are explained.)
SECTION III: WRITE A SHORT (1-2 PARAGRAPH) ANSWER TO ONE (1) OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS (1 QUESTION1 X 10 MARKS = 1`0 MARKS TOTAL): (Note: answers to these questions must be clear, complete and accurate. The aim is to demonstrate understanding of the relevant concepts and arguments. Make sure all the steps of the relevant arguments are explained.)
Here are two examples of the sort that might be asked in this section of the exam:
1) How does Plato define each of the four virtues of the soul and in virtue of what in the ideal soul does each of these virtues apply?
NOTICE: A complete answer to this question would have to (i) correctly name the four virtues (i.e. wisdom, bravery, self-discipline and justice), (ii) give Plato’s definition of each virtue (e.g. state what wisdom means in general, what bravery is, and so on), (iii) explain in virtue of what feature of the ideal soul each virtue is manifested (e.g. people are courageous in virtue of their knowledge of when to fight and when not to, and so on).
2) Marilyn Frye claims the ritual of men opening doors for women “pretends” to be a helpful service, but that the helpfulness is “false” and its real symbolic meaning is “the invisibility or insignificance, and contempt for women”. Explain her argument for these claims clearly and completely.
NOTICE: A complete answer here would have to show (i) an understanding of the ritual, (ii) why Frye thinks the ritual is deemed to express a desire to help women but (iii) why she thinks the symbolic meaning of the ritual reveals attitudes concerning the inferiority of women.
In addition to questions about the details of the arguments given by the authors we have read, you are also responsible for knowledge of the central concepts pertaining to the critical thinking tools studied in the first three classes. See the complete list of topics for which you are responsible on the Brightspace page under “FINAL EXAM”.
PART II- ESSAY QUESTIONS
SECTION IV: WRITE A SHORT ESSAY (4-5 PAGES) IN ANSWER TO TWO (2) OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS (2 QUESTIONS X 20 MARKS = 40 MARKS). (Note: Answers must be in essay form [i.e. they should have an introduction, a main argument and a conclusion]. They must also be clear, complete and accurate. They must demonstrate understanding of the relevant philosophical views, an ability to think critically about arguments for and against them and an ability to organize thoughts in the form of an argument.)
Here is an essay question of the sort that might be asked:
Plato argues that, ideally, social roles ought to be allocated by a state authority under the direction of the rulers. Milton Freidman, by contrast, thinks that in an ideal society the allocation of social roles is better left to competitive markets and that political control of society should be kept to a minimum—especially in economic matters. How does Plato defend his view that rulers are best suited to ensure the optimal allocation of social roles? Why does Friedman see markets as superior to the sort of scheme Plato opposes? Briefly explain whether you think Friedman’s argument against Plato is a compelling rebuttal and why.
Notice you are being asked to write a short argumentative essay—one with a central thesis either for or against Friedman’s argument. Whether you agree with Plato’s or Friedman’s views is not being asked. The question is whether his argument against Plato is adequate. You must defend your answer with an argument for it. In answering this question, notice all the steps required. You should explain: (i) Plato’s views, (ii) the basic principles on which they rest, (iii) Freidman’s defence of the market and (iv) his critique of centralized control of the allocation of social roles and the basic principles on which his account it rests. You should also (v) render a verdict on his argument for the market and defend it.
You might also be given a passage containing an argument that you will be asked to put into standard form and evaluate critically using the criterial method covered in class.
PHI 1301A- PHILOSOPHY: IDEAS AND ARGUMENTS
FINAL EXAM
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Section I: Question 4
Marilyn Frye explains that women face gender oppression than men through her work “Oppression” by alluding to the concept of “double bind,” in which she argues that women are often caught in a double bind, which men do not experience. In the concept of the double bind, she states that women face situations that reduce their options to very few ones and each of the options guarantees a penalty. For example, while men are not given standards to define their handsomeness, women are confined to a specific expectation that they have to meet in terms of beauty. They have to look sexy, feminine, or beautiful. Despite having these standards, the society still places limits on these individuals. For example, the society expects them to reveal some of their skin but if they wear revealing clothes they are called sluts. On the contrary, if she covers herself she is called a prude.
Marilyne’s also argues that women are not only restricted in terms of their appearance, but also in terms of their activities, in what she refers to as the Birdcage analogy. In the birdcage analogy, she argues that looking through a single wire, one cannot see the rest of the wires restricting the bird’s movement (Narula, 2018). Therefore, women are like the bird, who are restricted in their existence through barriers that resemble a bird cage. She likens those who argue that women are not oppressed to those looking in the case through a single wide. It is, therefore, impossible to see the barriers if you opt to only focus on a single wire. Her argument in both cases makes sense because women often face several challenges in terms of societal expectations that can be overwhelming. Besides meeting the beauty standards and being dutiful, they also have to find husbands without proposing to them and get married at a specific age, beyond which society begin to question them. Therefore, women face more oppression than men.
Section II: Question 5
According to Underground Man, the main of consciousness or thought acknowledges that nature is inconclusive and thinks before acting, whereas the man of action believes that he understands everything about the universe in terms of justice and hence tends to take revenge immediately using any tool available to him. He believes that a conscious man is more intelligence whereas an action man is stupid because action can only occur when a person’s mind is completely out of doubt. In this case, one has to be sure that there are no doubts in the action they are about to take (Vallier, 2021). The Underground Man perceives himself to be the man of consciousness because of his own boredom and inertia, which he attributes to be products of acute consciousness.
Underground man believes that a conscious man is way better than an action man because a conscious man take time to think about the consequences of his actions. He associated man of action with revenge and posits that taking revenge requires a firm sense of the nature of justice and no intelligent man can assume to know anything conclusively concerning the true nature of justice. Therefore, the man of action is stupid because he assumes that he knows nature and hence decides to take action without the thought of the consequences of his action. A conscious man investigates a topic carefully, such as justice, before taking an action and hence is better than the man of action.
Section III: Question 12
Frithjof Bergmann believes that people tend to treat guidelines meant to restore order in society as restraints to their actions. According to him, when a person sees traffic lights, he thinks that those are guidelines that waste his time. The individual does not see the sense in having rules as he thinks that those guidelines were designed to prevent him from reaching his destination on time, or from accomplishing his goals. Therefore, Bergman explains the concept of egocentric fallacy as the tendency to view things in respect to oneself, rather than the society.
Bergmann argues that this fallacy tends to lead people astray because once a person begins to view something as a barrier to their progress, the next idea that comes to mind is how they can surpass that barrier. It is the same way that people are motivated to overcome the challenges that they face. Therefore, once an individual sees that the traffic lights tell him to stop, he views them as challenging him. If the man sees that there is no traffic and that he is alone on the road, he develops an urge to proceed with the journey and disregard the lights. Ignoring guidelines is usually the first step of going astray. For example, if all people come and ignore traffic lights, they may get involved in an accident because the other person whose traffic lights permit his movement will not be aware of the other person joining the road from another point. Similarly, if one sees a guideline against engaging in something but decides to try to engage in the banned thing, they may end up going astray.
Section IV: Question 15
Friedman defines freedom of the individual as that goal that people use to judge social arrangement. This statement implies that the freedom in a society is mainly determined by one’s ability to see others as being free. In the modern society, there are several cases of state persecutions, in which people are imprisoned for speaking their minds and being able to do whatever they like without being apprehended. The United States is a nation with prominent freedom as evident in the way people enjoy the freedom of speech and other forms of freedom. Therefore, since one can see another person speak freely without being arrested, then the concept of freedom according to Friedman is fulfilled.
Friedman also defines the concept of freedom is defined by having a free society in which there is limited government regulations. According to him, people cannot claim to be free and yet the government has measures designed to coerce them into doing something that they do not like (Friedman, 2017). There are governments around the world with strict regulations on certain social aspects that should be perceived as individual rights. For example, some governments are critical of any opposition and hence established laws that prevent people from engaging in peaceful protests or criticism of their leaders. Such societies, according to Friedman, cannot be said to be free.
Finally, Friedman argues that freedom preservation requires elimination of the concentration of state power to the fullest possible extent. Friedman accuses st...