Examination questions

You will have 5 of these 7 options on the examination and will be required to write substantial essays on a subset of those 5. This is a closed book and closed notes examination, so I strongly encourage pre-examination collaboration as well as preparation for a rigorous discussion to occur during this coming Tuesday's review class.

For this examination, I will evaluate your use of key terms for expressing the substance of the arguments, your ability and accuracy of navigating between these positions and your thoroughness in providing explanations of your interpretations. I will allow you the full class time next Thursday to write these essays. Of course, if you have any questions for clarification, please comment below and I will answer them asap.

1. To what extent does Levinas give weight - in his account of the "I" - to the Sartrean notion of authenticity?

2. Give a clear example, and corresponding explanation of, a 'happening' in Heidegger's sense and show how this happening is not possible from a strategic line of questioning.

3. From either Levinas' or de Beauvoir's standpoint, what is a working conception of "us" or "we" as opposed to "I"? That is, are there ways that either philosopher accounts for social solidarity and/or collective identity in contrast to a strict sense of individual identity?

4. Consider Hegel's notion of mutual recognition (as opposed to a struggle for recognition), Levinas' sense of responsibility to the Other and de Beauvoir's sense of identity: are these simply sophisticated conceptions of love (for the self and/or for the other)?

5. Specifically give at least three instances in our readings and discussions thus far of how we've re-considered traditional philosophical approaches and fully explain your sense of how we've moved beyond, in contradiction to, or in spite of, those approaches.

6. What are the possibilities for theoretical approaches to freedom in Sartre's philosophy and are they sufficient to address the needs for oppressed groups to break out of their situations? Does de Beauvoir provide better grounds for realizing emancipatory possibilities for individuals? Be sure to address this question with specific relation to The Respectful Prostitute.

7. Provide a developed sense of how Levinas' approach to philosophy i) distances itself from or ii) connects up with, both of the following: Heidegger's critique of traditional metaphysics and Nietzsche's critique of the Socratic conception of philosophy.