Philosophy 4280/5280, 20th Century Analytic Philosophy: Midterm

Answer four of the following seven questions.

Your answers should be typed and about 2 pages each. You are strongly advised to support your answers with quotations from the texts.

The exams are due in class on March 16th.

You may discuss the exam with your classmates, but (obviously) you may not copy their answers.

Good luck.

1. How does Quine's holism relate to his rejection of the analytic synthetic distinction. Why might one not find Quine's account of language plausible, and how do you feel about it?

2. Just what is the "Myth of the Given"? What reasons does Sellars give for rejecting it?

3. Just what does Rorty find objectionable about the suggestion that knowledge should be understood in terms of accuracy of representations? Do you find his position convincing on this matter?

4. What is "epistemological behaviorism"? Are Rorty's arguments for this position convincing?

5. What is the difference between "pure" and "impure" philosophy of language? What reasons does Rorty give for preferring the former to the later?

6. Just what is Rorty suggesting when he claims that we should be engaging in "hermeneutics" rather than "epistemology"? Do you find this suggestion plausible?

7. How does Rorty distinguish "systematic" from "edifying" philosophy? How does he characterize the relation between the two? Are you sympathetic with his preference for edifying philosophy? If so, why? If not, why not?