Short Essay Questions (one paragraph, 3-5 sentences, each). Answer each of the following questions as thoroughly and clearly as possible.
1. Imagine a fictional Texas state public health official named Haley. Using Kant’s terminology, explain why Kant thinks Haley should be allowed to criticize the state’s response to coronavirus on her personal Twitter account. Define the terms you borrow from Kant to answer this question. See “What Is Enlightenment?,”
2. Explain, specifically why Russell argues that the uncertainty that philosophy produces is valuable (see “The Value of Philosophy,” 2-3). This would involve explaining how, for Russell, philosophy is uncertain and why he thinks this uncertainty is valuable.
3. Explain how Plato’s definition of love in the Symposium is metaphysical. This would involve, first, defining metaphysics and then explaining how the view of love offered in the so-called “Ladder of Love” (see 492-494) moves from a physical to a metaphysical understanding of love.
4. Explain what the sun is supposed to represent in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (see especially Republic, 1135). This would mean referencing and explaining the specific feature of Plato’s metaphysics at issue in this image.
5. Outline the three elements of this tripartite (three-part) conception of the human soul from the so-called Allegory or Metaphor of the Chariot in Plato’s Phaedrus (see 524, 530-531). Next, provide an interpretation of what each of these elements metaphorically represents or symbolize.
