PHT2/4 PHILOSOPHY TRIPOS Part II Monday 3rd June 2013 09.00 - 12.00 Paper 4 EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY FROM KANT Answer three questions only. Write the number of the question at the beginning of each answer. If you are answering an either/or question, indicate the letter as well. STATIONERY REQUIREMENTS 20 Page Answer book x 1 Rough Work Pad You may not start to read the questions printed on the subsequent pages of this question paper until instructed that you may do so by the Invigilator
- 2 - PHT2/4 1. Do non-Euclidean geometries refute Kant's doctrine of space? 2. Is Kant right to hold that Reason prescribes laws to nature? 3. Is Kant successful in showing that the subjective conditions of thought have objective validity? 4. What conclusions should we draw from Kant's discussion of freedom in the Antinomies? 5. EITHER: a) Is Hegel a metaphysician? OR: b) Are Hegel's arguments against 'immediacy' in epistemology convincing? 6. Is Hegel's concept 'spirit' of any continuing philosophical significance, and if it is, of what significance? 7. Does Hegel have any good arguments against those who might think that self-preservation is the fundamental purpose of human life? 8. Is Hegel right to think that his philosophy is the ultimate solution to the problem of theodicy? 9. Is Nietzsche right to hold that society would be boring without priests? 10. If Nietzsche's genealogy is not an instance of the 'genetic fallacy', how is it best understood? 11. If Nietzsche is right about the role of the ascetic ideal in modern conceptions of 'science', should we close all laboratories? 12. EITHER: a) Has there been any play (or opera) since the Renaissance that is a 'tragedy' in Nietzsche's sense? OR: b) Is Nietzsche right to think that 'philosophy' is essentially a comic, not a tragic genre? END OF PAPER