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Nietzsche's Philosophy: Discussion Questions

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PHL100-701 Name:___Paul Ridgeway________
Midterm Exam
Due (in D2L drop-box): 10.26.15, 11:59pm

Section 1
Multiple Choice – 2 points apiece

1) In Plato’s Meno, while attempting to account for the possibility of acquiring knowledge, Socrates makes which one of the following claims about the human ‘soul’? (A)

a. The human ‘soul’ is immortal, and will re reincarnated when the body dies.

b. The human ‘soul’ passes away with the body. Immortality is a fantasy.

c. There is really only one ‘soul’, and each human is merely a part of it.

d. The individual natures of each human ‘soul’ determine who will be virtuous and who will be vicious.

2) Which of the following best summarizes the famous paradox concerning the possibility of knowledge described in Plato’s Meno? (B)

a) It seems impossible to have any real knowledge, …show more content…

What would knowledge be for these two philosophers, and what is the human being’s relationship to it? How do their positions differ, and what, if anything, do they have in common? Include at least two passages from the relevant texts to illustrate your conclusions.

Descartes and Nietzsche

Descartes: I think therefore I am
Nietzsche: I am therefore I think

Well, Descartes' conclusion came after he was doubting everything he knew in order to reach the ultimate knowledge which he can't doubt no more. He noticed while he was doubting everything including his own knowledge, he was doubting. In order to doubt, you need to think, and henceforth he came to the knowledge that he was looking for which is in order to Doubt you need to think. That "breakthrough" was convinced him that the proof of his existence was the fact he was a thinking entity. Thus: I think therefore I am. Descartes' mistake was he used this fact for a bigger target which is his attempt to prove the existence of

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