Fundamental Philosophical Questions

Why This Matters

Philosophy isn't just abstract speculation—it's the foundation for every other discipline you'll encounter. When scientists debate whether quantum particles exist independently of observation, they're doing metaphysics. When ethicists argue about AI rights, they're wrestling with questions about consciousness and moral status. The fundamental questions you'll study here aren't separate topics to memorize; they're deeply interconnected inquiries that have shaped human thought for millennia and continue to drive debates in law, science, politics, and everyday life.

You're being tested on your ability to identify the core tensions within each question, compare competing positions, and trace the implications of different answers. Don't just memorize that Descartes was a dualist—understand why his position on the mind-body problem connects to questions about knowledge, identity, and free will. The best exam responses show you can move fluidly between questions, recognizing that an answer to one often constrains or shapes answers to others.

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Questions About What Exists (Metaphysics)

Metaphysics asks what kinds of things are real and how they relate to each other. These questions form the bedrock of philosophy—your answers here will ripple through every other area.

What Is the Nature of Reality?

• Realism vs. idealism—realists hold that reality exists independently of our minds; idealists argue reality is fundamentally mental or mind-dependent
• The external world problem asks whether we can know anything exists beyond our own perceptions, a challenge that connects directly to epistemology
• Abstract objects like numbers and moral facts raise questions about whether non-physical things can be "real" in any meaningful sense

Does God Exist?

• Classical theistic arguments include the cosmological argument (everything has a cause, so there must be a first cause) and the teleological argument (design implies a designer)
• The problem of evil challenges theism: if God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, why does suffering exist?
• Agnosticism holds that God's existence is unknown or unknowable, representing a distinct position from both theism and atheism

What Is the Relationship Between Mind and Body?

• Substance dualism (Descartes) claims mind and body are distinct substances, raising the interaction problem—how can non-physical minds cause physical effects?
• Physicalism argues everything is physical, including mental states, but must explain how subjective experience arises from brain activity
• Property dualism offers a middle path: one substance (physical) with two kinds of properties (physical and mental)

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Questions About Knowledge (Epistemology)

Epistemology investigates what knowledge is, how we get it, and what its limits are. Your position on these questions determines how confident you can be about answers to everything else.

What Is Knowledge and How Do We Acquire It?

• Justified true belief (JTB) is the traditional definition—but Gettier cases show you can have justified true belief without genuine knowledge
• A priori knowledge comes independent of experience (math, logic); a posteriori knowledge depends on sensory experience
• Sources of knowledge include perception, reason, memory, testimony, and introspection—each with distinct strengths and vulnerabilities

What Is the Nature of Consciousness?

• The hard problem of consciousness asks why physical brain processes produce subjective experience (qualia) at all
• Philosophical zombies—beings physically identical to us but lacking inner experience—are a thought experiment testing whether physicalism can explain consciousness
• Consciousness connects to knowledge because if we can't explain our own awareness, we face deep puzzles about self-knowledge and certainty

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Questions About Agency and Identity

These questions ask what it means to be a self that persists through time and acts in the world. Answers here have direct implications for moral responsibility and legal accountability.

Do Humans Have Free Will?

• Hard determinism holds that all events (including choices) are caused by prior events, making free will an illusion
• Libertarianism (the metaphysical kind, not political) asserts that humans can make genuinely uncaused choices, preserving robust free will
• Compatibilism argues free will and determinism can coexist—you're free when you act on your own desires without external coercion

What Is the Nature of Personal Identity?

• Psychological continuity theories (Locke) hold that memory and continuous consciousness make you the same person over time
• Biological continuity theories ground identity in the persistence of your physical body or brain
• The ship of Theseus problem and thought experiments about teleportation or brain transplants test our intuitions about what identity really requires

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Questions About Value and Meaning (Ethics and Axiology)

These questions ask what makes actions right, lives meaningful, and things valuable. They connect directly to practical decisions about how to live.

What Is the Basis of Morality?

• Consequentialism judges actions by their outcomes—utilitarianism specifically aims to maximize overall happiness or well-being
• Deontology (Kant) holds that some actions are intrinsically right or wrong regardless of consequences, grounded in duty and rational principles
• Virtue ethics (Aristotle) focuses on character traits rather than rules or outcomes—a good person acts from cultivated virtues like courage and justice

What Is the Meaning of Life?

• Existentialism (Sartre, Camus) holds that life has no inherent meaning; we must create our own through authentic choices
• Religious and teleological views locate meaning in fulfilling a divine purpose or realizing our natural function
• Objective vs. subjective meaning—does meaning depend on your attitudes, or can a life be meaningful even if the person doesn't feel it is?

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Questions About Language and Thought

Language isn't just a tool for expressing pre-formed ideas—it may actively shape what we can think. This area connects epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind.

What Is the Role of Language in Shaping Our Understanding?

• Wittgenstein's insight—"the limits of my language are the limits of my world"—suggests language constrains what we can conceptualize
• Linguistic relativity (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) claims that speakers of different languages perceive and categorize reality differently
• The nature of meaning raises questions about whether words refer to objects, ideas, or patterns of use—with major implications for how philosophy itself works

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. How does your answer to the mind-body problem constrain your options for explaining consciousness? Compare how a physicalist and a dualist would each approach the hard problem.

2. Which two ethical frameworks would give opposite answers to the question "Is it right to lie to protect someone from harm?"—and why?

3. If psychological continuity is correct about personal identity, what happens to "you" in a scenario where your memories are duplicated into two bodies? How would a biological continuity theorist respond differently?

4. Compare compatibilism and hard determinism: they agree that determinism is true, so what exactly do they disagree about? Why does this matter for moral responsibility?

5. A Gettier case shows that justified true belief isn't sufficient for knowledge. Construct a brief example and explain what additional condition might be needed.