Reference no: EM132306238

Choose one question to write on.

The length of the essay is 1500 words, not counting the references.

1. Russell claims that philosophy diminishes our certainty about our answers to certain types of questions (Chapter 15 "The value of philosophy", Problems of Philosophy). These include questions such as "Has the universe any unity of plan or purpose, or is it a fortuitous concourse of atoms?"

Explain what Russell means when he says of philosophy, that "while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be". Do you agree with Russell that philosophical activity can both diminish certainty and increase knowledge? Provide reasons for your answer (you may use examples in your discussion).

Reference: Russell "The value of Philosophy" Problems of Philosophy.

2. What is one dimensional time travel into the past? How is it different from two dimensional time travel? Is one dimensional time travel conceptually possible (i.e., is it consistent with the meanings of our concepts) or does it inevitably involve contradictions? Is one dimensional time travel committed to any particular metaphysical conception of time?

NOTE: This is not a question about physics and what is physically possible. It is a more general question about whether one dimensional time travel into the past is conceptually possible.

Reference: Lewis "The Paradoxes of Time Travel"

3. Explain and assess the advantages and disadvantages of the different forms of (external and internal) critique according to Antti Kauppinen in his article ‘Reason, Recognition, and Internal Critique'. If you wish, you can do this in terms of some particular social phenomenon, mindset or practice as an object of criticism (say, racism, consumerism, sexism, rogue capitalism, etc.).