InPO Stage II - Essay Topics

Abhinav Philosopher 2013

Questioning Presumptions

Stage 2: Critical Thoughts

Essay (10 Mk) Given below are three quotes of certain philosophers on different subjects. Choose any one of them to write an essay of about a few pages. The essay should not only explain the given view, but should either support it or oppose it with examples and logic. You do not need to have knowledge of the Philosopher’s work, but rather should be able to grasp the central idea and analyze the different aspects of the statement. Usually one goes about establishing the meaning and relevance of each phrase/clause separately and then sums up the whole argument. Your coherence, reasoning and depth of thought are most important. For more detailed instructions, refer http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/InPOInstructions.htm The student should follow the general instructions given below while appearing for this round. 1.       The student gets 3 hrs to write the essay and 15 min more to submit the same by email. Student must ensure that there is no power outage in this period or if there is then he/she can resume their work within a few minutes of the outage. 2.       Given the power fluctuations or random reasons why the PC may crash, student must keep saving the essay every few minutes. 3.       The essay should be submitted by email to director@abhinav.ac.in. If the student is unable to email for some reason, then he/she must inform the problem to us on the mobile number through which they received the instructions. 4.       If a student is unable to write the essay on the PC, he/she may write on paper in a neat handwriting, then either photograph or scan the pages with good resolution and send the images via email. 5.      The student may use the internet or dictionaries during the exam to read about or understand certain issues / terms. However, directly copying content from the net or inserting quotes of other philosophers verbatim (which the student is not likely to know before hand) would be grounds for disqualification.

I.    Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe only in the God idea, not God Himself. – Miguel de Unamuno, Tragic Sense of Life, 213          II.    It is ... easy to be certain. One has only to be sufficiently vague. -- C. S. Peirce        III.    I'm a Utilitarian, so I don't see the rule against lying as absolute; it's always subject to some overriding utility which may prevent its exercise. – Peter Singer