§-Philosophy Q&A
VIC · VCAA← Philosophy
Philosophy Q&A by dot point
A short Q&A bank for every VIC Philosophy syllabus dot point. Each question and answer is drawn directly from our worked dot-point page, so you can scan key concepts before opening the long-form answer.
Unit 3: Minds, bodies and persons
logical (philosophical) behaviourism as a theory of mind, including Ryle's category mistake and its objections
the bodily and brain criteria of personal identity, including their objections from teleportation and brain swaps
the Chinese Room argument against strong AI and functionalism, including Searle's syntax and semantics distinction
substance dualism and the mind-body problem, including Descartes' arguments and the problem of interaction
Hume's bundle theory and the Buddhist no-self doctrine, including the argument from introspection and its objections
idealism as a monist response to the mind-body problem, including Berkeley's argument and its objections
Parfit's psychological continuity theory, the fission problem, and the claim that identity is not what matters
personal identity over time, Locke's memory or consciousness criterion, and its leading objections
physicalist theories of mind including identity theory and functionalism, and their objections
property dualism and epiphenomenalism as responses to the mind-body problem, including the threat to mental causation
qualia and the case against physicalism, including Jackson's knowledge argument and Nagel's bat
the problem of other minds, including the argument from analogy and its objections
Unit 4: The good life
Aristotle's eudaimonist conception of the good life: function, virtue, the mean and external goods
desire-satisfaction and objective list theories of wellbeing, including their advantages over hedonism and their objections
Epicurean and Stoic conceptions of the good life, including tranquillity, pleasure and the role of virtue
hedonism and well-being: Mill's qualitative utilitarianism and the higher and lower pleasures distinction
theories of well-being: hedonism, desire-satisfaction and objective list, and Nozick's experience machine
living the good life in the twenty-first century: technology, human enhancement and contemporary debates
the relationship between the good life and morality, including whether moral goodness is necessary for the good life