BCS Written Philosophy study plan

Map the chronology of ancient philosophy from the Presocratics through Aristotle, writing a one-line summary of each major thinker's central contribution

Reconstruct and state in your own words three Presocratic arguments about change and permanence (Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno)

Explain Plato's theory of Forms and articulate two standard objections to it without consulting notes

Outline Aristotle's four causes and distinguish them from Plato's explanatory framework in a short written comparison

Trace the medieval synthesis by explaining how Augustine, Aquinas, and Ockham each relate faith and reason

Distinguish realist, conceptualist, and nominalist positions on universals and give one argument for each

Summarize Anselm's ontological argument and Aquinas's five ways, then state one objection to each

Compare medieval and Aristotelian accounts of causation and substance in a written paragraph

Explain the modern turn to the subject by contrasting Descartes's method of doubt with the empiricist starting points of Locke and Hume

Reconstruct Hume's analysis of causation and state the problem of induction in your own words

Contrast rationalist and empiricist accounts of innate ideas, citing at least two arguments per side

Summarize Kant's Copernican revolution and distinguish analytic from synthetic judgments

Define the core categories of ontology (particular, property, substance, event) and give an example of each

Distinguish realism, nominalism, and trope theory about properties and state one argument for each

Explain the problem of persistence through change and evaluate perdurantist versus endurantist solutions

Articulate the distinction between necessary and contingent existence with two worked examples

Distinguish the main analyses of knowledge (JTB, reliabilism, virtue epistemology) and state a Gettier-style counterexample to each of the first two

Explain internalism versus externalism about justification and identify which view each major theorist holds

Reconstruct the problem of induction and evaluate at least two responses to it

Analyze the structure of skeptical arguments and identify where each premise can be challenged

Translate ten natural-language arguments into premise-conclusion form, marking hidden premises

Test fifteen categorical and propositional arguments for validity using truth tables or Venn diagrams

Identify and name twelve common informal fallacies in sample passages and explain why each fails

Construct two original valid arguments and two invalid ones, then explain the difference precisely

Compare consequentialist, deontological, and virtue-ethical frameworks by applying all three to a single dilemma

Explain the difference between act and rule utilitarianism and state one objection to each

Reconstruct Rawls's original position and contrast it with a libertarian account of justice

Distinguish negative from positive liberty and apply the distinction to one contemporary policy question

Explain the mind-body problem by contrasting dualism, identity theory, and functionalism, with one objection to each

Summarize the main positions on reference and meaning (descriptivism versus causal-historical accounts)

Distinguish deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning and state the demarcation problem for science

Synthesize all seven domains into an integrated outline of the syllabus

Complete two timed full-length practice papers under exam conditions and mark them against the rubric