Philosophy study plan

Map the domain's core problem clusters (substance, causation, personal identity, free will; knowledge, justification, skepticism, perception) into a one-page outline you can annotate all term

Define and distinguish at least 15 technical terms (a priori, analytic, supervenience, foundationalism, coherentism, reliabilism, Gettier case, modal realism, compatibilism) in your own words with one example each

Reconstruct and then attack the JTB account of knowledge using two original counterexamples you invent rather than recall

Explain the difference between internalist and externalist justification by writing a 200-word comparison that takes a side and defends it

Argue both sides of the free will/determinism debate in two 300-word essays, each citing a distinct position (hard determinism, libertarianism, compatibilism)

Trace the Cartesian skeptical argument step by step and identify exactly where each major reply (Moore, Putnam, contextualism) rejects a premise

Compare three theories of personal identity (psychological continuity, bodily continuity, no-self bundle view) against two thought experiments you construct

Diagnose your two weakest subtopics from Week 1's quiz and re-teach them to yourself in writing without notes

Sort the three main normative frameworks (consequentialism, deontology, virtue ethics) by their criterion of rightness, their central objection, and one classic reply each

Apply each framework to two hard cases (a lying promise, a resource-scarcity triage decision) and show where the frameworks actually diverge in verdict

Explain the fact/value gap and the is/ought problem, then state whether you think either is bridgeable and why

Distinguish metaethical positions (realism, error theory, expressivism, relativism) by what each says moral sentences do

Formalize ten ordinary-language arguments into premise/conclusion form and label each valid, invalid, sound, or unsound with justification

Identify and construct counterexamples to the classic informal fallacies (equivocation, begging the question, false dilemma, straw man) rather than merely naming them

Translate natural-language sentences into propositional logic and test two arguments with truth tables

Evaluate a moral argument for hidden premises, stating explicitly what must be assumed for it to go through

Summarize the central doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas in a structured note that names each thinker's key metaphysical and ethical commitments

Explain three classic arguments for God's existence as formulated in the medieval tradition and one standard objection to each

Contrast Platonic Forms with Aristotelian form/matter hylomorphism in 250 words without collapsing them into one view

Place five ancient and medieval thinkers on a timeline with the one question each is most remembered for answering

Trace the modern arc from rationalism to empiricism to Kant's synthesis, naming what each stage tried to rescue from the previous one

Explain Hume's fork and its consequences for causation and induction, then state one live contemporary reply

State the core move of at least three twentieth-century movements (phenomenology, existentialism, ordinary-language philosophy, pragmatism) in one sentence each

Write a 400-word essay arguing whether contemporary philosophy has solved or merely reframed a problem Descartes raised

Compare social contract, utilitarian, and capability approaches to distributive justice on what they owe the worst-off

Reconstruct the liberty/equality tension using two concrete policy examples and state which principle you would sacrifice and why

Explain at least three positions on the mind-body problem (dualism, identity theory, functionalism) and one objection to each

Apply two aesthetic theories (formalism, expression theory, or institutional theory) to the same artwork and show where they disagree

Sit two full-length timed mock exams and score each by domain to expose residual weak spots

Re-drill every missed item from Weeks 1-7 and rewrite the underlying concept in one sentence per miss

Rehearse the three highest-yield argument reconstructions from memory: the skeptical argument, the is/ought problem, and one medieval proof

Build a one-page final review sheet limited to the 20 facts you keep forgetting, then test yourself on it twice