#FocusonExams: Logic GCE ‘O’ Level- 14th May 2020

SETTING AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN THE TEXT

Questions from the text are not set in any order. Every text should be appreciated around six questions numbered from a to f.

  1. Theme and logical articulation
  • The first question in the text is always on the theme and logical articulations.
  • The theme of a text is neither a word, concept or an argument but a proposition which can be categorical, hypothetical or disjunctive
  • The text most have either two or three logical articulations.
  • The articulations are sub-themes
  • The articulations are premises or proofs for the theme. The theme is therefore the synthesis of the articulation or the statement which translates what is similar between the premises. Even though the theme chronologically comes before the articulations; the articulations logically comes before the theme.
  • Consequently, in answering question a; students should start by bringing out the articulations or the main ideas before deducing the theme from theme
  • The articulations are not identified by the following the number of paragraphs. They are not necessarily chronologically; for they are some texts, especially in the meditations (for example the extract below portrays this clearly, where the first articulation in the extract, comes after the second and vice versa.

EXTRACT:

So there remains only the idea of God: is there anything in that which couldn’t have originated in myself? By the word “God” I understand a substance that is infinite, eternal, unchangeable, independent, supremely, intelligent, supremely powerful, which created myself and anything else that may exist. The more carefully l concentrate on these attributes, the less possible it seems that any of them could haue originated from me alone.

So this whole discussion implies that god necessarily exists. It is true that my beng a substance explains my having the idea of substance, but it does not explain my having the idea of an infinite substance.

That must conre from some substance that is itself infinite. I am finite. It might be thought that this is wrong, because my notion of the infinite is arrived at merely by negating the finite, just as my conceptions of rest and darkness are arrived at by negating movement and light.

That wowld be a mistake, however. I clearly understand that there is more reality in an infinite substance than in a finite one, and hence that my perception of the infinite, i.e. God, is in some way prior to my perception of the finite, i.e. myself. Whenever l know that l doubt something or want something, I wnderstand that l lack something and am therefore not wholly perfect.

QUESTIONS

  1. Bring out the theme and the logical articulations of this passage.
  2. Explain the following concepts and expressions as used in the passage
    (I) “Attributes”

(ll) “My being a substance explains my having the idea of substance; but it does not explain my having the idea of an infinite substance”
(lll) “Infinite substance”
(lV) “Finite substance”

  1. Why does Descartes consider God an infinite substance?
  2. Why is God not accountable for evil in the Cartesian theology?
  3. Differentiate between the Kantian and the Cartesian epistemology.
  4. What is the impact of the central theme, to our contemporary society?
  • The articulation then are not necessarily chronologically evident in the extract, for what matters is their logical status. That is, how they all together, guarantee the theme, in a coherent way.
  • That is why they are called logical and not chronological articulations of the theme.
  • The articulations are not faithful quotation from the extract but students should paraphrase t6hem in their own words. They should be in the form of categorical propositions.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A LOGICAL ARTICULATION

  • To identify the logical articulation, propose the principles of extension-inclusion and the digression of ideas and judgment expressed in propositions.
  • Extension or inclusion implies that the proceeding argument or propositions is either an extension or an inclusion of the previous one. This extension or inclusion shows that the reader in the same episode or moment. The principle of digression on the other hand, applies when the proceeding argument or proposition is a logical or semantic (that is, meaning) diversion or digression from the previous ones.
  • To identify the articulation, we read we read through the text, across the propositions. If the next proposition is an extension or inclusion of the previous, then you are still in the same articulation but once there is digression, you are in a new articulation.
  1. Explaining key terms and or expressions used in the text.

Here, key terms or concepts are defined as the key expressions are explained. Defining concepts, is also giving their synonyms and to explain the key expressions is to make clear the key terms in that expressions using another expression.

  1. This question is always based on an aspect of the theme. That is, the authors point of view viz a viz an element of the theme. This question; just as questions A and B are base d on the text.
  2. The question is not based on the extract but on another element of the author’s philosophy found in other parts of the text. Therefore, the students can answer this question without necessarily understanding the text.
  3. The question is based on the Comparison of the another with his predecessors or with those who came after him on a definite aspect of his philosophy.
  4. This question is based on the significance of the text on the contemporary society. This is answered in troo ways. Ln the first way; the student showld relate the text to our society of today. That is, what class of the society today or what aspect of the human society today is linked evidently to the text. This should be stated emphatically without speculation. Secondly, the student should show how the text can help in solving the problems in our society of today. It could either be positive or negative contributions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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