Test 1

Directions: Answer any three of the questions below in three essays. Essays may be as long as you feel necessary, but must be at least 300 words each, and should demonstrate an understanding of the main point of the question and it's relevance for us today. Avoid plagiarism! They should be e-mailed to: wsjamison@UAA.ALASKA.EDU.

1. According to Wittgenstein in the Tractatus, a statement is true if the statement pictures the facts it is about. It would picture the fact when the elements of the statement are arranged in the same logical order as the order of the facts. Describe how you think this correspondence theory of truth successfully describes what we mean by a statement's being true.

2. By rejecting logical atomism it seems that Wittgenstein was primarily realizing the inadequacy of the picture theory of meaning to describe all the ways that language is successful. What are some examples of this inadequacy?

3. What is the meaning of a word? (Wittgenstein asks this question on page 56.)

4. What is the relationship of learning a rule to "knowing" a paradigm?

5. When we tell our children fantasy stories are we lying to them? Explain why you think we are or are not. (One such example: the tooth fairy.)

6. What criterion would a narrative have to use to be a winning narrative? Is science such a narrative?

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