Suggested Answers to the First Short Quiz

[johnkarls]

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Suggested Answers to the First Short Quiz – WHAT Is Our Author William MacAskill???


Question 1

Is our author, William MacAskill, a 35-year-old Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University?

Answer 1

Yes.

BTW, he was born William Crouch and changed his surname when he married his now ex-wife Amanda Askell (when they both changed their surnames to MacAskill which is ironic for Amanda since “Mac” means “son of”).

Question 2

Is philosophizing nothing more than thinking?

Answer 2

Yes.

Question 3

Does a “PhD in Whatever” literally mean a “Doctor of The Philosophy of Whatever” or, more specifically, how you know what you think you know about whatever (chemistry, astrophysics, etc.)?

Answer 3

Yes.

Question 4

Is one of the world’s most-famous sculptures Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” – the first of which was cast in bronze in 1904 and was a nude male of heroic size sitting on a stone pedestal leaning forward with his right elbow placed on his left thigh holding his chin on the back of his right hand, deep in thought and contemplation?

Answer 4

Yes.

Question 5

Is Rodin’s “The Thinker” often used as an image to represent philosophy.

Answer 5

Yes.

Question 6

Of the other two-dozen-or-so full-size castings of “The Thinker,” does one of them occupy a prominent place in the middle of the campus of Columbia University?

Answer 6

Yes – it is situated on the lawn in front of Philosophy Hall

Question 7

During the Vietnam War, did students around the country wear ribbons tied around their upper arms to signify by their color whether the wearer was pro-war or anti-war?

Answer 7

Yes.

Question 8

Did Columbia students famously tie a pro-war ribbon around one upper arm of Rodin’s “The Thinker” and an anti-war ribbon around the other upper arm?

Answer 8

Yes.

Question 9

Did 11 of the 14 British Prime Ministers since Winston Churchill graduate from Oxford U?

Answer 9

Yes.

Of the remaining three, one graduated from Edinburgh (Scotland) University and two did NOT attend university (NB: none of the 14 attended Cambridge U.).

Question 10

Was their most-common “major” at Oxford “PP&E” (in other words, “Philosophy, Politics & Economics”)?

Answer 10

Yes.

Question 11

Will recently-deposed (now “care taker”) PM Boris Johnson be replaced in a country-wide election of zillions of Conservate-Party members ending 9/5/2022, by one of two candidates – both of whom majored in PP&E at Oxford?

Answer 11

Yes --

Rishi Sunak, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (traditionally viewed as the “P.M. in Waiting”) from 2/13/2020 and resigned on 7/5/2022 to precipitate Boris Johnson’s fall, majored in PP&E at Oxford’s Lincoln College. BTW he then received an MBA from Stanford as a Fulbright Scholar.

Liz Truss (actually Mary Elizabeth Truss), who might become Britain’s THIRD female PM (after Margaret Thatcher & Theresa May), has served as Foreign Secretary since 9/15/2021 simultaneously with serving as Minister for Women and Equalities since 9/10/2019. She majored in PP&E at Oxford’s Merton College.

Question 12

Even though, as noted above, PhD means Doctor of The Philosophy of Whatever, are there still some subjects that are not segregated into “whatevers” but, instead, are still regarded as part of philosophy itself – such as existentialism, logic, ethics, etc.?

Answer 12

Yes – existentialism, logic, ethics, etc., are still considered fields of Philosophy and are NOT segregated into “whatevers.”

Question 13

Has Prof. MacAskill’s academic research focused on the fundamentals of effective altruism (part of ethics) - the use of evidence and reason to help others as much as possible with their time and money - with a particular concentration on how to act given moral uncertainty?

Answer 13

Yes.

Question 14

Have Prof. MacAskill’s TED talks been viewed more than 2 million times?

Answer 14

Yes.

Question 15

Did Prof. MacAskill co-found the Centre for Effective Altruism which has raised more than $1 billion for charities?

Answer 15

Yes.

Question 16

Did Prof. MacAskill author in 2015 “Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make A Difference”?

Answer 16

Yes.

Question 17

In our focus book “What We Owe The Future” (Basic Books 8/16/2022), does Prof. MacAskill shift his focus to “longtermism”???

Answer 17

Yes.

Question 18

Does he define “longtermism” as “the idea that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time”?

Answer 18

Yes.

Question 19

Does he posit that “even if humanity lasts only as long as the typical mammal species (about one million years), and even if the world population falls to a tenth of its current size, 99.5 percent of human lives would still lie in the future”?

Answer 19

Yes.

Question 20

Does he claim that no democracy can be legitimate because future human beings are not part of the electorate?

Answer 20

Yes.

Question 21

Would (or at least should) Prof. MacAskill freely admit that some ethical positions are universally recognized as laudable (e.g., Hitler’s genocide was abhorrent) while other ethical positions are debatable (e.g., should the majority always rule or should minority rights be taken into consideration)?

Answer 21

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Question 22

For example, what if a “Future Hitler” threatens to destroy the world with nuclear weapons – should we all submit because the “future unborn majority” wants its chance to exist??? What about the current minority who will be sent to the “Future Hitler” gas chambers???

Answer 22

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 23

Who should represent the “future unborn majority”??? Wouldn’t whoever arrogates to her/him-self the status of representative of the “future unborn majority” be, in fact, a dictator since s/he can always out-vote currently-alive human beings???

Answer 23

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 24

What if the person who anoints her/him-self the representative of the “future unborn majority” is the reincarnation of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. who not only fathered Pres. John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy after starring at first base for the Harvard College baseball team but (a) was Hitler’s biggest “cheer leader” while serving as our Ambassador to the U.K. 3/8/1938 – 10/22/1940 (Hitler-appeaser Neville Chamberlain was U.K. Prime Minister 5/28/1937 – 5/10/1940), (b) bought JFK a U.S. Senate seat in which, though a Democrat, JFK was reputably the Senate’s most conservative member to the right of Republicans (NB: this was the era in which the Democratic Party was the party of segregation), and (c) installed Bobby 1952-1955, when his career faltered after graduating from U/Va Law School, as an attorney for the notorious anti-communist “witch hunt” committee run by Joe Kennedy’s old friend, Republican Senator Joe McCarthy???

Answer 24

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 25

Do you think Prof. MacAskill aspires to be the “Philosopher King” described in Plato’s Republic, but who represents the “future unborn majority”???

Answer 25

Well what do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 26

After all, isn’t there already in place, at least in American culture, a “Guardian Class” as described in Plato’s Republic which is America’s Mainstream Media???

Answer 26

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!