Topic outline

  • Literature exams

    The course includes two literature exams:

          You can buy your own books (they are not that expensive on e.g. Amazon) or borrow copies from our course library during the first sessions. Or you can access them through the links above and elsewhere on this site, e.g. in Course materials, tab on the left (if you do not see the tabs on the left, click the three lines in the upper left-hand corner adn they will appear).

          The use of the books (and other materials, including internet sources) is allowed and encouraged in the exams.


    Once completed, the exam answers will be sent by email to: matti.hayry@aalto.fi

    How to prepare for the literature exam on Political Philosophy

     

    1.     Read the book before the exam – it is a homework assignment – and prepare to answer both specific (narrower, more confined) and overarching (wider, more general) questions about the content.

     

    Here are some examples of specific and overarching questions about the book:

     

    Specific

     

    How would Plato have criticized populism in populism in political life, and how can this criticism be countercriticized?

     

    Compare the “states of nature” in Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.

     

    What are the main similarities and differences between socialist and anarchist thinkers?

     

                Overarching

     

    How are the main ideas of Sophists, Plato, and Aristotle reflected in current modern ideas on political philosophy?

     

    What kinds of political theories, ideologies, and systems do different views on human nature support?

     

    Compare the social contract theories of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.

     

    Explain the nature and role of the “development of consciousness” in Hegel and Marx as an element of political change.

     

    What are the similarities and differences between the utilitarian theories of Bentham and Mill?

     

     

    2.     Be prepared to answer two questions during the hours allotted for the exam.

     

    One of the questions will very probably be a question mentioned in section 1 above.

     

    The other question – which can be specific or overarching – will be a “new” one: one not mentioned in section 1.

     

    You are expected to answer both.

     

    Be prepared to allocate your exam time so that you can complete both answers during the exam session.

     

     

    3.     You are allowed to use sources in the exam – the book, your notes, internet sources, etc.

     

    You are, however, expected to work independently, by yourself. The exam is intended to test your knowledge, not somebody else’s.

     

     

    4.     Once you have completed your answers, send them to me by email: matti(dot)hayry(at)aalto(dot)fi

     

    Both answers will be assessed on a 0-5 scale, and your aggregate mark for the exam will reflect the two separate marks.

     

     

    5.     You are allowed, but by no means encouraged, to complete your answers at home during the next 24 hours following the exam session.

     

    Using this opportunity will be interpreted as inadequate homework preparation, and it will result in a one-point reduction in both answer marks (even if you submit one of the answers by the end of the session).

     

    So, in this case, both answers will be assessed on a 0-4 scale, and your aggregate mark for the exam will reflect the two separate marks.


    How to prepare for the literature exam on Capitalism

     

    1.     1.  Read the book before the exam – it is a homework assignment – and prepare to answer both specific (narrower, more confined) and overarching (wider, more general) questions about the content.

     

    Here are some examples of specific and overarching questions about the book:

     

    Specific

     

    Where and when did capitalism start, what elements were necessary for its emergence, and what were its main features in the beginning?

     

    What were the main features, similarities, and differences of Saint-Simon’s and Bakunin’s “utopian socialist” views?

     

    Karl Marx opposed the idea that societies can be designed by contract. How did he formulate his own opposing view of history from feudal times to the eventual collapse of capitalism?

     

    How did “capitalism without imperialism” come about in the beginning of the twentieth century, and why did it lead to the Crash and the Great Depression?

     

    Overarching

     

    Different theories supporting or criticizing capitalism have different views on “value” – what it is and which contributions by different agents create it. What are the main views on this, as described in the book?

     

    How did Max Weber explain the emergence and nature of capitalism; and how did his view concur with, and differ from, the preceding explanations since Adam Smith?

     

    According to Hegel, Marx, and Fukuyama, where does, or did, “history end”, in what sense, and why?

     

    How did the Neo-Marxists (the Frankfurt School scholars and the Situationists) differ from Marx in their views on the plight of the proletariat and its resolution; and what were their main criticisms against capitalism and its effects in a post-industrial world? Describe the views, compare, and evaluate.

     

     

    2.     2.  Be prepared to answer two questions during the hours allotted for the exam.

     

    One of the questions will very probably be a question mentioned in section 1 above.

     

    The other question – which can be specific or overarching – will be a “new” one: one not mentioned in section 1.

     

    You are expected to answer both.

     

    Be prepared to allocate your exam time so that you can complete both answers during the exam session.

     

     

    3.     3.  You are allowed to use sources in the exam – the book, your notes, internet sources, etc.

     

    You are, however, expected to work independently, by yourself. The exam is intended to test your knowledge, not somebody else’s.

     

     

    4.     4. Once you have completed your answers, send them to me by email: matti(dot)hayry(at)aalto(dot)fi

     

    Both answers will be assessed on a 0-5 scale, and your aggregate mark for the exam will reflect the two separate marks.

     

     

    5.     5. You are allowed, but by no means encouraged, to complete your answers at home during the next 24 hours following the exam session.

     

    Using this opportunity will be interpreted as inadequate homework preparation, and it will result in a one-point reduction in both answer marks (even if you submit one of the answers by the end of the session).

     

    So, in this case, both answers will be assessed on a 0-4 scale, and your aggregate mark for the exam will reflect the two separate marks.


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