Address one of the following questions in 3-5 well-written paragraphs. Students who wish to make up a prior quiz that they missed can answer both questions for both days.
Quiz 3 for February 5: Read Kant, "On the Miscarriage of all Philosophical Trials in Theodicy" to p. 19, with special attention to the two long footnotes. The first of these elaborates the concept of God with which Kant is operating in this essay, also called "the concept of the highest wisdom" (p. 18 top) and closely related to the concept of the "highest good" (18 n.*). After reading this footnote closely, explain the distinction between "artistic wisdom" and "moral wisdom." In explaining the former, feel free to draw on the idea advanced by Cleanthes's "argument from design" in Hume's Dialogues. What do you make of Kant's stipulation that a defender of theodicy "need not attend to . . . a proof of God's wisdom from what the experience of this world teaches" (18 top)? Can you relate this to what we have read in Hume's Dialogues?
Quiz 3A for February 10: Continue reading Kant's essay to the section break on p. 23.
As for past quizzes, you needn't aim for definitive answers but a preliminary, thoughtful response based on close attention to the text. (Be sure to substantiate your claims with detailed references.) Your answer may also include 1-2 important questions raised by your reading for further discussion.
Please use parenthetical page references for your quotations and citations. *Note the following convention for citing from an unnumbered footnote (as you are being asked to do for Quiz 3): "18 n." means "footnote on page 18."
Please type and double-space your answer, and number and staple the pages you hand in.
Please keep a copy of your quiz to refer to in our class discussions of Kant over the next few sessions.
posted February 1, 2003