Reading a philosophical text: structure, context and terminology practice questions.

The fifth and final chapter of Mill's On Liberty is headed Applications. Its role in the work is to

• restate the principle in a stronger form than the one defended in the earlier chapters of the work
• introduce a second principle, independent of the first, to govern economic questions
• test the principle against difficult cases such as trade, poisons, education and marriage
• summarise the objections of Mill's critics and reply to each of them in turn

Answer: test the principle against difficult cases such as trade, poisons, education and marriage

The chapter is where the doctrine is shown at work, and where its limits become visible: several of the applications are contested by readers who accept the principle, which is why the chapter is the usual source of objections about how the self-regarding boundary is drawn.

In the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche's use of the word 'genealogy' signals that he intends to

• trace the descent of our moral valuations, asking under what conditions and to serve what needs they arose
• establish the family lineage of the philosophers whose views he is discussing
• prove that present moral valuations are identical with those held by earlier peoples, so that nothing of importance has changed
• arrange moral systems in order of their date of appearance without any argument

Answer: trace the descent of our moral valuations, asking under what conditions and to serve what needs they arose

The point of the method is that a valuation which presents itself as self-evident turns out to have come from somewhere and to have served particular needs. Note that this is a claim about descent, not a proof of falsity — which is precisely what the charge of a genetic fallacy is about.

Through Books IV to IX of the Republic, Socrates' principal interlocutors are Glaucon and Adeimantus. Their function in the work is to

• defend a rival theory of justice which Socrates then refutes point by point
• press the demand that justice be shown to be good in itself and not merely for its consequences
• record the conversation for a later audience without taking part in the argument
• represent the sophists whose teaching the dialogue as a whole sets out to discredit in its opening book

Answer: press the demand that justice be shown to be good in itself and not merely for its consequences

They restate the case against justice as strongly as they can while asking to be persuaded, which sets the standard the rest of the work must meet: an argument that justice pays would not answer them. Reading them as opponents misses why so much of the Republic is construction rather than refutation.

Descartes prefaces the Meditations with a letter addressed to the theology faculty of the Sorbonne. In it he presents the work as

• showing by natural reason what the Church teaches about God and the soul
• a set of lecture notes prepared for the students of that faculty to work through
• a defence of the new physics against the authority of the Aristotelian schools
• a reply to the objections that had been raised against his Discourse on Method

Answer: showing by natural reason what the Church teaches about God and the soul

The dedication states an apologetic aim addressed to unbelievers, which explains why the argument must proceed without appeal to scripture; it is distinct from the Synopsis, which summarises the six Meditations, and from the Objections and Replies printed with them.

The first treatise of the Genealogy of Morality works with two pairs of terms, good and bad and good and evil. The distinction Nietzsche draws between them is that

• the first pair belongs to religion and the second to secular moral philosophy
• the first pair begins from self-affirmation, the second from the negation of an enemy
• the first pair concerns actions while the second concerns the character of the agents who perform them
• the first pair is used by ancient writers and the second by modern utilitarians

Answer: the first pair begins from self-affirmation, the second from the negation of an enemy

In the noble scheme bad is an afterthought describing what is common, whereas in the slave scheme evil is the primary term and good is derived from it by contrast; missing that reversal turns the treatise into a chronology of usage.

In the first chapter of On Liberty Mill states what his argument does not rest on. He says that he foregoes any advantage from

• the appeal to consequences, since liberty is valuable whatever results it produces
• examples drawn from history, since the circumstances of societies differ too much
• the idea of abstract right as a thing independent of utility
• the authority of earlier defenders of toleration such as Milton and Locke

Answer: the idea of abstract right as a thing independent of utility

Mill grounds the principle on utility in the largest sense, resting on the permanent interests of a progressive being, so readers who take On Liberty for a natural-rights argument have misidentified its foundation.