The BQE Exam
Upcoming BQE Texts & Dates
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Fall
2008: Orientation: MHB 915 10/3/2008 at 6pm Review article by Richard Feldman
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Spring
2009: Orientation: MHB 915 6pm 2/16/2008. |
| Fall 2009 (probable):
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Spring 2009 (probable):
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Below are some example BQE questions from recent exams. Where possible I include links to answers that received grades of all Pass or Passes with one Pass minus. After the questions you'll find the graduate handbook text describing the BQE.
BQE Example Questions
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Analytic Section |
Text Section |
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S2006 Not only does religious belief lack rational support
due to the familiar shortcomings of the arguments that have been
presented for God’s existence, but it can be demonstrated that
religious belief is irrational, due largely to the internal
inconsistency of religious doctrine. The problem with religious belief
devoted to God as traditionally conceived is logical in nature.
On a traditional conception, God is a supreme being who possesses all
positive attributes to an infinite degree. A consequence of this is that
God is infinitely just. Another consequence is that God is omnipotent.
If one is infinitely just, then one would not allow injustice to occur
if one could prevent it. But, as is familiar to us all, the world, which
is supposed to be God’s creation, is full of injustice. This could be
so only if God is either not infinitely just (i.e., God would allow an
injustice to occur that it is within God’s power to prevent) or not
omnipotent (i.e., there are injustices which it is not within God’s
power to prevent). Whichever is the case, it follows that God is not a
supreme being possessing all positive attributes to an infinite degree.
Thus any religious belief devoted to such a God is irrational.
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Kant S2006
Kant labels the First Section of the work,
“Transition from the Ordinary Rational Knowledge of Morality to the
Philosophical.” Please
explain this. Specifically,
please explain how Kant argues that the “good will” should be
understood in terms of the sense of duty rather than a feeling of
benevolence (or something similar).
Furthermore, please explain why Kant thinks that the notion of
duty should be explicated in terms of what he ultimately calls the
categorical imperative. (For
instance, why doesn’t he describe our moral duty in terms of an
obligation to maximize happiness? What
does he think is unacceptable about this?)
You should focus your answer on the argument of the First
Section, though you may draw on material discussed elsewhere.
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| Full Analytic S2006 |
BASIC QUALIFYING EXAMINATION
Department requires every graduate student, as a condition for advancement to candidacy, to pass its Basic Qualifying Examination (BQE). The purpose of the BQE is to ensure that department students and graduates have adequate basic skills prerequisite for the successful study of philosophy at an advanced level as well as related pursuits such as teaching at the community college level or entering a Ph.D. program in philosophy. The BQE also provides the student with feedback as to their current knowledge and abilities in philosophy.
The BQE is a pass/no-pass examination given twice in the academic year, once in the fall semester and once in the spring semester. The exam consists of two parts: a Text portion and an Analytic portion. The duration of each portion of the test is three hours, and sections are taken on different days. Examples of test questions and answers are included above.
Text Portion
The purpose of the text examination is to test a student’s
ability to comprehend a major philosophical work or a collection of major essays
on a philosophical topic with sufficient facility to answer questions regarding
its/their thesis or theses, overall textual and argumentative structure,
structure of its/their major individual arguments, its/their technical concepts
and the application of those concepts, as well as to critically assess such elements of the work
or works. Every semester a text in philosophy or a collection of essays is
chosen by the CSULB faculty for the BQE. The student is expected to carefully
read the materials and be able to identify and evaluate the major philosophical
theses, concepts, and arguments discussed by the author(s) within the work(s).
The exam is in essay format and is open book. The student should expect to
answer questions that involve both expository and evaluative skills in such a
manner as to clearly demonstrate their mastery of the material and their ability
to critically evaluate and/or apply the theses, concepts, and arguments. Some
past texts that have appeared on the BQE are: A.J. Ayer’s Language Truth
and Logic, Hobbes’ Leviathan, and Aristotle’s DeAnima.
Analytic Portion
The analytic portion of the exam is also in essay format. The
purpose of the analytic exam is to test a student’s ability to read a novel
philosophy passage with comprehension and depth of insight so as to be capable
of identifying and critically evaluating arguments, concepts, and theses contained
with the passage. Questions on this portion are based on reading passages taken
from major philosophical works supplied at the time of the exam. To this
end, students should expect questions like (BUT NOT LIMITED TO) to following:
The student should expect questions which ask them to delineate any arguments
contained in the passage by identifying and differentiating premises and
conclusions and restating the argument in standard form. Students may also be
asked to evaluate an argument in the passage, either by arguing for or against
premises in the argument or evaluating the logical structure of the argument.
Questions in this section may also ask students to identify the thesis of the
passage and evaluate it critically independent of the argument (if any) offered
by the author of the passage. Questions in this section may ask students to
identify and explicate concepts introduced in the passage by the author and
either to apply them appropriately to novel cases or compare them other concepts
in common currency within philosophy. It is not important for the student to
identify the author of the passage or which school of philosophical thought that
it represents. The student should be concerned only with addressing what is
specifically asked about the passage. It is of critical importance that the
student responds to every aspect of the prompt.
When to take the BQE
Normally The BQE should be taken by the student’s second or
third semester. The student may choose to take the exam in his/her first
semester, but consensus amongst the faculty is the student should take the BQE
in the second or third semester. This will give the student a chance to gauge
what level of writing is necessary to succeed in classes and therefore have a
better estimation of how to address the prompts on the BQE. If a student
does not comply with the requirements to take and pass the BQE, the Department
may elect to deny eligibility for department scholarships (consistent with the
terms of the donation), assistantships, and/or any course for which permission
from the faculty or department is required.
Orientation
Early in each semester a special orientation session will be
held by the Graduate Advisor (Charles Wallis) to assist students in preparation
for the BQE and to answer any general questions about the graduate
program.
Pass/No-pass
Students are granted a pass or no-pass grade for both portions
of the exam. It is possible to pass one portion and not pass another. If the
student passed only one portion of the examination he/she is not required to
take the entire BQE again, but only to take the portion he/she did not
pass.
Normally, students must pass both parts of the BQE on their second attempt at the examination. Students who fail either section of the BQE 2 times will be asked to leave the program. Students may appeal this rule only in cases of compelling special circumstances. Should a student make an appeal, the department will review the student’s case and make a ruling.