philosophy past papers

FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR RECRUITMENT TO POSTS
IN BPS 17 UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 2000.
PHILOSOPHY PAPER- I
TIME ALLOWED: 3 HOURS MAXIMUM MARKS: 100
NOTE: Attempt FIVE questions in all, including Question No.8 which is Compulsory.
All questions carry equal marks.
1. What benefits are to be achieved from the study of logic? Discuss.
2. What is meant by explanation? Differentiate between scientific and nonscientific
explanation.
3. What is Inductive Analogy? On what factors does the strength of Inductive Analogy
depend?
4. The birth of Islam is the birth of Inductive Intellect. Discuss with reference to
Iqbal.
5. Define hypothesis. How are scientific hypothesis evaluated?
6. Write a comprehensive note on the various kinds of definition.
7. Briefly discuss the following:
i) Differentiate between Induction and deduction.
ii) Traditional square of opposition.
iii) Rues for valid syllogism.
iv) Ad. hominem (abusive and circumstantial).
COMPULSORY QUESTION
8. Write only the correct answers in the Answer Book. Dont reproduce the questions.
(A) Choose the Correct for the following syllogism:
1) AAA-2
(a) Valid
(b) illicit major
(c) illicit minor
(d) undistributed middle
2) EAE1-1
(a) Valid
(b) illicit major
(c) illicit minor
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philosophy past papers

(d) undistributed middle
3) AEO-3
(a) Invalid
(b) valid when M exists
(c) valid when S exists
(d) valid when P exists
4) AAI-3
(a) Invalid
(b) valid when M exists
(c) valid when S exists
(d) valid when P exists
5) No coal tar derivatives are nourishing foods, since no coal tar derivatives are
natural grain products, and all natural grain products are nourishing foods.
(a) Valid
(b) illicit major
(c) illicit minor
(d) undistributed middle
(B) Determine the validity of the following with the help of rules:
6) She can have many friends only if she respects them as individuals. If she
respects them as individuals, then she cannot expect them all to behave alike. She
does have many friends. Therefore she does not expect them all to behave alike.
7) Either the manager didnt notice the change or else he approves of it. He notices
it all right. So he must approve of it.
(C) Identify the form and discuss the validity or invalidity of each of the
following arguments:
8) Either he lives in Quetta or in Islamabad. He lives in Quetta. So, he does not
live in Islamabad.
9) If it was your business, I would have invited you. It is not, and so I did not.
10) Either wealth is an evil or wealth is a good: but wealth is not an evil:
therefore wealth is a good.
(D) Identify the fallacies if any:
11) All of us cannot be famous, because all of us cannot be well known.
12) Time heals all wounds. Time is money. Therefore money heals all wounds.
13) Of course Karl Marx must have been mistaken in maintaining that capitalism is an
evil form of economic and social organization. Why, he was a miserable failure of a
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philosophy past papers

man who couldnt earn enough money to support his family.
14) My opinions are right, because I will imprison anyone who disagrees with me.
15) Dogs are frequently encountered in the streets. Afghan Hounds are dogs.
Therefore Afghan Hounds are frequently encountered in the streets.
(E) Write true of false:
16) If ALL MEN ARE ANIMALS is false, then NO MEN ARE ANIMALS is true.
17) An argument is valid when it is impossible for the premises to be false and
conclusion true.
(F) Fill in the blanks:
18) The symbol to be defined is known as __________
19) __________ is a process in which one proposition is arrived at and affirmed on
the basis of certain others.
20) __________ (fallacy) is committed when one assumes the truth of what one seeks
to prove in an effort to prove it.

FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR RECRUITMENT TO POSTS
IN BPS 17 UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 2000.
PHILOSOPHY PAPER- I
TIME ALLOWED: 3 HOURS MAXIMUM MARKS: 100
NOTE: Attempt FIVE questions in all, including Question No.8 which is Compulsory.
All questions carry equal marks.
1. Asharis formulation of dogma essentially represents an attempt at a synthesis
of orthodoxy and that of Mutazila. Explain.
2. How does al-Ghazali ground the Sharia on spiritual basis?
3. Give an account of Marxs notion of alienation.
4. How does Iqbal conceive the possibility of social change through the
reconstruction of Islamic law?
5. Why did Sir Syeds synthesis of Westernism and Islamic Values fail to lead to a
genuine Islamic Modernism?
6. State and explain Heideggers notion of Dasein.
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philosophy past papers

7. Write notes on the following:
(a) Pragmatism
(b) Cartesian dualism
(c) Mutazila
(d) Living-Sunna (Fazl-ur-Rehman)
COMPULSORY QUESTION
8. Write only the correct answers in the Answer Book. Dont reproduce the questions.
(A) Fill in the blanks:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Al-Madina al-Fadila is written by

Isharat is written by ____________
Varieties of Religious Experience is written by
Creative Evolution is written by ____________
Being and Time is written by ____________

(B) Choose the correct:

6) Postponed judgments on the people until the Last Day.
(a) Kharijites
(b) Asharites
(c) Murjites
7) God is pure essence having no eternal names and qualities.
(a) Kharijites
(b) Asharites
(c) Murjites
8) No obligations follow from reason but from Sharia.
(a) Ibn-Sina
(b) al-Ghazali
(c) al-Farabi
9) Intuitive revelation (Kashf) is the highest and the only source of knowledge.
(a) Ibn al-Arabi
(b) Ibn-Sina
(c) Ibn-Taimiyyah
10)
(a)
(b)
(c)

Final experience is the revelation of a new life-process.

Rumi
Iqbal
Sir Syed

(C) Name the theory that holds:

11) The essence of life is duration.
12) An idea is true so long as to believe it is profitable.
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13) The reality of sensible thing consists in being perceived.
14) There is nothing in cause except invariable succession.
15) Will to power.
16) Nothing is good but the good will.
17) General happiness is summumbonum.
18) Civilizational superstructure is the outcome of its mode of production.
19) Inquiry is the essence of Logic not truth or knowledge.
20) A great part of philosophy may be reduced to something that may be called
syntax.

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