Question 1

David Hume
-Which of the following people is not at liberty according to Hume?

Accepted Answer

A) a man locked in a room with a friend,who does not want to leave his friend yet 
B) a woman who wants a sandwich because she has been influenced by advertising to buy one 
C) a student who misses her bus and has to wait for another one 
D) a kleptomaniac who forgets to take his medication and starts stealing things from people

Question 2

René Descartes
-The "I" that Descartes says must exist is characterized by

Accepted Answer

A) a mind that thinks rationally only. 
B) a body that has sensory perceptions only. 
C) a combination of body and mind. 
D) a mind with thoughts and a separate body with sense perceptions.

Question 3

Mary Wollstonecraft
-In conclusion,Wollstonecraft appeals to the reader to

Accepted Answer

A) Help women cultivate a better understanding of the world and assist them to a better education. 
B) Hold women to a higher standard of personal virtue and purity. 
C) All of the above. 
D) None of the above.Wollstonecraft believes that a woman must liberate herself from ignorance.

Question 4

Charles Sanders Peirce
-Which of the following statements best captures Peirce’s attitude concerning humanities’ ability to draw correct inferences?

Accepted Answer

A) This ability appeared early in our evolutionary history. 
B) We tend to trust the reasoning competence of others but not ourselves. 
C) This skill is so innate that we rarely need to practice it. 
D) This ability has been refined through the ages by a number of geniuses.

Question 5

George Berkeley
-Philonous argues that objects of the senses,i.e.,combinations of ideas,cannot exist without a mind perceiving them because

Accepted Answer

A) senses do not exist in objects,but in the mind,thus,the objects exist in the perception of them. 
B) objects are an illusion created by our minds,so if we cease to perceive them,they cease to exist. 
C) nothing is knowable about the world except what we see. 
D) ideas and combinations of ideas are created in the mind from objects in the world,and while objects in the world exist without a mind,ideas cannot.

Question 6

Jacque Derrida, Of Grammatology (The Written Being/The Being Written)
-According to Derrida,we should not view speech as more fundamental than reading and writing for all of the following reasons except which?

Accepted Answer

A) Reading and writing originate new meanings every bit as much as speech does. 
B) The focus on the present (when speech acts originally occur)is an arbitrary bias. 
C) Heidegger demonstrated once and for the true nature of being and it applies to all times. 
D) The notions of presence and being are too unclear to ground important distinctions.

Question 7

G.W.F. Hegel
-The master,the servant,and particular things are related in that

Accepted Answer

A) the master dominates the servant and all things. 
B) the master has no relation to things,only to the servant. 
C) the servant is ultimately irrelevant to the master. 
D) the master is related to things through the servant.

Question 8

Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus 
-According to Sextus Empiricus,the skeptic is not guilty of the dogmatizing that other philosophers commit.He claims that this is because

Accepted Answer

A) the skeptic's claims do not positively assert anything,but state what appears to him/her and announce his/her impression of certain affairs. 
B) skepticism is not teachable,and thus cannot be presented to others as dogma. 
C) the skeptic's perception of affairs is the accurate perception. 
D) the skeptic does not necessarily belief any claims that he/she makes about the world.

Question 9

Immanuel Kant
-How does Kant say that our mind experiences intuitions?

Accepted Answer

A) Intuitions are sudden flashes of insight about the world. 
B) Intuitions give us the framework which lets us interpret sense data. 
C) Intuitions are formed in the mind from concepts of understanding. 
D) Intuitions are experienced in space and time.

Question 10

Anselm (and Gaunilo)
-Instead of saying that it is inconceivable that the highest thing of all should not exist,Gaunilo suggests that it may be better to identify statements about its nonexistence and/or possible nonexistence as

Accepted Answer

A) false. 
B) unintelligible. 
C) undeveloped. 
D) likely true.

Question 11

Socrates and Plato 
-People agree to live in a just society,says Glaucon,because

Accepted Answer

A) all people value justice as part of the eternal,unchanging Form of the Good. 
B) they think the just life is the best kind of life. 
C) they fear injustice towards themselves. 
D) they do not want anyone to get away with unjust crimes.

Question 12

Anselm (and Gaunilo)
-According to Gaunilo's Lost Island case,if one purports to think of the greatest conceivable island,along the lines of Anselm's ontological argument,yet the island does not exist,then it cannot be the greatest conceivable island.Why is this?

Accepted Answer

A) For,to be the greatest conceivable island,it would have to exist,as any existent island would be greater than an imaginary one. 
B) For,to exist,things must be conceived of. 
C) For,in such one is not actually conceiving of the island 
D) All of the above.

Question 13

Immanuel Kant
-The principles on which all empirical knowledge are based

Accepted Answer

A) can only be known empirically. 
B) are known by communities. 
C) come from pure understanding. 
D) cannot be known or rationally proved.

Question 14

Willard Van Orman Quine
-Science,for Quine,is

Accepted Answer

A) a tool for predicting the future. 
B) the sum total of "matters of fact." 
C) really the domain of the gods. 
D) the study of actual physical objects.

Question 15

William of Ockham

-Ockham argues against the position of Duns Scotus that universals

Accepted Answer

A) exist distinct from particulars. 
B) are an irrational concept. 
C) are formally distinct from particulars. 
D) are the same thing as particulars.

Question 16

Anselm (and Gaunilo)
-How does Gaunilo suggest that one go about arguing for the existence of some superior being?

Accepted Answer

A) by identifying a being with comparatively bigger and better attributes,then naming such a being superior. 
B) by first showing the superior being exists,then proving all the other attributes such a bigger and better being has to have. 
C) by appeal to one's ability to envision a superior being 
D) by appeal to one's inability to envision a superior being.

Question 17

Plotinus 
-How do we come to know beauty?

Accepted Answer

A) through intuitive insight 
B) by studying and comparing instances of particular beautiful things 
C) by studying Plato's writings on beauty 
D) by becoming an artist

Question 18

Baruch Spinoza
-According to Spinoza,evil is

Accepted Answer

A) a mode of God's infinite attributes. 
B) a result of human will. 
C) non-existence,i.e.,that which does not exist. 
D) non-existent,i.e.,there is no evil.

Question 19

Blaise Pascal
-According to Pascal,the proper way to know God is by

Accepted Answer

A) observing the natural world and the laws and order in it. 
B) reasoning to him by logical arguments. 
C) pure intuition and mystical experience. 
D) innate insight tempered by reason.

Question 20

David Hume
-Ultimately,causality is

Accepted Answer

A) only our experience. 
B) totally uncertain and should not be trusted. 
C) a habit of our minds. 
D) proved by belief in God.

Exam 1: Ancient Greek Philosophy

David Hume -Which of the following people is not at liberty according to Hume?

René Descartes -The "I" that Descartes says must exist is characterized by

Mary Wollstonecraft -In conclusion,Wollstonecraft appeals to the reader to

Charles Sanders Peirce -Which of the following statements best captures Peirce’s attitude concerning humanities’ ability to draw correct inferences?

George Berkeley -Philonous argues that objects of the senses,i.e.,combinations of ideas,cannot exist without a mind perceiving them because

Jacque Derrida, Of Grammatology (The Written Being/The Being Written) -According to Derrida,we should not view speech as more fundamental than reading and writing for all of the following reasons except which?

G.W.F. Hegel -The master,the servant,and particular things are related in that

Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus -According to Sextus Empiricus,the skeptic is not guilty of the dogmatizing that other philosophers commit.He claims that this is because

Immanuel Kant -How does Kant say that our mind experiences intuitions?

Anselm (and Gaunilo) -Instead of saying that it is inconceivable that the highest thing of all should not exist,Gaunilo suggests that it may be better to identify statements about its nonexistence and/or possible nonexistence as

Socrates and Plato -People agree to live in a just society,says Glaucon,because

Anselm (and Gaunilo) -According to Gaunilo's Lost Island case,if one purports to think of the greatest conceivable island,along the lines of Anselm's ontological argument,yet the island does not exist,then it cannot be the greatest conceivable island.Why is this?

Immanuel Kant -The principles on which all empirical knowledge are based

Willard Van Orman Quine -Science,for Quine,is

William of Ockham -Ockham argues against the position of Duns Scotus that universals

Anselm (and Gaunilo) -How does Gaunilo suggest that one go about arguing for the existence of some superior being?

Plotinus -How do we come to know beauty?

Baruch Spinoza -According to Spinoza,evil is

Blaise Pascal -According to Pascal,the proper way to know God is by

David Hume -Ultimately,causality is