Philosophy 110 Test 1

In his trial, Socrates compared himself to...

a gadfly that continually harasses people to wake them from their complacency.

Expressing two assertions that could not both be true under any possible circumstances is known as

a logical inconsistency.

A valid argument with all true premises is called

a sound argument.

Which of the following is a characteristic of a sound argument?

All the premises are true; The conclusion must be true; If the premises are true, the conclusion must be true; All of the above.

Regarding drawing inferences to the best explanation, how should you go about determining whether a theory or explanation is best?

I should evaluate it for clarity, consistency, coherence, comprehensiveness, and so on.

Which of the following is a characteristic of a valid argument?

If the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.

If a speakers intends for the conclusion of her argument to follow necessarily from her premises, and the conclusion does in fact follow, but one or more of the premises is false, then what should you say about the argument?

It is a valid, but unsound deductive argument.

Plato's Allegory most clearly implies that...

knowledge requires that we abandon our reliance upon the senses and rely upon reason.

The Socratic Method of inquiry involved all of the following except...

studying the empirical data to determine which definition best matches the data.

Socrates concludes in the Apology that the oracle was actually saying that...

that person is wisest who, like Socrates, knows that he is ignorant.

If an argument is strong, the premises make the conclusion highly probable.

true

It is possible for a valid argument to have false premises and a true conclusion.

true

It is possible for an invalid argument to have true premises and a true conclusion.

true

In a cogent argument, the premises are ____________ and the conclusion is __________.

true / highly probable

The criterion of "compatibility" evaluates a philosophy in terms of its compatibility with

well-established facts and theories.

The proposition "You shouldn't tell people what they should and shouldn't do" is an example of...

A self-referential inconsistency.

Which of the following would most accurately be considered a metaphysical question?

Do humans have free will, or are our actions causally determined?

Which of the following is not one of Socrates' teachings?

Know thyself.

Which of the following would best define 'epistemology'?

The study of the concepts of knowledge and truth.

Regarding justice, Plato's Allegory implies that...

acts are just if they participate in an eternal, unchanging Form of justice.

A reductio ad absurdum argument is...

an argument that attempts to show that your opponent's position leads to a contradiction.

"Inference to the best explanation" or "abduction" would best be defined as

an attempt to show that a theory is superior to all its competitors and is therefore probably true.

In discussing "inference to the best explanation," the text pointed out that

both science and philosophy make use of this method.

The principle that an action is moral if it is something we do naturally should first be criticized for lack of...

conceptual clarity.

An inference to the best explanation attempts to directly prove the truth of a theory.

false

It is possible for a valid argument to have true premises and a false conclusion.

false

One of the six criteria listed in the text for evaluating a philosophy is emotional satisfaction.

false

The case of the neutrino was used to illustrate the fact that science deals only with what is directly observable.

false

In a sound argument, the conclusion is

necessarily true.

In Plato's Allegory, the sun represents...

the Idea or Form of the Good.

In a deductive argument...

the author intends for the conclusion to follow necessarily from the premises.

The word 'philosophy' derives from the Greek words meaning...

the love of wisdom.

Philosophy might best be described as a discipline that deals with questions about...

the meaning of our fundamental concepts and the justification of our basic beliefs.

Socrates referred to himself as...

the midwife of ideas.

The world outside Plato's cave is...

the source and explanation for everything in the cave.

In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Plato tells us that the world inside the cave represents...

the visible or sensible world.

"All universal (or general) claims are false" is an example of a self-referential inconsistency.

true

A philosophy can fail the criterion of rational coherence without being contradictory.

true