Phil 100 Exam 1

"God is omnipresent" is one of the four propositions that comprise the self-contradictory set of propositions known as "the problem of evil."

false

The three principal branches of philosophy are ...

metaphysics, axiology, and epistemology

"Cartesian dualism" refers to the distinction between ...

mind and body

According to Descartes ...

mind and body are distinct substances

For Descartes ...

mind is known with certainty, and body is not known with certainty

All of Berkeley's arguments from perceptual relativity assume that an object cannot have contradictory qualities and conclude that its qualities must therefore be in the mind.

true

Realists hold that there may exist things which no one has ever perceived.

true

The idealist responds to Descartes' dream argument by claiming that any experience qualitatively indistinguishable from a veridical experience is itself veridical.

true

The method of systematic doubt is motivated by Descartes' desire to establish his philosophy upon a foundation which is impervious to doubt.

true

The pragmatic theory regards truth as "efficiency" in realizing a certain goal.

true

The essence of something is ...

what it is

For Berkeley ...

God constantly perceives everything in the world

Which of the following does Berkeley regard as true?

The qualities of sensible things do not inhere in a substance

For Hume ...

all ideas are derived from impressions

Relativism is the view that ...

all views are equally true

The theories of interactionism and epiphenomenalism agree in maintaining that ...

bodily events cause mental events

Descartes' truncated variant of Anselm's ontological argument explicitly assumes that ...

existence is an element in the very concept of God.

According to Descartes ...

existence is to the essence of God as three-sidedness is to the essence of the triangle.

A "theodicy" is an epic poem attributed to the ancient Greek bard, Homer.

false

Descartes believes that all of our knowledge is derived from the experience of the senses.

false

Descartes believes that it is impossible to doubt the existence of anything whatsoever.

false

Descartes believes that the senses never deceive us.

false

Descartes claims that logical, geometrical and mathematical truths are absolutely certain.

false

For Augustine, evil is just as real than good.

false

For Descartes, human existence is, in fact, a dream from which we may never awaken.

false

For the coherence theory, truth is the correspondence of a proposition with its associated fact

false

According to Descartes' argument from the idea of God, the idea of an infinitely perfect being ...

is innate

The coherence theory defines truth as ...

the characteristic of a set or system of propositions whereby no proposition in that set or system contradicts any other such proposition.

An ontological argument infers the existence of God from ...

the concept of God

Aristotle understands wisdom as ...

the knowledge most worth having

What, according to Socrates, is wisdom (sophia)?

the knowledge that one is not wise

The word "philosophy" is derived from two Greek words meaning ...

the love of wisdom

The theories of occasionalism and pre-established harmony agree in maintaining that ...

there is no direct causal interaction between mind and body

A realist believes that ...

there may exist things which no one has ever perceived

Gaunilo criticized the ontological argument on the grounds that ...

similar arguments would "prove" the existence of a member of every class of things than which no greater member of that class can be conceived

Anselm's ontological argument defines God in a way which implies that ...

God is of unsurpassable greatness

According to Berkeley, sensible things ...

are "bundles" of sensible qualities

A serious criticism of the Cartesian variant of the ontological argument is that ...

from the assumption that existence belongs to the very concept of God we cannot infer that that concept is instantiated

For Hume, the impression from which we derived the idea of self is the "blur" created by the rapid succession of perceptions.

true

For Locke, memory, and not physical continuity, is the criterion of personal identity across time.

true

For Locke, we only perceive the representation of an object within the mind and never perceive the external object itself.

true

In the standard definition, knowledge is defined as true, justified belief.

true

Which of the following propositions is a premise of Berkeley's argument against substance?

All the properties of an object inhere in its substance

Which of the following is correct?

Rationalism holds that at least some human knowledge is not derived from the experience of the senses; whereas, empiricism holds that all human knowledge is derived from the experience of the senses

Kant argues that if existence were a property ...

an object would pre-exist itself

From the "dream argument," Descartes infers that one can never be deceived regarding the real existence of the physical objects which one perceives.

false

Hume believes that, underlying all of our mental phenomena, there lies an unchanging "self" which can be directly perceived in introspection.

false

In Locke's view, secondary qualities are the physical qualities of the thing in itself, independent of us (such as mass, weight, velocity, etc.).

false

Locke claims that he has a clear idea of what a substance is.

false

The cosmological argument infers the existence of God from the experience of mystical union with God.

false

The teleological argument infers the existence of God from the fact that in every society, and in every age, people have always believed in something divine.

false

To deny any of the four propositions that comprise the problem of evil is inevitably to postulate a "finite God."

false

Kant argues against the ontological argument on the grounds that ...

it assumes that existence is a property

On Kant's reading, the Anselmian assumption that "It is better to exist in reality than merely in the mind" assumes that existence is a property because ...

it presupposes that an object existing in the mind could be identical to an object existing in reality, and if so, the only difference between the two states is a difference of property

For Descartes, the essential character of the mind is ...

its thinking

From the "dream argument," Descartes infers that ...

the existence of physical objects cannot be indubitably certain

The function of Descartes' "evil genius" (malin génie) is ...

to cast doubt upon even the most evident and apparently certain of our beliefs

Through the application of his method, Descartes intends ...

to ensure that all of his philosophical beliefs are true

A common objection to the free will theodicy is that it does not account for natural evil.

true

Berkeley believes that, were there no God, the moment we stopped perceiving something, it would simply vanish into nothing.

true

Berkeley challenges the realist to produce an example of something with which we have no mental relationship.

true

Bertrand Russell believed that the very concept of the "universe" (the set of everything) was logically impossible.

true

Descartes' device of the "evil genius" serves to cast doubt upon even the most evident and apparently certain of our beliefs.

true

Empiricism is the view that all knowledge comes from the senses.

true

For Berkeley, anything that exists can (at least in principle) be perceived.

true

For David Hume, just as a button collection is not a button (or anything like a button), so the universe is nothing like anything within it.

true

Idealism holds that all reality depends upon the mind for its existence, and could not exist independently of the mind.

true

In Hume's analysis, the idea of "cause" is derived from the constant conjunction of similar events.

true

In applying the method of systematic doubt, Descartes seeks a body of truths that cannot even be imagined to be false.

true