Philosophy Midterm

The famous statement "An unexamined life is not worth living" is attributed to _____.

Socrates.

According to Socrates, a clear sign that a person has _____ is her exclusive pursuit of social status, wealth, power, and pleasure.

an unhealthy soul.

The systematic use of critical reasoning to try to find answers to fundamental questions about reality, morality, and knowledge is called _____.

the philosophical method.

T/F: Scientists and philosophers have no explanation for the existence of the universe.

False

T/F: Socrates preferred exile to death.

False

T/F: Paley says that if we found a watch and examined it closely, we would naturally infer that it had a maker—even if we had never seen a watch made.

True.

Craig says an actually infinite number of things _____.

cannot exist.

Anselm assumes that a being that exists in reality is greater than a being that _____.

exists only in the understanding.

Paley maintains that the key difference between the "contrivance" of a watch and that of nature is that the latter is _____.

greater and grander.

T/F: If inductive arguments succeed in lending probable support to their conclusions, they are said to be valid.

False

T/F: A deductive argument is an argument intended to give probable support to its conclusion

False

T/F: A statement can be valid or invalid.

False

T/F: Craig believes that the universe is the effect of a plurality of causes.

False

T/F: Craig thinks that the cause of the universe must be an accident.

False

T/F: Paley's argument, if cogent, proves the existence of the Christian God.

False

T/F: According to Philo, since the universe is perfectly ordered, the existence of a deity is likely.

False.

If you assume that a set of statements is true, and yet you can deduce a false or absurd statement from it, then the original set of statements as a whole must be false. This kind of argument is known as _____.

reductio ad absurdum.

Philo says the analogy that Cleanthes uses to make his case is _____.

weak.

T/F: According to Socrates, we should always consider in doing anything whether we are doing right or wrong.

True

T/F: Hick asserts that it is no limitation on God's power that he cannot accomplish the logically impossible.

True

T/F: A good deductive argument is said to be sound.

True.

T/F: An argumentis not synonymous with persuasion.

True.

Questions like "What is knowledge?" and "What is truth?" are mainstays in the branch of philosophy known as _____.

epistemology.

T/F: If sound, Aquinas' arguments prove that the God of traditional religion (an all-knowing, all-good, all-powerful being) exists.

False

T/F: Socrates thought that the primary occupation of a good citizen should be the pursuit of wealth and prestige.

False

Aquinas says that the first efficient cause of everything is _____.

God.

T/F: In philosophy—and in any other kind of rational inquiry—accepting a conclusion (statement) without good reasons is an elementary mistake in reasoning.

True

T/F: Persuasion does not necessarily involve giving any reasons at all for accepting a claim.

True

T/F: Aquinas thinks that an infinite series of causes is repugnant to reason.

True.

T/F: Craig says that the anthropic principle supports the idea of intelligent design of the universe.

True.

According to Aquinas, an infinite regress of causes is _____.

impossible.

For Socrates, the soul is harmed by lack of _____.

knowledge.

The four main divisions of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and _____.

logic

The study of reality in the broadest sense, an inquiry into the elemental nature of the universe and the things in it, is known as _____.

metaphysics.

According to Paley, we must conclude that a watch had an intelligent designer if the watch _____.

shows purposefulness.

A question-and-answer dialogue in which propositions are methodically scrutinized to uncover the truth is known as _____.

the Socratic method.

For Socrates, an unexamined life is a tragedy because it results in grievous harm to _____.

the soul.

According to Craig, the kalam cosmological argument establishes that _____.

the universe has a cause.

Craig argues that the series of events in time cannot be actually infinite, so we know that _____.

the universe is finite in the past and began to exist.

Paley says that every indication of contrivance and design that exists in the watch exists in _____.

the works of nature.