PHIL 1180 Chapter 2
ALL CENSORSHIPS EXIST TO PREVENT ANYONE FROM CHALLENGING CURRENT CONCEPTIONS AND EXISTING INSTITUTIONS. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships. There is the whole case against censorship in a nutshell.
False
All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. ALL PROGRESS IS INITIATED BY CHALLENGING CURRENT CONCEPTIONS, AND EXECUTED BY SUPPLANTING EXISTING INSTITUTIONS. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships. There is the whole case against censorship in a nutshell.
False
Any law which prevents voluntary economic exchanges is a violation of basic liberty. Minimum wage laws are therefore unjust, since SUCH LAWS PREVENT WORKERS FROM SELLING THEIR LABOR TO WILLING EMPLOYERS.
False
Centrally planned economies are inefficient because CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMIES DO NOT PROVIDE SUFFICIENT INCENTIVES TO WORKERS.
False
Concerns about water conservation don't make sense. When we use water we don't use it up the way we burn oil. WE ONLY MOVE WATER FROM ONE PART OF THE ENVIRONMENT TO ANOTHER.
False
Consensus decision making is inferior to majority rule because it enables a stubborn minority to block progress and IT ENCOURAGES THE MAJORITY TO GIVE IN TO SPECIAL INTERESTS IN ORDER TO MOVE AHEAD.
False
Contrary to what most Americans believe, the drug war did not originate in the Reagan administration as a response to the crack epidemic in the inner cities. The evidence is plain. REAGAN ANNOUNCED THE DRUG WAR TWO YEARS BEFORE THE START OF THE CRACK EPIDEMIC.
False
ECU should make service learning a requirement for all students. There are several good reasons for this. First, students will get real world experience that will enhance their job prospects on graduation. Second, students who work in the community report greater satisfaction with their education that students who don't. And finally COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS COULD MAKE GREENVILLE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IF THEY HAD A HUGE POOL OF VOLUNTEERS TO PUT TO WORK.
False
IF GOD EXISTED HE WOULD BE ALL-POWERFUL AND GOOD. But if being both good and all-powerful existed, then he would prevent the existence of any evil. Since evil is a manifest fact, God does not exist.
False
It is a good practice to appoint members of the Supreme Court who have not previously served as judges, for the decisions of the Supreme Court require an understanding of the complexity of real world problems and THIS UNDERSTANDING CAN COME ONLY FROM EXPERIENCE IN THE REAL WORLD NOT WITHIN THE VERY ARTIFICIAL WORLD OF THE COURT SYSTEM.
False
It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But FROM THE ABSOLUTE WILL OF AN ENTIRE PEOPLE THERE IS NO APPEAL, NO REDEMPTION, NO REFUGE BUT TREASON.
False
MOREOVER, IN ONE OF DIOCLES' BOOKS THE CUCUMBERS OF ANTIOCH WERE RECOMMENDED. Antioch was founded in the year 300 B.C. Thus Diocles wrote his book in the third, not in the beginning of the fourth century.
False
Many people believe that abstaining from alcohol is good for your health. This is not supported by scientific research. THE FACT IS THAT MODERATE DRINKERS LIVE SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER THAN BOTH HEAVY DRINKERS AND PEOPLE WHO DO NOT SURE ALCOHOL AT ALL.
False
NO ONE CAN CONSORT WITH THINGS HE ADMIRES WITHOUT IMITATING THEM. So, the philosopher, by consorting with what is ordered and divine, himself becomes as ordered and divine as a human being can.
False
Off-shore oil drilling will not have a significant effect of gas prices because THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF OIL THAT COULD BE PRODUCED THIS WAY WOULD ADD LESS THAN 1% TO THE TOTAL ENERGY SUPPLIES and it would take years for any of the oil to reach market.
False
SALLY HAS NOT FOUND WORK. We can only assume that with her education if she looked for work she would have found it by now. So, Sally isn't serious about looking for work.
False
STERIODS HELP ATHLETES DEVELOP MUSCLE MASS QUICKLY. This is clearly advantageous to the athlete, yet the use of these drugs is very harmful to the individual's long term health. Therefore, steroids must be banned in order to protect athletes from their own competitiveness.
False
Since EVERYONE WANTS TO BE HAPPY but nearly everyone engages in behaviors that are harmful to the self, it follows that most people are irrational.
False
Since THERE ARE ALWAYS UNREALIZED POTENTIALITIES IN HUMAN LIFE, WHICH REMAIN UNDEVELOPED, IF HOPE DOES NOT ENCOURAGE THEIR DEVELOPMENT, the optimism of the rationalists and educators is not without value.
False
Since major historical events cannot be repeated, historians aren't scientists. After all, the scientific method necessarily involves experimentation, and EXPERIMENTS MUST BE REPEATABLE.
False
Since the fragments of his various works show no difference in this regard, the influence cannot be due to a late and occasional acquaintance with Aristotle. IT PENETRATES EVERYTHING. Diocles thus must have flourished when the Peripatetic school was at its height, i.e. about the end of the fourth century.
False
Societal approval of fornication is a threat to the institution of marriage because IT REMOVES THE MAJOR INCENTIVE MEN HAVE FOR TAKING ON THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARRIAGE.
False
Stories make more sense than life. The reason is that the person who tells a story knows how it will end but THE PERSON LIVING THEIR LIFE DOES NOT KNOW HOW IT ENDS.
False
The Great Plains will not continue much longer as a major agricultural region. The reason is plain: AGRICULTURE ON THE GREAT PLAINS USES MUCH MORE WATER THAN FALLS ANNUALLY IN THIS REGION.
False
The Marshall Plan was a great success. IT RAISED LIVING STANDARDS IN WESTERN EUROPE THEREBY STOPPING THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM TO THAT REGION. Moreover, it opened up profitable new markets for American business.
False
The desire for recognition based on nationality or race is not a rational one. FOR THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ONE HUMAN GROUP AND ANOTHER IS AN ACCIDENTAL AND ARBITRARY BY-PRODUCT OF HUMAN HISTORY.
False
The liberal state is rational because IT RECONCILES COMPETING DEMANDS FOR RECOGNITION ON THE ONLY MUTUALLY ACCEPTABLE BASIS, THAT IS, ON THE BASIS OF THE INDIVIDUAL'S IDENTITY AS A HUMAN BEING.
False
The use of atomic weapons on Japan during WWII cannot be justified. In order to be justified military action must cause fewer deaths than any other available option and THE UNITED STATES HAD LESS DESTRUCTIVE OPTIONS FOR ENDING THE WAR.
False
There is no such thing as Christian orthodoxy. For there to be such a thing there would have to be a single recognized authority to say what orthodoxy is. But AFTER THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION THERE HAS BEEN NO SUCH CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.
False
Truth is stranger than fiction because FICTION HAS TO MAKE SENSE.
False
Turning colleges for average people into party schools serves the interests of the ruling classes because WIDESPREAD EDUCATION WOULD MAKE AVERAGE PEOPLE DIFFICULT FOR THE FULING CLASSES TO CONTROL.
False
VOTING ALWAYS LEAVES A MINORITY DISSATISFIED AND POTENTIALLY UNWILLING TO COOPERATE WITH THE RESULTS OF THE VOTE. In addition, as soon as it is clear that one side to an issue has a majority, meaningful debate ends. For these reasons, consensus decision making is superior to voting.
False
YOU CAN'T TURN THE OTHER CHEEK IN HEAVEN. So, Jesus' advice must apply to our life on Earth.
False
A VIRTUAL PHOTON CAN NEVER BE DETECTED DIRECTLY because it is absorbed by the second electron very shortly after being emitted by the first electron.
True
Allowing students to pick their own majors has led to too many graduates in the humanities and social sciences and not enough graduates in engineering and the natural sciences. Therefore, COLLEGES SHOULD ADMIT STUDENTS ONLY TO PRESPECIFIED MAJORS.
True
An arbitrator who agrees with one of the parties to the dispute is useless. An arbitrator who agrees with neither party in the dispute is also useless. So, ARBITRATORS ARE ALWAYS USELESS.
True
Any law which prevents voluntary economic exchanges is a violation of basic liberty. MINIMUM WAGE LAWS ARE THEREFORE UNJUST, since such laws prevent workers from selling their labor to willing employers.
True
As incredible as it seems we know that THE NORSE WHO SETTLED IN GREENLAND FOR OVER FOUR HUNDRED YEARS DID NOT EAT FISH DESPITE THEIR ABUNDANCE IN THE LAKES AND SEAS SURROUNDING THEM. We know this from examination of their garbage which contains food scraps of many other kinds but no fish bones.
True
CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMIES ARE INEFFICIENT because centrally planned economies do not provide sufficient incentives to workers.
True
CONCERNS ABOUT WATER CONSERVATION DON'T MAKE SENSE. When we use water we don't use it up the way we burn oil. We only move water from one part of the environment to another.
True
Contrary to what most Americans believe, THE DRUG WAR DID NOT ORIGINATE IN THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION AS A RESPONSE TO THE CRACK EPIDEMIC IN THE INNER CITIES. The evidence is plain. Reagan announced the drug war two years before the start of the crack epidemic.
True
Dick Cheney has the reputation of being a sharp businessman but HE ISN'T. When he was CEO of Halliburton he directed the company to the brink of bankruptcy until sweetheart government contracts made Halliburton profitable again.
True
FROM A CONSTITUTIONAL POINT OF VIEW ATHEISM MUST BE CONSIDERED A RELIGION, because if it were not considered a religion, then atheists would not be protected from discrimination by the free exercise clause. But atheists deserve the same right to practice their atheism as any religious group does to practice their religion.
True
God created the Universe from nothing; time did not exist previously, but (TIME) WAS CREATED; for it depends upon the motion of the sphere, and the sphere has been created.
True
IT IS A GOOD PRACTICE TO APPOINT MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COURT WHO HAVE NOT PREVIOUSLY SERVED AS JUDGES, for the decisions of Supreme Court require an understanding of the complexity of real world problems and this understanding can come only from experience in the real world not within the very artificial world of the court system.
True
IT IS BAD TO BE OPPRESSED BY A MINORITY, BUT IT IS WORSE TO BE OPPRESSED BY A MAJORITY. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
True
If God existed he would be all-powerful and good. But if being both good and all-powerful existed, then he would prevent the existence of any evil. Since evil is a manifest fact, GOD DOES NOT EXIST.
True
LEPTONS APPEAR TO BE TRULY ELEMENTARY PARTICLES because they have no measurable size or internal structure, are limited in number, and do not seem to break down into smaller units.
True
Moreover, in one of Diocles' books the cucumbers of Antioch were recommended. Antioch was founded in the year 300 B.C. THUS DIOCLES WROTE HIS BOOK IN THE THIRD, NOT IN THE BEGINNING OF THE FOURTH CENTRY.
True
No one can consort with things he admires without imitating them. So, the philosopher, by consorting with what is ordered and divine, HIMSELF BECOMES AS ORDERED AND DIVINE AS A HUMAN BEING CAN.
True
Nobody will take advice, but everybody will take money; therefore MONEY IS BETTER THAN ADVICE.
True
OFF-SHORE OIL DRILLING WILL NOT HAVE A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON GAS PRICES because the total amount of oil that could be produced this way would add less than 1% to total energy supplies and it would take years for any of the oil to reach market.
True
SPEAKING IN TONGUES IS NOT GENUINE. We know this because people speaking in tongues have been recorded countless times and no one have ever translated these sounds into any language.
True
STORIES MAKE MORE SENSE THAN LIFE. The reason is that the person who tells a story knows how it will end but the person living their life does not know how it ends.
True
STUDENTS WHO COME TO COLLEGE IN ORDER TO GET DRUNK ARE NOT BEING REBELLIOUS. On the contrary, they are doing exactly what the people who control American want. They are remaining ignorant and helpless.
True
Since the fragments of his various works show no difference in this regard, the influence cannot be due to a late and occasional acquaintance with Aristotle. It penetrates everything. DIOCLES THUS MUST HAVE FLOURISHED WHEN THE PERIPATETIC SCHOOL WAS AT ITS HEIGHT, I.E. ABOUT THE END OF THE FOURTH CENTURY.
True
THE LORD'S PRAYER IS COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTOOD BY MOST PEOPLE. The reason is that Jesus offered it as an example of sincere spontaneous prayer and people have turned it into a memorized block of words.
True
THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF INDIRECT ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT BY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHOULD BE CHANGED because it gives an unfair emphasis on the votes of citizens from less populous states and because it discourages people from voting at all in states with clear Republican or Democratic majorities.
True
THE STORY OF MOSES BRINGING TABLETS OF STONE WITH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WRITTEN ON THEM TO GIVE TO THE PEOPLE IS CLEARLY A MYTH. The proof of this is simple: there was no written form of the Hebrew language until many centuries after the time of Moses. In his day Hebrew was only a spoken language.
True
THE USE OF ATOMIC WEAPONS ON JAPAN DURING WWII CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED. In order to be justified military action must cause fewer deaths than any other available option and the United States had less destructive options for ending the war.
True
THERE MUST BE SIMPLE SUBSTANCES because there are composites; for a composite is nothing else than a collection or aggregation of simple substances.
True
TURNING COLLEGES FOR AVERAGE PEOPLE INTO PARTY SCHOOLS SERVES THE INTERESTS OF THE RULING CLASSES because widespread education would make average people difficult for the ruling classes to control.
True
The reason HIGH-STAKES STANDARDIZED TESTING IS BAD SCHOOL POLICY is that it promotes teaching to the test.
True
The rulers of Iran are radical Shiites. Thus, we can be confident that THEY ARE NOT SUPPORTING AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ because the members and leading of Al-Qaeda are radical Sunnis and Sunnis view Shiites as heretics.
True
The value of a product is equal to the amount of labor needed to create it. Hence, THE OWNERS PROFIT REPRESENTS VALUE STOLEN FROM THE WORKER.
True
There are only 365 days in a year. There are more than 400 hundred students majoring in Human Environmental Science. Therefore, AT LEAST 2 HUMAN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE MAJORS HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY.
True
VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS ARE CLEARLY INTENDED TO REDUCE VOTES FOR DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES. For one thing, this will be the most obvious result of these laws and they are being pushed by Republicans who stand to gain from this effect. Moreover, there has been no evidence of any voter fraud that would need to be addressed by such a law.
True
Voting always leaves a minority dissatisfied and potentially unwilling to cooperate with the results of the vote. In addition, as soon as it is clear that one side to an issue has a majority, meaningful debate ends. For these reasons, CONSENSUS DECISION MAKING IS SUPERIOR TO VOTING.
True
You can't turn the other cheek in heaven. So, JESUS' ADVICE MUST APPLY TO OUR LIFE ON EARTH.
True
