Philosophy 120 Final Exam

Who asked, "Is it better to be slaves [of God] with a role in the universe or to be free people left to create a role for ourselves"?

Baggini

_____ is a political economic system that lets the means of production accrue to people through the workings of a free market.

Capitalism

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

God

What was Schopenhauer's attitude toward life?

He thought life was bereft of meaning.

_____ says once you cede power to the Leviathan, he is free to treat you as he will.

Hobbes

_____ argues that humans have inherent, God-given rights whether or not a government is around to guarantee them.

Locke

According to Sartre, the first principle of existentialism is that _____.

Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself

Who said, "I saw that [the life of the working masses] was life itself and that the meaning given to this life was truth, and I accepted it"?

Tolstoy

True or False? James says that determinism professes that those parts of the universe already laid down absolutely decree what the other parts shall be.

True

True or False? Sartre says that man is condemned to be free.

True

True or False? The key to identifying an argument in context is to first identify the conclusion then look for the premises.

True

The author of The Will to Believe and The Varieties of Religious Experience is _____.

William James

According to Kant, nothing can be called "good" without qualification except _____.

a good will

According to Held, care is both _____.

a practice and a value

The movies Gattaca and A Clockwork Orange dramatize the fear of _____.

a predetermined existence

According to Rawls, each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with _____.

a similar liberty for others

Rowe argues that we can allow someone to define God anyway she wants, yet it will not follow from that definition that such a being

actually exists

The view that a free action is caused by an agent (person) is called _____.

agent causation

Berkeley concludes that God exists because _____.

all sensible things must be perceived by him

The fallacy of _____ is arguing either that (1) a claim is true because it hasn't been proven false or (2) a claim is false because it hasn't been proven true.

appeal to ignorance

Critics of the divine command theory have argued that the theory implies that God's commands are _____.

arbitrary

Philosophers provide reasons for thinking their ideas are plausible—that is, they give us

arguments

The study of value in the broadest sense (moral, aesthetic, etc.) is known as _____.

axiology

Hume observes that to argue that the principle of induction can be established by experience is to _____.

beg the question

The fallacy of _____ is trying to prove a conclusion by using that very same conclusion as support.

begging the question

Craig says an actually infinite number of things _____.

cannot

Hume says that all reasonings concerning matters of fact are founded on the relation of _____.

cause and effect

Van Inwagen's case against compatibilism rests in part on the fact that we cannot render a law of nature _____.

coherent

On the subject of free will, John Locke was a _____.

compatibilist

Words such as consequently, therefore, and as a result are

conclusion indicator words

Descartes declares that an evil demon _____.

could possibly be deceiving him

Arguments intended to give logically conclusive support to their conclusions so that if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true are

deductive

The view that no one has free will is called _____.

determination

According to Mill, to determine whether one pleasure is more valuable than another, we must _____.

determine which pleasure most experienced people prefer

The doctrine that every event is determined or necessitated by preceding events and the laws of nature is known as _____.

determinism

Baggini says that a belief that we were created by God for a purpose

does not provide us with an adequate meaning in life

Descartes says that, for all he knows, he may be _____.

dreaming

When we arrive at a generalization about an entire group of things after observing just some members of the group, we are making a(n

enumerative induction

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

epistemology

The philosophical study of knowledge is known as _____.

epistemology

For subjectivists, everyone's moral views are _____.

equally plausible

In the moral life, feelings are _____.

essential and inevitable

Locke asserts that all the components of reason and knowledge come from _____.

experience

For most people, the term meaning in "meaning of life" refers to _____.

external meaning

True or False? A good deductive argument is said to be cogent.

false

True or False? According to Rowe, if we grant to Anselm the premise that God is a possible being, the argument is sound.

false

True or False? According to cultural relativism, some cultures' moral codes are better than others.

false

True or False? According to ethical egoism, you should do whatever you desire to do or whatever gives you the most immediate pleasure.

false

True or False? Affirming the consequent is a valid argument form.

false

True or False? Berkeley thinks that the sweet or bitter taste of food is inherent in the food itself.

false

True or False? Confucianism is an individualistic moral philosophy.

false

True or False? Craig thinks that the cause of the universe must be an accident.

false

True or False? D'Holbach's view is that science does not preclude the notion of free will.

false

True or False? Descartes concludes that he is a thing that breathes.

false

True or False? Descartes says that because it is possible that an evil genius is deceiving him, he can never know that he himself exists.

false

True or False? Descartes says there are very few ways that we can tell whether we are dreaming.

false

True or False? Distributive justice has to do with the fair meting out of punishment to citizens for wrongdoing.

false

True or False? Few people think questions about the meaning of life are important.

false

True or False? For Locke, to be in the state of nature is to be in a "war of all against all."

false

True or False? For Mill, a beast's pleasures can satisfy a human being's conception of happiness.

false

True or False? Guanilo demonstrated that Anselm's argument was sound

false

True or False? Hick says that it is possible to show that each item of human pain serves the divine purpose.

false

True or False? Hume believes that external objects resemble internal perceptions.

false

True or False? Hume thinks that causes and effects are discoverable by reason.

false

True or False? If inductive arguments succeed in lending probable support to their conclusions, they are said to be valid.

false

True or False? If sound, Aquinas's arguments prove that the God of traditional religion (an all-knowing, all-good, all-powerful being) exists.

false

True or False? It's possible someone could hand you the meaning of life as a gift.

false

True or False? James thinks that in the search for truth, above all else we must avoid being in error.

false

True or False? Kant declares that existence is a predicate

false

True or False? Kant declares that we should never in any circumstances treat people as a means.

false

True or False? Locke accepts the view that we have innate ideas about metaphysical truths.

false

True or False? Locke is a pessimist about human nature; he thinks people are basically greedy and treacherous.

false

True or False? Marx proposes a form of liberalism, what has been called "welfare liberalism."

false

True or False? Mill thinks that all pleasures are of the same kind.

false

True or False? Paley's argument, if cogent, proves that the designer of the world was a single being.

false

True or False? Paley's argument, if cogent, proves the existence of the Christian God.

false

True or False? Questions about the meaning of existence are themselves meaningless.

false

True or False? Rawls insists that social and economic inequalities in a well-ordered society will never arise.

false

True or False? Rowe says that progress in the philosophical study of free will is not possible.

false

True or False? Socrates thought that the primary occupation of a good citizen should be the pursuit of wealth and prestige.

false

True or False? Stace believes that determinism is inconsistent with free will.

false

True or False? Swinburne argues that theism is a very complex hypothesis.

false

True or False? Swinburne rests his argument mostly on the criterion of fruitfulness.

false

True or False? Taylor thinks that soft determinism is true to our moral intuitions.

false

True or False? The principle of induction can be justified a priori.

false

True or False? The process of examining the question of life's meaning is a task for one's community.

false

True or False? Van Inwagen is a hard determinist.

false

True or False? When you read a philosophical essay, you are simply trying to glean some facts from it as you might if you were reading a science text or technical report.

false

According to Swinburne, the simplicity of a scientific theory is a matter of its having _____

few component laws

According to Aristotle, we always desire happiness _____.

for its own sake

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

greater and grander

Life's value or meaning must be distinguished from _____.

happiness and moral rightness

Philosophers say that propositional knowledge has three necessary and sufficient conditions: To know a proposition, (1) you must believe it, (2) it must be true, and (3) you must _____.

have good reasons for believing it true

According to Hobbes, in the state of nature, notions of right and wrong or justice and injustice _____.

have no place

According to Hick, the divine purpose could not be forwarded in a world that was designed as a _____.

hedonistic paradise

According to Locke, a man in the state of nature will relinquish his absolute freedom to the state because _____.

in the state of nature the enjoyment of his freedom is very uncertain and vulnerable

Arguments that are supposed to give probable support to their conclusions are _____

inductive

Some design arguments are framed as ___

inferences to the best explanation

What does the notion of "meaning in life" refer to?

internal meaning

For Socrates, the soul is harmed by lack of

knowledge

The political doctrine that puts primary emphasis on the liberty and rights of individuals against encroachments by the state is known as _____.

liberalism

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

logic

According to Sartre, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, and this being is _____.

man

Meaning in life does not necessarily accompany _____.

moral rightness

Virtues are _____.

moral states

Cultural relativism implies that the iconoclast would always be _____.

morally mistaken

According to Hick, a certain amount of evil in the world is _____.

necessary

Is it the case that the prospect of death and the eventual obliteration of all human creations rob our lives of meaning?

no

Baggini says if we were here to do God's will, our lives would have a purpose for the being that created us but _____.

not a purpose for us

According to Held, virtue ethics emphasizes the character of individuals, but the ethics of care focuses more on _____.

nurturing connectedness among people

Baggini argues that the notion of a God assigning a purpose to humans should be _____ to believers and nonbelievers alike.

objectionable

Before Tolstoy's Christian conversion, what was his perspective on the meaning of life?

pessimist

Camus says, "Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of _____."

philosophy

Libertarians contend that real freedom is not just the power to act if we will to act, but _____.

power over the will itself

Aristotle believes that moral virtues can best be acquired through _____.

practice and habit

The branch of science that provides a counterexample to the notion that every event has a cause is known as _____.

quantum physics

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

Most of those who take the externalist approach to meaning view the matter from a _____ standpoint.

religious

People who believe humans can have a purposeful life only if God created them with a purpose are _____.

religious and nonreligious

Hick says the idea of a person who can be infallibly guaranteed always to act rightly is ____

self-contradictory

Universal ethical egoism is the theory that everyone ought always to _____.

serve his or her own self-interest

Hume's strict empiricism leads naturally to _____.

skepticism

The fallacy of _____ is arguing erroneously that a particular action should not be taken because it will lead inevitably to other actions resulting in some dire outcome.

slippery slope

The political and economic doctrine that the means of production (property, factories, businesses) should be owned or controlled by the people is called _____.

socialism

Under _____, people are rewarded according to their needs, not by how well or how hard they work.

socialism

The fallacy of misrepresenting a person's views so they can be more easily attacked or dismissed is called the

straw man fallacy

If inductive arguments succeed in lending probable support to their conclusions, they are said to be

strong

Critics say that to avoid portraying God as arbitrary, we must assume that he issues commands based on _____.

the best possible reasons

Berkeley called _____ "a manifest repugnancy."

the concept of a material object

According to Locke, every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to everyone of that society to submit to the determination of _____.

the majority

Locke's purpose is to inquire into _____.

the origin and extent of human knowledge

The challenge of reconciling determinism with our intuitions or ideas about personal freedom is known as _____.

the problem of free will

According to Rawls, behind the veil of ignorance, the principles of justice are _____.

the result of a fair agreement or bargain

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

Soft determinism entails that _____.

the thesis of determinism is true

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

the works of nature

Descartes argues against trusting the senses on the grounds that _____.

they sometimes deceive him

According to Rawls, all social values (opportunity, liberty, income, wealth, etc.) are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution is _____.

to everyone's advantage

True or False? A moral theory explains not why one event causes another but why an action is right or wrong or why a person or a person's character is good or bad.

true

True or False? According to Descartes, only beliefs that are certain can count as knowledge.

true

True or False? An argument of this form—If p, then q; p; therefore, q—is called modus ponens.

true

True or False? Cultural relativism eliminates the possibility of moral disagreement.

true

True or False? Cultural relativism implies that moral progress is virtually impossible.

true

True or False? D'Holbach says that man's life is a course that nature compels him to take without deviation.

true

True or False? Descartes declares that he knows with certainty that he is.

true

True or False? Edwards says that if life is meaningful, then it is meaningful no matter how long or short it is.

true

True or False? For Descartes, the statement "I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time he utters it.

true

True or False? For Hobbes, justice is a matter of the keeping of covenants (contracts), and the only way to ensure that covenants are kept is to let the Leviathan reign.

true

True or False? From the fact that cultures have divergent moral beliefs on an issue, it does not logically follow that there is no objective moral truth.

true

True or False? Hick asserts that it is no limitation on God's power that he cannot accomplish the logically impossible.

true

True or False? Hume divides the content of the mind into ideas and impressions.

true

True or False? Internalists say that anyone can have a meaningful life without relying on the concepts of God or transcendent realms.

true

True or False? Locke argues that even if there were particular truths that all men agreed on, that fact would not prove the existence of innate ideas.

true

True or False? Locke would not favor a theocracy.

true

True or False? Locke's ideas heavily influenced the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

true

True or False? Often the impetus for reflection on the meaning of life is a disturbing thought.

true

True or False? 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

True or False? Philosophers distinguish life's value or meaning from happiness and moral rightness.

true

True or False? Rawls thinks of social contracts as very useful fictions.

true

True or False? Rawls thinks that the principle of utility is incompatible with the conception of social cooperation among equals for mutual advantage.

true

True or False? Rowe believes that Anselm's argument fails as a proof of the existence of God.

true

True or False? Sartre says forlornness comes from the realization that God does not exist and we must face all the consequences of this.

true

True or False? Social contract theory is the view that justice is secured, and the state is made legitimate, through an agreement among citizens of the state or between the citizens and the rulers of the state.

true

True or False? Socrates preferred death to exile.

true

True or False? Some maintain that the idea of God creating people for a purpose is an affront to human dignity.

true

True or False? Stace accepts compatibilism.

true

True or False? Taylor rejects soft determinism.

true

True or False? The main impediment to clear thinking about life's meaning is confusion about what meaning refers to.

true

True or False? The principle of entitlement says that even if people don't deserve the goods they have, they nevertheless may be entitled to them.

true

Cultural relativism and ethical subjectivism imply that nothing is intrinsically _____.

valuable

Held says that the ethics of care _____.

values emotion

According to Hobbes, whenever and wherever men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, there is _____.

war

Compatibilism entails that determinism is true; determinism and free will are compatible; and _____.

we sometimes act freely

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

weak