Philosophy Exam Q's

Karl Marx viewed human history as the struggle between two classes. What are they? Select one: a. a dominant class consisting of men and a subordinate class consisting of women and children b. a dominant class that owns and controls the means of production and a subordinate class that doesn't c. a dominant class of white Europeans and a subordinate class of nonwhite non-Europeans d. a dominant class of the priesthood and a subordinate class of the laity

A dominant class that owns and controls the means of production and a subordinate class that doesn't

What is a syllogism? Select one: a. a logical fallacy b. a kind of inference c. any group of three propositions d. a complete description of a thing

A kind of inference

What do samurai warriors believe in? Select one: a. winning beforehand b. being a complete man, both scholar and warrior c. being self-reliant and prepared for anything d. All of these answers are correct.

ALL ARE CORRECT

Which of the following is true according to Julia Kristeva? Select one: a. The female semiotic has been devalued. b. Feminine signification has been marginalized because it threatens the traditionally masculinist symbolic discourse. c. Religious discourse can mediate a healing space between the symbolic and the semiotic. d. All of these answers are correct.

ALL ARE CORRECT

_____ is defined as the philosophical study of art and of value judgments about art. Select one: a. Aesthetics b. Epistemology c. Logic d. Metaphysics

Aesthetics

Which of the following statements would Thomas Hobbes have accepted? Select one: a. The mind and the body are separate and distinct substances. b. All psychological states derive ultimately from perception. c. Reasoning is not based on perceptions. d. To be is to be perceived

All psychological states derive ultimately fro perception

According to the philosophy of Absolute Idealism, what is the relationship between "being real" and "being knowable"? Select one: a. No reality is knowable. b. All reality is knowable. c. Some reality is knowable and some aren't. d. Only God is ultimately unknowable.

All reality is knowable

According to Hegel, the highest reality (the absolute) is _____. Select one: a. the entire material world b. a God who exists beyond the world c. an infinite thought thinking of itself d. a vast group of independent particulars

An infinite thought of thinking of itself

The fallacy of _____ amounts to transferring the qualities of a spokesperson to his or her insights, arguments, beliefs, or positions. Select one: a. red herring b. begging the question c. straw man d. argumentum ad hominem

Argumentum ad hominem

The most famous monadology in the history of philosophy is that of _____. Select one: a. Thomas Hobbes b. Baron von Leibniz c. Benedictus de Spinoza d. Gottfried Wilhelm

Baron von Leibniz

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and fundamental properties of _____. Select one: a. knowledge b. god c. beauty d. being

Being

Which of the following perspectives is held by antirepresentationalists? Select one: a. Beliefs do not represent reality. b. True beliefs are those that hang together in a coherent fashion. c. True beliefs are those that most members of a group consent to. d. Beliefs correctly represent the world as it is.

Beliefs do not represent reality

According to John Stuart Mill, why should we seek to raise the general happiness rather than just our own? Select one: a. Our own happiness coincides with the general happiness. b. God commands us to further the general happiness. c. No one can rationally will that everyone ignore the general happiness. d. By its very nature, morality singles out no one for preferential treatment.

By its very nature, morality singles out no one for preferential treatment.

Which philosophical tradition includes existentialism and phenomenology? Select one: a. Analytic philosophy b. absolute idealism c. Continental philosophy d. pragmatism

Continental Philosophy

_____ is the idea that the legitimacy of the state and the principles of sound justice derive their legitimacy from a societal agreement. Select one: a. Eternal law b. Communism c. Contractualism d. General will

Contractualism

St. Thomas Aquinas's first three proofs of God's existence are versions of what today is called the: Select one: a. ontological argument. b. cosmological argument. c. teleological argument. d. moral argument.

Cosmological argument

According to Epicurus, which desires may be occasionally satisfied when doing so does not lead to discomfort or pain? Select one: a. desires that are both natural and necessary b. desires that are natural but not necessary c. desires that are neither natural nor necessary d. All of these answers are correct.

Desires that are natural but not necessary

Identify a reason why feminist epistemologists are suspicious of the concept of the "ideal knower" as dispassionate, objective, and purely rational. Select one: a. These qualities are of no value in the pursuit of knowledge and truth. b. Too many real people are like that, and they don't know much. c. Even supposedly objective scientists are influenced by their own prejudices and biases. d. They aren't suspicious of this concept at all.

Even supposedly objective scientists are influenced by their own prejudices and biases.

What fallacy is it when an argument assumes only two options when in fact there are more? Select one: a. straw man b. false dilemma c. begging the question d. appeal to emotion

False Dilemma

Which of the following ideas was central to Thomas Hobbes's philosophy of values? Select one: a. Good and evil simply denote that which a person desires or hates. b. Human happiness consists of pleasure and reason. c. Moral evil is a case of misdirected love. d. A natural law governs all morality, and human behavior must conform to it.

Good and evil simply denote that which a person desires or hates.

Who among the following is a representative of the "First Wave" of feminist philosophy? Select one: a. Simone de Beauvoir b. Julia Kristeva c. Harriet Taylor d. Nel Noddings

Harriet Taylor

Which of the following statements is true about Immanuel Kant? Select one: a. He argued that a stream of sensations could not qualify as experience unless the stream was unified and conceptualized by the mind as the experience of external objects. b. He held that the objective world is an unfolding or expression of infinite thought, and the individual mind is the vehicle of infinite thought reflecting on itself. c. He argued that reality, the Absolute, is not a group of independent particulars or states of affairs, but rather an integrated whole in which each proposition is logically connected with all the rest. d. He based psychoanalysis on the concept that human actions stem not from rationality but from unconscious drives and instincts in what he called the "id," or "it" part of the self.

He argued that a stream of sensations could not qualify as experience unless the stream was unified and conceptualized by the mind as the experience of external objects.

Identify a true statement about Jean-Paul Sartre. Select one: a. He believed that there is a specific essence that defines what it is to be human. b. He believed that a human being is a self-aware or conscious subject that creates its own future. c. He believed that the essence of being human is being rational. d. He believed that God created human beings in accordance with a divine concept.

He believed that a human being is a self-aware or conscious subject that creates its own future.

What would Jacques Derrida say about the definitive meaning of a text? Select one: a. He maintained that the definitive meaning of a text means whatever the author intended for it to mean. b. He maintained that the definitive meaning of a text means whatever the reader understands it to mean. c. He maintained that the definitive meaning of a text means whatever the majority of experts take it to mean. d. He maintained that no definitive meaning of a text could ever be established.

He maintained that no definitive meaning of a text could ever be established.

Identify a true statement about Marcuse's philosophical position. Select one: a. He perceived a weakening of the integration of the working classes into society. b. He believed that morality means creating something and then making money from it. c. He developed the ideas of ethical egoism, laissez-faire capitalism, and individual rights with his philosophy of Objectivism. d. He believed that taking from the rich without compensation and giving to the poor is never just.

He perceived a weakening of the integration of the working classes into society.

Identify a true statement about Søren Kierkegaard. Select one: a. He scorned Hegel's system, in which the individual dissolves into a kind of abstract unreality. b. He read Arthur Schopenhauer and became convinced that the world is driven by cosmic will, not by reason. c. He believed that systematic philosophy, with its grandiose schemes, with its mind-body and other dualistic splits, with its metaphysics and metaphysical traditions, must give way to more original kind of thinking. d. He agreed with Friedrich Nietzsche as to the nature of the cosmic will.

He scorned Hegel's system, in which the individual dissolves into a kind of abstract unreality.

Which of the following statements is true about Empedocles? Select one: a. He simply assumed some very basic principles and attempted to deduce from these what he thought must be the true nature of being. b. He thought that true reality is permanent and unchangeable, yet he also thought it absurd to dismiss the change one experiences as mere illusion. c. He wished to call attention to what he thought was the essential feature of reality; namely, that it is ceaselessly changing. d. He taught that each thing contains its opposite, just as, for example, people are simultaneously young and old and coming into and going out of existence.

He thought that true reality is permanent and unchangeable, yet he also thought it absurd to dismiss the change one experiences as mere illusion.

What did Socrates hope to achieve by practicing the Socratic method? Select one: a. He hoped to show that knowledge is impossible. b. He wanted to show that a skillful debater could win any side of any argument. c. He wanted to display the fact that he was indeed the wisest man in all of Greece. d. He wanted to detect misconceptions and reveal them by asking the right questions.

He wanted to detect misconceptions and reveal them by asking the right questions.

The whole focus of _____ work is to demonstrate that language doesn't exist outside the body. Select one: a. Sara Ruddick's b. Hélène Cixous's c. Nancy Chodorow's d. Carol Gilligan's

Helene Cixous's

Identify a true statement about Hume concerning the arguments for the existence of God. Select one: a. His empiricist epistemological principles rule out the possibility of any meaningful ontological argument. b. He was highly supportive of the teleological arguments for the existence of God. c. He refrained from criticizing the appropriateness of the analogies involved in the arguments from design. d. His criticism of the ontological argument comes from a critical view of the process of reasoning itself.

His empiricist epistemological principles rule out the possibility of any meaningful ontological argument.

Which of the following is considered a moral evil by Plato? Select one: a. willful disobedience of God b. unnaturalness c. ignorance of the good d. desiring what is known to be bad

Ignorance of the good

According to Anne Conway, God _____. Select one: a. is part mentaland part physical b. is in time and space and subject to change c. created the universe in a single creation event d. is an eternal creator

Is an eternal creator

Which of the following is true of third-wave feminism? Select one: a. It accepts binary distinctions between men and women. b. It accepts "sex positive" ideologies. Correct c. It rejects transsexual identities. d. It represents the uniformity of all strands of theory.

It accepts "sex positive" ideologies.

What is NOT true of Hinduism? Select one: a. It has no known founder. b. It has no single religious body to interpret orthodoxy. c. It has no scriptures or holy writings. d. It has no unified set of doctrines.

It has no scriptures or holy writings.

What is the form of the ideal state according to Plato? Select one: a. It is an absolute monarchy run by the most powerful for his or her own sake. b. It is a direct, participatory democracy in which every citizen has an equal share in ruling. c. It is an aristocracy ruled by an elite group of intellectually superior individuals. d. Plato did not think that there is any single form that the ideal state must take.

It is an aristocracy ruled by an elite group of intellectually superior individuals.

According to Julian of Norwich, how did mystical experience compare with reason as a source of knowledge about God? Select one: a. It is a better source than reason. b. It is as valid a source of knowledge as reason is. c. It is a worse source than reason. d. It is not a source of knowledge at all.

It is as valid a source of knowledge as reason is.

Which of the following is true of Soren Kierkegaard's notion of truth? Select one: a. It relies on objective certainty. b. It is passionate commitment. c. It lies in what one believes. d. It is the knowledge obtained through mysticism.

It is passionate commitment

Which of the following best explains Mary Daly's stance about the image of God the Father? Select one: a. It is an image that appropriately expresses the power and awe of God. b. It is an image that needs to be replaced with the image of God the Mother. c. It perpetuates the artificial polarization of human qualities built into the traditional sexual stereotypes. d. It is an image that only has negative effects among less sophisticated thinkers.

It perpetuates the artificial polarization of human qualities built into the traditional sexual stereotypes.

According to Hui Neng, which of the following is true about the ultimate reality or truth? Select one: a. It remains hidden to many because of their focus on false attachments and selfish interests. b. It is divided into good and evil. c. It is a state that both comes and goes, increases and decreases, and both lives and dies. d. In principle, it is not accessible to anyone.

It remains hidden to many because of their focus on false attachments and selfish interests.

Identify Rawls's position on the just distribution of income and wealth in a society. Select one: a. It should be unequal unless a more equal distribution would benefit everyone. b. It should be equal unless an unequal distribution would benefit everyone. c. It should always be equal. d. It should be based on effort, talent, and accomplishments.

It should be equal unless an unequal distribution would benefit everyone

According to Plato, _____ is the virtue that obtains when all elements of the soul function as they should in obedience to reason. Select one: a. temperance b. justice c. wisdom d. courage

Justice

Epistemology is the branch that explores the sources, nature, limits, and criteria of _____. Select one: a. knowledge b. being c. good and bad d. politics

Knowledge

According to epistemological foundationalism, a belief becomes knowledge when it: Select one: a. is clearly and distinctly true. b. logically follows from other beliefs that cannot be doubted. c. follows from other beliefs that are true. d. meets the current standards of rationality of the group to which a person belongs.

Logically follows from other beliefs that cannot be doubted.

According to Empedocles, which of the following is the cause of change? Select one: a. nous b. condensation and rarefaction c. logos d. love and strife

Love and Strife

In which of the following was the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional established? Select one: a. The Declaration of Independence b. The original Constitution c. The Bill of Rights d. Marbury v. Madison

Marbury v. Madison

The attempt to understand the sources and criteria of moral value judgments is known as: Select one: a. metaethics. b. normative ethics. c. deontological ethics. d. prima facie duty.

Metaethics

Which of the following branches of philosophy does NOT involve questions related to values? Select one: a. Moral b. Metaphysics c. Social d. Political

Metaphysics

According to St. Augustine, moral evil comes from _____. Select one: a. misdirected love b. misguided education c. a force of darkness d. the body and its urges

Misdirected love

Those who think that they can account for universal terms without invoking universals either as real things out there in the world or as concepts in the mind subscribe to _____. Select one: a. nominalism b. conceptualism c. abstractionism d. determinism

Nominalism

Which of the following best expresses phenomenalism as a metaphysical theory? Select one: a. Physical objects don't exist, just sense-data. b. Sense-data don't exist, just physical objects. c. Sense-data are caused by, but not identical to, physical objects. d. Physical objects are definable in terms of sense-data.

Physical objects are definable in terms of sense-data.

According to Immanuel Kant, principles of morality can only be ascertained by: Select one: a. reason. b. God. c. consequences. d. nature.

Reason

According to Albert Camus, how can we give life meaning and value? Select one: a. Kill yourself. b. Seek God. c. Rebel against the absurd. d. It can't be done.

Rebel against the absurd

Who is most likely to have written "There is no method for knowing when one has reached the truth, or when one is closer than ever before"? Select one: a. Jacques Derrida b. Michel Foucault c. Richard Rorty d. Jürgen Habermas

Richard Rorty

Who among the following coined the approach "maternal thinking"? Select one: a. Nel Noddings b. Carol Gilligan c. Nancy Chodorow d. Sara Ruddick

Sara Ruddick

According to David Hume, what do we directly observe? Select one: a. physical objects b. sense impressions c. ourselves d. our brains`

Sense Impressions

According to David Hume, the self is a(n) _____. Select one: a. sequence of perceptions b. immaterial, unchanging substance c. physical body d. social entity

Sequences of perceptions

According to Nancy Chodorow, why do boys often become isolated, separate, and misogynous? Select one: a. Boys are naturally this way because of the presence of greater amounts of testosterone. b. They are often teased and rejected by girls at a young age. c. Society requires that boys make efforts to establish themselves as "not-mother." d. Mass media, advertising, and entertainment combine to produce this result.

Society requires that boys make efforts to establish themselves as "not-mother."

The Upanishads are best known for their theories concerning: Select one: a. the world and the body. b. the Carvaka way of life. c. the identity of Vishnu and Siva. d. the Brahman and the Atman.

The Brahman and the Atman.

The most famous dialogue of Plato is _____, from the so-called middle period of Plato's writings, during which Plato reached the peak of his genius. Select one: a. the Republic b. the Apology c. the Meno d. the Gorgias

The Republic

For Nietzsche, who or what is the source of ethical truth? Select one: a. God b. the Superman c. the ruler of a state d. slaves

The Superman

Plato's three famous theories are as follows: Select one: a. the Theory of Forms, the Theory of Knowledge, and the Theory of the Oracle. b. the Theory of Fire and Becoming, the Tunnel Theory, and the Theory of Knowledge. c. the Theory of Becoming, the Theory of Relativity, and the Theory of the Absolute Truth. d. the Theory of Knowledge, the Theory of Love and Becoming, and the Theory of Forms.

The Theory of Knowledge, the Theory of Love and Becoming, and the Theory of Forms.

Which of the following views of Aristotle did Aquinas disagree with? Select one: a. Physical things are always a blend of matter plus form. b. The essence of a thing is the same as its existence. c. One and the same form (universal) can be in more than one physical thing (particular). d. Change is explained in terms of four causes: the formal, the material, the efficient, and the final.

The essence of a thing is the same as its existence

According to Rousseau, which of the following determines what is right and wrong and should and should not be done? Select one: a. the will of all b. the general will c. God's will d. natural law

The general will

According to Confucius, which of the following principles governs both the well-ordered family and the well-ordered state? Select one: a. the principle of yin/yang b. the principle of the Mean c. the principle of the equality of opposites d. the principle of the parental mind

The principle of the Mean

What did George Berkeley mean about such things as tables and chairs when he denied the existence of matter? Select one: a. There are no unperceived tables and chairs. b. There are no tables and chairs. c. Tables and chairs are really just swarms of particles in motion. d. Everything, including tables and chairs, is an illusion.

There are no unperceived tables and chairs

According to Jean-Paul Sartre, a human being is abandoned and that means _____. Select one: a. technology no longer serves human needs b. there is no God c. there is no other life in the solar system d. we must all die

There is no God

What did Michel Foucault claim concerning epistemes? Select one: a. They form a continuous series leading to the advancement of truth over superstition. b. They are "created realities" that are the ground of true and false in each era. c. They are discovered, not made. d. They can be the basis of objective truth claims.

They are "created realities" that are the ground of true and false in each era.

According to the emotivists, what do moral judgments do? Select one: a. They guide conduct. b. They assert facts. c. They express emotion and encourage others to feel the same way. d. They create value.

They express emotion and encourage others to feel the same way.

Given his epistemological standards, what characteristic must all of Descartes's arguments for God possess? Select one: a. They must be based on sensory experience. b. They must be capable of being doubted. c. They must yield conclusions that are absolutely certain. d. They must prove the independence of human thought.

They must yield conclusions that are absolutely certain.

Aristotle believed that humans have _____ souls, which form a single unity. Select one: a. one b. two c. three d. four

Three

Necessary truths are: Select one: a. true statements that could be false. b. true statements that could not possibly be false. c. statements known to be true independently of any experience. d. statements known to be true through experience.

True statements that could not possibly be false.

According to Rene Descartes, "clarity and distinctness" was a mark of _____. Select one: a. God b. goodness c. truth Correct d. rationality

Truth

Which of the following views about truth is held by pragmatists in general? Select one: a. Truth is what all investigators will ultimately agree to. b. Truth is relative to place, time, and purpose. c. Truth is what works for the individual. d. Truth is unchanging.

Truth is relative to place, time, and purpose

To acquire Dogen's perspective of the universal Self, one must make continuous effort to do all things: Select one: a. with a parental mind. b. contradictory to Chuang Tzu. c. to seek profit and praise. d. to become closer to the Mikado.

With a parental mind.

Which philosopher is associated with the idea of a language game? Select one: a. Russell b. Rorty c. Dewey d. Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein

Identify the Mahayana Buddhist view that was contradicted by Murasaki Shikibu? Select one: a. Enlightenment requires religious contemplation and study of the sutras. b. Confucian virtues of filial piety, veneration of ancestors, and respect for rank and position are important. c. The Mikado is the greatest earthly kami. d. Women must wait for reincarnation as a male before they can achieve enlightenment.

Women must wait for reincarnation as a male before they can achieve enlightenment.

Identify a true statement about the words associated with women, their occupations, and their bodies in a male-dominated society. Select one: a. Words associated with women tend to have derogatory and insulting slang meanings. b. Words associated with women get reified into objects beyond the human realm. c. Words associated with women vanish from the conversational landscape. d. Words associated with women in a positive light get transformed into male virtues.

Words associated with women tend to have derogatory and insulting slang meanings.

According to Immanuel Kant, the world being "noumenal" means the _____. Select one: a. world as it is in itself, independent of our experiences b. world as it is presented to us through our experiences c. world of mind d. world of matter

World as it is in itself, independent of our experiences

What did Anselm believe about proving God's existence? Select one: a. You could do it using the concept of God as the greatest being conceivable. b. God's existence follows from his definition in just the way that the existence of the most perfect island follows from its definition. c. If you want to prove God's existence, you must first look at how the world is. d. The existence of God can only be known by mystical experience.

You could do it using the concept of God as the greatest being conceivable.

Helene Cixous recognizes that social structures are inherent in language, so she writes at the limits of language in a style called _____ to mitigate the damage done by "masculinist" structures in philosophical writing. Select one: a. binary opposition b. ecriture feminine c. logocentrism d. geisteswissenschaften

ecriture feminine