PHI 112: GREAT PHILOSOPHERS

Review for the Final Examination

Date: December 7, Monday

Time: 10:30am – 12:30am
Location: Franks 120
Format: Multiple-choice questions, using scantron form
Number of questions: 40
Worth: 20% toward the final grade, 0.5 each question

Previous test for Practice

Test 1

1. According to Plato’s distinction between knowledge and opinion, which of the following can be knowledge
rather than merely a matter of opinion?

a. Tiffin University basketball team is a strong team.

b. Cancer is currently an incurable disease.
c. The weather is warm but the water in the lake is cold.
d. Working is miserable and learning is pleasant.

2. Which of the following ways of explaining the nature of the world is an ultimate-truth (reality) theory?

a. Water is the substance of which everything is made.

b. Everything in the world is made of air.
c. The world including all objects in it is made of atoms.
d. The basic foundation of the world is quantitative relation.

3. What is the sophist interested in?

a. Objective truth
b. The victory of argument
c. The ultimate reality
d. The highest knowledge

4. Which of the following describes mythological thinking?

a. The thinking of natural, physical and lawful explanation of the world.

b. The thinking based on critically examined assumption.
c. The thinking based on the conviction that the world was a grand society of living beings.
d. The thinking that does not appeal to emotions and purposes.

5. Plato claims that we are like prisoners in a deep cave, chained to the floor from birth, facing the rear wall of the
cave. By this he means

a. That the world of appearance blocks our vision of higher levels of reality.
b. That the political structure deprives us of our freedom.
c. That we were enslaved from birth and none of us was born free.
d. That we were all born into a wrong world.
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6. “To let no day pass without discussing goodness and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and
examining both myself and others is really the very best thing a man can do. . . life without this sort of examination
is not worth living.” Which of the following is true about this passage?

a. It is a mythological thinking.
b. It is a rational thinking.
c. It is both a mythological thinking and rational thinking.
d. It is neither a mythological thinking nor a rational thinking.

7. Plato believes that the soul consists of three parts. They are

a. Perception, knowledge, memory.

b. Comfort, fame, and truth.
c. Reason, emotion, and appetite.
d. Appetite, emotion, and understanding.

8. Which of the following ways of explaining the nature of the world is a constituency theory?

a. The ultimate basis of everything is something boundless and indeterminate.

b. The world is one solid mass and there are no spaces separating things.
c. The unchanging mathematical relationships are the ultimate reality.
d. The truth about the world is whatever human beings decide it is.

9. Which of the following is an example of rational thinking?

a. The world is made of four elements—earth, air, fire and water.

b. God created the world in six days and he then rested on the seventh day.
c. All parts of the world are living beings, each of which has its own distinct soul.
d. Before the earth was formed the universe was a watery mass out of which the god Atum created himself.

10. “You cannot step into the same river twice.” The philosopher who said this is

a. Parmenides
b. Democritus
c. Heraclitus
d. Protagoras

11. “Man is the measure of all things.” The philosopher who said this is

a. Empedocles
b. Protagoras
c. Anaximenes
d. Pythagoras

12. The first philosopher who systematizes rational inquiry is

a. Plato
b. Thales
c. Anaximander
d. Socrates
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13. What is the ultimate purpose of philosophy according to Plato?

a. To make philosopher the king.

b. To build an ideal education.
c. To search for ideal types or forms.
d. To establish a peaceful society.

14. What does Pythagoras propose as the ultimate nature of the world and the highest truth?

a. Water
b. Fire
c. Number
d. Form

15. Which of the following is not one of the main historical events that affected Plato’s life?

a. The trial of Socrates

b. Plato’s meeting with the Pythagoreans in Italy
c. The Athens-Sparta war
d. The broad decline in morals and intelligence

16. Which of the following best describes Plato’s idea of the ideal person?

a. The one who is able to use reason.

b. The one who can put emotion under the control of reason.
c. The one who can put appetite under the control of reason.
d. The one who is just and whose soul is dominated by reason.

17. Which of the following statements would Plato agree with?

a. Knowledge of forms is knowledge of ideas rather than reality.

b. One must see all cats in order to learn the form of cat.
c. Forms are the universal and eternal structure of the world.
d. Ideal knowledge must be recognizable and acceptable by everyone.

18. Which of the following is not a rational thinking?

a. Truth must be proven by natural means.

b. Genuine explanation of things and changes must be physical.
c. Truth can be explained through connections among things and events.
d. Truth is proven by an appeal to a supernatural being or force.

19. Which of the following statements is incorrect?

a. Plato started the systematic written history of western philosophy.

b. Presocratics initiated the movement of rational inquiry.
c. Western philosophy began around 600 BCE in ancient Greece.
d. Plato taught Socrates how to systemize rational inquiry.

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20. Who said that unexamined life is not worth living?

a. Socrates
b. Protagoras
c. Plato
d. Thales

TEST 2

1. Which of the following statements about Aristotle is correct?

a. Aristotle is a philosopher but not a scientist.

b. Aristotle is a scientist but not a philosopher.
c. Aristotle is both a philosopher and a scientist.
d. Aristotle is both a philosopher and a theologian.

2. In what period of time did Aristotle focus on the studies of metaphysics and methodology?

a. Lyceum period
b. Biologist period
c. Asia Minor period
d. Academy period.

3. According to Aristotle, which of the following is a substance?

a. The main classroom on Tiffin University campus

b. The green colour of Tiffin University logo
c. The oval shape of the US president office
d. The interesting way the US president talks.

4. Which of the following points would Aristotle agree?

a. Form is the subject of substance.

b. Forms are the properties of a substance.
c. Matter is the primary reality.
d. Matter and form are separate existences.

5. According to Aristotle, which of the following is primary reality?

a. Idea
b. Matter
c. Form
d. Substance

6. Which of the following describes Aristotle’s concept of efficient cause?

a. The material constituent of things

b. The source of changes to things.
c. The form and pattern of things
d. The goal or destination or function of things
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7. Of the following functions, which is the highest according to Aristotle?

a. Perceiving the environment

b. Interacting with the environment
c. Reflecting the self
d. Pursuing reproduction

8. Aquinas can be described as the connective tissue between ancient Greek and modern because

a. Aquinas carried forward Greek tradition by harmonizing theology with philosophy.

b. Aquinas taught modern philosophers about Greek philosophical tradition.
c. Aquinas hosted many events for Greek and modern philosophers to meet.
d. Aquinas learned Greek philosophy and established modern philosophy.

9. Why does Aquinas think that philosophy is the handmaid of theology?

a. Because he thinks that philosophy cannot discover truth independently and therefore needs help from
theology.
b. Because he thinks that theology cannot discover truth independently and therefore needs help from
philosophy.
c. Because he thinks that philosophy is instrumental in understanding religious goals.
d. Because he thinks that theology is instrumental in understanding philosophical goals.

10. Which of the following fails to distinguish medieval world view from modern world view?

a. Modern world view harmonizes theology and philosophy.

b. Medieval world view emphasizes on spiritual world rather than material world.
c. Modern world view emphasizes on material world rather than spiritual world.
d. Medieval world view believes that the world can only be known through religious revelation.

11. Which of the following statements about Aquinas’ scholastic method is incorrect?

a. It was developed to juxtapose different opinions for the purpose of finding the truth.
b. It can be used to find some middle ground between extremely different views.
c. It was developed to put out debates for the purpose of achieving social harmony.
d. It can be used as an intellectual exercise for students to learn argumentative skills.

12. Which of the following statements is incompatible with Aquinas’ argument from motion?

a. Things in the world are in motion.

b. Everything that is moves is moved by itself.
c. Everything that moves must be moved by something else.
d. Nothing can be both the moved and the mover.

13. Which of the following statements is compatible with Aquinas’ argument from efficient cause?

a. There is no causal order in the world.

b. Every event is caused by itself.
c. The sequence of efficient causes is infinite.
d. The sequence of efficient causes is finite.
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14. Which of the following is not a point in Aquinas’ argument from gradation of things?

a. In the real world there are different gradations of things.

b. The degrees “more” and “less” are absolute terms.
c. The degrees “more” and “less” are relative terms.
d. The degree “more” or “less” depends on how much it resembles “the most”.

15. Which of the following statements is incorrect about Aquinas’ design argument (or the Fifth Proof)?

a. Aquinas thinks that all things, conscious and unconscious, have been created for a purpose
b. Aquinas thinks that things that lack consciousness don’t function with a purpose.
c. Aquinas thinks that all things, conscious and unconscious, are designed.
d. Aquinas distinguishes between conscious and unconscious beings.

16. Which of the following statements about Aquinas’ views is incorrect?

a. Aquinas thinks that philosophy is useful in many ways but limited in some ways.
b. Aquinas thinks that philosophy can help us understand the truth discovered by revelation.
c. Aquinas thinks that philosophers and theologians are in competition with one another.
d. Aquinas thinks that philosophers don’t constitute a threat to theologians.

17. According to Aristotle, happiness is

a. Fulfilling human nature

b. Gaining power
c. Obtaining reputation
d. Earning money

18. According to Aristotle, which of the following is the final cause of a state?

a. An association of people
b. An arrangement of government offices
c. Self-sufficiency and independence
d. Equality and inequality

19. Aquinas describes a three-step approach to understanding of God through understanding nature; the first step is

a. Recognizing God’s design

b. Seeing the beauty of nature through experience
c. Understanding the harmony of nature through reason
d. Appreciating God’s creative power

20. According to Aquinas’s distinction between natural laws and human laws, which of the following describes
human laws?

a. Tendencies to self preservation

b. Propensities to reproduction
c. Inclinations to avoid ignorance
d. Legal and moral codes
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 TEST 3

1. Which of the following statements about Descartes is incorrect?

a. Descartes is a French philosopher living in the time of 1596-1650.

b. Descartes is usually considered as the founder of modern philosophy.
c. Descartes switches the focus of philosophy from the self to the world.
d. Descartes switches the focus of philosophy from the world to the self.

2. Which of the following is not a factor that compelled Descartes to search for reasonableness?

a. Prevalence of superstitions
b. The trial of Socrates
c. Crisis of religious faith
d. Prevalence of thinking under authorities

3. Which of the following statements about reasonableness is compatible with Descartes’ view?

a. Whatever is reasonable must be consistent and coherent.

b. Whatever is acceptable by someone is reasonable.
c. Whatever majority people like must be reasonable.
d. All public opinions or beliefs are reasonable.

4. Which of the following points would Descartes agree?

a. We are reasonable if we say or do whatever we like to no matter whether we have a reason for it.
b. We are reasonable in saying or doing something if we have relevant, independent, consistent and coherent reasons for
it.

c. We are born free; therefore we are always reasonable regardless of what we say and what we do.
d. We are rational beings; therefore we can never fail to be reasonable.

5. Which of the following is qualified as thinking for oneself?

a. I would like to learn this because my teacher says that it is required.

b. I don’t want to learn this because it is not part of my job description.
c. I would like to learn this because I don’t know anything about it.
d. I don’t want to learn this because my parents don’t want me to.

6. Which of the following is a symptom of intellectual independence?

a. “This must be true because the president says so.”

b. “I don’t think that I have found the truth because it is contrary to the book.”
c. “This must be true because I can’t accept anything otherwise.”
d. “I would think so because I feel compelled to believe it by all those reasons.”

7. According to Descartes, which of the following ideas is certain?

a. I heard many cars passing through the tunnel.

b. I saw many cars passing through the tunnel.
c. I saw a blue bird flying over the tree.
d. I seem to see a blue bird flying over the tree.

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8. Which of the following statements about Locke is correct?

a. Locke is an empiricist and a public intellectual.

b. Locke is a French philosopher living in the time of 1596-1650.
c. Locke is a theologian living in the Middle Age.
d. Lock is a scientist and philosopher before Descartes.

9. Which of the following distinguishes Locke from Descartes?

a. Descartes’ philosophy focuses on the world, whereas Locke’s philosophy focuses on the mind and knowledge.

b. Lock’s philosophy focuses on the world, whereas Descartes’ philosophy focuses on the mind and knowledge.

c. Descartes changes the focus of philosophy, but Locke does not follow Descartes’ epistemological turn and he
continues to emphasize on the study of the world.

d. Descartes changes the focus of philosophy, and Locke follows the new trend by providing more focused studies of
how the mind works to acquire knowledge.

10. Which of the following is not Locke’s view of the mind?

a. The mind is a sort of receptacle that stores experiences.

b. The mind is a different kind of substance from material substance.
c. The mind is like a slate or tablet that is blank at birth.
d. The mind at birth is like a white paper upon which nothing is inscribed.

11. Which of the following is Locke’s view of knowledge?

a. Basic knowledge is a set of ideas with which the mind is equipped at birth.
b. Whatever is perceived by the mind is already in the mind.
c. Knowledge in the mind is like the inscriptions on a paper and it is derived from experience.
d. Knowledge in the mind is like the inscriptions on a paper and it is part of the mind at birth.

12. Which of the following is not Locke’s view of sense perception?

a. Sense perception is the only source of our knowledge.

b. Whatever was never perceived by the mind was never in the mind.
c. Sense perception is not the source of our knowledge.
d. Sense perception is the foundation of all our knowledge.

13. Which of the following statements describes Locke’s distinction between simple and complex ideas?

a. Simple ideas are innate ideas and complex ideas are ideas acquired through sense experience.
b. Simple ideas are ideas of particular qualities and complex ideas are combinations of simple ideas.
c. Simple ideas are acquired through sense experience and complex ideas are combinations of innate ideas.
d. Simple ideas are manufactured by understanding and complex ideas are direct products of sense perception.

14. According to Locke’s primary/secondary qualities distinction, which of the following is a primary quality?

a. Cold
b. Smooth
c. Heavy
d. Round

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15. Which of the following is Locke’s view on primary and secondary qualities?

a. Secondary qualities are subjective and primary qualities are objective.

b. Primary qualities are subjective and secondary qualities are objective.
c. Ideas of secondary qualities resemble their causes.
d. Ideas of primary qualities do not resemble their causes.

16. Which of the following correctly describes Locke’s view on the collaboration of perception and understanding in
producing knowledge?

a. Perception receives impressions and understanding processes impressions to produce knowledge.

b. Perception produces knowledge and understanding refines knowledge.
c. Perception inscribes knowledge on the mind and understanding reflects on knowledge produced by perception.
d. Perception receives impressions and understanding creates knowledge independently of perception.

17. Descartes argues that we should think by ourselves and not simply rely on authorities because

a. No human being is infallible.

b. Authorities are generally unreliable.
c. We are not fallible if we think by ourselves.
d. Authorities are infallible.

18. Descartes is considered the founder of modern philosophy because

a. He is the first rationalist philosopher in the modern time.

b. He is the first empiricist philosopher in the modern time.
c. He rejects both rationalism and empiricism.
d. He inspires both rationalism and empiricism.

19. Locke says: “our observation employed either about external sensible objects; or about the internal operations of our
minds, perceived and reflected by ourselves, is that which supplies our understandings with all the materials of thinking.”
In this passage Locke makes a conceptual distinction between

a. Simple ideas and complex ideas

b. External senses and internal senses
c. Primary qualities and secondary qualities
d. Mind and knowledge

20. John Locke is

a. a German philosopher
b. a Greek philosopher
c. an English philosopher
d. a medieval philosopher

TEST #4

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1. Which of the following statements about Hume is correct?

a. Hume thinks that human beings are basically irrational but unlimited in knowledge.
b. Hume is a critic of the eighteenth century enlightenment movement in Western society.
c. Hume fully supports the eighteenth century enlightenment movement in Western society.
d. Hume thinks that human beings are completely rational but limited in knowledge.

2. Which of the following is Hume’s view on the relationship between ideas and sensory impressions?

a. All ideas are accompanied with mental images of sensory impressions.

b. Sensory impressions are mental representations of ideas.
c. All ideas are direct or indirect representations of sensory impressions.
d. Sensory impressions are exact but less vivid copies of ideas with mental images.

3. What are the main intellectual sources of Hume’s philosophy?

a. The sceptic tradition, Descartes’ rationalism, and Lock’s empiricism

b. Plato’s theory of form and Aristotle’s philosophy of science
c. Aquinas’ philosophy of theology, Plato’s and Aristotle’s theories of form
d. Kant’s theory of experience, theory of the mind, and theory of three judgements.

4. Of the following sets of ideas, some contain only universal ideas, some contains only particular ideas, and some
contains both. Which one contains both according to Hume?

a. The ideas of airplane, planet, tree, animal, furniture, automobile, and building
b. The ideas of my watch, the person standing in distance, the hammer he is using
c. The ideas of university, business company, country, culture, ethnicity, religion
d. The ideas of the table over there, flower, humans, the pen in my hand, and desk

5. Of the following ideas, some are relations of ideas and some are matters of fact. Which one is a relation of
ideas?

a. Tiffin University is a professional university

b. More and more countries are developing nuclear weapons.
c. Crows are black and swans are white.
d. Twenty multiplied by five equals eighty five.

6. Which of the following is Hume’s view of causation?

a. Causal relations are pre-established by God at the time he created the world.
b. Cause and effects are solely determined by observing which event happens first.
c. Causes and effects are determined by our mental custom.
d. Causal relations are constant conjunction of events independent of any observer.

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7. Why does Hume think that our idea of the self is an illusion?

a. Because Hume thinks that our idea of self is in no sense a copy of our sensory impressions.
b. Because Hume thinks that we are often mistaken about ourselves and we can never sure who we are.
c. Because Hume thinks that the idea of self is a universal idea and it can never be true.
d. Because Hume thinks that we can always doubt ourselves and hence we are never sure about ourselves.

8. Which of the following points is the one with which Hume would not agree?

a. Philosopher’s job is to analyze the process of thinking.

b. The mind is born some innate ideas that help us understand the world.
c. Many of our normal beliefs are illusory and philosophy challenges those beliefs.
d. Whatever we have in mind already exist in our perception.

9. Which of the following correctly describes Karl Marx?

a. Karl Marx is a German rationalist philosopher.

b. Karl Marx is a British empiricist philosopher
c. Karl Marx is a French rationalist philosopher.
d. Karl Marx is a world philosopher.

10. What is the purpose of philosophy according to Marx?

a. Explaining the world.

b. Constructing theories.
c. Changing the world.
d. Changing thoughts.

11. What is the focus of philosophy according to Marx?

a. The human world

b. The Self
c. The whole universe
d. The World Spirit

12. Which of the following is not a point in the materialist conception of history?

a. Human history is a history of the people.

b. How people think determine social reality.
c. Social reality determines people’s thoughts.
d. Human history is not merely a history of kings, queens and heroes.

13. What is alienation according to Marx?

a. Aliens who lived in a remote galaxy are now trying to conquer humans.
b. The creatures become independent of, and hostile to, the creator.
c. Human beings depart earth and establish a new life in another galaxy.
d. A person abandons human society and lives in wild nature.

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14. What are the symptoms of alienation from the product of labor according to Marx?

a. Products are made successfully but cannot be sold.

b. Products can be sold but do not make profits.
c. Objectification of worker’s essential subjectivity
d. Fetishism and money worship

15. What is the alienation from the activity of labor according to Marx?

a. Working becomes means to earn life and labour become commodities for sell.
b. Working becomes enjoyment of life and labour become realization of the self.
c. Freedom in choosing workplace and work time.
d. Freedom in choosing professions and working styles.

16. What is alienation from the species being according to Marx??

a. Workers are often injured in their workplaces.

b. Workers are members of human being.
c. Workers become specialized tools for commercial ends.
d. Workers are characteristically doing free and self-conscious activities.

17. What is the goal of Hume in developing philosophy?

a. To perfect Locke’s empiricism

b. To defeat scepticism
c. To establish a science of human nature
d. To show that human by nature is irrational

18. Which of the following is not Hume’s point?

a. Some matters of fact are necessarily false.

b. All matters of fact are possible true.
c. Relations of ideas are necessarily true if they are true.
d. Relations of ideas are necessarily false if they are false.

19. According to Marx, every society consists of a three-tier structure. These three tiers are

a. Municipal government, provincial government, and federal government

b. Workplaces, communities, and government
c. Productive forces, relations of production, and superstructure
d. Working class, Serving class, and ruling class

20. What are the three main features of capitalism according to Marx?

a. Free market, free labor, and free trade

b. Private property, labor as commodity, and commodity production
c. Free market, private property, and human right
d. Alienation, commodity production, and humanization

- The End -
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