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Philosophy study guide...

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Quiz 1

1. Which of the following best captures democritus’ theory of change? a. Change happens when atoms move and are reconfigured in the void of space 2. Is there any sense in which it is correct to say that Sherlock Holmes exists? Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond “None” a. Metaphysics 3. 4. Which of the following best captures Thales theory of change?one way a. Change is the gaining and relinquishing of apparent properties of an enduring single substance. 4. One way philosophy is like science is that a. They both proceed by theory postulation and justification, critical review and revision. 5. 6. A term which refers to things that can be known through sensory experience. “Observational.” a. Empirical 6. “Would it be immoral to experiment on human embryos?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond none. a. Ethics 7. “ is beauty in objective quality of things or does it merely name a private sensation?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond none. a. Aesthetics 8. Either we continue with the Bush administration's plan for Iraq or we demonstrate to the world that we are a weak, indecisive and conflicted nation, inviting future terrorist attacks. That is why we have to continue with the policies currently in place. What is the unstated, but implied premise of this argument? a. We must/should support the bush administration policies toward iraq.

9. If I give you an argument such that if the premises were true it would raise the probability of the conclusion but the conclusion would still have less than 100% probability of being true, that I have given you a. And inductive argument 10. Does this passage contain an argument? The English word “rubber” what is derived from one of its first uses in great Britain to rub off unwanted pencil marks from a sheet of paper. a. No. 11. Consider the following argument: When I was young we didn’t have the amount of teenage pregnancies and children born out of wedlock that we see today, but we didn’t have the high divorce rate that we have today either. It seems to me that the reason so many children today a growing up with two parents to look after them is because we have many divorces so easy to obtain and evaluate the sanctity of the marriage contract. The underline sentence is a a. Premise 12. From my notes, the name given to the view that there are many divine persons or gods. a. Polytheism 13. From my notes, the name given to the view that everything is the Divine or that all is God. a. Panetheism 14. A two word phrase that means “prior to” or “independent of” experience. a. A priori 15. The ancient Greek god Zeus fails to meet Anselms description of God. This is because a. Zeus is flawed

16. In section IV Of his article on the ontological argument, William Rowe A “magico” is defined as an non-existing magician.

a. True 17. I pointed out that it cannot be the case that everything which is valuable derives its value from something else. This is something because it would lead to ______ _______. What two word phrase goes in the blank? a. Infinite Regress 18. William Rowe points out that for a cosmological argument for the existence of God to work the proponent must first prove that the entity in question exist and then a. Demonstrate that this entity is God 19. I pointed out that, historically, cosmological argument have been used to try to prove the existence of God by a. All of the above.

20. “Does science provide us with objective truth?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond "None" a. Epistemology

21. “Is there a God?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond "None" a. Natural Theology 22. “What is east of the sun and west of the moon?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond "None" a. None

23. One way Philosophy is like Religion is that a. they both seek to answer many of the same questions.

24. “Is beauty an objective quality of things or does it merely name a private sensation?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond "None" a. Aesthetics

25. “Is the Universe infinitely large or is it finitely large?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond "None" a. None

26. His finger prints were on the safe. The very next day he deposited $20,000 in his bank account. The combination to the safe was found written down on a scrap of paper in his handwriting. He has no alibi for the time of the robbery. Therefore he is probably the one who stole the missing $20,000. a. This is an example of abduction/ inference to the best explanation

27. Consider the following argument: All U.S. presidents have been women. Herbert Hoover was a U.S. president. Therefore, Herbert Hoover was a woman. Is the above argument valid? a. Yes

28. What is the unstated, but implied premise in the following argument? Not all homosexual men are weak or effeminate; For instance, Alexander the Great was a homosexual. a. Alexander the Great was neither weak nor effeminate.

29. "Philosophy" is another name for "logic."

a. No

30. From my notes, the name given to the view which holds that there is not enough reason or evidence on either side of the issue to know whether there is a God or not. This view claims that we do not (and perhaps cannot) have knowledge of God's existence or non-existence. a. agnosticism

31. What, according to Kant, is the key controversial premise in Anselm's first formulation of his Argument? a. A thing is greater if it has existence then if it lacks existence.

32. An argument which attempts to prove the existence of God by analyzing what we mean by the word "God." An a priori argument for the existence of God. a. ontological

33. In section IV of his article on the Ontological Argument, William Rowe he claims that Anselm is successful in demonstrating that, given his definition of God, no non-existing thing can instantiate that definition, but this alone does not demonstrate that some existing thing instantiate his definition. a. True

34. An attempt to prove the existence of God by claiming that God is a necessary theoretical presumption for some observable feature of the universe (i.e. movement, causality, existence). a. cosmological

35. The name for the version of the Cosmological Argument developed by Islamic philosophers and theologians. a. kalam

36. The branch of philosophy which analyzes and evaluates the structures of arguments:

a. Logic

37. The term which applies to a process whereby a theory (thesis) gives rise to objections or counter-examples (antithesis), which in turn gives rise to revisions of the original theory (synthesis). The synthesis then becomes the new thesis and begins the process again. (It "loops back" on itself.) a. dialectic

38. Thales was considered the founder of science because he a. offers hypotheses that were subject to rational and evidential evaluation.

39. If I give you an argument such that, if the premises were true the conclusion would have a 100% probability of being true, the I have given you a. a deductive argument.

40. From my notes, the name of the view that there exists no God or gods, that there is nothing Divine or worthy of worship in (or out of) the Universe. a. Atheism

41. From my notes, the name given to the view that there is only one God. a. Monotheism

42. Anselm claims that "God is something than which nothing greater can be thought." What reason does he offer to prove that this is true? a. This is merely what people mean (theists and atheists alike) by the term "God."

43. How does the second formulation of the Anselm's argument differ from that first? a. The first one talks about regular existence and the second talks about necessary existence.

44. In section IV of his article on the Ontological Argument, William Rowe agrees with Immanuel Kant that is it improper to build “existing” in to the definition of a thing. a. True

45. All things that have beginnings had to have causes. The universe had a beginning. Therefore The universe had a cause. I gave this argument as an example of a. A Horizontal Cosmological Argument

50. Which of the following did we identify as an operating assumption of Philosophy? a.Reality can be understood, at least in some measure, by unaided human reason 53. A branch of Philosophy which seeks to answer questions about the nature and structure of reality. It deals with questions of the nature of "being" (i.e. what kinds of things "exist", how are they related to one another, do "non-physical" things exist? etc.). Metaphysics  54. A branch of Philosophy that seeks to answer questions about the nature of knowledge, truth and justification. Epistemology 55. “Is there a God?” Of the branches of philosophy we discussed in class, which one, if any, would seek to answer this question? If none of them, respond "None" Natural Theology

57. A phrase that names a mistake in reasoning where one uses the conclusion of one's argument as a premise to "support" the conclusion. For example, "Abortion is wrong because it is immoral, and anything which is immoral is wrong. Begging

58. What sort of argument is the following? Naristas are merely one form of trinaos. No triano can withstand a temperature of less than 32 degrees below zero, therefore a narista cannot withstand that temperature. a deductive argument.

59. From my notes, the name given to the view which holds that there is not enough reason or evidence on either side of the issue to know whether there is a God or not. This view claims that we do not (and perhaps cannot) have knowledge of God's existence or non-existence. agnosticism

61. The sort of existence a thing is said to have if its existence is dependent upon some other thing or set of things (or laws, history, etc.). Such a thing does not have to exist and we could imagine an alternate reality where this thing, in fact, did not exist. contingent

62. What does Kant think of the claim that existence is a "great-making" property? He says that existence is not a property at all (great-making or otherwise).

65. All things that have beginnings had to have causes. The universe had a beginning. Therefore The universe had a cause.

I mention that contemporary Philosopher William Lane Craig offers this argument and defends premise 2 by citing Science Western philosophy and western science A and C (A. began nearly at the same time C. both offer an alternative mode for explaining phenomena than that which is offered by religious explanations) Consider the following argument: Thinking of buying a house outside your present location? You should avoid asking an agent where you live to make a referral to the new area. This  is because who receives a referral from someone else in the real-estate business is expected to compensate the referrer with 20% of the commission on the sale. That makes some real estate agents over anxious to make referrals, even to agents they do not know well. The underlined sentence is a conclusion The sort of existence a thing is said to have if it could not exist. We can imagine no possible set of circumstances where this thing did exist. Impossible The sort of existence a thing is said to have if it does exist or could have existed. Possible An attempt to prove the existence of God by claiming that God is a necessary theoretical presumption for some observable feature of the universe (i.e. movement, casuality, existence) Cosmological In class we identified "physicalism" as

A metaphysical theory Consider the following argument:

*It is an error to imagine that signifies a constant  tendency to increased perfection.  That process undoubtedly involves a constant remodeling of the organism  in adaptation to new conditions; but it depends upon the nature of those conditions whether the direction of the modification effected shall be upward or downward. (T. H. Huxley, Struggle for Existence in Human Society).

What is the conclusion of this argument? That evolution  does not signify a constant tendency towards increased  perfection.

QUIZ 2

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One potential objection to the Cosmological Argument that I discussed in lecture was that the very question of "why does the universe exist?" may be just a silly pseudo-question which has no answer. - True

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According to William Row, PSR basically states that -

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All things have explanations

One might sum-up up Aquinas's arguments by claiming that, essentially, he is looking for the answer to the question: - Why is there something rather than nothing?

- A good-making quality of theories and explanations which we discussed in class. Theories or explanations are said to possess this if they make use of less extravagant, less controversial assumptions/presumptions than their rival theories or explanations.  - Economy - David Hume criticized the argument from design claiming that even if we concede there is a designer, that would not demonstrate that the designer be perfect God. - True - According the the Natural Selection theory of , it is inevitable to more complex and

ultimately intelligent species would evolve. - False - An attempt to prove the existence of God by claiming that God is the best explanation for the apparent order and purpose in the universe. - telelog design - One deficiency I addressed in my notes with a "Free Will" defense for the O-God permitting evil is that - God, using his omniscience, could have created a world with free beings who He knew would choose to do only good. - One deficiency I addressed in my notes with a "Soul Making" defense for the O-God permitting evil is that - even if suffering allows for the possibility of a "good" like charity, if also allows for an evil like cruelty or indifference.

- Pascal’s argument presumes that our beliefs are under our voluntary control to some extent. - True

- Lycan and Schlesinger claim in their article "You Bet Your Life" that you can use the logic of Pascal’s Wager to determine which “God” to believe in and that - You should believe in the God who promises the worst hell and the best heaven. William James claimed that the existence of evil is sufficient reason to believe that the O-God does not exist.

James would claim that we should suspend belief in cases of insufficient evidence unless we were forced to choose. True

A branch of Philosophy that seeks to answer questions about right human conduct. Ethics

One way Philosophy and Religion are different is that... religion (e.g. Typical Western Religions) accept by faith that some body of text is truth revealed by God and philosophy does not.

One way Philosophy and Science are different is that In science theories are proven empirically and in philosophy theories are not proven empirically.

Which of the following did we identify as an operating assumption of Philosophy. Reality can be understood at least in some measure, by human reason.

-Does the passage contain an argument? Details of the murder came from dozens of interviews with Chico Mendez’s neighbors, relatives and bodyguards, testimony given by witnesses during the pretrial hearings, transcripts of interviews conducted by the local and federal police; and the autopsy report’. No

Jose was born in Cuba, lived there until he was 20 years old and only came to the US five years ago. Maria, Cristina and Juan were all born in Cuba, lived there until each was 20 years only and came to the USA five years ago. Since they all speak Spanish, it is reasonable to assume Jose speaks Spanish too. This is an argument from analogy

-All killing of animals for fur causes them unnecessary pain and suffering.

Which of the following challenges to the above claim is the weakest. ( That is, which challenge can be most easily defeated?) *Those animals are incapable of feeling pain.

The position which claims that there is an explanation for every object in the universe and that there is an explanation for every positive fact. sufficient reason

I mentioned that Bertram Russell was a fierce advocate of the Cosmological Argument. False The main difference between the Argument from Design and Cosmological arguments is that Cosmological Arguments locate God outside of physical reality and the Argument from Design has God acting within physical reality. If is true, then this would show that God is not necessary to explain the bio-diversity and ecological order of the world. The two word phrase employed by proponents of the problem of evil when they refer to sickness, pain and suffering and physical death. physical evil

The ________________________ problem of evil claims that, given the existence of evil, the existence of the O-God is highly improbable. What word goes in the blank? Empirical

Which of the following can NOT be listed as a deficiency with Pascal's Argument? The evidence he offers to prove the existence of God is unconvincing.

Lycan and Schlesinger claim in their article "You Bet Your Life" that you can use the logic of Pascal’s Wager give you strong reason to believe in God, even if you would be tortured and martyred for doing so. True The philosopher who claimed that when we believe something without sufficient evidence we are committing a "sin against mankind." Clifford

1. One potential objection to the Cosmological Argument that I discussed in lecture was that the very question of "why does the universe exist?" may be just a silly pseudo-question which has no answer. a. TRUE 2. If PSR is true, it is impossible that the universe be simply an eternal string of (all and only) contingent objects. a. TRUE 3. All things that have beginnings had to have causes. The universe had a beginning. Therefore The universe had a cause. I mention that this argument is roughly equivalent for St. Thomas Aquinas’

4.

5.

6.

7.

a. None of the above A crucial component of of the Natural Selection theory of is that advantageous traits are passed down to offspring via genetic inheritance. a. TRUE Hume criticized the argument from design claiming that it was unnecessary to appeal to God to explain our bio-diverse world when we have the theory of . a. FALSE Richard Dawkins entitled his book about ary design The Blind Watchmaker a. to challenge Paley’s contention that unintelligent forces for nature could not account for our bio-diverse world. According to J. L. Mackie, whom we discussed in class, one problem with the claim that God is omnipotent is that a. the concept is incoherent and inevitably leads to inconsistencies such as whether or not God can create a free being (a being He cannot control).

8. According to proponents of the Problem of Evil, if God existed then God could eliminate all evil. What support do they offer for this claim? a. because God is all-powerful 9. Which of the following is NOT an unorthodox or non-traditional way of dealing with the Problem of Evil? a. Claim that Evil is necessary in order to help us to develop good character traits. 10. I pointed out that this wager was t...