Deck 5: The Philosopher-King: Plato

Question 1

Sparta surrendered to Athens in 404 B.C.E.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

You must be a US citizen to be the President of the United States.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Plato s Republic is perhaps the most-read work of Western philosophy.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Plato believed that a corrupt state produces corrupt citizens.

Question 5

Pericles was an architect who specialized in houses.

Question 6

Plato held that a Heraclitean world would be one of stasis.

Question 7

Socrates was executed.

Question 8

A Heraclitean world would be devoid of the possibility of certainty, according to Plato.

Question 9

Democracy is the best form of government.

Question 10

The presidency of the United States has only four requirements.

Question 11

Plato is the nickname of Aristotle.

Question 12

Plato founded the Garden.

Question 13

You must be a certain age to be the President of the United States.

Question 14

Platonic Forms are known through experience.

Question 15

Plato could avoid the challenge of sophistic skepticism.

Question 16

Solon was a lawgiver.

Question 17

The Thirty ruled Athens for a short time.

Question 18

Plato believed that he could give the best lecture on an ideal society.

Question 19

Plato offered a dualistic solution to the problem of knowledge.

Question 20

Platon means wide in Greek.

Question 21

An example of a higher metaphysical Form is

A) the Good
B) Form Human
C) Mother Teresa
D) A picture of Mother Teresa

Question 22

Plato believed that knowledge and opinion were the same.

Question 23

The Greek word eidos is sometimes translated as idea .

Question 24

Plato was a skeptic.

Question 25

Who developed the example of the Divided Line?

A) Heraclitus
B) Plato
C) Aristotle
D) Cicero

Question 26

Plato believed that truths about mathematics exist whether we know them or not.

Question 27

For Plato, scientific knowledge of particulars

A) was easy to come by
B) was provided by the Forms
C) was impossible
D) was provided by experience

Question 28

Who held that the parable of the Cave was unforgettable?

A) Plato
B) Jaspers
C) Aristotle
D) Marx

Question 29

What is not part of the intelligible world, but part of the visible world?

A) The Good
B) Reality
C) Truth
D) The Sun

Question 30

What did Plato compare the absolute Form of the Good to?

A) The Moon
B) Mind
C) The Sun
D) A philosopher king

Question 31

The lowest level of truth for Plato is

A) Reasoning
B) Perception
C) Imagination
D) Understanding

Question 32

What Plato meant by Forms is clear.

Question 33

How did Plato respond to relativism?

A) He wanted to deny it
B) He endorsed it
C) He wanted to refute it
D) He wanted to prove it

Question 34

Plato believed that the Sophists could discover truth.

Question 35

How many metaphysical levels of reality were there for Plato?

A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5

Question 36

Plato did not believe that Forms actually existed.

Question 37

Plato wanted the theory of the Forms to provide an explanation of how knowledge is possible.

Question 38

In what Book of the Republic does Plato s Allegory of the Cave occur?

A) 4
B) 7
C) 11
D) 9

Question 39

The Forms do not include logical relations.

Question 40

Plato s views on the Forms are only of historical interest to us.

Question 41

What did Plato think should rule the soul?

A) Love
B) Justice
C) Desire
D) Reason

Question 42

What type of morality does Plato argue for?

A) Instrumental
B) Functionalist
C) Egoist
D) Relativist

Question 43

Outline Plato s view of reality. Do you agree with his reasoning for this, or not? Explain your answer.

Question 44

For Plato, a democratic state is one of constant

A) security
B) justice
C) becoming
D) poverty

Question 45

Do you agree with Plato that there can be excessive freedom? Why, or why not? Explain your answer.

Question 46

What type of knowledge gains no hold on the mind, for Plato?

A) False knowledge
B) That acquired under compulsion
C) That acquired unjustly
D) Scientific knowledge

Question 47

What did Plato think was the excellence of function for the whole ?

A) Justice
B) Health
C) Virtue
D) Security

Question 48

What is discussed in the first book of the Republic ?

A) Art alone
B) Justice
C) Poetry
D) Knowledge alone

Question 49

Do you believe hat ignorance is bliss ? Why, or why not? Would Plato agree? Do you think that knowledge is always valuable? Argue for your answer, and illustrate it through examples.

Question 50

According to Plato, the levels of reality correspond to how many types of people?

A) 3
B) 5
C) 7
D) 4

Question 51

For Plato, virtue is

A) an excellence of function
B) a function of striving
C) impossible to achieve
D) easy to achieve

Question 52

How many categories of needs does a just state meet?

A) 3
B) 5
C) 7
D) 9

Question 53

What did Plato compare the soul to in the Phaedrus ?

A) A chariot without a horse
B) A chariot pulled by two horses
C) The Sun
D) The Sun obscured by clouds

Question 54

Who coined the term utopia ?

A) Plato
B) More
C) Cicero
D) Aquinas

Question 55

Outline Plato s Allegory of the Cave. What do you think is the main lesson that he wished to communicate through this? Do you agree with Plato s views here? Why, or why not? Explain your answer.

Question 56

Philosopher-kings serve as

A) Guardians
B) Workers
C) Warriors
D) Merchants

Question 57

Outline two differing ways of understanding Plato s theory of the Forms. Which do you think is most persuasive (a) as an account of what Plato wrote, and (b) as an approach to epistemology. Explain your answer.

Question 58

Who held that the greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves ?

A) Plato
B) Homer
C) Socrates
D) Sophocles

Question 59

The moral position that right and wrong can be understood in terms of their effect on something s functions is

A) a functionalist theory of morality
B) a realist theory of morality
C) an instrumental theory of morality
D) a deontological theory of morality

Question 60

How many people have power in a tyranny?

A) 1
B) 3
C) 5
D) 7

Question 61

Do you agree with Plato s assessment of the epistemological value of imagination. or not? What implications, if any, does your response have for the contemporary debate over whether or not the arts should be (at least in part) publicly funded?

Question 62

In what way is Plato s Republic a meritocracy? Does this make it a more or less appealing way or organizing society, in your view?

Question 63

What are the differences between knowledge and opinion, for Plato? How might Plato s views here influence his view of the value of democracy?