Deck 4: The Nature of Reality

Question 1

Thales was the first Western philosopher to argue that the ultimate reality was air.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

According to Descartes, Leibniz, and Berkeley, one's own ideas are the only things one can know directly.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

According to Democritus, although things can be created and destroyed, the atoms that they are made of can neither be created nor destroyed.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

According to idealism , the basis of the existence of all things is the mind (whether our own minds or the mind of God).

Question 5

If you were to embrace Spinoza's metaphysics, you would also have to embrace an idea of radical freedom.

Question 6

Heraclitus appears to believe that underlying all change was an eternal principle, logos, that did not change.

Question 7

Contemporary scientists theorize about what is ultimately real, but in complicated mathematical terms that very few laypeople can follow.

Question 8

Descartes was the first idealist.

Question 9

Scientists approach reality as something measurable and testable. Therefore, religious people are unable to accept the findings of science.

Question 10

According to Plato, the "World of Becoming" is more real than the "World of Being."

Question 11

Berkeley's statement "esse est percipi" implies a form of subjective idealism.

Question 12

In the Western metaphysical tradition, there are two tests for what is "most real": that everything else depends on it, and that it is continuously being created and destroyed

Question 13

Plato's belief in the priority of an immaterial and eternal world became the central thesis of Saint Augustine's philosophy, while Aristotle's view of a living, growing, goal-directed universe played an important role in the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Question 14

Aristotle agreed with Plato in holding that forms or substances exist in a separate world, independent of particular things in the world.

Question 15

Because it was built on the "the will to live," Schopenhauer's metaphysics was essentially optimistic.

Question 16

Kant argues that our minds automatically and necessarily impose categories such as space and time on the world we experience, without which we could not make sense of our experience.

Question 17

According to Immanuel Kant, space and time are aspects of the physical world that we discover through experience.

Question 18

According to Bertrand Russell, if reality differs from its appearances, we have to wonder whether we have any way to know what reality is at all.

Question 19

Parmenides thought that the world is unreal because reality, at its core, must be unchanging, and the world is in a state of constant change.

Question 20

Hegel's idealism envisions a single cosmos, an all-embracing Spirit that develops through constant internal conflict.

Question 21

To say that one's ontology is evaluative means that

A)it is beyond theory and argument.
B)it is a branch of ethics.
C)it is a way of weighing what is most basic to our view of the world.
D)it is subjective.

Question 22

Pythagoras thought that numbers were more real than trees and tables because

A)numbers were created by God, while trees and tables were not.
B)numbers were eternal, while trees and tables were not.
C)numbers were social constructions, while trees and tables were not.
D)numbers unlike trees and tables were composed of more basic elements.

Question 23

Plato's "myth of the cave" illustrates the point that

A)people are like cave dwellers when they attend only to physical things, not perceiving what is real directly.
B)people are like cave dwellers, in learning how to perceive true reality without much light.
C)there are three worlds: the world in the cave, the world outside the cave, and the world within the mind.
D)p eople spend their lives cooped up indoors when they might be outside enjoying the beauties of the natural world.

Question 24

Plato's metaphysics combines, but also reinterprets, the perspectives of

A)Anaximander, Thales, and Democritus.
B)Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Parmenides.
C)Heraclitus, Aristotle, and Augustine.
D)Pythagoras and Anaximenes.

Question 25

Spinoza begins by assuming that, because substance is ultimate and totally independent, and because substances cannot interact, there can be only one substance.

Question 26

Cosmology, unlike ontology , is the study of

A)how the most real things have come into being.
B)how the most real things pass out of existence.
C)the cosmos.
D)what is.

Question 27

According to Descartes, there are only two substances, mind and body.

Question 28

The early Greek philosophers' theories were epoch-making because they were attempting to explain the world

A)through appealing to the moods and whims of the gods.
B)through appealing to a single divine Creator, the Demiurge.
C)in terms of an infinite number of principles.
D)in a systematic way, not by appeal to the moods and whims of invisible gods.

Question 29

We are forced to introduce the concept of "reality" by the distinction between

A)what is material and what is spiritual.
B)what appears to be the case, and the "deeper" picture that allows us to explain it.
C)what is sacred and what is profane.
D)what is mind and what is body.

Question 30

When Anne claims that the only things we are ever aware of are our ideas of the world, then she is one step away from

A)monism.
B)idealism.
C)empiricism.
D)materialism.

Question 31

Because Leibniz believed that monads are completely independent of one another and that physical substances are illusions, he was led to conclude that

A)we only actually perceive a virtual   version of the world and one another
B)we actually perceive both a virtual and a real version of the world and one another
C)as minds, we are able, through God, to interact with physical bodies.
D)there was only one substance, God.

Question 32

Modern scientific theories, which postulate a complex system of elements and subatomic particles out of which everything else is made, follow the same basic strategy of explanation as

A)Thales.
B)Aristotle.
C)Parmenides.
D)Hegel.

Question 33

We can understand Heraclitus's claim that the basic nature of reality is an "ever-living Fire" as being similar to

A)the modern view that ultimate reality is not matter but energy.
B)Einstein's general theory of relativity.
C)Democritus, in emphasizing the atoms.
D)Anaximenes's view that reality is air.

Question 34

According to Eddington, the physicist sees a plank on the street as

A)a solid, unyielding object.
B)mostly emptiness consisting of myriads of electrical charges dashing about at great speeds.
C)existing relative to the observer.
D)God, or Absolute Spirit.

Question 35

A problem for Descartes is that if substances are by definition ultimate and totally independent of one another, then

A)how can God create them?
B)how can we know them?
C)how can they interact?
D)how can they be real?

Question 36

Approaches to the question "What is real?" seem to start from two very different places,

A)science and common sense.
B)physical science and biological science.
C)science and religion.
D)folk psychology and scientific psychology.

Question 37

Unlike Plato, Aristotle thought that the world most basically consisted in forms but that these forms

A)were in the World of Being separate from the World of Becoming.
B)were the same as the atoms of Democritus
C)were in things themselves, such as trees and people.
D)could not be known.

Question 38

Charles Hartshorne and Alfred North Whitehead both developed a process philosophy that synthesized science with a teleological metaphysics.

Question 39

For Hegel, what is most real is neither the world of science nor the world of religion but the social world, held together by bonds of kinship and community .

Question 40

According to Spinoza, substance is

A)anything that is an attribute.
B)an extended thing, or body, existing independently of the mind.
C)a monad, or mind, that cannot interact with other monads.
D)one and undivided; we are all part of it, and another name for it is "God."

Question 41

What three things does Leibniz believe are true of monads?

Question 42

While Immanuel Kant thought the Will was subject to human reason and so rational, Arthur Schopenhauer believed it was

A)a blind, violent force operating through us, provoking us to act through desires and passions.
B)rational but based on God's Will.
C)rational but based on the passions and not reason.
D)a pure illusion.

Question 43

What are two of the tests that are usually imposed on the notion of what is "most real"?

Question 44

How did these three pre-Socratic materialists - Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Democritus - identify the nature of ultimate reality?

Question 45

Describe two possible solutions to Descartes's problem of how two different kinds of substances interact.

Question 46

Briefly contrast Descartes's and Spinoza's views on substance, especially on the nature, number, and interaction between substances.

Question 47

Write an essay on how the ontologies of the pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle offer different interpretations of the basic reality of the world.   Focus specifically on the following themes: appearance vs. reality, change vs. stasis, materiality (or physicality)vs. immateriality.

Question 48

By suggesting that what is most real is neither the world discovered by science nor the world believed in by religion but our social world, Hegel questioned the assumption that

A)what is real must be most durable and eternal.
B)what is real must itself be in process.
C)what is real is Spirit.
D)what is real changes.

Question 49

Define ontology .

Question 50

When Bill says that idealism must be wrong because he can touch the table and feel it directly, an idealist could respond by saying that

A)Bill is right.
B)Bill is wrong because there is only substance, God.
C)Bill is wrong because when he touches the table he's only aware of his idea of the table.
D)Bill is wrong because there are both minds and bodies that interact with one another.

Question 51

How does a teleological view of the world differ from a mechanistic one?

Question 52

Give the defining characteristics of Kant's Two Worlds: the World of Nature and the World of Actions, Morals, and Faith.

Question 53

One of the two basic assumptions of Western metaphysical viewpoints is that

A)the universe has a purpose.
B)reality is pure idea.
C)reality is somehow a unity.
D)reality is many.

Question 54

According to Kant, when we act and actually do something,

A)we view our bodies as physical nerves and muscles.
B)we are inhabiting a purely natural world.
C)our bodies simply become the means by which we carry out our intentions, obey certain principles, and achieve certain ends.
D)we can only do so after having proved the principles our actions are based on.

Question 55

Give one argument for idealism.

Question 56

Charles Hartshorne responds to the idea that God is absolutely perfect, and therefore unchangeable, by saying that

A)it is largely correct.
B)it is largely consistent with the Bible.
C)perfection as ordinarily understood excludes change.
D)perfection as ordinarily understood does not exclude change.

Question 57

Why is it impossible to draw a true triangle, and how does this lend support to Plato's theory of Forms?

Question 58

When Kant argues that the world is constituted by us, he means that

A)modern democracies all have constitutions.
B)it is set up by us through categories our minds impose on experience.
C)reality is essentially what we as individuals decide it should be.
D)reality is essentially what different cultures determine it to be.

Question 59

According to Immanuel Kant, we live in two separate but equal worlds:

A)the world of being, and the world of becoming.
B)the world of nature, and the world of action and belief.
C)the world of sense, and the world of intellect.
D)the world of mind, and the world of body

Question 60

In a teleological view of the world, the world

A)is a vast network of efficient causes.
B)is a monad.
C)is like a giant machine.
D)has a telos or goal and is continually developing toward it.

Question 61

Write a fictional argumentative dialogue between two characters who disagree about the basic nature of reality. The two characters can defend any metaphysical viewpoint, including ones developed in Chapter 4. However, any option ought to be defended or criticized with arguments.   Aside from the option you are arguing for and against, your dialogue should address five other philosophers, and/or frameworks discussed in the chapter.   You can use these as a resource for arguments or simply as a means of clarifying your viewpoint. The dialogue can end with agreement, with agreeing to disagree, or with arriving at a new viewpoint that synthesizes their starting standpoints. You may also stage the dialogue as an oral presentation before your class, or make a video of it.

Question 62

Remembering that metaphysics is evaluative, answer question 1 on pages 104 - 105. If you are inclined to add some elements to the list, go ahead and do this.   Make sure you complete the rankings honestly: they should reflect what you actually see in your life, and not simply what you'd like to believe about yourself. Write an essay describing what you observe. Looking at the rankings, try to assess how (if at all)your viewpoint makes the two basic assumptions of Western metaphysics: that what is basically real endures change, and that basic reality forms some kind of unity. Does your metaphysical viewpoint resemble any of those developed in Chapter 4?

Question 63

What is a teleological metaphysics?   How does it differ from a mechanistic metaphysics?   Is there anything in between a mechanistic and teleological viewpoint? Can there be a non-teleological but non-mechanistic viewpoint, or are these exhaustive of all metaphysical possibilities? Focus on six thinkers in Chapter 4, and clarify the teleological, non-teleological, and mechanistic dimensions of their viewpoints. Which viewpoint do you favor and why?

Question 64

Describe the metaphysical views of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz. Focus especially on the nature and quantity of substance and the issue of how substances interact. What common threads do you find in their perspectives?   How do they disagree with one another? Which viewpoint seems strongest to you, and why?

Question 65

Describe the metaphysical viewpoint of idealism. Focus on Berkeley, Leibniz, Kant, Schopenhauer, and Hegel, and spell out the key elements of each of their idealist viewpoints. Is there a central thread that runs through all idealist metaphysics? Then focus on an area of sharp divergence between two or more of these philosophies. In what respects do they disagree with one another? Which of these viewpoints seems strongest to you, and why?