Deck 2: The Pre-Socratics and the Sophists

Question 1

Philosophy began in ancient __________ in the sixth century BCE.

A) Egypt
B) Greece
C) China
D) Persia

Answer 1

B

Question 2

According to tradition, __________ was the first philosopher.

A) Socrates
B) Anaximander
C) Parmenides
D) Thales

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to Thales, the universe is fundamentally __________.

A) material stuff
B) water
C) fire
D) air

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Thales's great contribution to philosophy and science is (are) his __________, whereby he sought natural and simple explanations for natural phenomena.

A) thought
B) conjecture
C) scientific instruments
D) method

Question 5

__________ is said to have been a pupil of Thales.

A) Socrates
B) Anaximander
C) Parmenides
D) Heraclitus

Question 6

Anaximander contends that everything came from a formless, imperishable substance called __________.

A) apeiron
B) water
C) atoms
D) the void

Question 7

__________ is the central idea of Heraclitus.

A) Apeiron
B) The logos
C) Paradox
D) Atomism

Question 8

Heraclitus claims that although all things __________, they are really __________.

A) compete; symbiotic
B) move; fluctuating
C) are unchanging; eternal
D) flow; unchanging

Question 9

According to Heraclitus, we should strive to maintain __________ in our lives.

A) intellectual self-discipline
B) virtuous activity
C) balance and moderation
D) pleasure and the absence of pain

Question 10

Among other things, Parmenides is famous for his systematic __________.

A) employment of deductive argument
B) employment of inductive argument
C) employment of fallacious argument
D) interpretation of astronomical signs

Question 11

Parmenides distinguishes between appearance and __________.

A) seeming
B) reality
C) non-being
D) authenticity

Question 12

Parmenides argues that reality consists of the __________.

A) Infinite
B) Many
C) One
D) Finite

Question 13

__________ argues that it is impossible to think or talk of "what is not."

A) Thales
B) Parmenides
C) Heraclitus
D) Democritus

Question 14

Among the features of reality, according to Parmenides, is __________.

A) uniformity
B) difference
C) instability
D) plurality

Question 15

According to Parmenides, reality is __________.

A) illusory
B) fluctuating
C) uncreated
D) created

Question 16

Democritus advances the theory known as ancient __________.

A) monism
B) mechanics
C) relativism
D) atomism

Question 17

Democritus's theory includes the view that reality consists of __________ and the void.

A) atoms
B) indestructible composites
C) composites
D) electrons

Question 18

Democritus posits the void, which is __________.

A) what we today call a black hole
B) an airless space
C) not the same as nothing
D) the same as nothing

Question 19

Democritus explains events in __________.

A) divine terms
B) terms of predestination
C) terms of human will
D) mechanistic terms

Question 20

Sophists were __________.

A) public servants
B) poets
C) itinerant professors
D) religious prophets

Question 21

The Sophists prefer __________ explanations of phenomena.

A) purely deductive
B) divine
C) naturalistic
D) relativistic

Question 22

According to the Sophists, __________ are determined neither by the gods nor nature.

A) moral codes and scientific explanations
B) scientific explanations and legal codes
C) moral beliefs and legal codes
D) religious beliefs and moral beliefs

Question 23

__________ famously declared, "Man is the measure of all things."

A) Protagoras
B) Democritus
C) Zeno
D) Heraclitus

Question 24

Plato __________ Protagoras's position.

A) utterly rejects
B) generally endorses
C) completely embraces
D) thoroughly respects

Question 25

The Sophists were skilled at, among other things, __________.

A) horticulture
B) dentistry
C) animal husbandry
D) rhetoric

Question 26

__________ asserts, "if it came into being, it is not; nor is it if ever it is going to be."

A) Anaximander
B) Heraclitus
C) Parmenides
D) Democritus

Question 27

Zeno supports __________ view with a number of paradoxes.

A) Anaximander's
B) Heraclitus'
C) Parmenides'
D) Democritus'

Question 28

__________ is credited with promoting the view that through unaided reason, we can come to know what the world is like.

A) Anaximander
B) Heraclitus
C) Parmenides
D) Democritus

Question 29

__________ asserts, "Moderation is the greatest virtue."

A) Anaximander
B) Heraclitus
C) Parmenides
D) Democritus

Question 30

One commonality between Socrates and the Sophists was the latter's focus on __________ inquiries.

A) astronomical
B) humanistic
C) meteorological
D) metaphysical

Question 31

Thales thought one substance could account for everything in the universe.

Question 32

According to Heraclitus, there is an underlying, unchanging sameness behind the flux of things.

Question 33

Heraclitus rejects the idea of an organizing principle of the universe.

Question 34

Parmenides asserts, "All things are one."

Question 35

The basic outlines of natural selection were first articulated by Empedocles.

Question 36

According to Zeno, there is no such thing as motion.

Question 37

Zeno's paradoxes are intended to demonstrate the multiplicity of things in the universe.

Question 38

Atoms, according to Democritus, are indivisible, minute bits of stuff that move randomly in an infinite void.

Question 39

According to ancient atomism, atoms consist of neutrons and protons.

Question 40

Thales posits that the Earth floats on water like a raft.

Question 41

Anaximander posits that the Earth is suspended in space at the center of the universe.

Question 42

According to Plato, relativism is inconsistent because if all sincerely held beliefs are equally true, then two opposing beliefs are true at the same time.

Question 43

The relativist is committed to the view that there are objective truths.

Question 44

Subjective relativism is the view that truth depends on what the individual accepts as true, not on the way things are.

Question 45

Cultural relativism implies that other cultures are beyond moral criticism.

Question 46

Cultural relativism implies that social reformers like Martin Luther King Jr. are wrong about the possibility of moral progress.

Question 47

The Sophists hold that absolute knowledge is attainable.

Question 48

Heraclitus claims that the logos is constantly in flux.

Question 49

Of all the early Greek notions about the nature of the universe, Democritus's theory comes closest to that of modern scientists.

Question 50

Parmenides is a pluralist who holds that there are multiple things in the universe.