Deck 2: Philosophy Before Socrates

Question 1

In saying that all things are full of gods, Thales apparently meant that

A) Homer was right in saying that what happens can be attributed to the will of the gods.
B) traditional religious views could be defended after all.
C) explanations of events in the world could be explained in terms of events in the world.
D) science has its limits.

Answer 1

explanations of events in the world could be explained in terms of events in the world.

Question 2

Anaximander's argument for the Boundless as that out of which all things come

A) appeals to the infinite quality of the universe.
B) assumes that observable features of the world all need explaining.
C) holds that explanations can go back and back infinitely far.
D) identifies the Boundless with the gods of Homer's poems.

Answer 2

assumes that observable features of the world all need explaining.

Question 3

How does Anaximander explain the generation of the many things in our experience?

A) By positing a cosmic swirl or vortex which spins like things to like.
B) By a theory of evolution.
C) By an appeal to one god, unlike us in any way.
D) By an infinite regress argument.

Answer 3

By positing a cosmic swirl or vortex which spins like things to like.

Question 4

Xenophanes criticizes the Homeric gods

A) for not coming to our aid when we need them.
B) as unworthy of our admiration and respect.
C) and says there are no gods at all.
D) and substitutes other gods from more moral traditions.

Question 5

Xenophanes says that with respect to the truth,

A) humans have never known it and will never know it.
B) it was revealed to us from of old.
C) even if we knew it, we couldn't know for sure that we knew it.
D) if we seek it, not relying on the stories of the poets, we will be sure to find it.

Question 6

What, according to Heraclitus, is wisdom?

A) Minding your own business and being content with what you have.
B) Satisfying your every desire.
C) Recognizing that life in this world is but a dream.
D) Understanding the thought that steers all things.

Question 7

Most people, Heraclitus says,

A) but not all, are in daily contact with the logos.
B) live as though their thought were private to themselves.
C) are willing and unwilling to be called Zeus.
D) fight against impulse, for what it wants it buys at the expense of the soul.

Question 8

Parmenides is rightly called a rationalist because

A) he rationalizes and deceives himself about the truth.
B) he gives reasons explaining all things, even change.
C) unlike his predecessors, he was a rational person.
D) he is willing to follow the argument wherever it leads.

Question 9

The One of Parmenides is

A) in continuous flux and opposition.
B) unchanging, all alike, and eternal.
C) identical in concept with the Boundless of Anaximander, which spins the many out of its own substance.
D) a useful fiction, Parmenides says, that confers unity on the many diverse things in the universe.

Question 10

Democritus says that sweet and bitter exist by convention. By this he means that

A) if we came to agree they didn't exist, they would disappear.
B) the words "sweet" and "bitter" (or their Greek equivalents) were agreed to by humans at a convention in Athens.
C) their nature depends as much on us as on the things themselves.
D) convention is an avenue into the real.

Question 11

In what way is Thales' statement that water is the origin and

Question 12

What does Thales mean when he says that all things are filled with gods?

Question 13

What is Anaximander's argument for his belief that it cannot be water that is the final explanation of all things, but something Boundless?

Question 14

What is Anaximander's explanation of how the many things of our experience emerge from the Boundless?

Question 15

State Xenophanes' two criticisms of the Homeric gods.

Question 16

How-and how not-according to Xenophanes, are we to learn the truth?

Question 17

How does Heraclitus use the concept of the logos to solve the problem of the one and the many?

Question 18

Explain Heraclitus' saying that "War is the father and king of all."

Question 19

What is Parmenides' argument that there cannot be any change in reality?

Question 20

What is Parmenides' argument that there cannot be many things in reality?

Question 21

Sketch Zeno's paradox of the arrow, and explain why he thought it paid back Parmenides' critics "with interest."

Question 22

Sketch the argument of the atomists-Democritus, for instance-that they claim undermines Parmenides' proof that there cannot be many things.

Question 23

What, according to Democritus, explains the great variety of things in the world?

Question 24

What problem does Democritus' atomism raise for free choice?

Question 25

Sum up Heraclitus' solution to the problem of the one and the many.

Question 26

Heraclitus says, "Wisdom is one thing: To understand the thought which steers all things through all things." Explain.

Question 27

How does Parmenides resolve the problem of reality and appearance? Why does it turn out the way it does?

Question 28

Write a dialogue in which a Parmenidean and an atomist debate about the nature of reality.

Question 29

On atomist principles, what happens to the notion of a cosmic intelligence (a god)? And why?