Deck 13: Augustine: God and the Soul

Question 1

Although the glory of Rome faded as the early Middle Ages settled over western Europe, philosophy survived in Byzantium for another thousand years or so because

A) Persians invaded the Byzantium.
B) the Greek language predominated there, making it easy for the Byzantines to continue the study of Western philosophy.
C) Natives from Greece settled in Byzantium.
D) The Romans passed over the legacy of philosophy to the Byzantines.

Answer 1

the Greek language predominated there, making it easy for the Byzantines to continue the study of Western philosophy.

Question 2

The Abbasid caliphate united people of many different cultures and religions under a single ruler, which was instrumental in

A) the flowering of arts, science, and philosophy.
B) the consolidation of religious rule.
C) promoting fundamentalist ideas.
D) The suppression of religious sciences.

Answer 2

the flowering of arts, science, and philosophy.

Question 3

The word signifies

A) the absolute unity of God.
B) the superiority of Islam over other religions.
C) the principle of non-duality.
D) beliefs in duality.

Answer 3

the absolute unity of God.

Question 4

To claim that Greek philosophy conveyed "the truth," tried to show that it did not conflict

A) with common sense.
B) with the principles of philosophical demonstration.
C) with the principles of mathematics and astronomy.
D) with the teachings of Islam.

Question 5

takes up the old problem of the one and the many in order to

A) prove that the universe is created.
B) show that God is the sole creator of the cosmos.
C) establish the tenets of Ptolemaic astronomy.
D) prove that the universe is eternal.

Question 6

uses the tools of Aristotelian philosophy

A) to argue against the Aristotelian view of the eternity of the world, since Islam opposes it.
B) to show the world was created ex nihilo.
C) to establish the Platonic Forms.
D) to prove that geocentricism is false.

Question 7

According to , the Active Intellect

A) is a material intellect.
B) looks after the affairs of the celestial realm.
C) is a co-creator of the world.
D) thinks the abstract ideas.

Question 8

is called the "the Second Master"

A) because of his religious aspiration.
B) because of his logical and philosophical acumen.
C) because he was a great musician.
D) due to his Turkic or Persian ancestry.

Question 9

According to ,

A) religion hinders philosophical progress.
B) philosophy needs religion in order to affirm truth.
C) only philosophy can produce genuine knowledge.
D) both religion and philosophy can produce genuine knowledge.

Question 10

says that prophets come to know God

A) not through the rational demonstrations of philosophy, but
Through the revelatory visions of the imagination.
B) both through the rational demonstrations of philosophy and via
Revelatory visions.
C) through powerful intuitions.
D) through the rational demonstrations of philosophy.

Question 11

For the highest form of knowledge is called

A) opinion.
B) absolute certitude.
C) divine inspiration.
D) Revelation.

Question 12

Avicenna's philosophical system can be characterized as

A) Aristotelian.
B) Aristotelianism suffused with Neoplatonic and Islamic elements.
C) Neoplatonic.
D) Platonic.

Question 13

According to Avicenna, Aristotelian metaphysics overlooks the question of

A) form.
B) time.
C) essence.
D) existence.

Question 14

Aristotle's God, unlike that of Avicenna,

A) is a God of motion, not existence.
B) is a substance.
C) is a Platonic form.
D) is an immaterial intellect.

Question 15

For Avicenna, the element of existence, whenever we find it in the external world,

A) is caused by the Active Intellect.
B) is uncaused.
C) is additional to a thing's essence.
D) is an active force of nature.

Question 16

To say that something's existence is possible in itself, as opposed to necessary in itself, is to say that

A) it is a combination of form and matter.
B) it requires both essence and existence from an external agency.
C) its essence does not require its existence.
D) its existence does not require its essence.

Question 17

In Avicenna's view, God can

A) only know about universals.
B) only know about particulars.
C) know both particulars and universals.
D) know particulars by way of universals.

Question 18

The Flying Man thought experiment

A) proves the immateriality of the soul.
B) proves the separate existence of the soul.
C) Both A and B
D) shows the pre-existence of the soul before birth.

Question 19

Methodic Experience is

A) is mode of perception.
B) experience of one thing following another over many repetitions, either always or with few exceptions.
C) is a sort of mystical experience.
D) a powerful epistemological tool to do philosophy.

Question 20

For , certain knowledge is

A) something in which there is no room for doubt, error or deception.
B) unattainable.
C) philosophical demonstration.
D) divine inspiration.

Question 21

A) denies causality.
B) upholds occasionalism.
C) does not take a definite stance on the denial of causality.
D) affirms causality.

Question 22

believes that

A) through mystical practice one can attain miraculous power.
B) Sufism has all the answers.
C) philosophy can help us discover God.
D) through mystical practices one can attain experiential knowledge of God and the world, which is ineffable.

Question 23

Islam departs from other religions in stating that the prophets are not divine.

Question 24

seems to have developed his fondness for the tactic of reductio ad absurdum by reading an Arabic translation of Euclid's geometrical treatise, the Elements.

Question 25

believes that the world is eternal.

Question 26

According to , the purpose of religion is to enable people who are incapable of philosophy to enter heaven and avoid hell by ensuring that they have right opinions about God, the universe, and the proper way to live.

Question 27

For the material world emanates from God

Question 28

The human intellect grasps universal forms only when the Active Intellect illuminates them.

Question 29

For the highest form of knowledge involves scientific demonstrations of truths about abstract universals and the changeable, contingent features of the world.

Question 30

From an Avicennan perspective, Aristotle takes existence for granted.

Question 31

For Avicenna, each person's soul comes into being when the person is born; it does not have pre-existence.

Question 32

In Avicenna's view, induction can provide the foundations for genuine knowledge.

Question 33

For Avicenna, as for , the universe is both eternal and created.

Question 34

attack on philosophy successfully put an end to philosophy in the Islamic world.

Question 35

The Sufis were people who pursued knowledge of God through practices designed to achieve a higher state of consciousness.

Question 36

What is the principle of tawḥīd? How does it differ from the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity?

Question 37

How does al-Kindī explain the one-many relationship?

Question 38

How does al-Kindī prove that "multiplicity" is real?

Question 39

How does al-Kindī square the principle of tawḥīd with claim that the relationship of the one-many underpins all physical things?

Question 40

What is the role of religion in al-Fārābī's philosophy?

Question 41

Describe al-Fārābī's concept of "absolute certitude."

Question 42

What is the role of the Active Intellect in ordinary and prophetic perception?

Question 43

How would you explain Avicenna's essence-existence distinction?

Question 44

What is the Flying Man argument supposed to prove?

Question 45

What is the difference between induction and methodic experience in Avicenna's philosophy?

Question 46

How does God know particulars according to Avicenna?

Question 47

What argument does al-Ghazālī give for doubting the things he learns by way of reasoning?

Question 48

What is the difference between Avicenna's and al-Ghazālī's way of understanding God's perfection?

Question 49

The philosophers discussed in this chapter offer different views about the relationship between reason and revealed religion. Do you think any of them are correct? Why or why not?

Question 50

Describe al-Fārābī's theory of emanation that features the Active Intellect as the tenth and the last intellect.

Question 51

Compare and contrast al-Kindī's, al-Fārābī's and Avicenna's views on the "eternity of the world."

Question 52

Do you think al-Ghazālī denies causality? Would you consider him an occasionalist?

Question 53

What do you make of Avicenna's proof of the existence of God? Do you think it is defensible? Why or why not?

Question 54

How does Avicenna's essence-existence distinction reform Aristotle's hylomorphism?

Question 55

The continuing importance of the basic outlooks of Plato and Aristotle can be illustrated through a comparison of Augustine and Aquinas, both Christians, but different in so many ways.

Question 56

After students have understood the proofs for God's existence in this chapter, you might ask them to choose one proof and write a half-page to a full page on it by way of critique. Your evaluation of their criticism should be a useful learning experience for them.