Deck 7: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life

Question 1

Leo Tolstoy discovered the meaning of life,through the influence of

A) the faith of simple,uneducated peasants.
B) philosophers who provided him with an intellectual basis for faith.
C) scientists who showed that science and religion can be reconciled.
D) another respected novelist who had recently found faith.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

There are both religious and atheistic existentialists.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Leo Tolstoy's view on faith and reason is that

A) reason provides no answers to the meaning of life,only faith does.
B) reason can lead us to the meaning of life,but the majority of people are weak and need faith.
C) all faith must be grounded in reason.
D) only reason should be our guide in life,for faith does not provide us with what we need.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

According to Jean-Paul Sartre,it is wrong to say that someone is born a coward or born a hero.

Question 5

Søren Kierkegaard was one of the 19^th-century founders of the contemporary movement known as

A) rationalism.
B) utilitarianism.
C) existentialism.
D) natural theology.

Question 6

A characteristic of the philosophy of existentialism is its stress that all human actions are determined.

Question 7

According to Socrates,to answer the question "What is my life all about?" we need to know what human existence,in general,is all about.

Question 8

The mosaic metaphor was used to illustrate the view that there are many different meaningful patterns that can be composed within each individual's life.

Question 9

A major difference between Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy and that of Jean-Paul Sartre is that

A) Kierkegaard is an existentialist and Sartre is not.
B) Sartre is an existentialist and Kierkegaard is not.
C) Kierkegaard is religious and Sartre is not.
D) Sartre is religious and Kierkegaard is not.

Question 10

According to your text,only the religious person is concerned with the question of the meaning of life.

Question 11

Hazel Barnes argues that if there were some ultimate purpose we were meant to fulfill,that would restrict our freedom and creativity.

Question 12

Nihilism is the claim that

A) the meaning of life can be found in a relationship to God.
B) there are no values worth pursuing in life.
C) pleasure is the only thing that gives life meaning.
D) the meaning of life can be found in different ways for different people.

Question 13

According to Søren Kierkegaard,philosophy should be objective and free of all subjectivity.

Question 14

The metaphor of the jigsaw puzzle was used to illustrate the view that there is no one,right answer to the meaning of life.

Question 15

According to your text,the position of secular-humanism characterizes those who believe

A) that there is a pre-given purpose to human life.
B) it is impossible to find purpose in our lives.
C) there is no one,ultimate meaning in human life,but each person can live a life that has meaning.
D) the meaning of life is itself a meaningless question and we should not search for what cannot be found.

Question 16

Hazel Barnes's view of the meaning of life was influenced by

A) the ancient Stoics.
B) Schopenhauer.
C) Søren Kierkegaard.
D) Jean-Paul Sartre.

Question 17

Leo Tolstoy found the resolution to all his doubts in philosophical arguments for the existence of God.

Question 18

Some philosophers argue that the question "What is the meaning of life?" is a meaningless one.

Question 19

Hazel Barnes uses the analogy of the Chinese checkerboard to make the point that

A) life is meaningless,because there is no pre-existing pattern that can be discovered.
B) we must create our own pattern in life.
C) there is a set pattern that we must follow in life.
D) each event in life is determined by previous events.

Question 20

According to Kierkegaard,achieving self-knowledge is more like achieving mathematical knowledge than it is achieving physical fitness.

Question 21

Either defend or criticize the following view."If life is to be meaningful,there must be some ultimate transcendent,enduring values and the meaning of life is found in some ultimate purpose that humans are given." Be sure to provide persuasive reasons for your position.

Question 22

Concerning decisions about the meaning of life,Kierkegaard advised us to

A) follow the decisions of the great philosophers in history.
B) always suspend judgment and avoid all commitments.
C) only make choices when there is no risk involved.
D) realize that choice,commitment,and risk are inescapable.

Question 23

Discuss times in your life when the viewpoint of nihilism seemed to have some plausibility.In the light of these experiences,discuss why you did or did not ultimately embrace nihilism.

Question 24

List several things you did recently or experiences you had that gave some meaning to your life (no matter how small).Discuss the ways in which these meaningful events did or did not support the views of (1)the religious-metaphysical approach to meaning and (2)the secular-humanist approach to meaning.

Question 25

Explain Kierkegaard's distinction between knowing the truth and being in the truth.

Question 26

When Jean-Paul Sartre discusses his conversation with a student during World War II,the point he makes about Christian Doctrine is that it

A) provides advice that is too general to solve the student's dilemma.
B) can serve as an effective guideline in making decisions.
C) is rationally indefensible.
D) leads to actions that Sartre found to be objectionable.

Question 27

Discuss the four general ways to approach the question of the meaning of life as set out in your text.What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?

Question 28

From the standpoint of Leo Tolstoy's philosophy of life,criticize the view of Hazel Barnes.Pretend you are Barnes,how would she evaluate Tolstoy's view of the meaning of life?

Question 29

Discuss one of the five insights of existentialism listed in your book.What are the strengths and weakness of this point?

Question 30

Some have criticized existentialists such as Søren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre for making too severe a dichotomy between the subjective and the objective and for over-emphasizing the subjective over the objective.Provide reasons why a critic might make this point.Next discuss how either Kierkegaard or Sartre might defend themselves against this criticism.Finally,give your own reasons why you think that either the existentialists or their critics are correct.

Question 31

According to your text,the role of rational,objective considerations with respect to the meaning of life is that they should

A) be the only basis for making such ultimate decisions.
B) be used to clarify our choices,but they cannot make the decision for us.
C) play no role whatsoever in personal decisions about one's life.
D) be brought in only if it is necessary to persuade someone else of the value of our subjective decisions.

Question 32

Choose one of the five insights of existentialism discussed in your book.Supply examples from your own life of how either your actions illustrated this principle or how things might have gone differently if you had acted on the basis of this advice.

Question 33

Choose one of the philosophers discussed in the previous chapters of the text.Given what you know about this person's philosophy,how might he or she address the question of the meaning of life?