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

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

Answer 2

False

Question 3

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

Answer 3

True

Question 4

According to Huxley's Perennial Philosophy,to perceive the one divine reality underlying the world of things and lives and minds,you need to become loving,pure in heart and poor in spirit.

Question 5

Professional scientists universally claim it may be possible to completely explain reality in scientific terms.

Question 6

Kant argues that there is a way the world is and must be,but that the necessity of the world is based on structures in the human mind.

Question 7

Parmenides thought that the world is unreal because reality,at its core,is in flux.

Question 8

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

Question 9

Hegel's idealism does not envision two worlds,but a single cosmos,an all-embracing Spirit,in constant internal conflict.

Question 10

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

Question 11

According to Bertrand Russell,even if reality is not what it appears to be,we probably still can know whether there is any reality at all.

Question 12

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

Question 13

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

Question 14

"Primitive" mythologies,which postulate spirits,demons,gods,and goddesses are similar to science,because both seek an explanation of superficial appearances in terms of a hidden reality.

Question 15

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

Question 16

According to Descartes,Leibniz and Berkeley,all we ever directly experience are our ideas.

Question 17

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 18

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

Question 19

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

Question 20

Descartes was the first idealist.

Question 21

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 22

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

Question 23

We can understand Heraclitus' 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' view that reality is air.

Question 24

Descartes and the physicist Sir Isaac Newton,embraced a teleological view of the world as Gaia.

Question 25

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 26

The early Greek philosophers' theories were monumental 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 27

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 28

Science's discovery of a complex system of elements and subatomic particles is similar to Thales discovery of

A) water.
B) earth.
C) fire.
D) the experimental method.

Question 29

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

Question 30

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 learn how to perceive true reality without much light.
C) there are three worlds: the world in the cave,the world outside of cave,and the world within the mind.
D) few can spend their entire lives in the cave.

Question 31

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

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

Question 32

According to Spinoza,substance is defined as

A) anything which is an attribute.
B) an extended thing,or body,existing independently of the mind.
C) a monad,or mind,which cannot interact with other monads.
D) that which is in itself; which means a conception of it can be formed independently of any other conception.

Question 33

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 34

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

A) were in the World of Being separate from the World of Becoming.
B) were in both the World of Being and the World of Becoming.
C) were in material substances,such as trees and people.
D) could not be known.

Question 35

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 Axaximenes.

Question 36

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 37

According to Descartes,the mind and the body are substances that require one another to exist.

Question 38

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 39

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 40

The basic metaphysical assumption that reality is unified,is reflected in the fact that scientists always prefer the most elegant theory that ties together the most material under the simplest principle.

Question 41

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 42

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

Question 43

Give one argument for idealism.

Question 44

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 45

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

Question 46

What three things does Leibniz believe are true of monads?

Question 47

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 48

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 49

What sorts of different realities make up the Two Worlds?

Question 50

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 itself 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 51

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,achieve certain ends.
D) we can only do so after having proved the principles our actions are based on.

Question 52

Define ontology.

Question 53

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 54

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

Question 55

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

Question 56

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 57

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

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 58

How did the Pre-Socratics (Anaximader,Anaximenes and Heraclitus)identify the nature of ultimate reality?

Question 59

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

Question 60

When Kant argues that 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 61

Describe the metaphysical viewpoint of idealism.
Focus on Berkeley,Kant,Schopenhauer and Hegel,and spell out the key elements of each of their idealistic viewpoints.
Is there a central thread that runs through all idealistic metaphysics?
Focus on two metaphysical frameworks that it sharply diverges from.
What frameworks prior to idealism prepared the way for it?
What advantages and disadvantages does idealism have?

Question 62

Remembering that metaphysics is evaluative,complete exercise # 1,on p.107-108.
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 four?

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?
That is,can there be a non-teleological but non-mechanistic viewpoint,or are these exhaustive of all metaphysical possibilities?
Focus on six thinkers in Chapter four,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

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

Question 66

Write a fictional argumentative dialogue between two characters who disagree about what the basic nature of reality is.
The two characters can defend any metaphysical viewpoint,including ones developed in Chapter Four.
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,synthesizing their starting standpoints.