Deck 6: Truth

Question 1

Wilfrid Sellers believed that there were basic beliefs.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A priori propositions are propositions that we can know to be true without having to observe the world.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Who argued that the truth of an idea depends on the practical difference it makes?

A) Hume
B) Locke
C) James
D) Russell

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Gettier examples assume

A) That people are justified in believing things when they rely on their past experiences
B) That justified true belief constitutes knowledge
C) That people are justified in believing things when they rely on others' testimony
D) That people can only rely on their senses for knowledge

Question 5

No Eastern philosophers accept the pragmatic view of truth.

Question 6

How many kinds of particles and forces are recognized in the standard theory of matter?

A) Three kinds of particles, four kinds of forces
B) Four kinds of forces, three kinds of particles
C) Three kinds of particles, three kinds of forces
D) Four kinds of forces, four kinds of forces

Question 7

C.
G. Hempel rejected the coherentist view of truth.

Question 8

Rorty is a pragmatist about truth.

Question 9

A basic belief is one that does not need to be justified by other beliefs.

Question 10

Bertrand Russell developed a

A) Foundational theory
B) Pragmatic theory
C) Correspondence theory
D) Skeptical theory

Question 11

Dharmakirti accepted a foundationalist view of truth.

Question 12

Who said that we were out to "trap" nature?

A) Putnam
B) Descartes
C) Quine
D) James

Question 13

There are only two major theories of truth.

Question 14

Wilfred Sellars argued that

A) There were no basic beliefs
B) That our basic beliefs are foundational
C) That knowledge is impossible
D) That knowledge is culturally relative

Question 15

Who believed that the attempt to find one characterization of truth that covers every kind of truth was doomed to fail?

A) Putnam
B) Descartes
C) Quine
D) James

Question 16

John Searle believes that all true propositions are those

A) That correspond to mental states
B) That correspond to facts
C) That have a certain intellectual pedigree
D) That rest on foundational beliefs

Question 17

Vatsyayana accepted which view of truth?

A) Rationalism
B) Foundationalism
C) Correspondence
D) Pragmatism

Question 18

Martin Luther believed that there was only one true meaning of scripture.

Question 19

Austin held that we could use a language to talk with each other even if there were no rules governing its use.

Question 20

John Austin's theory of truth rejected

A) Descartes' view of reason and faith
B) Russell's view of beliefs and facts
C) Kant's view of space and time
D) Hegel's view of synthesis and antithesis

Question 21

The view that truth is an agreement between a proposition and some facts in the world is the ____________________ theory of truth.

Question 22

Do you think that the pragmatic theory of truth is a theory of truth in the same way as the correspondence and coherence theories are theories of truth? Argue for your view.

Question 23

Statements or sentences express the contents of our ____________________.

Question 24

Bertrand Russell endorsed the ____________________ theory of truth.

Question 25

Assume that Berkeley's idealism is correct. Which theory of truth would best fit with such a universe (a) if God did not exist, (b) if God did exist, and had the properties that Berkeley ascribed to Him? Explain your answer fully.

Question 26

A(n) ____________________ belief is one that we immediately know is true without having to infer it from other belief.

Question 27

Do you believe that knowledge is justified true belief? Why, or why not? In answering this question you should draw on the work of both Gettier and Plato.

Question 28

According to the ____________________ theory of truth a belief is true if it coheres with other beliefs that we regard as true.

Question 29

Propositions that we cannot know unless we observe the world are called empirical, or ____________________ propositions.

Question 30

The three theories of truth assume that truth is a(n) ____________________ concept.

Question 31

____________________ hold that truth adds nothing to our statements.

Question 32

Outline the two ways in which God and right acts might be related, according to the Euthyphro dialogue discussed in Chapter 1. If we believe that acts are right because God loves them, how do we know which acts are right acts? How might the problem of interpretation be relevant to the most obvious answer to this question?

Question 33

The realist view of scientific truth is a version of the ____________________ theory of truth.

Question 34

Searle argues that the word ____________________ was developed so that we could talk about what it is about the real world that makes a proposition true.

Question 35

Is it possible to give a literal reading of a text, untouched by interpretation? Justify your answer, and apply it to at least one practical issues, such as (a) whether judges "make law" in applying it, or (b) whether religious fundamentalism is internally coherent.