Deck 5: The Search for the Truth

Question 1

According to William James, whether an explanation was more useful or promising than the available alternatives was irrelevant to its truth.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

If you accept the "two-world assumption," you are vulnerable to skepticism.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Descartes and Spinoza are rationalists.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

If a statement (such as "There is no airport in Tulsa")is "contingently false," I can imagine that, under different circumstances, the statement could be true.

Question 5

If two people disagree about whether the statement "Life is meaningful" is true, their disagreement is factual, or empirical, in nature.

Question 6

If Descartes had accepted the coherence theory of truth, he would have had to have give up his quest for certain knowledge.

Question 7

To call something a "sunset" is to see it in the light of a certain false astronomical theory.

Question 8

Leibniz agrees with Locke that the senses are a sufficient source for all knowledge ,

Question 9

David Hume concluded his philosophical investigations into the nature of knowledge only after proving the most basic principles of our everyday knowledge.

Question 10

If the French philosopher Michel Foucault was correct, then any form of knowledge is a historical matter, relative to a particular time and place and rooted in what works to the advantage of those in power .

Question 11

Today, the term science tends to be limited to those questions that can and must be answered by reference to experience and extrapolations from experience.

Question 12

In a given situation, it is rational to accept as true what the best available evidence and the most careful thinking indicate to be true.

Question 13

Tautologies like "Boys will be boys" seem to be true, even though they don't tell us anything about the world.

Question 14

If the ontological argument (Chapter 3)is successful, then the statement "God exists" is contingently true.

Question 15

Epistemology means the theory of knowledge.

Question 16

The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas believes that rationality is not imposed on us by the powerful, but rather something we develop and cultivate in conversation with one another.

Question 17

Until recently, most philosophers have believed that if there is an answer to any philosophical question (or any other question of knowledge), it is either an empirical truth based on experience or an a priori truth that is both necessary and a product of reason.

Question 18

Philosophers and scientists agree that if a statement is true, then it corresponds to the facts.

Question 19

The statement "The cat is on the mat" is true no matter what conventions guide our use and interpretation of the words cat, is, on, and mat .

Question 20

The principle of universal causality states that "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

Question 21

Kant overcomes skepticism, rejecting the two-world hypothesis, when he claims that

A)the world we know is just the world of our experience, nothing beyond or external to it.
B)we cannot know the world.
C)there is no mind, only the world.
D)all ideas of the world are perceptions of God.

Question 22

Scientists appeal not only to observed facts but also to

A)the two-world hypothesis.
B)hypotheses and theories.
C)matters of fact.
D)truths of reason.

Question 23

One problem with the correspondence theory of truth is that it assumes

A)we have innate ideas of the truth.
B)there is an objective truth, but we can't know it.
C)there is no objective truth.
D)we can know or gain access to the world apart from our own knowledge of it.

Question 24

Assuming that knowledge is "justified true belief," then, if you know something,

A)it's enough for it to be true.
B)besides being true, it also has to be justified
C)it must be an empirical truth.
D)it must be a necessary truth.

Question 25

The concept that "75 x 3 = 225" seems to be true

A)because it corresponds to facts in the world.
B)despite the fact that it doesn't correspond to any facts in the world.
C)because Pythagoras is right: numbers are the most basic kind of reality.
D)because we have innate ideas of numbers in our minds.

Question 26

The idea that truth is what fits into the overall network of our experience and beliefs is

A)most true of the coherence theory of truth.
B)most true of the pragmatic theory of truth.
C)most true of the correspondence theory of truth.
D)presupposed by skepticism.

Question 27

If rationality means "thinking and acting in accordance with reason," then a person can be rational

A)only if that person has true beliefs.
B)even if that person's beliefs turn out to be false.
C)even if that person's beliefs are not coherent.
D)only if that person has no presuppositions .

Question 28

Rationalists and empiricists can both agree that

A)experience alone can give us   philosophical truths.
B)reason alone can give us philosophical truths.
C)some truths can be arrived at through experience and reason.
D)no truths can be arrived at through reason.

Question 29

While statements such as "There is a coffee cup here on the table" and "There is gravity between any two masses" seem to be based on experience, the second statement differs from the first because ​

A)it is true, while the first is false.
B)coffee cups are made of elements, and gravity is not
C)it requires a much more complicated process of confirmation than the first.
D)it corresponds to facts, while the second does not.

Question 30

According to Hume, when we observe two billiard balls colliding,

A)we understand causation as a truth of reason.
B)we grasp the principle of universal causality.
C)we see the actual cause.
D)we only see that two events are regularly found together, in constant conjunction

Question 31

In Quine's view, knowledge is holistic, and not a collection of piecemeal observations.

Question 32

That "The world exists" and that "Everything that happens has a cause" are examples of

A)presuppositions of knowledge.
B)innate ideas.
C)empirical ideas.
D)the tabula rasa.

Question 33

Descartes tried to doubt everything in order to ​

A)become closer to God.
B)verify empiricism.
C)prove that nothing is true.
D)prove that some things are indubitable.

Question 34

Descartes concluded that the world must exist

A)before he proved that God existed.
B)before he proved that he existed.
C)after he first proved that God existed
D)because, from the start, it could not be doubted

Question 35

According to John Locke, the human mind at birth

A)is a blank tablet ( tabula rasa ).
B)comes furnished with innate ideas.
C)has a clear and distinct idea of God.
D)is already in possession of philosophical knowledge.

Question 36

The "two-worlds assumption"

A)states that there are two worlds: the world of being and the world of becoming.
B)states that there are two worlds: the "outer," physical world and the "inner" world of our experience.
C)states that there are two worlds: the godly and the human.
D)is an example of a necessary truth.

Question 37

Suppose that scientific theories A and B are equally supported by the evidence and that both fit equally well with our other beliefs.   If you embraced the pragmatic theory of truth, you could still say A is true if it

A)corresponded to the facts.
B)could be more easily tested and encouraged further experimentation.
C)corresponded to our religious beliefs.
D)helped us solve the "two-world hypothesis."

Question 38

Some philosophers of science, on the basis of such considerations, have argued that there are no facts as such because

A)the external world may or may not exist.
B)all facts are equally true.
C)facts get interpreted according to theories.
D)theories get interpreted according to facts .

Question 39

Necessary truths, such as "2 + 2 = 4," are

A)truths that necessarily change over time.
B)truths based on experience.
C)a posteriori truths.
D)a priori truths.

Question 40

The truth or falsity of empirical statements like "There is no airport in Tulsa"

A)is contingent.
B)is necessary.
C)can only be known by God.
D)is unknowable.

Question 41

What two impressive claims can be made in support of science's current status as the "royal road" to truth?

Question 42

What justifies my belief  that "the cat is on the mat" is ​

A)just the singular fact that the cat is on the mat.
B)my innate ideas of cats and mats.
C)whether uttering this statement "feels right" to me.
D)an array of visual and sensory evidence,   as well as the coherence of that belief with many other beliefs I have.

Question 43

According to Quine, if Bill points to a rabbit, Bill's gesture has an "inscrutable" reference. This means that

A)Bill's actions are meaningless.
B)we can't figure out what Bill means by the facts alone.
C)Bill's meaning is a matter of reason.
D)the concept of rabbit is innate.

Question 44

Briefly explain Quine's concept of the "inscrutability of reference."

Question 45

We believe that we know universal statements such as "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."   Why do rationalists think that such statements imply we have innate ideas?

Question 46

What does it mean to be rational, and why should someone try to be rational? Your essay should link rationality with the three theories of truth explored in this chapter. Specifically, it should address how the concept of rationality incorporates coherence and pragmatic approaches to truth, as well as a revised version of the correspondence theory of truth. It should discuss the meaning and import of relativism, especially the simplistic version of relativism, which says that truth is subjective: In what respects is relativism true? In what respects false? It should address the intellectual and practical motivations a person might have in being rational.

Question 47

What is truth and how do we come to know it?   Your essay should address the most common categories of truth (empirical and necessary); why both statements with philosophical content ("Life is meaningful")and presuppositions of knowledge ("The world exists")don't seem to fit into either category; and how rationalists and empiricists address truth.   It should also discuss the correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories of truth.

Question 48

By tying rationality to the coherence of our knowledge and lives too closely, we run the risk of

A)disproving the two-world assumption.
B)being forced to return to the correspondence theory of truth.
C)being forced to accept even bizarre ways of thinking as rational.
D)disconnecting reason and emotion.

Question 49

Explain what Kant means by saying something is a synthetic a priori truth.   Give an example. ​

Question 50

It's common to regard science as the most authoritative form of knowledge and as the royal road to truth about the world.   But when you begin to think more carefully about science, the picture gets more complicated. Write an essay in which you explore what it means to call science a form of knowledge. Your essay should address kinds of truth; the relations between observation, hypotheses, and theory; the theory-dependent nature of some facts; the challenge of understanding how scientific theories can be true in any sense; the strengths and success of science; and the creationism-science debate.

Question 51

What is rationality?

Question 52

W hat are the two main categories of true statements?   Give one example of each.

Question 53

Briefly distinguish between rationalism and empiricism.

Question 54

One implication of Foucault's claim that truth is relative to culturally determined forms of discourse in which problems are set and truths are presented is that

A)there is no progress in the social sciences.
B)all interpretations are valid.
C)the correspondence theory of truth is correct.
D)we are, as a society, moving closer to the truth.

Question 55

What is skepticism? What sorts of things are skeptics skeptical about?   How does skepticism emerge from the philosophies of Descartes and Hume?   What is "the two-world assumption," and how is skepticism linked to this hypothesis? How does Kant attempt to overcome skepticism? Is he successful?

Question 56

When Nietzsche said that " t here is no truth," he was really arguing

A)that all interpretations of the world were equally valid.
B)that no interpretations of the world had validity.
C)against the correspondence theory of truth.
D)against the coherence theory of truth.

Question 57

Define relativism.

Question 58

Describe Descartes's method of doubt, and give the steps by which he reasoned his way to something he regarded as indubitable.

Question 59

What is David Hume's argument against our supposed knowledge of the principle of universal causality?

Question 60

A central conclusion of this chapter is that ​

A)if there is knowledge, it must be empirical.
B)knowledge is innate.
C)knowledge is subjective.
D)knowledge requires a working out and systematic understanding of our claims.

Question 61

It's often stated that we should "seek the truth." Write a fictional dialogue in which two (or more)people attempt to understand whether and why this is so. The dialogue should address the meaning of "truth," exploring rationalism, empiricism, theories of truth (correspondence, coherence, pragmatic), rationality, and the notion of relativism. It should grapple with the value and importance of the pursuit of truth: what areas of life depend on seeking the truth? What would change if we ceased to believe in this value? Your interlocutors can approach the issue cooperatively, as a joint inquiry, or can try to persuade one another about the best approach to understanding truth. You might also stage the dialogue in class as an oral presentation, or make a video of it.