Deck 3: Knowledge and Reality

Question 1

According to Plato, the prisoners in the cave . . .

A) Are only acquainted with the shadows of objects cast by a fire they can't see
B) Don't see each other, but only each other's shadows
C) Hear only echoes, which bounce off of the wall they face
D) All of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What do the prisoners in the cave think is real?

A) The sun, outside the cave
B) The objects that cast the shadows on the way they look at
C) The shadows with which they're acquainted
D) The form of the good

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What will happen to the prisoners immediately after they leave the cave, according to Plato?

A) They will finally understand the truth
B) They will want to learn more
C) They will be pained and unable to see the things whose shadows they'd seen before
D) They will immediately perceive the things whose shadows they'd seen before

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What will happen to the prisoner who leaves the cave, after they come to understand what they see?

A) They will wish they could go back to the cave
B) They will no longer identify with life in the cave; they'll see it as impoverished
C) They will want to go back into the cave to impress the people there
D) They will wish they could forget what they've learned

Question 5

How does Plato think our situation is like those of the prisoners in the cave?

A) It will be difficult for us to learn of the intelligible realm
B) We're acquainted with the visible realm but can achieve knowledge of the intelligible realm
C) Once we learn of the intelligible realm, we'll be reluctant to occupy ourselves with human affairs
D) All of the above

Question 6

What is education, according to Plato?

A) It is instilling knowledge in the soul
B) It is the craft of giving the soul the proper direction for where to look for knowledge
C) It is instilling sight in the soul
D) None of the above

Question 7

Who should rule the city, for Plato?

A) Business people
B) Those who are good in day-to-day affairs
C) Those who don't want to rule
D) Those who want to rule

Question 8

In what two ways can a soul be disturbed and unable to see something?

A) If it is reluctant or if it is unwilling
B) If it is too accustomed to the dark or afraid to look to the light
C) If it is too focused on making money or having families
D) If it is too accustomed to the dark or too accustomed to the light

Question 9

Why is it okay to compel philosophers to rule?

A) Because the city is responsible for putting them in a position to be philosophers
B) Because it will be better for the city as a whole
C) Because they are the best qualified to rule
D) None of the above

Question 10

Why isn't it enough to just be a good reasoner, for Plato?

A) Because being a good reasoner doesn't make one strong
B) Because being a good reasoner doesn't mean one wants to rule the city
C) Because someone can be a good reasoner but focused on the wrong things
D) Because good reasoners often don't have common sense

Question 11

The prisoners in the cave, Plato explains, are only acquainted with shadows and echoes.

Question 12

When people leave the cave, everything will immediately become clear to them.

Question 13

For Plato, inside the cave is importantly different from our situation in the visible realm.

Question 14

Plato thinks that knowledge of the intelligible realm is more valuable than of the visible realm.

Question 15

It isn't important, for Plato, that those who have become acquainted with the form of the good lead cities.

Question 16

The experience machine gives you

A) any experience you desire.
B) any experience that is ethical.
C) any experience that is technologically possible.
D) any experience you need for survival.

Question 17

Nozick claims that, in addition to our experiences mattering to us,

A) what we believe matters to us.
B) the experiences of others matter to us.
C) being connected to a deeper reality matters to us.
D) not being deceived matters to us.

Question 18

Nozick believes that

A) most, if not all, of us would enter the experience machine.
B) most, if not all, of us would not enter the experience machine.
C) roughly half of us would enter the experience machine.
D) more people than not would enter the experience machine.

Question 19

Nozick says he would enter the experience machine.

Question 20

Nozick claims that entering the experience machine is a kind of suicide.

Question 21

Nozick claims that only experiences matter to us.

Question 22

In order to establish any firm and lasting knowledge, for Descartes, what must he do?

A) Trust in his senses
B) Prove that God exists
C) Consider what he can know if he assumes that God exists
D) Find something certain and indubitable that can act as a foundation for whatever one knows

Question 23

What kind of knowledge does the possibility that he is dreaming raise doubts about, for Descartes?

A) Knowledge gained from or through the senses
B) Knowledge about universals
C) Mathematical knowledge
D) All of the above

Question 24

Descartes finds reason to doubt everything because . . .

A) It is possible that he is dreaming.
B) It is possible that there is an evil demon deceiving him about everything.
C) Sometimes his senses are mistaken.
D) He has limited mental capacities.

Question 25

Which of the following best describes why Descartes concludes he must exist?

A) Descartes doesn't think he must exist
B) God exists
C) He has a body
D) He thinks

Question 26

According to Descartes, which of the following best describes the soul?

A) A body
B) Spiritual essence
C) A thinking thing
D) None of the above

Question 27

For Descartes, how are physical objects, like wax, grasped?

A) Through the senses
B) They are given to us through God's will
C) Through the understanding
D) None of the above

Question 28

Which of the following is not a type of idea, according to Descartes?

A) Innate ideas
B) Ideas we get from outside of us
C) Ideas we produce
D) All of the above

Question 29

For Descartes, what is more perfect . . .

A) cannot come from what is less perfect.
B) can come from what is less perfect.
C) can only be known by something equally perfect.
D) can't be known by something less perfect.

Question 30

According to Descartes, when is the will most free?

A) When it isn't certain about what to choose
B) When it has many options, none of which it must choose
C) When it is certain about what to choose
D) Our wills are not free, according to Descartes

Question 31

What is the source of our error, for Descartes?

A) An evil demon that deceives us
B) Impatience
C) The fact that there is no God to make things certain for us
D) Extending the will beyond the scope of our understanding

Question 32

Descartes is looking for an indubitable foundation for all of his knowledge.

Question 33

When wax melts, according to Descartes, it ceases to remain the same thing-its identity changes.

Question 34

For Descartes, God must exist.

Question 35

Descartes holds that our minds are to a sailor as our bodies are to a ship.

Question 36

Descartes argues that we don't necessarily exist as thinking things just because we think.

Question 37

According to DeRose and Warfield, skeptical hypotheses are meant to explain

A) how an evil demon could be deceiving you right now.
B) how to know that something is true with absolute certainty.
C) how we might be wrong about what we think we know.
D) how knowledge is possible for finite creatures like us.

Question 38

After presenting her hypothesis, the skeptic may begin by asserting that

A) we can't rule out her hypothesis.
B) her hypothesis is possibly true.
C) we don't know that her hypothesis is false.
D) any of the above.

Question 39

Skeptical arguments are meant to show that

A) everything we think we know is false.
B) certain skeptical hypotheses are probable.
C) our beliefs about the external world are unreliable.
D) we don't know what we ordinarily take ourselves to know.

Question 40

According to the "Aw, Come On!" response, skeptical arguments are

A) farfetched, ridiculously weak, and unthreatening.
B) logically invalid.
C) not really arguments at all but mere assertions.
D) sound.

Question 41

According to DeRose and Warfield, skeptical arguments are powerful because

A) they invoke the imagination.
B) there is strong evidence for skeptical hypotheses.
C) they are valid and each premise has support.
D) they make us question our own existence.

Question 42

According to Moore's response, skeptical arguments are unconvincing because

A) their premises are less plausible than the denial of their conclusion.
B) the argument commits a logical fallacy.
C) skeptical scenarios are too farfetched.
D) the skeptic can't prove that the skeptical scenarios are true.

Question 43

According to DeRose and Warfield, Moore's response is unsatisfactory because

A) it fails to prove that we do know what we ordinarily take ourselves to know.
B) it doesn't provide evidence for the existence of the external world.
C) it fails to explain why the skeptic's premises seem so plausible.
D) it doesn't prove that the skeptic's conclusion is false.

Question 44

Which of the following is not an example of a skeptical hypothesis?

A) That the earth came into existence five minutes ago but with evidence of old age.
B) That you are dreaming right now rather than awake.
C) That you are a brain-in-a-vat being fed sensory experiences by a supercomputer.
D) That your memory is sometimes faulty with regard to events that happened long ago.

Question 45

Barry Stroud believes that skeptical arguments

A) are utterly unconvincing.
B) raise a problem about the human condition.
C) establish their conclusion, being valid arguments with true premises.
D) are interesting, but should not be taken seriously.

Question 46

According to DeRose and Warfield, the skeptic and Moore agree over

A) premise 1 of the skeptic's argument.
B) premise 2 of the skeptic's argument.
C) the conclusion of the skeptic's argument.
D) the invalidity of the skeptic's argument.

Question 47

Skeptical arguments attempt to show that many of our ordinary beliefs are false.

Question 48

The skeptic argues that various skeptical hypotheses are probably true.

Question 49

Moore's response asserts that skeptical arguments are logically invalid.

Question 50

DeRose and Warfield believe that skeptical arguments are powerful.

Question 51

Skeptics often claim that we don't know that a certain skeptical hypothesis is false.

Question 52

As Graham defines it, the external world consists of

A) everything beyond the earth.
B) everything that is knowable.
C) everything outside one's conscious mind.
D) everything physical.

Question 53

Which of the following does Graham not list as a requirement for knowledge?

A) Truth.
B) Belief.
C) Certainty.
D) Justification.

Question 54

Which requirement for knowledge do skeptical arguments target?

A) Truth.
B) Belief.
C) Certainty.
D) Justification.

Question 55

By using the best explanation standard, the skeptic claims that

A) the real world hypothesis is not a better explanation of our evidence than skeptical hypotheses.
B) skeptical hypotheses are better explanations of our evidence than the real world hypothesis.
C) the real world hypothesis is a better explanation of our evidence than skeptical hypotheses.
D) we can't know whether the real world hypothesis or skeptical hypotheses are better explanations of our evidence.

Question 56

In Graham's terminology, the strategy of refuting skepticism involves

A) showing that the real world hypothesis is true.
B) showing that the real world hypothesis is a better explanation of our evidence than skeptical hypotheses.
C) showing that the best explanation standard is incorrect.
D) showing that skeptical hypotheses are better explanations of our evidence than the real world hypothesis.

Question 57

In Graham's terminology, the strategy of undermining skepticism involves

A) showing that the real world hypothesis is true.
B) showing that the real world hypothesis is a better explanation of our evidence than skeptical hypotheses.
C) showing that the best explanation standard is incorrect.
D) showing that skeptical hypotheses are better explanations of our evidence than the real world hypothesis.

Question 58

According to Bertrand Russell, the real world hypothesis is better than skeptical hypotheses because

A) the real world hypothesis is true.
B) God exists and would not allow us to be so massively deceived.
C) the real world hypothesis is simpler.
D) skeptical hypotheses are incredibly far-fetched.

Question 59

According to Descartes, the real world hypothesis is better than skeptical hypotheses because

A) we do in fact know that we aren't dreaming.
B) we can know that God exists and would not allow us to be so massively deceived.
C) the real world hypothesis is simpler.
D) skeptical hypotheses are incredibly far-fetched.

Question 60

According to J.L Austin, the best explanation standard is incorrect because

A) we only need to consider relevant alternative explanations.
B) it does not specify what makes one explanation better or worse than another.
C) sometimes the best explanations are false.
D) young children can't explain their evidence but still have knowledge.

Question 61

Graham's revision to the best explanation standard does not lead to skepticism because

A) it assumes that the real world hypothesis is true.
B) skeptical hypotheses are not relevant in ordinary contexts.
C) it implies that there is an external world.
D) skeptical hypotheses are more complex than the real world hypothesis.

Question 62

The skeptic argues that skeptical hypotheses are better explanations of our evidence than the real world hypothesis.

Question 63

The skeptic argues that our ordinary beliefs about the external world are unjustified.

Question 64

The skeptic rejects the best explanation standard.

Question 65

The strategy of refuting skepticism requires showing that skeptical hypotheses are false.

Question 66

The strategy of undermining skepticism requires showing that the best explanation standard is incorrect.

Question 67

What makes sensation different from thought, for Hume?

A) Sensation is more vivid
B) Sensation is less vivid
C) Sensation is limited, where thought is limitless
D) None of the above

Question 68

Hume distinguishes between two perceptions of thought:

A) Causes and effects
B) Impressions and ideas
C) Contiguities and resemblances
D) Impressions and sensations

Question 69

Which of the following isn't a way ideas associate with each other, according to Hume?

A) Resemblance
B) Chance
C) Cause and effect
D) Contiguity

Question 70

Which of the following best describes relations of ideas?

A) Relations of ideas are those ideas we arrive at through sensation
B) Relations of ideas are those ideas we arrive at through reasoning about causes and effects
C) Relations of ideas can be established through thought alone, through demonstrative reasoning
D) None of the above

Question 71

Which of the following best describes matters of fact?

A) Relations of ideas are those ideas we arrive at through sensation
B) Relations of ideas are those ideas we arrive at through reasoning about causes and effects
C) Relations of ideas can be established through thought alone, through demonstrative reasoning
D) None of the above

Question 72

For Hume, we can only gain knowledge of matters of fact through . . .

A) Resemblance
B) Demonstrative reasoning
C) Experience
D) Mixed mathematics

Question 73

What, for Hume, determines our causal inferences?

A) Demonstrative reasoning
B) Abstruse metaphysics
C) Relations of ideas
D) Custom or habit

Question 74

Which of the following is an example of an effect of contiguity?

A) As I get close to my town, I think of the house I grew up in
B) I see a person who looks like a friend, and so I think of the friend
C) I see a wound and think of a sword
D) All of the above

Question 75

Which of the following is the source of our impression of necessary connection?

A) Our senses
B) Willing a thought
C) The feeling of volition
D) None of the above

Question 76

Which of the following is Hume's definition of "cause"?

A) An object followed by another, and whose appearance can be established a priori
B) An object followed by another, and whose appearance is the result of an observed internal principle
C) An object followed by another
D) An object followed by another, and whose appearance always conveys the thought to that other

Question 77

For Hume, thought is limited.

Question 78

All ideas derive from impressions, according to Hume.

Question 79

Hume argues that only some reasoning concerning matters of fact is founded upon cause and effect.

Question 80

For Hume, belief belongs to the will.