Question 1

Berkeley argues that an idea cannot resemble anything but an idea, so if there is an "original" object, it is itself and idea.

Accepted Answer

Berkeley's philosophy of idealism holds that physical objects do not exist independently of the mind, and that everything we perceive is a mental state or idea. He argues that ideas cannot resemble anything other than ideas, and therefore there can be no "original" object separate from the idea of it in our minds.

Question 2

In Hume's view, causation was an example of knowledge as "a matter of fact."

Accepted Answer

False

Question 3

Leibniz argued that the senses, although necessary for all our actual knowledge, are not sufficient to give us the whole of it, since the senses never give anything except examples, that is to say particular or individual truths.

Accepted Answer

Leibniz believed that while the senses are necessary for knowledge, they do not provide the entirety of it as they only offer specific examples or truths.

Question 4

John Locke held the view that we know everything from experience.

Accepted Answer

John Locke was an empiricist philosopher who believed that knowledge comes from experience and that the mind at birth is a blank slate, or tabula rasa, upon which our experiences write.

Question 5

Descartes believed that beliefs could be justified by experience alone.

Accepted Answer

Descartes believed that not all beliefs could be justified by experience alone, but rather some need to be examined through the process of doubt and deduced through reasoning. This is demonstrated in his famous philosophical statement, "I think, therefore I am."

Question 6

Kant argued that we experience events in a cause and effect relationship because we make our experience conform to causal rules.

Accepted Answer

Kant believed that we cannot know things in themselves, so we impose our own conceptual frameworks onto our experience, including the concept of cause and effect. Thus, our experience conforms to causal rules that we have constructed.

Question 7

Kant influenced German Romantic philosophers who replaced his notion of "constitution" with the notion of "creation".

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. German Romantic philosophers such as Friedrich Schelling and Novalis were inspired by Kant's philosophy, but they replaced his idea of the constitution of the world with their own concept of creation. They believed that the universe was not predetermined by rational laws, but rather emerged out of a creative, intuitive process.

Question 8

Russell said that sensations were the direct means of ascertaining the properties of objects.

Accepted Answer

Bertrand Russell argued that we do not have direct access to the properties of objects through sensations; instead, we know objects through the mediation of sense data, which represent the objects to us.

Question 9

The correspondence theory of truth can account for all cases of necessary truth (such as mathematical truths).

Accepted Answer

The correspondence theory of truth holds that the truth or falsity of a statement is determined by how accurately it reflects the real world. However, necessary truths, like mathematical truths, are considered true by virtue of their logical structure, not their correspondence to the physical world, and thus are not fully accounted for by this theory.

Question 10

Hermeneutics is a term used in philosophy to refer to the discipline of interpreting and understanding the world.

Accepted Answer

Hermeneutics is a discipline of philosophy concerned with the interpretation and understanding of texts, traditions, and experience. It is often applied in fields such as theology, literary criticism, and anthropology.

Question 11

According to Hume, the predicted outcome of your intention to hit one billiard ball with another is based on pure reason.

Accepted Answer

According to Hume, we cannot know with certainty that hitting one billiard ball with another will result in the predicted outcome. He argues that our expectation is actually based on past experiences and custom, rather than pure reason.

Question 12

Noam Chomsky attributed the similarities in human thinking to an innate capacity for language.

Accepted Answer

According to Chomsky's theory of universal grammar, humans have an innate capacity for language which shapes our thinking and cognitive processes.

Question 13

Hume arguments against the principle of universal causation and the principle of induction are also arguments against skepticism.

Accepted Answer

Hume's arguments against the principle of universal causation and the principle of induction actually support skepticism by questioning the justification for our beliefs about the external world and the future, rather than arguing against skepticism.

Question 14

Kant intended for his philosophical revolution to prove that there are many truths for all of us.

Accepted Answer

Kant's goal was not to prove that there are many truths for all of us, but rather to establish a new framework for understanding knowledge and morality that was not reliant on external sources such as religion or tradition. He believed that there were certain universal principles of reason that applied to all individuals, but ultimately recognized the limitations of human understanding and the subjectivity of experience.

Question 15

In Locke, primary properties ("qualities") are caused in us by objects but do not inhere in the objects themselves (e.g., color).

Accepted Answer

Primary qualities, according to Locke, are inherent in objects themselves and include things like solidity, extension, motion, number, and figure. These qualities are thought to cause our perceptions of objects but are distinct from secondary qualities like color, which are not inherent in objects but rather are produced by the interaction between primary qualities and our senses.

Question 16

A necessary and sufficient condition is defined as follows: A is necessary and sufficient for B when A is both logically required and enough to guarantee B ("A if and only if B").

Accepted Answer

This is the exact definition of a necessary and sufficient condition.

Question 17

"Hume's fork" is Hume's insistence that every belief be justified either as a "relation of ideas" or as a "matter of fact."

Accepted Answer

Hume's fork is the philosophical concept stating that every belief must be justified either as a relation of ideas (such as in mathematics or logic) or as a matter of fact (based on empirical evidence).

Question 18

The causal theory of perception is the view that our experiences (our sensations and ideas) are the effects of physical objects acting on our sense organs (which are thereby the causes).

Accepted Answer

This is an accurate definition of the causal theory of perception.

Question 19

A priori (knowledge) is knowledge "with experience" or after experience.

Accepted Answer

A priori knowledge is knowledge that is known independently of experience, prior to or independent of experience.

Question 20

Gadamer's hermeneutics rejects the influence of tradition in the notion of truth.

Accepted Answer

This statement is incorrect. Gadamer's hermeneutics emphasizes the central role of tradition in the process of understanding and interpreting texts, and argues that truth is not fixed and objective, but rather emerges through a continual dialogue between interpreter and text, shaped by the interpreter's historical and cultural context.

Quiz 3: Truth Knowledge