Name _____________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS. Read carefully the questions and then use the answer sheet for your answers. Mark only one answer, otherwise your response will be taken as incorrect. (15pts.)
1. According to Descartes, we know that we are not identical to our bodies because:
a) ►We can conceive our mind as existing without our
bodies
b) Many individuals have out of body experiences
c) The Holy Bible teaches that God breathes a soul into each individual
2. According to the argument for God’s existence used by Descartes
a) ►God’s existence follows from the possibility that a
perfect being exists
b) God’s existence follows from the fact that something must have created everything that exists
c) God’s existence follows from the fact that many things in the world give evidence of intelligence design
3. According to Descartes matter and mind
a) Are just two aspects of the same substance, namely, God
b) ►Must be different substances because they have
incompatible properties
c) Are known equally by the individual when he reflects about his own self-existence
4. The phrase “I think, therefore I am” is primarily used by Descartes
a) To prove the existence of God
b) To refute skepticism about the existence of the self
c) ►As a basic certainty to refute radical skepticism
5. “Cartesian Circle” is
a) The argument that says that “I think, therefore I am”
b) ►The circular argument between my clear and distinct
ideas and the idea of God
c) The circular argument between represented objects and my ideas
6. Solipsism, according to Thomas Nagel is
a) ►The theory that your own mind is the only thing that
exists
b) The theory that says that any experience of the world is irreducibly subjective
c) The theory that says that everyone has a different perspective of the world
d) The theory that says that all your knowledge of the external world is given to you by your senses
7. According to Locke, the notion of an “Idea” stands for:
a) The physical basis of mind
b) The essence of the mind
c) ►The object of the understanding when someone thinks
d) The process of reflection
8. The power objects have to produce ideas in us Locke calls:
a) Perceptions
b) ►Qualities
c) Primary qualities
d) Secondary qualities
9. The distinction between primary and secondary qualities is that:
a)
Primary
qualities are really nothing in the object, while secondary qualities are
really in the objects
b) ►Primary qualities are inseparable from the object,
while secondary qualities are really nothing in the object but powers to
produce sensations in us by their primary qualities
c) Primary qualities are inseparable from the object, while secondary qualities are qualities like size, motion or rest, which can be removed by dividing the object.
d) The ideas of primary qualities do not resemble primary qualities, while the ideas of secondary qualities do resemble the qualities in the object.
10. According to Locke, ideas
a) Resemble secondary qualities in objects, such as color, smell, sound and texture
b) Resemble other ideas, and not objects in the world
c) ►Resemble primary qualities, such as solidity,
extension, and mobility, but not secondary qualities
d) Resemble primary qualities (extension, figure, etc.) as well as secondary qualities (color, taste, sound, etc.)
11. Hylas claims that “To exist is one thing, and to be perceived is another”, by this he means
a) That objects are nothing more than ideas in the perceiver’s mind.
b) That the distinction between primary and secondary qualities is incoherent since it leads to skepticism and atheism.
c) That since everybody has a different perception of objects, objects must be independent of the mind.
d) ►That there are independent objects making up the real
world, each with their own sensible properties, perceivable by us but existing
independently of the perceiving mind.
12. How does Philonous convince Hylas that heat and cold are ideas in the mind?
a) ►By arguing that heat and cold are intrinsically pleasant
or unpleasant, and that nobody supposes that pleasure or pain can exist outside
a mind.
b) By introducing his hands in two different buckets, one with hot water and another with cold water.
c) By arguing that we all have ideas of heat and coldness that we project onto the world.
13. Why does Philonous reject the notion of a material substratum, that is, matter that exists independently of our perception?
a) Because everybody has a different perception of matter
b) Because matter exists independently of our perception
c) ►Because none of the qualities we know about matter is
capable of existing outside the mind
14. According to Berkeley, the theory of representative ideas, as formulated by Descartes and Locke, must be rejected because
a) We have immediate and direct knowledge of reality, not through ideas
b) We never really know our own ideas, since they are ideas in the mind of God
c) ►We never really get to know things in themselves, but
their representations, and this gives rise to skepticism
15. In the first Dialogue, Philonous tries to convince Hylas that primary qualities
a) Are matter, solidity, extension and mobility
b) ►Are just like secondary qualities in that they also
depend on the mind
c) Are all ideas in the mind of God
16. In the third Dialogue, Philonous argues that
a) Matter occupies a sort of intermediate position between God and us.
b) ►God is the cause of all sensed ideas, so he must have
those ideas himself.
c) God must have created matter as something eternal.
17. Hume is considered an skeptical philosopher because
a) He uses a method of radical doubt to question all our knowledge, and then starts with absolute certainties.
b) ►He doubts that some of our most basic beliefs (e.g.
the belief in the continued and distinct existence of objects) can be
rationally justified.
c) He questions that matter really exists, claiming that everything is mind-dependent.
18. Hume tells us that the following are “fictions”:
a) That we have a natural disposition to believe in the identity of objects of perception over time.
b) That the continued existence of objects and their identity over time are dependent on the mind.
c) ►The belief that objects have a continued and distinct
existence, that they exhibit identity over time, and that objects of perception
are independent of the mind.
19. Hume claims that
a) ►The continued and distinct existence of objects never
arises from the senses.
b) The continued and distinct existence of objects can be inferred from empirical experience.
c) The continued and distinct existence of objects is dependent on the perceiving mind.
20. Part of Hume’s naturalistic account of the origin of belief consists in
a) Claiming that we have a natural disposition to doubt the continued and independent existence of objects.
b) ►Claiming that we have a propensity or a disposition to
believe in the continued and independent existence of objects.
c) Claiming that objects can be studied through natural sciences.
21. At the beginning of the passage of the Enquiry, Hume distinguishes
a) ►Between two kinds of perceptions: impressions and
ideas.
b) Between perceptions of ideas and perceptions of matters of fact.
c) Between perceptions of causes and perceptions of effects.
22. Ideas, according to Hume, are
a) Mirrors with which the mind represents the world.
b) ►Copies of our impressions, which we receive through
our senses.
c) Immediate objects of perception, thought, or understanding.
23. By “association of ideas”, Hume means
a) ►That there is a principle connection between the
different ideas of the mind.
b) An idea linked to the memory of a person or an object.
c) The resemblance of one idea to another.
24. The proposition “The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the square of the two sides” is a propositions that expresses
a) Matters of fact
b) ►Relations of ideas
c) All of the above
25. According to Hume, relations of cause and effect
a) Can be proved by demonstrative reasoning, or that concerning relations of ideas.
b) Are the result of a random association of ideas.
c) ►Are discoverable not by reason, but by experience.
26. Which of the following claims would be denied by Hume?
a) That nature has established connections among particular ideas, through principles such as resemblance, contiguity and causation.
b) From causes that appear similar we expect similar effects.
c) ►From empirical experience we can discover necessary
connections between causes and effects.
27. The problem of “other minds” consists in asking
a) How do I know my own mental states and that reality does not depend on these mental states?
b) ►How do you know what other individual’s experiences
are and whether there really are other minds besides your own mind?
c) How do you know that your mind is not creating external reality and the minds of other people.
28. By the “Argument from Analogy”,
Bertrand Russell means
a) That we can establish analogies between different people based on the way they think.
b) ►That I can infer the mental states of other people
when I establish an analogy between their behavior and my own behavior.
c) A logical inference based on the assumption that if the mind of a person is alike in some respects, then it must be alike in other respects.
29. What does Gilbert Ryle call the “official doctrine”?
a) ►The dualistic theory, according to which there are
both material and immaterial kinds of real entities
b) The theory that claims that dualism responds to a category mistake.
c) The theory that says that mental properties and material properties are two aspects of the same substance.
30. The category-mistake of the “dogma of the Ghost in the Machine”, according to Ryle,
a) Consists in taking as material what is mental, and the mental as material.
b) ►Consists in confusing what belongs to one category for
something from an entirely different category — it has confused something
bodily and material for something non-bodily and non-material.
c) Consists in confusing mechanical laws with the laws of the mind.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Answer any two of the following questions. Use each side of this paper for each answer. (5 pts. each)
1. What motivated Descartes to begin the process of doubting everything? Also, what is the main purpose of his rejection of skepticism? Argue your response.
2. Why does Berkeley reject the notion of matter? Explain what motivates him to reject the notion of matter and what are his arguments. Do you agree with his arguments and his immaterialism? Why? Argue your response.
3. Explain Hume’s theory of causality. Why is causal reasoning doubtful, according to Hume? What does Hume mean by saying causal relations can never be discovered by a priori argument or by reason?