Epistemology Test - Philosophy

Front 1

"O man! Know thyself!"

Back 1

Socrates

Front 2

Philosophers who maintain that knowledge comes from experience - evidence presented by the senses - are called:

Back 2

Empiricists

Front 3

Absolute Skeptics suggest what?

Back 3

We can know and understand very little about our world and universe.

Front 4

What are polytheists explanation for good and evil?

Back 4

Gods of good and evil are independent of eachother.

Front 5

What is epistemology?

Back 5

The study of knowledge and how we know what we know.

Front 6

True or False: Plato thought that reason is the greatest bounty of God, and called it the 'Divine Spark'

Back 6

False. Aristotle thought that reason is the greatest bounty of God and called it the 'Divine Spark'

Front 7

What is certainty?

Back 7

A firm or reliable conviction that something is true.

Front 8

John Locke felt what?

a) "If God allows evil to exist then he is not all-loving"

b) Men were an "empty cabinet" and that we learn good and evil through experience.

c) Men must achieve self-realization in order to decipher between good and evil.

d) Happiness is the goal of life and those who are good are happy while those who are evil are unhappy.

Back 8

b) John Locke felt men were an "empty cabinet" and that we learn good and evil through experience.

Front 9

What is the difference between a rationalist and an empiricist?

Back 9

Rationalists believe knowledge comes from exercising the human ability to reason in order to unlock "priori" knowledge that existed before birth.

Empiricists believe knowledge comes from experience and is based off of "posterior" knowledge obtained after birth.

Front 10

What were Democritus' views on good and evil?

Back 10

Democritus believed that the goal of life is happiness. What is conductive to happiness is good, otherwise evil.

Front 11

Christian thinkers suggest that ________ may be the creator of evil or at least a means of creation of evil.

Back 11

The Devil.

Front 12

What is skepticism in philosophy?

Back 12

The theory that certain knowledge is impossible.

Front 13

What is Dogma?

Back 13

A set of principles claimed by an authority as indisputably true.

Front 14

What do skeptical relativists argue?

Back 14

Skeptical relativists argue that there is more than one truth for any issue.

Front 15

Which natural philosopher believed that good and evil are like two notes in a symphony?

Back 15

Heraclitus

Front 16

________ argued man has innate knowledge of good and evil and this knowledge existed in his soul but during the period between his creation and his descent into the world, he forgot most of the things.

Back 16

Plato

Front 17

What is priori and posterior knowledge?

Back 17

Priori: Knowledge that existed before sensory experience.

Posterior: Knowledge gained through sensory experience.

Front 18

What is cosmology?

Back 18

The study of the natural world and the universe (kosmos = Greek for world/universe)

Front 19

What is ontology?

Back 19

The study of reality.

Front 20

What is dogmatism?

Back 20

Accepting an idea without question.

Front 21

Who were sophists?

Back 21

A group of teachers living in Athens during Plato's era. They believed there was no true/single form of knowledge.

Front 22

What is a natural philosopher?

Back 22

- Pre-Socratic

- Asked: "What is the natural world made of?"

- Asked: "Do things remain the same over time, or do all things change?"

Front 23

What was Thales of Miletus' theory?

Back 23

That water is the basis of all living things.

Front 24

Which natural philosopher invented the concept of "apeiron" (something without bounds or limits that everything developed from)?

a) Anaximenes

b) Anaxagoras

c) Anaximander

Back 24

c) Anaximander

Front 25

Anaximenes believed what was the basis of all living things?

Back 25

Air was the basis of all living things.

Front 26

______ believed the world was always changing while ______ believed in a state of permanence.

a) Heraclitus, Empedocles

b) Empedocles, Heraclitus

c) Empedocles, Permenides

d) Heraclitus, Permenides

Back 26

d) Heraclitus believed the world was always changing while Permenides believed in a state of permanence.

Front 27

"Things change, but one thing cannot become another...proportions change."

Back 27

Empedocles

Front 28

Zeno believed what?

Back 28

Zeno believed that the senses fool and show that things are changeable, but reason will show that permanence is true reality.

Front 29

______ believed without mind, matter would be chaotic and ever changing.

Back 29

Anaxogoras believed without mind, matter would chaotic and ever changing.

Front 30

Which natural philosopher discovered the basic concept of atoms using only rational thinking without any technology?

a) Democritus

b) Zeno

c) Anaximander

d) Anaximenes

Back 30

a) Democritus

Front 31

According to Plato's theory of knowledge, what are the two categories of knowledge?

Back 31

1) Knowledge of the visible world

2) Knowledge gained through rational thought

Front 32

What is the apex?

Back 32

The apex is the optimum level of knowledge - knowledge of "the good"

Front 33

Apply Plato's Theory of Form and Change to the example of dogs.

Back 33

When we visualize a dog, we all visualize a specific but different example of a dog.

This because we perceive everything differently but similar characteristics of each example create form (ex. we all envision four legs, a tail, fur, ears, etc.)

Front 34

In Plato's opinion regarding his theory of form & change, what is the ultimate goal of learning?

Back 34

The goal of learning is to comprehend the idea/form of things rather than a specific example.

Front 35

Did Aristotle agree or disagree with Plato's theory of form & change? Why or why not?

Back 35

Aristotle disagreed with Plato's theory of form and change. Aristotle did not see the need to move beyond the things themselves and create "universal forms."

Front 36

Summarize the ying & yang philosophy.

Back 36

- Eastern philosophy

- Universe is composed of opposites in a constant state of change (switching from ying and yang)

Front 37

What was the name of Pythagoras' school?

Back 37

The Society.

Front 38

What were the names of the inner and outer circle of the Society.

Back 38

Inner circle: mathematikoi

Outer circle: akousmatics

Front 39

What art form did Pythagoras see as a major applicable example to his numbers theory?

Back 39

Music.

Front 40

______ asked: How do we know what we believe to be is real and not merely an illusion?

Back 40

Chuang-Tzu

Front 41

What belief system encourages people to worry less on social ways or practices and more on confirming to the natural world?

Back 41

Taoism.

Front 42

Who said: "If God allows evil to exist then he is not all-loving."

a) John Locke

b) John Hicks

c) David Hume

d) Renee Descartes

Back 42

David Hume.

Front 43

How does the Irenean Theodicy differ from Augustine Tradition?

Back 43

Augustine Tradition: Man was created as perfect beings and fell disastrously.

Irenean Theodicy: Man was created as imperfect beings. They must work to become good and perfect.

Front 44

What is theodicy?

Back 44

Theodicy: the existence of God and evil.