Question 1

The gods, in Homer's poem,

Accepted Answer

A)  urge men to be more like themselves. 
B)  live in delight and splendor on Olympus, scarcely ever thinking about the affairs of men. 
C)  function as moral ideals for human beings, who have a hard time living up to the gods' standards. 
D)  care about the honor given them by men. 
A)  urge men to be more like themselves. 
B)  live in delight and splendor on Olympus, scarcely ever thinking about the affairs of men. 
C)  function as moral ideals for human beings, who have a hard time living up to the gods' standards. 
D)  care about the honor given them by men. D

Question 2

Homer

Accepted Answer

A)  advises humans to live well, so as to merit eternal life. 
B)  praises moderation. 
C)  disparages the quest for honor and glory, since it leads to quarrels and disaster for so many. 
D)  portrays gods and men as immortal. 
A)  advises humans to live well, so as to merit eternal life. 
B)  praises moderation. 
C)  disparages the quest for honor and glory, since it leads to quarrels and disaster for so many. 
D)  portrays gods and men as immortal. B

Question 3

Hesiod claimed to write his poems

Accepted Answer

A)  after exhaustive study of the heavens and the earth. 
B)  by collecting stories that had been passed down from the ancestors. 
C)  through divine inspiration. 
D)  because he was bored while herding sheep on holy Helicon. 
A)  after exhaustive study of the heavens and the earth. 
B)  by collecting stories that had been passed down from the ancestors. 
C)  through divine inspiration. 
D)  because he was bored while herding sheep on holy Helicon. C

Question 4

What brought on the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What brought on the quarrel between Agamemnon...

Question 5

Describe the gods of Olympus as Homer portrays them.

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The answer of Describe the gods of Olympus as Homer...

Question 6

The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon began when

Accepted Answer

A)  Agamemnon demanded that Achilles give him the woman Achilles had been awarded as spoils from a battle. 
B)  Hector killed Achilles' friend, Patroclus. 
C)  Achilles wanted the woman Agamemnon had been awarded as spoils from a battle. 
D)  Apollo sent a plague on the army. 
A)  Agamemnon demanded that Achilles give him the woman Achilles had been awarded as spoils from a battle. 
B)  Hector killed Achilles' friend, Patroclus. 
C)  Achilles wanted the woman Agamemnon had been awarded as spoils from a battle. 
D)  Apollo sent a plague on the army.

Question 7

In teaching Parmenides, I have found it best to start with his conclusions: There are not many things, and nothing ever changes. These are startling enough that students wonder why anyone would ever believe such things, and they are then engaged.

Accepted Answer

When teaching Parmenides, I have found i

Question 8

What virtues are praised in The Iliad?

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The answer of What virtues are praised in The Iliad?...

Question 9

It is important that this chapter not be taught as just one view after another. I try to stress how every subsequent thinker sees a problem in a previous one and tries to solve it. Karl Popper cited these pre-Socratics as displaying the method (which he favored) of "conjectures and refutations," and that seems a promising hook on which to hang the discussions.

Accepted Answer

It is important that this chapter not be

Question 10

Zeus came to be "father of gods and men," according to Hesiod,

Accepted Answer

A)  by swallowing a stone and vomiting it up again. 
B)  through war against his father. 
C)  by general acclamation of all the other gods. 
D)  because he was the first-born son of Earth and Heaven. 
A)  by swallowing a stone and vomiting it up again. 
B)  through war against his father. 
C)  by general acclamation of all the other gods. 
D)  because he was the first-born son of Earth and Heaven.

Question 11

What can we learn from Homer's poem about how to be excellent human beings?

Accepted Answer

Homer's poem, particularly the Odyssey a

Question 12

How, according to Hesiod, did Zeus come to be king of the gods?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How, according to Hesiod, did Zeus come...

Question 13

What does the term "theogony" mean? Relate several central events in Hesiod's theogony.

Accepted Answer

The term "theogony" refers to the origin

Question 14

How does The Iliad end?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does The Iliad end?...

Exam 1: Before Philosophy: Myth in Hesiod and Homer

The gods, in Homer's poem,

Homer

Hesiod claimed to write his poems

What brought on the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles?

Describe the gods of Olympus as Homer portrays them.

The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon began when

In teaching Parmenides, I have found it best to start with his conclusions: There are not many things, and nothing ever changes. These are startling enough that students wonder why anyone would ever believe such things, and they are then engaged.

What virtues are praised in The Iliad?

Zeus came to be "father of gods and men," according to Hesiod,

What can we learn from Homer's poem about how to be excellent human beings?

How, according to Hesiod, did Zeus come to be king of the gods?

What does the term "theogony" mean? Relate several central events in Hesiod's theogony.

How does The Iliad end?

Philosophy Before Socrates

Appearance and Reality in Ancient India

The Sophists: Rhetoric and Relativism in Athens

Reason and Relativism in China

Socrates: to Know Oneself

The Trial and Death of Socrates

Plato: Knowing the Real and the Good

Aristotle: The Reality of the World

Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi: Virtue in Ancient China

Epicureans, Stoics, and Skeptics: Happiness for the Many

Jews and Christians: Sin, Salvation, and Love

Augustine: God and the Soul

Philosophy in the Islamic World: The Great Conversation Spreads Out

Anselm and Aquinas: Existence and Essence in God and the World

From Medieval to Modern Europe

René Descartes: Doubting Our Way to Certainty

Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley: Materialism and the Beginnings of Empiricism

David Hume: Unmasking the Pretensions of Reason

Immanuel Kant: Rehabilitating Reason Within Strict Limits

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Taking History Seriously

Kierkegaard and Marx: Two Ways to Correct Hegel

Moral and Political Reformers: The Happiness of All, Including Women

Friedrich Nietzsche: The Value of Existence

The Pragmatists: Thought and Action

Ludwig Wittgenstein: Linguistic Analysis and Ordinary Language

Martin Heidegger: The Meaning of Being

Simone De Beauvoir: Existentialist, Feminist

Postmodernism: Derrida, Foucault, and Rorty

Physical Realism and the Mind: Quine, Denne

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