Question 1

What role does God play in Berkeley's philosophy?

Accepted Answer

In addition to the usual religious functions-Berkeley was a bishop, after all-God functions as the guarantee of independence for things perceived by us. They do have their being in being perceived, but in being perceived by God, not by us. So they are not dependent on human perception of them.

Question 2

Why does Hobbes think life in a state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"?

Accepted Answer

Because humans are egoistic hedonists, each seeking to maximize his or her own pleasure, together with enough power to secure continued enjoyment. As a result, men are competitors, and the state of nature is a state of war-of "all against all."

Question 3

In what does personal identity consist, according to Locke? And in what does it not consist?

Accepted Answer

It does not consist in sameness of substance, whether of body or soul. Rather, it is founded in consciousness, and in particular in memory. What makes me the same person as I was last year is my consciousness of the events in my life at that time. It would make no difference if either soul or body had changed in substance between then and now.

Question 4

Our idea of substance, Locke says, is

Accepted Answer

A)  the known foundation of all our knowledge of things. 
B)  the idea of a composite of qualities that regularly appears together in our experience. 
C)  restricted to the substance we know best, that is, our own soul. 
D)  the idea of an unknown substratum that has the qualities we experience. 
A)  the known foundation of all our knowledge of things. 
B)  the idea of a composite of qualities that regularly appears together in our experience. 
C)  restricted to the substance we know best, that is, our own soul. 
D)  the idea of an unknown substratum that has the qualities we experience.

Question 5

What is the origin of our idea of substance, according to Locke?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is the origin of our idea...

Question 6

Hobbes thinks that a sovereign power

Accepted Answer

A)  exists pure and uncorrupted only in a state of nature. 
B)  is required to compel men to keep their agreements. 
C)  must be such as to be under the control of the governed. 
D)  should involve a separation of powers, as between king and parliament. 
A)  exists pure and uncorrupted only in a state of nature. 
B)  is required to compel men to keep their agreements. 
C)  must be such as to be under the control of the governed. 
D)  should involve a separation of powers, as between king and parliament.

Question 7

With respect to the human mind and its relation to the body, Hobbes

Accepted Answer

A)  is a metaphysical monist. 
B)  is, unlike Descartes, a dualist. 
C)  argues against epiphenomenalism. 
D)  is, like Descartes, a dualist. 
A)  is a metaphysical monist. 
B)  is, unlike Descartes, a dualist. 
C)  argues against epiphenomenalism. 
D)  is, like Descartes, a dualist.

Question 8

Show how Locke's views about substance are informed by his convictions concerning how we get our ideas, together with his doctrine of abstract ideas.

Accepted Answer

John Locke's views about substance are i

Question 9

What is Berkeley's argument for the conclusion that only spirits and their ideas exist?

Accepted Answer

George Berkeley (1685–1753) was an Irish

Question 10

What is Berkeley's critique of abstract ideas?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is Berkeley's critique of abstract ideas?...

Question 11

Why does Hobbes think the establishment of a social contract demands a "coercive power"-that is, a sovereign?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Why does Hobbes think the establishment of...

Question 12

What sort of government does Locke believe a social contract would reasonably create?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What sort of government does Locke believe...

Question 13

The problem of personal identity, if Locke is right,

Accepted Answer

A)  is not a real problem at all, since we know who we are. 
B)  can be solved by paying close attention to what is present to our consciousness at a given moment. 
C)  arises because a person can have such different qualities at different times. 
D)  is solved by appeal to the sameness of the soul that constitutes the person. 
A)  is not a real problem at all, since we know who we are. 
B)  can be solved by paying close attention to what is present to our consciousness at a given moment. 
C)  arises because a person can have such different qualities at different times. 
D)  is solved by appeal to the sameness of the soul that constitutes the person.

Question 14

What, according to Locke, is the origin of all our ideas? And how does he understand that?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What, according to Locke, is the origin...

Question 15

Compare the views of Hobbes and Locke on life in a state of nature, together with the prescription each provides on how to get beyond its inconveniences.

Accepted Answer

Hobbes and Locke had differing views on

Question 16

When Locke says that he will use a "historical, plain method" in investigating human understanding, he means that he

Accepted Answer

A)  will consult the historians as authorities on humanity. 
B)  won't say anything fancy. 
C)  will try to trace our ideas to their origin. 
D)  will throw out any "results" that cannot be historically validated. 
A)  will consult the historians as authorities on humanity. 
B)  won't say anything fancy. 
C)  will try to trace our ideas to their origin. 
D)  will throw out any "results" that cannot be historically validated.

Question 17

According to Hobbes, human life

Accepted Answer

A)  represents a distinctive level of soul, quite different from the plant and animal levels. 
B)  is just a motion of limbs. 
C)  doesn't differ in principle from the operations of a watch. 
D)  ceases when the soul departs from the body. 
A)  represents a distinctive level of soul, quite different from the plant and animal levels. 
B)  is just a motion of limbs. 
C)  doesn't differ in principle from the operations of a watch. 
D)  ceases when the soul departs from the body.

Question 18

Berkeley says that it is his intention to

Accepted Answer

A)  turn ideas into things. 
B)  turn things into ideas. 
C)  make a significant advance on common sense. 
D)  raise dust and then complain he cannot see. 
A)  turn ideas into things. 
B)  turn things into ideas. 
C)  make a significant advance on common sense. 
D)  raise dust and then complain he cannot see.

Question 19

How does Hobbes explain thinking, particularly the difference between unregulated and regulated thinking?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does Hobbes explain thinking, particularly the...

Question 20

Berkeley thinks that the doctrine of abstract ideas

Accepted Answer

A)  has led to many substantial advances in knowledge. 
B)  is one of the confusions that lead to atheism. 
C)  is required to account for our knowledge of substances, particularly our knowledge of God. 
D)  helps us understand how one mind can communicate its ideas to another mind via language. 
A)  has led to many substantial advances in knowledge. 
B)  is one of the confusions that lead to atheism. 
C)  is required to account for our knowledge of substances, particularly our knowledge of God. 
D)  helps us understand how one mind can communicate its ideas to another mind via language.

Exam 17: René Descartes: Doubting Our Way to Certainty

What role does God play in Berkeley's philosophy?

Why does Hobbes think life in a state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"?

In what does personal identity consist, according to Locke? And in what does it not consist?

Our idea of substance, Locke says, is

What is the origin of our idea of substance, according to Locke?

Hobbes thinks that a sovereign power

With respect to the human mind and its relation to the body, Hobbes

Show how Locke's views about substance are informed by his convictions concerning how we get our ideas, together with his doctrine of abstract ideas.

What is Berkeley's argument for the conclusion that only spirits and their ideas exist?

What is Berkeley's critique of abstract ideas?

Why does Hobbes think the establishment of a social contract demands a "coercive power"-that is, a sovereign?

What sort of government does Locke believe a social contract would reasonably create?

The problem of personal identity, if Locke is right,

What, according to Locke, is the origin of all our ideas? And how does he understand that?

Compare the views of Hobbes and Locke on life in a state of nature, together with the prescription each provides on how to get beyond its inconveniences.

When Locke says that he will use a "historical, plain method" in investigating human understanding, he means that he

According to Hobbes, human life

Berkeley says that it is his intention to

How does Hobbes explain thinking, particularly the difference between unregulated and regulated thinking?

Berkeley thinks that the doctrine of abstract ideas

Before Philosophy: Myth in Hesiod and Homer

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

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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