Question 1

What is Locke's view on abstract ideas? What is Berkeley's criticism of this view, and what does he recommend in its place?

Accepted Answer

John Locke's view on abstract ideas is t

Question 2

What does Hobbes mean when he speaks of a "law" of nature and a "right" of nature? Give an example of each.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What does Hobbes mean when he speaks...

Question 3

Contrast Descartes' view of the mind with that of Hobbes. Include a discussion of thinking, imagining, dreaming, and willing. Do not neglect any arguments offered by these philosophers on behalf of their beliefs.

Accepted Answer

Rene Descartes and Thomas Hobbes had con

Question 4

In a state of nature, Hobbes holds,

Accepted Answer

A)  people do many unjust things. 
B)  there is no such thing as good and evil. 
C)  people seek to maximize their pleasure and power. 
D)  cooperation predominates, until society corrupts the natural goodness of individuals. 
A)  people do many unjust things. 
B)  there is no such thing as good and evil. 
C)  people seek to maximize their pleasure and power. 
D)  cooperation predominates, until society corrupts the natural goodness of individuals.

Question 5

All our ideas come from experience, Locke says; that is, from

Accepted Answer

A)  sensation and reflection. 
B)  innate sources of experience. 
C)  complex ideas of external objects. 
D)  within the mind. 
A)  sensation and reflection. 
B)  innate sources of experience. 
C)  complex ideas of external objects. 
D)  within the mind.

Question 6

Locke's views on representative government

Accepted Answer

A)  are formed in part by his views on what life is like in a state of nature. 
B)  depend on the contract signed between Englishmen and their king. 
C)  involve no limitation on the powers of the sovereign, once he or she is constituted monarch. 
D)  guarantee that government will not abuse its powers. 
A)  are formed in part by his views on what life is like in a state of nature. 
B)  depend on the contract signed between Englishmen and their king. 
C)  involve no limitation on the powers of the sovereign, once he or she is constituted monarch. 
D)  guarantee that government will not abuse its powers.

Question 7

Berkeley thinks that

Accepted Answer

A)  philosophers have erred in trying to stick too close to common sense. 
B)  philosophers have erred in trying to defend skepticism and atheism. 
C)  things really do have the qualities they seem to have. 
D)  things do not exist independently of our perception of them. 
A)  philosophers have erred in trying to stick too close to common sense. 
B)  philosophers have erred in trying to defend skepticism and atheism. 
C)  things really do have the qualities they seem to have. 
D)  things do not exist independently of our perception of them.

Question 8

What is a nominal essence, what does Locke contrast it with, and how does he make use of this idea?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is a nominal essence, what does...

Question 9

Does Berkeley deny the existence of material substances?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Does Berkeley deny the existence of material...

Question 10

Berkeley claims to be a defender of common sense. Explain how he thinks his doctrine of esse est percipi can be made consistent with the two commonsense principles about external objects.

Accepted Answer

Berkeley claims to be a defender of comm

Question 11

How does Berkeley attack the idea that although secondary qualities exist only in being perceived, primary qualities are in things independently of perception?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does Berkeley attack the idea that...

Exam 17: René Descartes: Doubting Our Way to Certainty

What is Locke's view on abstract ideas? What is Berkeley's criticism of this view, and what does he recommend in its place?

What does Hobbes mean when he speaks of a "law" of nature and a "right" of nature? Give an example of each.

Contrast Descartes' view of the mind with that of Hobbes. Include a discussion of thinking, imagining, dreaming, and willing. Do not neglect any arguments offered by these philosophers on behalf of their beliefs.

In a state of nature, Hobbes holds,

All our ideas come from experience, Locke says; that is, from

Locke's views on representative government

Berkeley thinks that

What is a nominal essence, what does Locke contrast it with, and how does he make use of this idea?

Does Berkeley deny the existence of material substances?

Berkeley claims to be a defender of common sense. Explain how he thinks his doctrine of esse est percipi can be made consistent with the two commonsense principles about external objects.

How does Berkeley attack the idea that although secondary qualities exist only in being perceived, primary qualities are in things independently of perception?

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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