Deck 3: Knowledge

Question 1

What role does the device of an evil demon play in Descartes' method of doubt?

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

Can you put all of your beliefs in doubt at once? Explain.

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Descartes thinks that he is always dreaming.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The atheist has a better answer to the skeptic than the theist.

Question 5

Our senses never deceive us.

Question 6

Lasting knowledge cannot depend on false beliefs.

Question 7

Descartes has set out to doubt all of his beliefs at once to

A) make way for lasting knowledge.
B) play a fun game.
C) thwart the evil demon.
D) worship God.

Question 8

What is Locke's argument that there are no innate principles? Is the argument compelling? Why or why not?

Question 9

According to Locke, how do we acquire knowledge about the external world?

Question 10

Locke considers the perspective of a skeptic, who will "distrust his senses . . . and affirm that all we see and hear, feel and taste, think and do, during our whole being, is but the series and deluding appearances of a long dream whereof there is no reality. . . ." How does Locke respond to the skeptic? Is his response to the skeptic compelling? Why or why not?

Question 11

Locke claims that there are universally agreed-upon principles.

Question 12

Locke claims that there are no innate principles.

Question 13

Locke claims that children have knowledge of innate truths.

Question 14

According to Locke, we acquire knowledge through sense experience.

Question 15

According to Locke, we acquire knowledge through reason alone.

Question 16

A secondary quality of an object is in the object itself.

Question 17

Color is an example of a primary quality.

Question 18

Odor is an example of a secondary quality.

Question 19

Ideas are not distinct from qualities.

Question 20

Qualities are powers that objects have to produce ideas.

Question 21

Locke claims that our knowledge of the world has its source in

A) reason alone.
B) sensation.
C) dreams.
D) peer testimony.

Question 22

Odor is an example of a(n)

A) primary quality.
B) secondary quality.
C) object.
D) subject.

Question 23

Solidity is an example of a

A) primary quality.
B) secondary quality.
C) object.
D) subject.

Question 24

Extension is an example of a(n)

A) primary quality.
B) secondary quality.
C) object.
D) subject.

Question 25

Velocity is an example of a

A) primary quality.
B) secondary quality.
C) object.
D) subject.

Question 26

Locke claims that there are

A) no innate principles.
B) some innate principles.
C) principles that are agreed upon by all.
D) no true principles.

Question 27

According to Locke, ideas are

A) primary qualities.
B) secondary qualities.
C) powers within an object.
D) sensations in the mind.

Question 28

According to Locke, qualities are

A) powers within an object.
B) sensations in the mind.
C) both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 29

According to Locke, our ideas can be traced to

A) sensation.
B) reflection.
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 30

Locke's philosophical system is classified as a form of

A) empiricism.
B) idealism.
C) rationalism.
D) None of the above

Question 31

Explain the meaning of the phrase tabula rasa. What is Leibniz's view regarding whether the mind is a tabula rasa? How does Leibniz's view differ from Locke's view?

Question 32

How does Leibniz's view differ from Locke's view in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding? What argument does Leibniz offer in response to Locke's Essay? Overall, whose argument do you find to be more compelling?

Question 33

Does Leibniz think there are innate ideas in the mind? Is his view compelling? Why or why not?

Question 34

Leibniz claims that sense experience is sufficient for all our actual knowledge.

Question 35

Leibniz claims that sense experience is necessary for all our actual knowledge.

Question 36

Leibniz claims that sense experience is necessary and sufficient for all our actual knowledge.

Question 37

According to Leibniz, there is nothing in us of which we are not always actually aware.

Question 38

According to Leibniz, sense experience is not important for understanding the world.

Question 39

According to Leibniz, necessary truths must have principles whose proof does not depend on testimony of the senses.

Question 40

Leibniz claims that we are not always aware of all our perceptions.

Question 41

Leibniz claims that the soul is empty.

Question 42

Leibniz claims that we are not always aware of the contents of our memory.

Question 43

Leibniz maintains that the soul is a tabula rasa.

Question 44

Leibniz claims that sense experience is __________ for all our actual knowledge.

A) necessary.
B) sufficient.
C) necessary and sufficient.
D) neither necessary nor sufficient.

Question 45

The view that the soul is a tabula rasa is the view that the soul

A) is completely blank.
B) is flat like a table top.
C) contains some innate ideas.
D) is eternal and unchanging.

Question 46

Leibniz argues that

A) the mind has no innate ideas.
B) the mind has some innate ideas.
C) it is impossible to know if there are any innate ideas in the mind.
D) our best evidence is such that there are no innate ideas in the mind.

Question 47

Leibniz claims that we are

A) always aware of alterations in the soul.
B) always aware of the content of our memory.
C) always aware of all our perceptions.
D) not always aware of all our perceptions.

Question 48

According to Leibniz, necessary truths

A) cannot be understood.
B) can be easily understood.
C) must have principles whose proof does not depend on testimony of the senses.
D) must have principles whose proof fully depends on testimony of the senses.

Question 49

Leibniz's philosophical system is classified as a form of

A) empiricism.
B) scientism.
C) rationalism.
D) None of the above

Question 50

In the chapter, Leibniz disagrees with Locke about whether

A) the soul is a tabula rasa.
B) all truths depend on experience.
C) knowledge is possible.
D) Both a and b

Question 51

According to Leibniz, we find necessary truths in

A) mathematics.
B) logic.
C) poetry.
D) Both a and b

Question 52

According to Leibniz, the proof of necessary truths must come from

A) inner principles.
B) instances.
C) testimony of the senses.
D) All of the above

Question 53

According to Leibniz, the senses give us

A) occasion to discover the inner principles.
B) results of experiments that corroborate reason.
C) all our actual knowledge.
D) Both a and b

Question 54

How does Berkeley argue for the existence of other minds? Do you find the argument convincing? Explain.

Question 55

What does Berkeley take the essence of an idea to be? How does this function in his argument that there are no real objects?

Question 56

Berkeley argues for the existence of real objects.

Question 57

Berkeley never read Locke.

Question 58

How, according to Berkeley, do ideas come into our minds?

A) Real objects cause perceptions, from which we form ideas.
B) Other minds produce ideas in our minds.
C) Ideas are produced by combining ideas we already have.
D) We are born with every idea we possess.

Question 59

According to Berkeley, real objects are

A) mind-independent.
B) the source of our ideas.
C) inconceivable.
D) Both a and c

Question 60

Explain the distinction between impressions and ideas.

Question 61

Are there truths we can know a priori? Which ones? Can we know all truths a priori? Explain.

Question 62

All truths are knowable a priori.

Question 63

Some truths are knowable by a priori reasoning.

Question 64

We have a priori knowledge of the relation of cause and effect.

Question 65

We believe in cause and effect

A) because we have to.
B) because God commanded us to.
C) because we can experience it directly.
D) because of habit.

Question 66

Impressions

A) are livelier than ideas.
B) are derived from sensation.
C) are the basis for ideas.
D) All of the above

Question 67

What is the difference between an analytic and a synthetic judgment according to Kant?

Question 68

According to Kant, how are synthetic a priori judgments possible? Do you agree with Kant? Why or why not?

Question 69

Knowledge that is independent of all experience is called a posteriori.

Question 70

Empirical knowledge is called a priori.

Question 71

There is no distinction between a posteriori and a priori knowledge.

Question 72

According to Kant, the proposition "every alteration must have a cause" is an example of a priori knowledge.

Question 73

According to Kant, we do not possess any a priori knowledge.

Question 74

Synthetic judgments are those in which the subject does not contain the predicate.

Question 75

Analytic judgments are those in which the subject contains the predicate.

Question 76

"All bodies are extended" is an analytic judgment.

Question 77

According to Kant, there are no analytic a posteriori judgments.

Question 78

According to Kant, there are some synthetic a priori judgments.

Question 79

Kant claims that we learn about God through a posteriori knowledge.

Question 80

Knowledge that is independent of experience is called

A) a posteriori.
B) a priori.
C) empirical.
D) Both a and c