Deck 5: Reason and Relativism in China

Question 1

What were the conditions that gave rise to early Chinese philosophy?

A) A peaceful kingdom with ample time for leisure
B) A homogenous group of people situated on a vast land
C) Several small states engaged in brutal wars
D) Frequent sharing of ideas with other civilizations

Answer 1

Several small states engaged in brutal wars

Question 2

What was the primary justification for someone to be (and remain) a ruler?

A) The Natural Lineage
B) The Hereditary Throne
C) The Rituals of Zhou
D) The Mandate of Heaven

Answer 2

The Mandate of Heaven

Question 3

Why did early Chinese philosophers think global peace was possible?

A) It was achieved in the past
B) It must happen eventually
C) It would be a continuation of the present state of affairs
D) They'd found the one true king

Answer 3

It was achieved in the past

Question 4

What was the main topic of early Chinese philosophy?

A) Morality
B) Free will
C) The Cosmos
D) Mathematics

Question 5

How did many Chinese philosophers lend credence to their theories?

A) Appealing to universal truths
B) Proving using empirical evidence
C) Tying them to ancient sages and kings
D) Creating something new and different

Question 6

In the Mozi, what is the main justification for holding a belief?

A) Self-knowledge
B) Societal Benefit
C) Personal gain
D) Whether it pleases the gods

Question 7

Whom did the Mozi advise one care for the most?

A) One's own parents
B) One must care for everyone the same
C) One's children
D) One's king

Question 8

How did the Mozi aim the prove its moral theory?

A) Appealing to universal moral principles
B) Showing that embracing it causes less harm
C) Showing that rejecting it causes more harm
D) Absorbing Confucian moral doctrines

Question 9

For the Mozi, what is the standard for proving something is true or right?

A) Whether it makes practical sense
B) Whether it has a corresponding pure idea
C) Nothing can ever be proven true or right
D) Whether someone believes it

Question 10

Which of these was a main topic of Hui Shi's Ten Theses?

A) Mohist logic
B) Rituals of Zhou
C) Political theory
D) Time and Space

Question 11

According to Gongsun Long, "hardness and whiteness"

A) are qualities of the object that are separate from the physical object
B) are abstract ideas
C) are illusions created by the mind
D) are physically overlapping qualities that are inseparable from the object

Question 12

How did the Mohists build on the content of the Mozi?

A) They incorporated the School of Names principle of the "inadmissible"
B) They formulated a new ethical theory that embraced relativism
C) They clarified the logic to allow for correct inferences
D) They brought in the idea of an immortal soul

Question 13

Who was the main opponent of Mohist moral and political ideas?

A) Daoists
B) School of Names
C) Confucians
D) Zhou Dynasty

Question 14

How did the Mohists seek to beat competing moral arguments?

A) Appeal to timeless moral truths
B) Seek the approval of Heaven
C) Include many different ideas to appeal to different people
D) Employ rational criticism and argumentation

Question 15

In which Chinese philosophical school is the Zhuangzi included?

A) Mohist
B) School of Names
C) Daoist
D) Confucian

Question 16

What is the philosophical motivation of the Zhuangzi?

A) To illustrate a doctrine of ideal political morality
B) To make logically coherent and precise arguments
C) To question the doctrinal nature of morality and logic
D) To advise kings on military strategy and propaganda

Question 17

Which is the best explanation of the Zhuangzi's metaphor of the turtle dragging its tail in the mud?

A) One should not judge a person by their appearance
B) It's better to live according to one's nature than to strive for fame and luxury.
C) A person is judged by the trail they leave behind.
D) Things do not exist independently of our perception of them.

Question 18

In whom does the Zhuangzi find ideal expressions of human activity?

A) The ancient sages of the Zhou Dynasty
B) The wheelmaker and the butcher whose actions seem effortless
C) The scholar and author whose words inspire later generations
D) The logician whose arguments lead people to the right path

Question 19

With which philosophical problem does the begin?

A) Is it possible to retain grace and dignity as a person grows old?
B) Is it possible for humans to live in a natural way?
C) Is it possible to describe in words the concepts most essential to a well-lived life?
D) Is it possible that humans never really understand one another?

Question 20

To live a life in accordance with Dào what must one resist?

A) Material accumulation
B) Decline in motivation
C) Living in unclean environs
D) Unclear and vague language

Question 21

The primary opponent of the Mozi's arguments about disputation is the Zhuangzi.

Question 22

According to the , people live their lives too simply.

Question 23

According to the , the works written by men in antiquity are not necessarily valuable as a source of wisdom.

Question 24

The ideal Daoist ruler of the does not abide contention and competition.

Question 25

The way of living endorsed by the Zhuangzi is to strive to accord with natural processes.

Question 26

Wuwéi means "doing nothing."

Question 27

The Mohists sought to prove that "ox" and "not-ox" must both be true if one of them is.

Question 28

The Zhuangzi endorses our confidence in the conventional meanings of our words.

Question 29

The Mohists sought a logic that would clarify moral truths.

Question 30

The disagreement between the Mohists and the School of Names concerned the explanatory nature of paradoxes.

Question 31

The fact that white horses are inferior led Gongsun Long to declare that "a white horse is not a horse."

Question 32

The Zhuangzi sought to explain one true reality.

Question 33

The Neo-Daoists thought that the Dào of Confucius and the Dào of the Daoists were the same.

Question 34

Confucianism was more influential than Daoism for the emergence of Asian Buddhisms.

Question 35

The Sage Kings were taken to be deities residing in an extraterrestrial, "Heaven-like" place.

Question 36

What was the importance of the Mandate of Heaven for ancient Chinese rulership?

Question 37

Why is ancient Chinese philosophy concerned about and oriented toward the past?

Question 38

How did Confucius justify his ethico-political philosophy?

Question 39

How is Chinese authorship different than, say, the ancient Greeks?

Question 40

How do the Mozi and the Analects seek to convince their readers of the veracity of their claims?

Question 41

How does the Mozi prove the acceptability of "mutual care/love"?

Question 42

What were the presumed goals of the thinkers grouped together to comprise the School of Names?

Question 43

What did Gongsun Long hope to prove with his problem of "hardness and whiteness"?

Question 44

Interpret Hui Shi's aphorism "I set off for Yue today and came there yesterday."

Question 45

What is the primary Mohist critique of the School of Names?

Question 46

Describe the relationship between the Zhuangzi and the School of Names using the example of the conversation between Zhuangzi and Huizi about the happiness of the fish below the river Hao.

Question 47

How do the Zhuangzi's passages about death and mourning differ from the morality and social expectations of his time?

Question 48

What is the moral of the story about the silk-bleacher and his salve in the Zhuangzi?

Question 49

What does the Dàodéjīng hope to show with its opening passage?

Question 50

Why is seeking simplicity better than, say, seeking to establish complex social arrangements when it comes to benefiting humankind, according to the Dàodéjīng?

Question 51

Contrast the dào of the Analects with the dào of the Laozi. What advice do they proffer to the humans who would hope to lead an appropriate, good, and meaningful life? How do they each expand the scope of individual action to the world-at-large?

Question 52

Which would you rather live in, a Confucian or a Daoist society? Provide specific reasons and examples for your preference. If Confucian, how do you think self-expression and individuality would be accomplished? If Daoist, how can a society of relatively independent individuals be successful on the whole?

Question 53

Compare and contrast the argumentation styles of the Analects, the Mozi/Mohists, and the Daoists. Which do you think relies most strongly on empirical evidence and why? What does each presume about their readers, those who would like to decide how best to be and what to do?

Question 54

Lay out the Zhuangzi's method for developing a skill, as in the case of Cook Ding, using the terminology of wúwéi and dào. What is the lesson for the lay-person who has not spent their life developing one particular skill, i.e., most of us?

Question 55

The Dàodéjīng illustrates that language is not an accurate way to describe or depict the world. Why not? The text goes on to say that the distinctions we make between things by calling them desirable or undesirable are harmful. Does this not seem like natural human behavior? Why does the Dàodéjīng claim that it is harmful?

Question 56

Describe what an ideal ruler would look like in a Confucian, a Mohist, and a Daoist empire. Which do you think is the most reasonable goal? Does this differ from what you think would be the best, most benevolent empire? Why?