Question 1

According to Nietzsche in "The Thought of 'Eternal Recurrence,'" what question would gain possession of you after you were visited by the demon?

Accepted Answer

The answer of According to Nietzsche in "The Thought of...

Question 2

Calvin Coolidge apparently embraced the view that life is an investment when he said

Accepted Answer

A) "Time is money." 
B) "A penny saved is a penny earned." 
C) "Buy low, sell high." 
D)   "The business of America is business."

Question 3

When Nietzsche writes that Socrates and other Western philosophers have turned "reason into a tyrant," he

Accepted Answer

A) shares the author of Ecclesiastes' s belief that "all is vanity." 
B) agrees with the idea that the meaning of life should be based on the pursuit of wisdom. 
C) means that a life single-mindedly devoted to reason is a fanatical life. 
D) agrees with Buddhists, who look to nirvana as the extinction of all desires that lead to suffering.

Question 4

According to Camus, the only serious philosophical question is:

Accepted Answer

A) What is the meaning of life? 
B) How can we extinguish desire in order to be free of suffering? 
C) Does God exist? 
D) Should one commit suicide?

Question 5

Someone who views life as a disease presupposes some conception of health.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 6

One of the main tenets of Buddhism says that ​

Accepted Answer

A) life is happiness. 
B) one must ​ live free or die. 
C) virtue is knowledge. 
D) desire can be eliminated.

Question 7

The belief that the meaning of your life is a "calling" is one expression of the idea of "Life as a Mission."

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Solomon and Higgins say that some answers to the question "What is the meaning of life?" really assume that our lives have meaning only because they refer to someone or something outside ourselves.    Write an essay explaining this way of answering the question, and then develop three detailed concepts of meaning that illustrate it. What are the shortcomings of this way of answering the question?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Solomon and Higgins say that some answers...

Question 9

The thinker who argued that the clarity of self-knowledge may be an illusion because most of our ideas are the product of the unconscious was

Accepted Answer

A) Sigmund Freud. 
B) Goethe. 
C) Camus. 
D) Socrates.

Question 10

"Life as tragedy" and "Life as comedy" both share the assumption that

Accepted Answer

A) art imitates life. 
B) neither art nor life can determine the shape of who we are. 
C) life is some kind of story. 
D) life is an adventure.

Question 11

Religious believers like Saint Augustine and Martin Luther asked questions about the meaning of life less persistently than atheists.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 12

Solomon says that some answers to the question of the meaning of life "only postpone the answer" by raising new questions. Suppose a friend were to tell you, "The meaning of my life is God." Give one example of a new question that this answer raises that you could ask your friend.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Solomon says that some answers to the...

Question 13

Social scientists tell us that people tend to be happiest when they have meaningful relationships in which they are actively engaged. This confirms the "Life as Relationships" viewpoint.   Aristotle writes that "friendship seems to be one of the features of the good life."   Explain what Aristotle means by this, and then describe your own experience of friendship. Be specific: focus on one or two examples. What makes them important to your life? How have friendships contributed to your sense of meaning?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Social scientists tell us that people tend...

Question 14

Write a dialogue in which two characters discuss their competing images of the meaning of life. One of the characters can represent your preferences, and the other can represent a viewpoint on meaning that you do not prefer.   Your dialogue should bring out and explain each image in some detail; it should discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. Finally, it should provide a reasoned argument or explanation why, given their strengths and weaknesses, the images are compelling to the characters.   Be creative in writing your dialogue, and have fun, but stay focused on the issues. You might also stage this dialogue as an oral presentation in front of your class, or make a video of it.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Write a dialogue in which two characters...

Question 15

When Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "Live your life as a work of art," what did he mean?

Accepted Answer

The answer of When Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "Live your life...

Question 16

Camus expresses the view that life is a tragedy when one of his characters declares ,

Accepted Answer

A) "Life is suffering." 
B) "Life imitates art." 
C) "All men are brothers and the same end awaits them all-death." 
D) "The character Polonius did not consider himself a minor character in Hamlet ."

Question 17

Someone who devotes her life to rock climbing probably has a vision of life centered on

Accepted Answer

A) desire. 
B) adventure. 
C) the absurd. 
D) nirvana.

Question 18

Your vision of the meaning of life

Accepted Answer

A) sets up expectations for how to live, determining in many ways the kind of life you will lead. 
B) is directly related to your temperament-pessimists always have pessimistic visions of meaning, while optimists have optimistic visions. 
C) is something you are born with that gradually unfolds. 
D) should be formulated precisely, in a mathematical formula.

Question 19

Nihilism is the belief that life has no meaning.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

The word nirvana is a Sanskrit word for "suffering."

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Exam 2: The Meaning of Life

According to Nietzsche in "The Thought of 'Eternal Recurrence,'" what question would gain possession of you after you were visited by the demon?

Calvin Coolidge apparently embraced the view that life is an investment when he said

When Nietzsche writes that Socrates and other Western philosophers have turned "reason into a tyrant," he

According to Camus, the only serious philosophical question is:

Someone who views life as a disease presupposes some conception of health.

One of the main tenets of Buddhism says that ​

The belief that the meaning of your life is a "calling" is one expression of the idea of "Life as a Mission."

The thinker who argued that the clarity of self-knowledge may be an illusion because most of our ideas are the product of the unconscious was

"Life as tragedy" and "Life as comedy" both share the assumption that

Religious believers like Saint Augustine and Martin Luther asked questions about the meaning of life less persistently than atheists.

Solomon says that some answers to the question of the meaning of life "only postpone the answer" by raising new questions. Suppose a friend were to tell you, "The meaning of my life is God." Give one example of a new question that this answer raises that you could ask your friend.

When Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "Live your life as a work of art," what did he mean?

Camus expresses the view that life is a tragedy when one of his characters declares ,

Someone who devotes her life to rock climbing probably has a vision of life centered on

Your vision of the meaning of life

Nihilism is the belief that life has no meaning.

The word nirvana is a Sanskrit word for "suffering."

One of the main tenets of Buddhism says that