Deck 4: Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason

Question 1

In Athens, the Sophists taught

A)political skills of public speaking and policy-making.
B)music and mathematics.
C)secret methods of achieving immortality.
D)spiritual exercises aimed at individual enlightenment.
E)practical skills that improved Athenian technology.

Answer 1

political skills of public speaking and policy-making.

Question 2

Which of the following cannot be associated with the Ionians?

A)Ethics as the heart of philosophic speculation
B)Curiosity about the essential substance that gave rise to all physical phenomena
C)Physical explanations accounting for natural phenomena
D)Nature no longer manipulated by the gods or subject to chance
E)The ability of the human intellect to grasp nature's hidden structure

Answer 2

Ethics as the heart of philosophic speculation

Question 3

Anaximander held each of the following except

A)none of the current substances in the world were the original substance out of which everything arose.
B)the primary substance, which he called Boundless, contained the power of hot and cold.
C)a creative force, which he called Eros, willfully impelled the primary substance to change.
D)cold led to the formation of the earth and heat encircled the world.
E)life arose from the warm slime of the earth and all land animals including human beings evolved from the first sea creatures.

Answer 3

a creative force, which he called Eros, willfully impelled the primary substance to change.

Question 4

According to the author, the most important difference between the ancient Near Eastern civilizations and classical Greek civilization was the Greeks'

A)rational outlook on nature and humanity as opposed to the mythopoeic worldviews of Near Eastern civilizations.
B)use of alphabetic rather than ideographic writing.
C)monotheism, as opposed to the polytheisms of the Near East.
D)endorsement of equal political rights for women.
E)egalitarianism and political unity.

Question 5

The Greek breakthrough to rational thought, that is, philosophy could be due to

A)contact with the mathematics of the old Near Eastern civilizations.
B)the extension of the idea of universal destiny to natural phenomena which produced a new concept: natural law.
C)freedom for a priesthood and rigid religious beliefs.
D)the rise of the Greek city and its concept of law.
E)All of these

Question 6

Which is an incorrect statement about the relationship of Socrates to the Sophists?

A)Unlike the Ionian philosophers, both believed that rational knowledge of the individual and society was more important than knowledge of nature.
B)Both rejected the old mythological traditions.
C)Socrates condemned Sophist relativism.
D)Socrates believed that the Sophists' unbridled critical thinking had undermined belief in the old system of beliefs but has not provided people with a satisfactory replacement.
E)Socrates and the Sophists had nothing in common.

Question 7

Thales is responsible for all the following.Which, however, did the author believe revolutionized thought?

A)Thales was the first man known to have predicted a solar eclipse.
B)Thales omitted the gods from his explanation of nature and found physical explanations to be sufficient.
C)Thales believed that water was the basic element out of which everything was made.
D)Thales believed that everything in the world arose from a process similar to the formation of steam or ice
E)Thales noted that heavenly objects move in regular patterns.

Question 8

Which of the following speculated that the world was composed of atoms?

A)Democritus
B)Parmenides
C)Thales
D)Pythagoras
E)Anaximenes

Question 9

Hippocrates

A)ascribed a divine origin to epilepsy.
B)treated epilepsy with cupping.
C)denied that epilepsy was sacred or had a divine origin.
D)believed epilepsy was a contagious disease spread by mosquitoes.
E)believed epilepsy was associated with genius.

Question 10

The author qualifies the development of rationalism in ancient Greece by stating that

A)a majority of Greeks never entirely eliminated myth from their life and thought.
B)rational thought in Greece was more a process or trend than a finished product.
C)mystical modes of persisted even in Plato and Aristotle.
D)its historical significance lies in its novelty and application.
E)All of these

Question 11

The philosophical insights offered by Parmenides

A)accepted a concept of a True Being that included transcendence and permanence.
B)rejected the Pythagorean style of thought.
C)referred to the True Being as God.
D)contended that understanding of the cosmos proceeded through the senses.
E)stated that the universe is made of matter and void.

Question 12

The earliest Ionian philosophy

A)was closely associated with religion and the Greek priesthood.
B)originated in Mesopotamia via Asia Minor.
C)began with Thales.
D)still maintained the gods were the origin of nature.
E)held that the most important quality of knowledge was its practical application.

Question 13

The earliest theoretical philosophers in human history were the

A)Hebrews.
B)Ionians.
C)Pythagoreans.
D)Sophists.
E)Platonists.

Question 14

Parmenides strongly influenced which of the following philosophers?

A)Anaximander
B)Plato
C)Democritus
D)Aeschylus
E)Aristotle

Question 15

Which concept, essential to scientific thought, was developed by early Greek philosophy?

A)Natural occurrences can be understood by physical explanations.
B)Nature possesses a mathematical order.
C)Explanations must be based on logical proof.
D)The universe has a mechanical structure.
E)All of these

Question 16

Which of the following statements best describes the relationship of Pythagoras and the Ionian philosophers?

A)Pythagoras was the Ionian philosopher who believed the primary substance was air and that the sun's rays falling through dense air caused the rainbow.
B)Unlike the Ionians, Pythagoras is credited with inventing formal logic.
C)Unlike the "matter philosophers," Pythagoras believed in the one True Being, transcendent, permanent, and perfect.
D)Pythagoras believed that the nature was not made of a primary substance, as the Ionians believed, but out of mathematical relationships.
E)Unlike the "matter philosophers," Pythagoras believed that the mathematical harmony of the universe expressed the perfect thoughts of the True Being.

Question 17

Collectively, Sophist ideas triggered an intellectual and spiritual crisis.These included which of the following notions?

A)Religion was a human invention to ensure compliance to the law.Law itself changes with the times.
B)The first principles of the universe were beyond the grasp of human reason and should not be sought.
C)Knowledge is relative; there are no objective, universal standards, or truth, all is convention.
D)People are not masters or slaves, by nature; all people, Greeks and non-Greeks alike are fundamentally the same.
E)All of these

Question 18

Which of the following is least well matched?

A)Ionians and rejection of mythic explanations of nature
B)Pythagoras and mathematical order of nature
C)Democritus and mechanical structure of the universe
D)Parmenides and a world in a state of constant flux
E)Sophists and subjective truth

Question 19

The Pythagoreans sought a mathematical order they believed to be inherent in the universe.They also

A)rejected democracy as too chaotic and corrupt.
B)believed that human beings were simply complex machines.
C)participated in the cult of Dionysus.
D)believed in immortality and the transmigration of souls.
E)practiced astrology.

Question 20

Greek civilization departed from their Near Eastern antecedents in all the following ways except the Greeks

A)systematized the mathematical knowledge of the Mesopotamians and Egyptians into a body of theoretical knowledge.
B)used the astronomical information compiled by the Babylonians not for religious purposes but to discover the geometrical laws that governed heavenly bodies.
C)rejected magical beliefs and practices in medicine.
D)developed the concept of a rational or legal state and the idea of free and equal citizens making their own laws.
E)eliminated any concept of a reality beyond the physical and denied the possibility of eternal life.

Question 21

The central theme of Pindar's poetry is

A)the striving for excellence.
B)the futility of human existence.
C)the evils of tyranny.
D)hubris.
E)the tenderness of love.

Question 22

Socrates would disagree with which of the following statements?

A)"No greater good can happen to a man than to discuss human excellence every day."
B)"As long as I have breadth and strength I will not give up philosophy even if it requires that I break the city's laws."
C)"To deal rationally with oneself and with others is the distinctive mark of being human."
D)"My mission was to be a gadfly to stir Athenians from their complacency and prompt them to reflect critically about their lives."
E)"Knowledge leads to virtue."

Question 23

In the Clouds, the playwright Aristophanes

A)eulogized Socrates' soaring intellect and pure living.
B)dramatized the story of Socrates' trial and execution.
C)lauded Socrates for his positive influence on Athenian youth.
D)mocked Socrates as a fuzzy-headed, impractical, and ridiculous figure.
E)accused Socrates of embezzling state funds.

Question 24

When Plato wrote the Republic, he

A)did it as a mental exercise rather than as something to be implemented.
B)perceived the ruler to be a constitutional monarch.
C)intended to pursue the government of the Thirty Tyrants to appoint him as philosopher-king.
D)was specifically concerned about the decline of Athenian community spirit.
E)intended to encourage a revival of democracy and freedom in Athens.

Question 25

On the subject of an ideal government, Plato would disagree with all of the following ideas of Aristotle except

A)utopias should not be attempted, only practical solutions in normal circumstances should be sought.
B)political life should be rationally understood and intelligently directed.
C)women had no place in government.
D)the best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class.
E)the division of society into the rich, the middle class, and the poor.

Question 26

Which of the following was Socrates' preferred method of acquiring knowledge?

A)Study of ancient sacred texts
B)Intense, secluded, and disciplined contemplation
C)Dialogue with others or one's self
D)The pursuit of a pure, moral life which would open the mind to God's revelation
E)Testing public opinion

Question 27

Drama originated in Greece from

A)festivals honoring the god of wine, Dionysus.
B)ceremonies depicted in Minoan and Mycenaean art.
C)competitions among Greek city-states.
D)the epics of Homer
E)the dialogues of Plato.

Question 28

Plato believed all of the following would be true of the ideal state except

A)men and women should receive the same education and have equal access to all occupations, including that of the philosopher-ruler.
B)the division of society should correspond to the three divisions of the soul: reason (rulers), spiritedness (soldiers) and desire (working population).
C)the government should have checks and balances and be divided into three branches.
D)only the "possessors of truth" would be allowed to rule.
E)rulers could not have property or families.

Question 29

Who was the most prominent female poet in Antiquity?

A)Pindar
B)Sappho
C)Medea
D)Lysistrata
E)Diotima

Question 30

The author makes all the following connections except

A)just as a Greek sculptor shaped a clear visual image of the human form, so also a Greek dramatist brought the inner life of human beings into sharp focus.
B)like the natural philosophers, Greek dramatists saw an inner logic in the universe and called it Fate or Destiny.
C)the dialogue between thinking individuals in Greek drama paralleled Socratic dialectics.
D)Greek art and drama evidenced a growing self-awareness of the individual.
E)like Parmenides and Plato, Greek dramatists focused on the world beyond sensory perception.

Question 31

Aristotle's ethics held that a person should

A)practice moderation in all things including the restraint of emotions.
B)follow the will of the majority since law is based on reason manifested by a community of thinking people.
C)suppress his passions and all other irrational tendencies.
D)follow tradition which manifests the wisdom of the ages.
E)conform his will to the will of God.

Question 32

The term orchestra originally meant

A)pit.
B)theatre.
C)dancing place.
D)market.
E)musical troupe.

Question 33

Since classical Greek art set the standards that dominated Western art until the end of the 19th century, we can infer that mainstream Western art traditionally valued

A)representational depictions of the world.
B)equilibrium and harmony.
C)the human form as the central focus of attention.
D)a combination of realism, naturalism, and idealism.
E)All of these

Question 34

Socrates believed that the perfection of the human person required a grasp of morality, the ability to distinguish good and evil, and to act accordingly.Moral values, he argued, came from

A)rational inquiry and critical self-examination.
B)popular opinion and social conventions.
C)a transcendent, omniscient God.
D)inherited mytho-religious traditions.
E)Sophist pragmatism.

Question 35

Plato's Republic

A)adapted the rational legacy of Greek philosophy to politics by fashioning a rational model of the state.
B)was based, in part, on the conviction that for people to live ethical lives, they must do so as citizens of a just and rational state.
C)criticized the fundamental assumption of Athenian democracy: common people are capable of participating sensibly in public affairs.
D)stated that in democracies leaders are often chosen for the wrong reason, that democracy's intoxication with liberty leads to anarchy and when that chaos arrives the people turn power over to demagogues.
E)All of these

Question 36

How did Athens, the center of Greek culture, treat Socrates?

A)Athens agreed with his suggestion to give him free room and board when he grew old and to guarantee his young children a free state-sponsored education.
B)Socrates was exiled after the Peloponnesian War.
C)Using monies from the Delian League, Athens funded his new center of learning called the Academy.
D)Athens convicted him of corrupting the youth, denying the city's gods, and believing in new ones.He was ordered to commit suicide.
E)The Athenians largely ignored him, letting him be a voice in the desert, unheard and ineffective.

Question 37

Who may be remembered as the first actor in history because he engaged in dialogue?

A)Croesus
B)Hesiod
C)Thespis
D)Sappho
E)Aeschylus

Question 38

Aristotle's theory of knowledge and reality included all the following except

A)sense perception was essential for understanding.
B)forms did not exist independently of particular objects.
C)theory must not conflict with fact.
D)the ultimate goal of knowledge is the comprehension of the essence of things and the understanding of universal principles.
E)love of beauty can eventually lead a person to contemplate absolute beauty and good in the world beyond the physical.

Question 39

Which best describes Plato's theory of ideas?

A)Rather than being eternal and unchanging, ideas by their very nature evolve as they are discussed.
B)Ideas, not the physical world, comprise reality.
C)Ideas result from sensory perception and rational reflection.
D)Ideas are only labels for deeper realities.
E)Matter and ideas are the two components of reality.

Question 40

In his life of sixty-two years, Aristotle

A)studied under Plato.
B)tutored Alexander the Great.
C)founded his own school, the Lyceum.
D)undertook to systematize the thought of the Pre-Socratics, Socrates and Plato.
E)All of these

Question 41

One of the chief concerns of Aeschylus involved the

A)decline of the Mycenaeans.
B)weakening moral fiber of Athenian youth.
C)individual in conflict with the moral universe.
D)freedom of Greek women.
E)tragedy of the Peloponnesian War.

Question 42

In looking over the cultural history of Greece from Homer to Philip II, we can detect a/an

A)trend towards a more rational understanding of nature and society.
B)belief that knowledge, not obedience, is essential for a virtuous life.
C)passion for excellence and the ideal.
D)appreciation of the complexity and frailty of human beings.
E)All of these

Question 43

All the following may be said about Herodotus except

A)as the "father of history," Herodotus was a thoroughgoing rationalist.
B)Herodotus was free of the common Greek contempt for the non-Hellenic world.
C)Herodotus did not merely repeat legends but he often sought to discover what really happened.
D)the gods had a relatively minor role in his histories.
E)Herodotus seemed to share in the Greek fascination with the tragedy of hubris.

Question 44

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Sophists

Question 45

A distinctive theme in Sophocles' plays, such as Oedipus Rex and Antigone, is

A)the need to adhere to traditional religious values.
B)the tragedy of adhering to laudable virtues which in excess or in some circumstances inevitably lead to disaster.
C)humanitarianism.
D)condemnation of war.
E)the comedy of everyday life.

Question 46

It could be said that Aristophanes

A)feared attacking authority figures.
B)culminated the Ionian school of philosophy.
C)was an itinerant philosopher whose ideas strongly influenced the young.
D)criticized the diminishing sense of values among Athenians.
E)believed only dramatic tragedies could lead Athenian audiences to a better life.

Question 47

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
the world of Forms

Question 48

Which literary figure should never have undertaken a search for his origins?

A)Agamemnon
B)Medea
C)Oedipus
D)Cleon
E)Antigone

Question 49

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Pre-Socratics

Question 50

Mature Greek historical writing was characterized by

A)a focus on the deeds of people not the gods.
B)critical analysis and interpretation.
C)a sense that history went in cycles.
D)an attention to the sources and their reliability.
E)All of these

Question 51

Which of the following is a play that is said to have expressed the innermost thoughts of a Greek woman?

A)Medea
B)Oedipus Rex
C)The Clouds
D)The Persians
E)The Libation Bearers

Question 52

Which of the following statements about Thucydides is incorrect? He believed

A)the study of war would reveal general principles of human behavior.
B)the motives of statesmen were insignificant in studying the historical event.
C)that the historian must enlighten, not entertain.
D)history was the work of human beings.
E)that the gods did not interfere in history.

Question 53

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
ethics

Question 54

Antiwar themes may be associated with both

A)Euripides and Sophocles.
B)Plato and Herodotus.
C)Aristophanes and Sappho.
D)Euripides and Aristophanes.
E)Homer and Thucydides.

Question 55

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
sophrosyne

Question 56

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
philosophy

Question 57

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
relativism

Question 58

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
dialectics

Question 59

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Ionian philosophers

Question 60

The poet Hesiod and the dramatist Aeschylus both wrote about the

A)genealogy of the gods.
B)folly of the Persian Emperor Xerxes.
C)perils of hubris.
D)daily ordeal of common people trying to survive.
E)All of these

Question 61

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
The author states that the Greek development of rational thought (rationalism) was a turning point for human civilization.At the same time, the author states that "[u]nderlying everything accomplished by the Greeks was a humanist attitude towards life (humanism).Explain what is meant by Greek rational thought and Greek humanism.Show how these two ideas are related.

Question 62

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
How did the Peloponnesian War influence various Greek philosophers, historians, and playwrights?

Question 63

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Plato was Socrates' student and Aristotle was Plato's.Show how in these two relationships the disciple's thought came to differ from the master's teachings.

Question 64

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Which school of Greek philosophy took an essentially pragmatic approach to knowledge? To which contemporary influences was this school responding and what were some of its conclusions?

Question 65

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Use information from both Chapters 3 and 4 to answer the following question: The author stresses the importance of the Greeks and the Hebrews as two sources of Western civilization.Based on the information present to this point, compare and contrast the contribution of each.

Question 66

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Parthenon

Question 67

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Compare Ionian views with those of the Pythagoreans and Parmenides.How did each tradition contribute to the development of scientific thought?

Question 68

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
hubris

Question 69

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Greeks have been said to have systematized knowledge.How would you support this statement?

Question 70

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Use information from both Chapters 3 and 4 to answer the following question: The Greeks developed an understanding of what it means to be human that had a lasting impact on the Western tradition.Explain that vision of humanity.

Question 71

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Define the term matter philosopher.Name at least two philosophers who fit the definition and explain their theories.

Question 72

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
naturalistic

Question 73

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
drama

Question 74

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Explain why Socrates was a central figure in Greek philosophy and why Athens put him to death.What was Socrates' significant contribution to the Western tradition?

Question 75

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
How does the development of Greek drama epitomize the movement of Greek culture from myth towards rationality?

Question 76

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Trace the nature of questions explored by the cosmologists, the Sophists, and Socrates.

Question 77

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
tragedy