Why did Thales choose water as the first principle?
cause water is everywhere, and it chages state
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Why did Thales choose water as the first principle?
| cause water is everywhere, and it chages state |
Reductionism bypasses surface appearances for deeper explanations.
(a) True
(b) False | true |
Anaximander disagreed with Thales’ reduction to one element.
(a) True
(b) False | true |
naximenes thought Anaximander reduced the world to:
(a) Puffballs
(b) Nothingness
(c) Bleakness
(d) Chaos
(e) None of the above | nothingness |
What is monism?
| the position that the cosmos reduces to
just one thing/substance |
Pythagoras held that a correct description of reality must be expressed in terms of mathematical formulas.
(a) True
(b) False | true |
What best describes the mood of much of
Heraclitus’ philosophy, a mood characterizing his
view of the nature of the world?
(a) Hopeful
(b) Apologetic
€ Nostalgic
(d) Winsome
€ None of the above | nostalgic |
Parmenides thought that nothing could not be
thought.
(a) True
(b) False | true |
Why, for Zeno (Parmenides’ follower), is
movement/motion—and so any change—an illusion?
Be brief. | motion is an illusion; we can never get
where we’re going b/c we have to get half way
there first |
Zeno distinguished information based upon our
senses and that based upon _______________ alone.
(a) Belief
(b) Skill
(c) Reason
(d) Demonstration
(e) None of the above | reason |
Empedocles posited two forces to explain
change and movement, against Parmenides and
Zeno. What are those forces called? | love and strife |
Who thought that the world was made of
infinite seeds, much like the elements (which
keep increasing in number) of modern physics?
(a) Anaxagoras
(b) Anaximander
(c) Anaximenes
(d) Democritus
(e) None of the above | Anaxagoras |
Who first made philosophical use of the word
LOGOS—Parmenides or Heraclitus? | Heraclitus |
Democritus gave us a rudimentary theory very
much like much in modern atomic theory.
(a) True
(b) False | true |
By the 5th century BC, most ancient Greeks were
left ______________ by the Pre-Socratics.
(a) Inspired
(b) Bored
(c) Educated
(d) Confused
(e) None of the above | confused |
What is the meaning of the word ‘sophist’?
(a) Lover of wisdom
(b) Wise fool
(c) Wisdom seeker
(d) Wise guy
(e) None of the above | wise guy |
The Sophists cared deeply about the nature of
reality and truth—and even goodness.
(a) True
(b) False | false |
Protagoras affirmed that the gods do not exist.
(a) True
(b) False | false |
) Gorgias was a master at _______________.
(a) Rhetoric
(b) Dialectic
(c) Dialog
(d) Hermeneutics
(e) None of the above | rhetoric |
Callicles believed that morality and religion are just clever ways that the weak __________ the
powerful.
(a) control
(b) help
(c) harm
(d) escape
(e) None of the above | control |
The Sophists contributed to Athens’ democracy.
(a) True
(b) False | true |
The Sophists kept philosophy focused on the
world—i.e. the COSMOS—like the Pre-Socratics.
(a) True
(b) False | false |
) Socrates was suspected of being sympathetic to
Sparta, a competing, neighboring Greek city-state
with deeply anti-democratic views and values.
(a) True
(b) False | true |
How do most Socratic dialogs end?
(a) Successfully
(b) Friendly
(c) Victoriously
(d) Inconclusively
(e) All of the above | Inconclusively |
Provide a specific philosophical question from
one of Socrates’ many dialogs, where we clearly see
his three-part method | what is courage |