Contemporary Philosophy
Final Test Solutions
Course Introduction
Contemporary Philosophy explores major philosophical movements, figures, and debates from the late 19th century to the present day. This course examines topics such as existentialism, phenomenology, analytic philosophy, pragmatism, structuralism, post-structuralism, and critical theory. Students will engage with primary texts and key ideas from philosophers like Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Sartre, Foucault, and Derrida, critically analyzing themes including language, mind, ethics, politics, and the nature of reality. The course encourages students to connect philosophical developments to current global issues and to consider the relevance of contemporary thought in diverse intellectual and cultural contexts.
Recommended Textbook
The Big Questions A Short Introduction to Philosophy 9th Edition by Robert C. Solomon
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11 Chapters
693 Verified Questions
693 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Philosophical Questions
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42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Rene Descartes' philosophical method was based on a clear authority structure which one already knows is reliable.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Why did Socrates go willingly to his death?
Answer: He believed he had an obligation to respect the laws of his city even when those same laws condemned him to death. And/or: His respect for the laws and for his own sense of honor were so strong,that he decided the most important thing for him to do would be to show his belief in his own principles by dying for them.
Q3) It is impossible to imagine societies in which people are happy and prosperous,while not being free.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Why aren't good people necessarily happy?
Answer: The events of life sometimes punish the wicked and reward the good,but-unfortunately-not all that often.
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3
Chapter 2: The Meaning of Life
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67 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) German philosophers in the nineteenth century talked about life being a Bildungsroman,a story of personal development.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Children,God,and afterlife
A) are all forms of meaning equated with "life as an investment."
B) are all forms of meaning created within ourselves,like stories.
C) are all meaningful because they create happiness.
D) are all forms of meaning located outside of ourselves,to which our lives refer. Answer: D
Q3) Define altruism.
Answer: Altruism is acting for the benefit of others,even if there is no benefit whatsoever to oneself.
Q4) What sort of story would you be likely to tell if you viewed your life as a Bildungsroman?
Answer: A story of your personal development as you go through the various quests,disappointments and discoveries of life.
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4
Chapter 3: God
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70 Verified Questions
70 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If,according to the free will solution to the problem of evil,God cannot interfere with our actions then
A) God's power would seem to be limited.
B) God's goodness seems to be limited.
C) God's knowledge seems to be limited.
D) evil and suffering are not real.
Answer: A
Q2) Explain what Kierkegaard means by the "leap of faith?"
Answer: According to Kierkegaard,being a Christian is a matter of total commitment,requiring what he called a "leap of faith," because we cannot know that God exists or anything about him.But one has to act as confidently,with passion,as if one were absolutely certain of his existence,in an intimately personal relationship (like a son and his father or even,Kierkegaard suggested,like two lovers).
Q3) According to Hegel,absolute Spirit acts through human beings but is also not different from human beings.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 5
Chapter 4: The Nature of Reality
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Sample Questions
Q1) Remembering that metaphysics is evaluative,complete exercise # 1,on p.107-108. If you are inclined to add some elements to the list,go ahead and do this. Make sure you complete the rankings honestly: they should reflect what you actually see in your life,and not simply what you'd like to believe about yourself. Write an essay describing what you observe. Looking at the rankings,try to assess how (if at all)your viewpoint makes the two basic assumptions of Western metaphysics: that what is basically real endures change,and that basic reality forms some kind of unity. Does your metaphysical viewpoint resemble any of those developed in chapter four?
Q2) The early Greek philosophers' theories were monumental because they were attempting to explain the world
A) through appealing to the moods and whims of the gods.
B) through appealing to a single divine Creator,the Demiurge.
C) in terms of an infinite number of principles.
D) in a systematic way,not by appeal to the moods and whims of invisible gods.
Q3) How did the Pre-Socratics (Anaximader,Anaximenes and Heraclitus)identify the nature of ultimate reality?
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Chapter 5: The Search for Truth
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Sample Questions
Q1) Leibniz agrees with Locke that the senses are a sufficient source for all knowledge.
A)True
B)False
Q2) If two people disagree about whether the statement "Life is meaningful" is true,their disagreement is factual,or empirical,in nature.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Were Descartes to have accepted the coherence theory of truth he would have to have given up his quest for certain knowledge.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In Quine's view,knowledge is holistic,and not a collection of piecemeal observations. A)True
B)False
Q5) We believe that we know universal statements such as "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."
Why do rationalists think that such statements imply we have innate ideas?
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Chapter 6: Self
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Sample Questions
Q1) It can be argued that we recognize thoughts only because A) we have words and concepts that allow us to.
B) those thoughts arise from a core,essential self.
C) we exist as individuals prior to our social context.
D) there is no self.
Q2) A person's self-identity consists in
A) only a particular description,such as "I am from Toledo."
B) only a general description,such as "I am a human being."
C) both a general and a particular description.
D) neither a general nor a particular description.
Q3) If philosophical behaviorism is true,then pains and other sensations are simply identified with the dispositions to behave in a certain way.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The egocentric predicament begins with the assumption that A) we are,at root,selfish beings.
B) we are destined to live always alone in the world.
C) we know our own mind directly and beyond any doubt.
D) we can have no knowledge of the external world.
Q5) What does Sartre mean by transcendence?
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Freedom
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Sample Questions
Q1) Jean-Paul Sartre rejects Kant's notion that we must view our actions as free.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Aristotle argued that an act could be free only if it was both free from "external compulsion" and
A) divinely mandated.
B) not determined by past actions.
C) performed for morally acceptable reasons.
D) free of ignorance (where the actor didn't know what he or she was doing)
Q3) According to Sartre,there are extreme circumstances,such as war,where your freedom is eliminated or totally absent.
A)True
B)False
Q4) According to the African Yoruba philosophy,prior to being born,people know what sort of "ori" or soul they will have,and hence whether they will have good or bad luck in their lives.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is indeterminism?
Q6) What is the difference between rational and emotional freedom?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Morality and the Good Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) Hedonism is the view that says the good life involves
A) living successfully.
B) getting as much pleasure out of life as you possibly can.
C) living an ascetical life.
D) living a life of freedom.
Q2) For Ancient Greeks,such as Aristotle,the good life
A) was a matter of attaining a feeling of well-being.
B) was inner satisfaction.
C) was a matter of attaining economic success.
D) was a public,social,objective life of achievement and good fortune.
Q3) Someone who is an ethical egoist must also believe in psychological egoism.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Distinguish between cultural relativism and ethical relativism.
Q5) What does it mean for a principle to be universalizable?
Q6) According to Kant's moral theory,actions are to be judged by their
A) actual short term consequences.
B) intentions.
C) actual long term consequences.
D) emotional effects on you.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Justice and the Good Society
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Sample Questions
Q1) For most people,the good life carries no presupposition about the kind of society in which one should live.
A)True B)False
Q2) Few philosophers who theorize about the nature of society are able to get completely past the presuppositions which their own societies impose on them.
A)True B)False
Q3) Punishing someone too harshly would be a failure of distributive justice.
A)True
B)False
Q4) To imagine a utopia is to imagine
A) a communist state.
B) an ideal or perfect society.
C) a form of solipsism.
D) a world without justice.
Q5) What is Rawls' second "principle of justice"?
Q6) Why isn't legitimate political power accurately expressed in the formula "might makes right"?
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Non-Western Philosophy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Hinduism is
A) polytheistic.
B) henotheistic.
C) monotheistic.
D) non-theistic.
Q2) In Daoism,how is water a symbol for the Tao?
Q3) According to the Vedas,the self that we recognize within ourselves is ultimately atman,and atman is not separate from Brahman,the fundamental reality.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The Mexican philosopher who rejected positivism because it did not acknowledge the importance of emotions in music and the arts was
A) Augusto Salazar Bondy.
B) Jose Vasconcelos.
C) Octavio Paz.
D) Auguste Comte.
Q5) Describe the Persian philosopher/theologian Mulla Sadra's understanding of God's relationship to the world.
Q6) What are The Four Noble Truths in Buddhism?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Beauty
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does Aristotle explain the pleasure we take in watching dramas where bad and painful things happen to people?
Q2) Kant and Schopenhauer believed that humor depended on activating a priori structures of funniness within the mind.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Wild and crazy dance music,according to Nietzsche,would be an example of
A) Apollonian art.
B) Dionysian art.
C) bad taste.
D) how art can teach us to cooperate.
Q4) Nietzsche argues that great art exclusively manifests a Dionysian openness to chaos.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Aesthetic questions are limited to the realm of formally produced art,such as music and paintings.
A)True
B)False
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