Test Bank For
Looking At Philosophy the Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter, 8th Edition
Donald Palmer
Chapters 1-8 Answers are at the End of Each Chapter
Chapter 1
MULTIPLE CHOICE - Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or
answers the question.
1) What did all the pre-Socratic philosophers have in common?
A) They believed in a supreme being.
B) They stemmed from the outlying borders of the Roman world.
C) They attempted to explain the secrets behind the appearances in the world by
repeating the tales of the gods.
D) They attempted to create general theories of the cosmos by using observation and
reason.
2) Which of the following is an argument posed by Thales?
A) Everything has an individual characteristic and there is no unity behind the plurality
of things.
B) The world is a disjointed grouping of unrelated fragments.
C) If there is change, there must be some thing that changes, yet does not change.
D) The first principle and basic nature of all things is fire.
3) ________ is a method of explanation that takes an object that confronts a person on the
surface as being one kind of thing and shows that the object can be broken down to a more
basic kind of thing at a deeper but less obvious level of analysis.
A) Arianism
B) Dualism
C) Reductionism
D) Neologism
,4) Which of these views held by Anaximander contradicts Thales’ theory about the basic nature
of all things?
A) The ultimate stuff behind the four basic elements could not itself be one of the
elements. It would have to be an unobservable, unspecific, indeterminate something-
or-other, which he called the Boundless.
B) The whole world as people know it was the result of a cosmic error. But justice will
be done; the world will eventually be destroyed, and “things” will return to their one
true form, which is fire.
C) Of all the elements, water and earth were the most obvious in their transformations:
Rivers turn into sand (in the shape of deltas), water turns into ice.
D) The principle of entropy held that the four basic elements have a tendency to achieve
superiority over the other. This in turn refutes the view that only water could be the
essence of life.
5) Which of the following characteristics of the Milesians eventually become part of the
Western scientific tradition?
A) a desire for complex explanations to explain the truths of the universe
B) a reliance on Mythos to prove theories
C) a commitment to reductivism
D) a commitment to naturalism
6) Pythagoras held the view that
A) during any century, the number of births is equal to the number of deaths.
B) a correct description of reality must be expressed in terms of mathematical formulas.
C) nothing ever changes; motion is an illusion.
D) the number nine was divine and that is why the solar system had nine members.
7) Which of the following beliefs of Heraclitus contradicts Xenophanes’ belief concerning the
basic composition of things?
A) All things are water.
B) All things are fire.
C) All things are air.
D) All things are earth and water.
, 8) Parmenides argued that Being has no holes (no vacuum) because, if Being is, there can’t be
any place where Being is not. From this argument it follows that
A) the soul is important for existence.
B) the universe is in a constant state of motion.
C) change is the key feature of reality.
D) motion is impossible.
9) Identify the belief supported by Empedocles.
A) Nothing ever changes; motion is an illusion.
B) Numbers are the fundamental building blocks of reality.
C) Change is the only constant.
D) Reality is composed of a plurality of things.
10) The beliefs of the Greek atomists in the year 370 B.C.E. were primarily based on ________.
A) monism and relativism
B) relativism and randomness
C) materialism and determinism
D) reductionism and reductivism
Answer Key
Test name: chapter 1
1) D
2) C
3) C
4) A
5) D
6) B
7) B
8) D
9) D
10) C
Looking At Philosophy the Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter, 8th Edition
Donald Palmer
Chapters 1-8 Answers are at the End of Each Chapter
Chapter 1
MULTIPLE CHOICE - Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or
answers the question.
1) What did all the pre-Socratic philosophers have in common?
A) They believed in a supreme being.
B) They stemmed from the outlying borders of the Roman world.
C) They attempted to explain the secrets behind the appearances in the world by
repeating the tales of the gods.
D) They attempted to create general theories of the cosmos by using observation and
reason.
2) Which of the following is an argument posed by Thales?
A) Everything has an individual characteristic and there is no unity behind the plurality
of things.
B) The world is a disjointed grouping of unrelated fragments.
C) If there is change, there must be some thing that changes, yet does not change.
D) The first principle and basic nature of all things is fire.
3) ________ is a method of explanation that takes an object that confronts a person on the
surface as being one kind of thing and shows that the object can be broken down to a more
basic kind of thing at a deeper but less obvious level of analysis.
A) Arianism
B) Dualism
C) Reductionism
D) Neologism
,4) Which of these views held by Anaximander contradicts Thales’ theory about the basic nature
of all things?
A) The ultimate stuff behind the four basic elements could not itself be one of the
elements. It would have to be an unobservable, unspecific, indeterminate something-
or-other, which he called the Boundless.
B) The whole world as people know it was the result of a cosmic error. But justice will
be done; the world will eventually be destroyed, and “things” will return to their one
true form, which is fire.
C) Of all the elements, water and earth were the most obvious in their transformations:
Rivers turn into sand (in the shape of deltas), water turns into ice.
D) The principle of entropy held that the four basic elements have a tendency to achieve
superiority over the other. This in turn refutes the view that only water could be the
essence of life.
5) Which of the following characteristics of the Milesians eventually become part of the
Western scientific tradition?
A) a desire for complex explanations to explain the truths of the universe
B) a reliance on Mythos to prove theories
C) a commitment to reductivism
D) a commitment to naturalism
6) Pythagoras held the view that
A) during any century, the number of births is equal to the number of deaths.
B) a correct description of reality must be expressed in terms of mathematical formulas.
C) nothing ever changes; motion is an illusion.
D) the number nine was divine and that is why the solar system had nine members.
7) Which of the following beliefs of Heraclitus contradicts Xenophanes’ belief concerning the
basic composition of things?
A) All things are water.
B) All things are fire.
C) All things are air.
D) All things are earth and water.
, 8) Parmenides argued that Being has no holes (no vacuum) because, if Being is, there can’t be
any place where Being is not. From this argument it follows that
A) the soul is important for existence.
B) the universe is in a constant state of motion.
C) change is the key feature of reality.
D) motion is impossible.
9) Identify the belief supported by Empedocles.
A) Nothing ever changes; motion is an illusion.
B) Numbers are the fundamental building blocks of reality.
C) Change is the only constant.
D) Reality is composed of a plurality of things.
10) The beliefs of the Greek atomists in the year 370 B.C.E. were primarily based on ________.
A) monism and relativism
B) relativism and randomness
C) materialism and determinism
D) reductionism and reductivism
Answer Key
Test name: chapter 1
1) D
2) C
3) C
4) A
5) D
6) B
7) B
8) D
9) D
10) C
