Philosophy Trivia

1. Collected together at one side of the bonfire of the humanities was the earliest group of Greek philosophers. What collective term was later used to describe this group?

From Quiz The Bonfire of the Humanities

Answer: Pre-Socratic

Greek philosophy started developing as a distinct discipline during the sixth century BCE. The first group of philosophers had their own individual ideas, but often built on the work of each other and have come to be collectively classed as Pre-Socratic philosophers. The term 'Pre-Socratic' was first used in the eighteenth century by Johann Augustus Eberhard. Records from the time are not very complete, so exact dates are hard to determine, but it was not until over a hundred years later that this movement was superseded by others due to the influence of the philosopher Socrates.

From Quiz Find the Fallacies: Fallacies of Relevance

Answer: Appeal to force

An appeal to force is when the arguer threatens the listener/reader. It says that something bad will happen if the listener/reader does not agree or comply.

From Quiz Skepticism 101

Answer: critical thinking

The Wiktionary (Wikipedia dictionary) gives a definition of skepticism as "a methodology that starts from doubt and aims to acquire certainty." This is a form of critical thinking. While skepticism is important in science, science and skepticism are not the same thing. Many people think that skepticism is the same as cynicism (the Wiktionary calls cynicism a "scornful or pessimistic attitude; an emotion of jaded negativity"), but this is not what skepticism is about. There is a great deal of overlap between skeptics as a community and the atheist community, but being one of these does not require that you be the other.

From Quiz The Moral Side

Answer: nuclear family

In Britain in 1971 68% of households were headed by a married couple. In 2001 this figure had dropped to 45%.

From Quiz Which Philosopher Wrote This?

Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche

Yes, "Beyond Good And Evil" is one of Nietzsche's best known works, subtitled "Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future" and published in 1886. The book is made up of many aphorisms and attacks a great deal of past philosophy. Its title in German is "Jenseits von Gut und Böse".

From Quiz Using Your Intuition

Answer: Grasping knowledge with thoughtful reasoning

Intuition, as a science, is entirely nebulous. The remarkable experiences of physicians and nurses, who often made decisions based on intuition rather than reason, sparked an early interest in research. However, the study of intuition has been difficult to conduct due to its insufficiency in yielding measurable data. Regardless, professionals in many fields, from health care experts to police officers, have shared numerous anecdotes of just "knowing" how to handle a situation--without any logical explanation. This knowledge came from within. Various researchers have debated over what 'intuition' encompasses. Most agree that intuition is the ability to know something instantly and completely. Intuitive decisions often spring full-formed, with little reasoning or supplemental information. (King, "Intuition", Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1997).

From Quiz Me, You, and Kuhn: Scientific Revolutions

Answer: A revolution in the scientific community where the scientific theories/methodologies once subscribed to by members of the community are replaced by an incommensurable theory/methodology

The crisis mentioned in one of the choices above actually leads to the paradigm shift. The term paradigm is tricky to define, but the gist of it is includes: theories meant to explain a particular phenomena (e.g. light), and the methodologies used to affirm the said theory. Kuhn himself used the term somewhat loosely. Today, the definition of 'paradigm shift' has been bastardized by the layperson to generally mean 'a radical change'.

From Quiz A Postmodern Quiz

Answer: Jean Baudrillard - "Simulacra and Simulations" (1985)

All these texts deal with simulations in different ways, but the first two novels never used the term 'simulacrum.' Baudrillard argued that everything has now become copies of a copy with no original copy.

From Quiz Non Novum Sub Sole!

Answer: Rene Descartes

Descartes (1596-1650) created the Cartesian coordinates, starting the branch of math called Analytical Geometry. He believed that, just as in math, there must be some fundamental principles in philosophy. He started with the only thing he could be sure of: that he exists!

From Quiz 'Pataphysics!

Answer: Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) was quite possibly the weirdest French writer of his day. His works are considered the forerunners of Absurdism and Dada, which is perhaps most evident in his three plays about the character "Pere Ubu". In "Ubu Cucu", Ubu describes himself as a 'pataphysician, saying, "'Pataphysics is a branch of science which we have invented and for which a crying need is generally experienced."

From Quiz A Journey Through Western Philosophy

Answer: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

He's a philosopher from the European Age of Enlightenment. His definition of man being good by nature did not mean that men naturally act civilly and justly, but rather they were good because they were self-sufficient.

From Quiz Philosophy Fact File

Answer: Socrates

Plato was born in Athens and, after Socrates' death in 399BCE, embarked on a period of travel. In 387BCE he set up the Academy (a school devoted to philosophical learning) and Aristotle was a student there for the last twenty years of Plato's life.

From Quiz A "New Age" Glossary Quiz

Answer: Mantra

"Mantra" comes from a root meaning "that which protects the mind". A classic Hindu Mantra is "Om Mani Padme Hum". This roughly translates into English as "The jewel in the lotus", which is a description of the soul. Just the word "Om" is used in many meditation techniques and is supposedly the sound of which the universe was created. It is believed that to begin and end meditation with this mantra will give you the power to create as well.

From Quiz Western Philosophies

Answer: Pythagorean

Pythagoras, also responsible for the famous mathematical theorem, founded this school in 530 BC. The school made many contributions to mathematics and geometry.

From Quiz Winnie-the-Pooh - Philosophical Genius!

Answer: Socrates

Socrates (470-399 BC), like Pooh, asked a lot of questions, in order to get to the bottom of the matter in hand, whether it was the nature of the North Pole, or the meaning of Crustimoney Proseedcake. Pooh is a perfect example of the Socratic phrase "wisest is he who knows he does not know."

From Quiz Modern Philosophers

Answer: Soren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard said "I believe, therefore I am". He believed the common man merely "thinks" while the existential man believes and knows.

From Quiz Critique of Pure Reason

Answer: David Hume

Hume created a severe sense of disconnection in Kant. Hume's skeptical analysis of the mind's power to understand reality, shook Kant to a disturbing degree, that this book was probably written in order to justify that the mind was somewhat capable of understanding reality.

From Quiz Metaphysics of Kant

Answer: Aristotle

Aristotle believed that all cognitions were derived from experiences with space and time, so that all judgments were in fact empirical, ruling out all intuitive judgments and a priori syntheses. However, Kant was really influenced more by Plato's notions of Ideas and the need to obtain a priori concepts from pure ideas which exist outside space and time.

From Quiz Philosophical Treatises With Long Titles!

Answer: Innocent III

You'd think the Pope's job would be to uplift and exalt, but not old Innocent. He was probably the most powerful Pope of all-time.

From Quiz Global Philosophy

Answer: Aristotle

From Quiz Philosophy

Answer: skepticism & scepticism & Pyrrhonism

Pyrrho said that our senses deceive us and provide no accurate knowledge.

From Quiz Philosophy: Philosophical Terminology

Answer: What is Philosophy?

The etymology of the word philosophy comes from 'philos' which means love, and 'sophia', which means wisdom. Philosophers investigate concepts and important issues in every day life. By examining these things, we can achieve clearer concepts and hopefully make wiser, better people.

From Quiz Survey of Philosophy

Answer: Socrates

Interesting idea. In Plato's writings he attributed this line to Socrates.

From Quiz Philosophy and Philosophers

Answer: Ludwig Wittgenstein

After a couple of years, Wittgenstein changed his mind and returned to his original profession.

From Quiz Philosophy

Answer: Nietzsche

From Quiz The Bonfire of the Humanities

Answer: The creation of the world and its contents

Greek society had been dominated by the belief, or at least acceptance, that the observable world and everything in it, including people, animals and plants, were created by multiple immortal gods. However, Pre-Socratic philosopher Thales of Miletus proposed a new theory. Thales reasoned from what was observable in the natural world back to what caused all matter to come into existence - the originating principle or First Cause. His conclusion was that water was the First Cause because it could assume the different forms of ice, water and steam. Thales did not openly deny the existence of the gods and his ideas were not rejected, possibly because they could be interpreted as accepting that water was the medium used by the gods.

From Quiz Piecemeal Medieval Philosophies

Answer: God's divine illumination

Human reason, St. Augustine argued, is in fact imperfect, finite and subject to change. Eternal truths, on the other hand, are the exact opposite. How do you suppose men reach such truths, however evidently men speculate about such truths? St. Augustine answers that this could only have been possible due to God's grace (divine illumination) to allow men to ponder upon immutable ideas which lie in the divine Godhead.

From Quiz Find the Fallacy: Fallacies of Weak Induction

Answer: Appeal to ignorance

This fallacy is known as "appeal to ignorance" because it uses the fact that something has not been disproven as evidence that the conclusion is true. The conclusion does not follow from the claim, thus making the argument fallacious.

From Quiz Find the Fallacies: Fallacies of Relevance

Answer: Appeal to pity

"Appeal to pity" is when the arguer uses an emotional plea instead of a logical one to give support to their conclusion. The fact that Amy's grandmother died would not make her the best candidate for the club president.

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