SOPHISTication Trivia Quiz

Answer: I think, therefore I am.

Rene Descartes wrote the phrase "Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore, I am)" in his essay "Meditations on First Philosophy." In it, he postulated that we cannot readily know which is the "real" world, and which is the world of dreams. He postulated that he could even be dreaming as he wrote his treatment of the subject, and only THINK he was awake.

However, he said, whether he was dreaming or awake, the very fact that he was able to think about his problem at all made one thing absolutely certain: he did exist.

Answer: The Republic

"The Republic" is one of Plato's most famous works (if not THE most famous). In it, he sets about explaining how the perfect city should be structured. He sets forth his belief that everyone is born to be that which his nature compels him to be, even the slave, and that the perfect city can only prosper when everyone within it is engaged in those innately ordained functions.

Answer: Socrates

Hope this one didn't catch anyone on a "technicality." Although Plato's essays were written by him, himself, and therefore it COULD be said that he said the things in them, Plato himself attributed this saying, as he did almost all others of any great import, to his teacher, Socrates.

Answer: gymnasium

Today, a gymnasium is used almost exclusively for physical activities. The ancient Greeks believed that you could not have a sound mind without a sound body, or vice versa. The schools of the day were used for both academics and athletics, with equal emphasis placed on both, and were called gymnasiums.

Answer: Letter from a Birmingham Jail

The "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" was written, interestingly enough, to the black clergy of Birmingham as Dr. King sat in a jail cell. Its purpose was to quiet the accusations by the clergy that Dr. King was an outsider stirring up trouble in Birmingham.

Answer: True

The word "philosophy" comes from two Greek words: philein(to love)and sophia(wisdom). We can see these Greek roots in other familiar words, such as: SOPHIsticated, which means wise or savvy; and, Philadelphia which means "place of brotherly love (aldelphi is also a Greek word, meaning "brother").

Answer: philosophers

Plato thought that the only way that a city could be efficiently run, and managed to the good of all within its boundaries, was for the philosopher to become king.

Answer: Aristotle

Socrates taught Plato, and Plato taught Aristotle. Plato established a school where he taught known as the Academy and, later, Aristotle went on to establish his own school, the Lyceum.

Answer: Albert Einstein

We think of Albert Einstein as a scientist, which, without the slightest doubt, he was. But Albert Einstein often stepped outside the realm of science and into the realm of philosophy when he postulated sayings such as the one above. Any and all of us can be, and indeed are, from time to time, philosophers.

Answer: Socrates

Socrates was put to death on trumped-up charges that he misled the youth of Athens. Virtually everything we know of his philosophy comes from the writings of his pupil and protege, Plato, including Socrates' refusal to be aided in escaping his jailers and go into exile.

In the "Crito," Plato relates how Socrates believed that since he had taught all of his life that the state was all-sovereign, he could not now, when that sovereignty required of him his death, disregard his own teaching. He believed, the "Crito" relates, that he should not go into a foreign land to escape his fate, and if he did, that such a life would not be worth living.