Reference no: EM131454299

1. What is Plato's definition of knowledge?

A. Certainty reached by demonstration.

B. Indubitable belief.

C. Whatever Dr. B says is true.

D. Justified true belief.

2. Which of these is an unmediated experience?

A. Tooth pain without painkillers.

B. Tooth pain in the Matrix.

C. All of these choices.

D. Tooth pain numbed by novocaine.

3. What is the meaning of the word epistemology?

A. Study of belief.

B. Study of wisdom.

C. Study of truth.

D. Study of knowledge.

4. What is Al-Ghazali's definition of knowledge?

A. Expert testimony.

B. Justified true belief.

C. Immediate experience.

D. Certainty reached by demonstration.

5. You are seven years old. You believe in Santa Claus. You believe this because all of the adults in your life tell you Santa is real, and you do not believe they would deliberately deceive you. Because of this, you hold the following belief: "Santa Claus is real." Which is the best way to describe your belief according to Plato's definition of knowledge?

A. Justified untrue belief. You believe it, everyone you trust confirms that it is true, but it is not true.

B. Unjustified untrue belief. You believe it, but it is not true and everyone you trust has been lying to you.

C. Unjustified untrue unbelief. Everyone you trust is lying to you, it is not true, and childrens' minds aren't well formed enough to have proper beliefs.

D. Justified true belief. You believe it, it is true to you, and everyone you trust confirms that it is true.

6. In Plato's Allegory of the Cave there are prisoners who have never left the cave. They have never seen anything in their lives other than the shadows projected on the wall in front of them. Their guards perform shadow puppetry all day long, including boring, ordinary actions like dogs chasing squirrels up trees. Because of this, the prisoners hold the following belief: "Squirrels sometimes escape dogs by running up trees." Does the prisoners' belief count as knowledge?

A. Yes. They believe it, it is true, and the shadow puppet squirrels are the only squirrels they know of.

B. No. They believe it, it is true, but they have never seen any real squirrels to base their belief on.

C. Yes. They believe it, it is true, and they have seen it with their own eyes.

D. No. They believe it, they have seen it with their own eyes, but it is not true.

7. You are out camping on August 10, 1974, the day after Richard Nixon resigned from office. You have been on your camping trip for a few days and you have been totally "off the grid," without any access to TV, radio, or newspapers. Prior to your camping trip you had the belief that Richard Nixon is president of the United States, and when you left it was true. Suddenly, in the middle of your camping trip, unbeknownst to you and unexpected by anyone, he has resigned. That was yesterday, August 9. Today you are still out camping and you still hold the belief, "Richard Nixon is president of the United States. Which is the best way to describe your belief according to Plato's definition of knowledge?

A. Justified false belief. You believe it, your reasons for believing it (i.e. recent memory of reliable news sources) are normally dependable, but it is no longer true.

B. Justified true belief. You believe it, it is true to you, and you have no reason to believe the president would suddenly resign.

C. Unjustified true belief. You believe it, it is true to you, but your reasons for believing it (i.e. recent memory of reliable news sources) are not normally dependable.

D. Unjustified false unbelief. It is not true, you haven't based your belief on dependable justifications like reliable news sources, and beliefs not based on truth or dependable justification don't count as beliefs.

8. You are in London and you see Big Ben, the most famous clock in the whole city. Big Ben says it is 11:00. Unbeknownst to you, Big Ben is broken; its hands are stuck at 11:00. However, you happen to be looking at Big Ben at the very moment it is 11:00. You hold the belief "It is 11:00" and you believe this only because you checked Big Ben. Which is the best way to describe your belief according to Plato's definition of knowledge?

A. Unjustified true belief. You believe it, it is true, but your source of justification is faulty.

B. Justified true belief. You believe it, it is true, and you have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the most famous clock in the whole city.

C. Unjustified untrue belief. You believe it, but your source of justification is faulty and 11:00 is just an arbitrary number decided by human beings.

D. Justified untrue belief. You believe it, there is no reason to doubt the most famous clock in the whole city, but it is not true.

9. Descartes' methodological skepticism says that you find knowledge by doubting as many beliefs as you can. Suppose you direct your doubts to doubting itself. According to Descartes, can you doubt the fact that you are doubting?

A. No. There is no reason for a methodological skeptic to doubt the process of doubting.

B. No. It is impossible to doubt doubting, because as soon as you doubt it, you are doubting.

C. Yes. In fact, this is a required step in methodological skepticism.

D. Yes. You can doubt anything.

10. Dr. B has taken a massive dosage of LSD and is having a lively philosophical discussion with the purple kangaroo dancing on the ceiling. (There is no kangaroo; he is just hallucinating.) He holds the belief, "There is a purple kangaroo dancing on the ceiling." Which of the following best describes how Descartes would describe his belief?

A. He does not have knowledge. A sober person would doubt the existence of the kangaroo, and Dr. B should do so as well.

B. He has knowledge. Who is to say that purple kangaroos don't exist, and that only people who take massive doses of hallucinogens are capable of seeing them?

C. He has knowledge. High as he is, he is not capable of doubting the existence of the kangaroo.

D. He does not have knowledge. The mere fact that it is possible to doubt the existence of the kangaroo means his belief cannot be knowledge

11. You are trapped in the Matrix. You have never escaped it, and you are therefore unaware that the Matrix even exists, or that there is a real world outside the Matrix. You hold the belief "I have ten fingers and ten toes." Which of the following best describes how Descartes would describe your belief?

A. You do not have knowledge. The fingers and toes you see are just digital hallucinations.

B. You have knowledge. You can plainly see your ten fingers and ten toes.

C. You do not have knowledge. It is possible to doubt that you have ten fingers and ten toes, therefore it cannot count as knowledge.

D. You have knowledge. Until you are freed from the Matrix, you have no reason to doubt that you have ten fingers and ten toes.

12. You are in London and you see Big Ben, the most famous clock in the whole city. Big Ben says it is 11:15. Unbeknownst to you, Big Ben is broken; its hands are stuck at 11:15. However, you happen to be looking at Big Ben at the very moment it is 11:15. You hold the belief "It is 11:15" and you believe this only because you checked Big Ben. Which of the following best describes how Descartes would describe your belief?

A. You have knowledge. You have no reason to doubt the most famous clock in the whole city.

B. You have knowledge. It is true that it is 11:15 regardless of what the clock says.

C. You do not have knowledge. Your cell phone's clock is far more reliable than old-fashioned clockwork clocks, no matter how famous they are.

D. You do not have knowledge. The mere fact that it is possible to doubt the existence of the clock means that nothing about the clock can count as knowledge.

13. What is the best way to describe the relationship between immediate experience and knowledge?

A. All of these choices.

B. Knowledge is based on input from the senses, so knowledge is dependent on immediate experience.

C. There is no relationship; knowledge has to do with things you can prove and immediate experience has to do with things you have encountered directly.

D. Knowledge is necessary to understand input from the senses, so immediate experience is dependent on knowledge.

14. You are snorkeling and you see a shark in the water. You feel extremely frightened. According to al-Ghazali, what is the best way to describe your fear?

A. Immediate experience. There is no medium between you and your fear.

B. None of these choices.

C. Knowledge. You have certainty reached through demonstration¿namely, all the 15symptoms of fear (pounding heart, etc.) demonstrating to you that the shark is certainly dangerous.

D. Experience. You fear the shark but this is not immediate experience because emotions are not counted as immediate.

15. You believe ten is greater than three. According to al-Ghazali, what is the best way to describe your belief?

A. Faith. You accept the common belief that ten is greater than three because this is what everyone says.

B. Immediate experience. There is no medium between you and your knowledge of mathematics.

C. Knowledge. You have certainty reached through demonstration: anyone with basic math skills can demonstrate that ten is more than three.

D. None of these choices.

16. You are snorkeling and you see a shark in the water. According to al-Ghazali, what is the best way to describe seeing the shark?

A. None of these choices.

B. Knowledge. You have certainty reached through demonstration¿namely, your eyes demonstrating to you that the shark is certainly there.

C. Experience. You see the shark but this is not immediate experience because vision is not counted as immediate.

D. Immediate experience. Your eyes have given you the experience of the shark