Philosophy Quiz

Philosophy Retreat Quiz

Round 4

• Q 1. Philosophers from around the world

(A, B: 1/2 mark each)

C. These two (1/2 mark each)

D. On the left (1/2 mark)

On the right (1 mark)

F. The old guy (1/2 mark)

E. This guy (1/2 mark)

G, H, I. All five (1 1/2 marks)

Four of five (1 mark)

Three of five (1/2 mark)

Round 4, Q 2.

• What feature of their personal lives do these philosphers have in common?

• Plato, St Aquinas, Descartes, Voltaire, Kant, Nietzsche, Sartre. (1 mark)

Round 4, Q 3.

• Who was Bertrand Russell’s Godfather?

(1 mark)

• Q 2. They were never married.

• Q 3. John Stuart Mill.

Round 5: Definitions

Define these philosophical terms

• Misoneism• Quiddity• Transworld

depravity• Tripos

• Berry’s paradox• Existence• Nescience• Nomological

DanglerIn the event that no team correctly defines a given term, then the point will be awarded to the team with the most creative / funniest answer (Judges discretion is final).

Misoneism

• A dislike or hatred of innovations

Quiddity

• The essence of a thing, its ‘whatness’.

Transworld Depravity

• An agent suffers from TD iff in any possible world in which the agent is created by God, the agent freely performs at least one morally wrong action.

Tripos

• The final honours examination at Cambridge

• (Bonus mark if you can tell the cakes-and-ale joke regarding this examination)

Berry’s Paradox

• There is a set of integers that cannot be named in less than 28 syllables. There is a least integer (N) in this set. N cannot be named in less than 28 syllables. But: N is “the least integer that cannot be named in ordinary English in less than 28 syllables”

Existence

• Your guess is as good as most philosophers’ guesses.

• The main subject matter of metaphysics.

• “Frege uses the word ‘existence’ in 14 ways…”

Nescience

• Ignorance

Nomological Dangler

• A relation or law that would be a loose end dangling from a network of scientific laws.

• E.g. Qualia (Feigl, Smart)

Round 6: Random Questions

1. On the Paranormal

• What is the Falkirk Triangle?

2. On Metaphysics

• What was the title of Jay Shaw’s 2003 book on metaphysics?

3. On Epistemology

• Who said: “Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna, but it says Chicken by the Sea.”

4. Student Essays

• What grade did the student essay that this quote was drawn from get?

• “While it is tempting to say, that the argument that denies the existence of God, an omnipotent, omniscient, morally perfect being seems logically sound, we will never really know until we die, and then we won’t know if God doesn’t exist because we’ll be too dead to tell.”

5. And this one…

• “If God is all knowing and perfectly good, for example, people who commit a crime cause suffering, would God choose to eliminate all crimes? If all crimes are eliminated, what are you going to do with the justice system that is used to deal with crimes – police officers, judges, the whole chain, those people will loose [sic] their jobs.”

6. What ought this one to have got?

• “But certainly this same fool, when he hears this very thing that I am saying — something than which nothing greater can be imagined — understands what he hears; and what he understands is in his understanding, even if he does not understand that it is. For it is one thing for a thing to be in the understanding and another to understand that a thing is.”

7. Complete the Response

• Steven Pinker (1997) How the Mind Works

• Jerry Fodor (2001) …?

8. On Reality

• Who said:• “Reality is that which, when you stop

believing in it, doesn't go away”

Answers Round 6.

Falkirk Triangle

• The region of the globe that has the highest density of UFO sightings (Scotland)

Jay Shaw

• Some Logical Problems Concerning Existence (2003)

On what we know

• Jessica Simpson

Student Essays

• 59% C+

• 43% D

• To Anselm – “there may have been a nice essay in here somewhere, but we’ll never know because your sentence constructions are completely unintelligible. Fail, D.”

• How the Mind Works (Pinker)• The Mind Doesn’t Work that Way (Fodor)

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away”

- Philip K Dick