Ontological argument - Quiz
Ontological argument
  • 1. In which book did René Descartes present his ontological argument?
A) Discourse on the Method
B) Meditation, Book V
C) Passions of the Soul
D) Principles of Philosophy
  • 2. How did Descartes describe the nature of his ontological arguments compared to Anselm's?
A) More formal and strictly mathematical
B) Less formal and more natural intuition
C) Identical in structure and intent
D) More complex and logically exhaustive
  • 3. What geometric example did Descartes use to compare the deduction of God's existence?
A) The area of a square
B) The sizes of angles in a triangle
C) The circumference of a circle
D) The volume of a sphere
  • 4. What does Descartes assume regarding the nature of existence?
A) It is a predicate of a perfection
B) It is an external quality
C) It is independent of perfection
D) It is a subjective illusion
  • 5. What does Descartes conclude about a 'supremely perfect God who does not exist'?
A) The notion is factually correct
B) The notion is a paradox
C) The notion is unintelligible
D) The notion is logically possible
  • 6. What is the primary difference mentioned between Spinoza's argument and Descartes's?
A) Spinoza denies the existence of God
B) Spinoza does not move straight from conceivability to existence
C) Spinoza argues that existence is not a perfection
D) Spinoza relies on physical evidence rather than deduction
  • 7. According to the text, where do man's ideas come from according to Spinoza?
A) From innate sensory perception
B) From an external cause
C) From his own imagination
D) From divine revelation
  • 8. What must exist prior to the human thought of God, according to Spinoza?
A) The universe
B) God
C) Human language
D) Mathematical logic
  • 9. What title is given to the section in Spinoza's 'Short Treatise' that discusses God?
A) Proof of the Absolute Being
B) Treating of God and What Pertains to Him
C) On the Origin of Ideas
D) The Nature of Divine Existence
  • 10. Descartes compares the idea of God to the idea of what?
A) Any historical event or figure
B) Any shape or number
C) Any physical object or person
D) Any moral virtue or vice
  • 11. Which scholar identified three major stages in the development of the ontological argument?
A) Xenophanes
B) Norman Malcolm
C) Daniel Dombrowski
D) Avicenna
  • 12. In which work did Anselm of Canterbury document his ontological argument?
A) Republic
B) Proslogion
C) Critique of Pure Reason
D) Metaphysics
  • 13. How did Anselm define God in Chapter 2 of the Proslogion?
A) The necessary foundation of morality
B) An infinite and perfect spirit
C) A being than which no greater can be conceived
D) The creator of the universe
  • 14. Which philosopher is mentioned as a potential predecessor to Anselm regarding the ontological argument?
A) John Locke
B) Aristotle
C) Thomas Aquinas
D) Avicenna
  • 15. Anselm's argument in Chapter 2 is generally regarded as what type of logical reasoning?
A) Empirical observation
B) Inductive reasoning
C) Reductio ad absurdum
D) Syllogistic fallacy
  • 16. What does Anselm argue about a being that can be conceived not to exist?
A) It does not exist in the mind
B) Something greater can be conceived
C) It is logically impossible
D) It is greater than a necessary being
  • 17. Which philosopher considers Anselm's Chapter 3 argument to be different and stronger than the one in Chapter 2?
A) Daniel Dombrowski
B) David Hume
C) Norman Malcolm
D) Xenophanes
  • 18. The text notes that before Anselm, the perception of God as the greatest possible being was:
A) Widely described among ancient Greek philosophers
B) Rejected by all early writers
C) Exclusively a Christian concept
D) Completely unknown to ancient thinkers
  • 19. What kind of argument is an ontological argument?
A) A sociological argument
B) An inductive argument
C) An empirical argument
D) A deductive argument
  • 20. What is the 'Proof of the Truthful' (Burhan al-Siddiqin) associated with?
A) Gottfried Leibniz
B) Gaunilo of Marmoutiers
C) Ibn Sina
D) Kurt Gödel
  • 21. Whose ontological argument centered on the idea of a 'clear and distinct' idea of a supremely perfect being?
A) David Hume
B) C. D. Broad
C) René Descartes
D) Immanuel Kant
  • 22. Who attempted to prove that a 'supremely perfect' being is a coherent concept in the 18th century?
A) Dana Scott
B) Gottfried Leibniz
C) Gaunilo of Marmoutiers
D) Norman Malcolm
  • 23. Who formulated an ontological argument using modal logic in private notes?
A) René Descartes
B) Alvin Plantinga
C) Saint Anselm
D) Kurt Gödel
  • 24. What analogy did Gaunilo of Marmoutiers use to criticize the ontological argument?
A) A perfect island
B) A perfect mountain
C) A perfect machine
D) A perfect human
  • 25. Which philosopher dismissed the coherence of a 'maximally great being' by suggesting its attributes were incompatible?
A) Alvin Plantinga
B) C. D. Broad
C) Ibn Sina
D) Saint Anselm
  • 26. Which of the following is listed as a contemporary defender of the ontological argument?
A) Gaunilo of Marmoutiers
B) Yujin Nagasawa
C) David Hume
D) Immanuel Kant
  • 27. What logic did Alvin Plantinga use to propose an alternative ontological argument?
A) Aristotelian logic
B) Statistical probability
C) Empirical observation
D) Modal logic
  • 28. According to the Kantian view, what reasoning is used to found ontological arguments?
A) Empirical reasoning
B) A priori reasoning
C) Inductive reasoning
D) A posteriori reasoning
  • 29. Which subclassification of ontological arguments invokes definitions?
A) Meinongian
B) Modal
C) Definitional
D) Mereological
  • 30. Arguments that assert a distinction between different categories of existence are called what?
A) Meinongian
B) Higher-order
C) Conceptual
D) Definitional
  • 31. Which subclassification uses the idea of God existing solely for those who have experienced him?
A) Meinongian
B) Experiential
C) Modal
D) Conceptual
  • 32. Which subclassification draws on the theory of the whole-part relation?
A) Definitional
B) Higher-order
C) Hegelian
D) Mereological
  • 33. In the Argument of the Righteous, what serves as the middle term?
A) Motion.
B) Cause and effect.
C) The unmoved mover.
D) The truth.
  • 34. What is the title of the main work in which Mulla Sadra describes his argument?
A) The Metaphysics of Being.
B) al-asfar al-arba'a.
C) The Four Journeys of Logic.
D) The Essence of Reality.
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