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