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