f18-phil181-wk1-questionnaire
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181
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Philosophy
Date
Apr 3, 2024
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Uploaded by philwang97
PHIL 181 – Week 1 questionnaire 1 PHIL 181 – Existentialism Fall 2018 W
EEK 1
Q
UESTIONNAIRE
Topics: Pascal, Pensées
; Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death
; Nietzsche, The Gay Science **Answers must be entered into TED by midnight Friday, Oct 5
th
** **Ordering of answers in TED format might differ from ordering below!** **Double-check that you have clicked the correct button to ensure submission** 1. In our first lecture we listened to a late composition by: a.
Vivaldi b.
Rossini c.
Brahms d.
Beethoven 2. In our first lecture which two texts did we look at as early examples of literary expressions of despair? (pick two) a.
the Book of Ecclesiastes (from the Hebrew Bible) b.
Byron’s Don Juan
c.
Homer’s Iliad
d.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth
3. In Pensée #164, when Pascal
discusses the skeptical attitude toward the claims our reasoning and thinking might make about the world and ourselves, what school in philosophy does he associate this skepticism with? a.
Pessimists b.
Pyrrhonists c.
Cartesians d.
Nihilists 4. What does Pascal characterize as ‘figments of the imagination’, ‘monsters’, ‘chaotic, contradictory’, ‘mindless worms’, ‘glory and reject of the universe’? a.
the Greek gods b.
the Roman gods c.
the Christian saints d.
human beings
PHIL 181 – Week 1 questionnaire 2 5. What does Pascal call both ‘the mystery furthest from our understanding’ and also ‘the one thing without which we can have no understanding of ourselves’? a.
knowledge of God b.
free will c.
rationality d.
how sin and guilt gets ‘transmitted’ from generation to generation 6. T/F: In #229 Pascal likens human existence to someone, in their sleep, taken to a terrifying desert island, who wakes up with no knowledge of what has happened, of who has put us there, of what we are there to achieve, and no means of escape. 7. In #230 which of the following does Pascal not
use to characterize the universe in which we find ourselves? a.
a forgotten outpost in nature b.
an abyss c.
a nothingness d.
an infinite e.
a void f.
a welcoming home 8. T/F: At the end of our selection, Pascal claims that though, unlike the universe, we are finite, limited, and mortal, we still nevertheless possess a dignity that the universe does not have, because we can know and think about our condition. 9. In The Sickness unto Death
, Kierkegaard
’s pseudonymous author, Anti-Climacus, characterizes being human as being a spirit or a self; which is the key feature of human beings that Anti-Climacus claims makes us a self? a.
we have an immortal soul b.
we have a living body c.
we have a relation between a mind and a body d.
we make a synthesis of the infinite and finite e.
we are a relation that relates also to itself 10. T/F: Anti-Climacus claims that human beings establish their self all by themselves. 11. T/F: Anti-Climacus thinks that a human can break itself out of despair all by itself alone. 12. What physical state does Anti-Climacus claim bears some important (though only partial) analogies with despair? a.
drunkenness b.
sleep c.
dizziness d.
falling
PHIL 181 – Week 1 questionnaire 3 13. What is the formula that Anti-Climacus gives for the state of existence in which humans can overcome despair? a.
to have successfully willed to do away with oneself b.
to become a god c.
to will to be oneself by creating oneself anew every single day d.
to will to be oneself by resting transparently in the power that established oneself 14. T/F: Anti-Climacus takes the fact that humans can be characterized by the abstract idea of despair (i.e., that we have the possibility of despair) to be a mark of the excellence, superiority, and advantage of humanity over other animals – even though he recognizes that to be in actual concrete despair is the worst misfortune, misery, and ruination. 15. When a person is in despair, Anti-Climacus claims that what is responsible for this despair is: a.
the person’s past upbringing b.
the person’s eating habits c.
the person’s conscious free choice d.
the basic relation that constitutes the person’s very self 16. T/F: Anti-Climacus thinks that despair is the sickness unto death because it is a fatal sickness in that it causes the person to die. 17. While Anti-Climacus recognizes that some might think that his account of despair is depressing – especially his claim that most people exist in a state of despair, and so it is more or less universal – Anti-Climacus himself thinks that: a.
it is worse than depressing b.
he is just expressing a neutral fact about humans c.
some small good could come from despair d.
this fact expresses an elevating view of humanity because it places humans under the higher destiny to fully become spirit 18. Anti-Climacus contrasts (i) the common point of view, according to which health, happiness, and beauty are things which are just immediately
good, such that if only we were in a constant relation to these things, our lives would enjoy security and tranquility, with (ii) the point of view of _____, which very quickly sets in, because for humans any immediacy always comes with anxiety
about the possibility of some indefinite something, though nothing in particular, beyond what is immediate, which is unknown, which makes it impossible to live only in this immediacy. a.
rationality b.
dogmatism c.
reflection d.
mathematics
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PHIL 181 – Week 1 questionnaire 4 19. Despair is ultimately viewed as _____ because despair involves a consciousness of oneself as ‘before God’, as having God as one’s criterion for being, instead of humanity, while nevertheless not willing to be oneself in relation to God. a.
death b.
sin c.
suffering d.
ignorance 20. The opposite of this (from #19) is _____, which occurs when, instead of not willing to be oneself (before God), a self is itself and wills to be
itself while resting transparently in the power that established it in the first place (namely, ‘in’ God). a.
virtue b.
hope c.
love d.
faith 21. Anti-Climacus contrasts his own ‘Christian’ view of sin with the alternative _____ view of sin, which sees it as an positive willing
to do what is not good, and which takes it to consist in an absence of knowledge
(ignorance) of what is truly good. a.
pagan b.
philosophical c.
satanic d.
socratic 22. While Anti-Climacus accepts that this alternative view (from #21) might well apply in the realm of pure ideality
, where merely to think is already sufficient to be and to do, he rejects the idea that it adequately characterizes the realm of _____ where there is always room for a gap between thinking or understanding and doing (willing). a.
possibility b.
actuality c.
necessity d.
arithmeticity 23. In §1 of The Gay Science
, Nietzsche
claims that the single task he always finds humans engaged in is: a.
being as selfish as possible b.
learning and discovering new truths c.
creating new artworks d.
doing whatever most benefits the preservation of the human species
PHIL 181 – Week 1 questionnaire 5 24. Nietzsche hints that the ‘ultimate liberation’ might come from being able to: a.
fully and eternally preserve the species b.
fight against and destroy the species c.
make a beautiful work of art d.
laugh at oneself and the species 25. T/F: Nietzsche thinks that the founders of morality and religion help to promote the life of the species by promoting faith and belief in the worth of the life of the species as something coming from reason, even though this covers over the fact that fundamentally the drive toward life is merely ‘stupid’ instinct and exists without deeper reasons. 26. Which of the following does Nietzsche not caution his readers to beware of? a.
thinking the world is a living being with purposes b.
thinking the universe is a machine acting according to laws c.
thinking that death is the opposite of life d.
thinking that the world is at bottom chaos 27. T/F: Nietzsche thinks that the value of truth has been evident from the beginning of human existence, and that our thinking and understanding (‘intellect’) has always searched for truth, and only benefited when it found truth. 28. Which of the following is not included as an example Nietzsche gives of erroneous articles of faith that over time became almost second nature for humanity to accept? a.
there are enduring things b.
our will is free c.
there are identical things d.
believing in an error can be very useful 29. Nietzsche claims that when humans take up the tasks of reasoning and inferring and of skeptically examining possible prejudices, doing these tasks with scrupulous caution is: a.
always to be esteemed b.
the mark of advanced enlightened society c.
a great danger to life d.
signs of inner divinity 30. T/F: The method now known as ‘scientific thinking’ is something Nietzsche takes to have come together out of a variety of initially separate activities and practices (such as doubting, denying, waiting, collecting, dissolving, analyzing), each of which individually showed their worth and value at promoting life, and which led us to put them all together into one super-effective practice.
PHIL 181 – Week 1 questionnaire 6 31. Though Nietzsche recognizes that, in his day (after Kant and the ‘Enlightenment’), people think of individuals and their acts as of intrinsic value all by themselves, he also claims that for much of history prior to his day, being and feeling alone, and acting freely (in independence of ‘the herd’), was viewed as: a.
a step toward godliness b.
something frightful, painful, afflicting, more like madness, and against morality c.
the deepest foundation of morality d.
especially pleasurable 32. To bring out what he sees as the problematic side of altruism and benevolence, Nietzsche poses rhetorical questions about what sense it makes to claim there is value (virtue) in ceasing to become an individual and becoming instead a ‘function’ that operates in some other larger organism – the example he gives concerns which organism? a.
birds b.
cells c.
fish d.
insects 33. Though Nietzsche recognizes that modern life succeeds in existing by viewing the world as consisting in bodies, lines, planes, causes, effects, motion and rest, form and content, all organized in a rational system, Nietzsche thinks this covers over the fact that life itself is not: a.
a body b.
in motion c.
alive d.
a rational argument
34. At the end of our selection, Nietzsche introduces the story of a madman who runs around a market crying ‘I’m looking for God’, in response to which the crowds: a.
stone him b.
take him to a house of worship c.
ask him ‘which god?’ d.
laugh at him
35. In response to this response, the madman answers his own question of ‘Where is God?’ by claiming: a.
we have killed God b.
he himself is God c.
God is hiding d.
God has emigrated to some far-away country 36. T/F: The madman ends his speech by breaking his lantern and claiming that he has come too early and that his time is not yet.
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