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PHILOSOPHY 101
MIDTERM #2 PRACTICE EXAM
INSTRUCTOR: WILBURN
SPRING 2008
TRUE/FALSE. MULTIPLE CHOICE AND SHORT ESSAY
Chapter 3 – Freedom and Determinism
True/False
1. Democritus, Lucretius, and Epicurus, were some of the earliest proponents of determinism. (T)
2. According to hard determinism, if nothing that people do were up to them, they still would
sometimes deserve our respect, admiration, gratitude, disdain, resentment, or other such attitudes.
(F)
3. According to the authors, modern science proves that every event has a cause. (F)
4. According to the authors, some events on the subatomic level are believed by scientists to be
uncaused. (T)
5. According to the authors, we cannot understand the world unless we assume that every event
has a cause. (F)
6. According to the authors, if indeterminism were true, free actions would be inexplicable. (T)
7. According to soft determinism, our belief that every event has a cause conflicts with our belief
that humans have free will. (F)
8. Traditional compatibilists would maintain that the actions of a kleptomaniac are just as free as
those of an ordinary thief. (T)
9. According to Frankfurt’s hierarchical compatibilism, a person can act freely even if their
second-order volitions are not up to them. (T)
10. According to the libertarian (agent causation theorist), it is possible to deliberate without
assuming that we have free will. (F)
11. In the final opinion of the authors, determinists have shown that all statements attributing an
action to an agent are reducible to statements describing causal relations between physical events.
(F)
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12. According to libertarians, if all of the events leading up to your decision were repeated, it
would be possible for you to choose otherwise. (T)
13. According to Hierarchical Compatiblism, you are not responsible for your actions if they are
externally constrained. (F)
14. Traditional Compatibilists are considered Soft Determinists. (T)
15. John B. Watson was able to produce any desired behavior in animals and humans through
conditioning. (F)
16. D’Holbach argues that the past is fixed while the future is open to many possible outcomes. (F)
17. Laplace’s Superbeing knows the exact future of the entire universe. (T)
18. For libertarians, real freedom consists in being able to act or choose differently in exactly the
same situation with exactly the same causal history. (T)
Multiple Choice (Correct answers are marked with an asterisk.)
19. D’Holbach’s hard determinism claimed that humans are
a. fundamentally free.
* b. not free at any one instant of their lives.
c. free in some situations and not free on other occasions.
d. none of the above.
20. Martin Gardner’s random bombardier thought experiment shows that
a. uncaused events in the micro world can never affect the macro world.
b. causal determinism in the micro world is reflected in the macro world.
* c. uncaused events in the micro world can affect the macro world.
d. none of the above.
21. Who said, “…he is free to do a thing, that may do it if he have the will to do it, and may
forbear if he have the will to forbear”?
a. John Locke.
b. Walter Stace.
c. Thomas Reid.
* d. Thomas Hobbes.
22. Richard Taylor’s ingenious physiologist thought experiment shows that
a. traditional compatibilism is a sound theory of free action.
* b. traditional compatibilism must be wrong because actions can be caused by
someone’s will and be externally unconstrained and still not be free.
c. traditional compatibilism must be wrong because some actions need not be caused
by the will.
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d. traditional compatibilism is a valid theory of free action.
23. According to the authors, Hierarchical compatibilism is superior to traditional
compatibilism because
a. it can explain why those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders do not act
freely even thought their actions are internally caused and are not externally constrained.
b. it can explain why animals are not usually considered to have free will.
c. it provides an insight into why free will is such a valuable thing.
* d. all of the above.
24. Thomas Reid’s libertarianism (agent-causation theory) maintained that compatibilism is
mistaken because
a. compatibilism is a form of materialism.
b. causal determinism and free will are two facets of the same thing.
* c. being able to do otherwise if you choose otherwise is not sufficient for free will, for
you may not be able to choose otherwise in the first place.
d. none of the above.
25. In the final opinion of the authors, the fact that our actions are intentional and that
intentionality cannot be reduced to physical or functional properties supports the idea of
a. hard determinism.
* b. agent causation.
c. event causation.
d. indeterminism.
26. Hard Determinists reject which premise of the following argument?
P1: If every event has a cause, then there are no free actions.
P2: Every event has a cause.
C:. There are no free actions.
a. P1: If every event has a cause, then there are no free actions.
b. P2: Every event has a cause.
c. Both Premises
*d. Neither Premise
27. Incompatibilists reject which premise of the following argument?
P1: If every event has a cause, then there are no free actions.
P2: Every event has a cause.
C:. There are no free actions.
*a. P1: If every event has a cause, then there are no free actions.
b. P2: Every event has a cause.
c. Both Premises
d. Neither Premise
28. Causal determinism is the belief that ______.
*a. every event has a cause.
b. all events are completely disconnected from each other.
c. an effect cannot have more than one cause.
d. some events are uncaused.
e. all events are uncaused
29. According to the textbook, what is riding on the answer to the problem of free will and
determinism?
*a. moral and legal responsibility
b. the existence of God
c. the solution to the creation vs. evolution debate
d. justifying legitimate political authority
30. Hard determinists believe that
*a. there are no free actions.
b. many of our actions are free.
c. very few of our actions are free.
d. all of our actions are free.
