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CHAPTER 10
THE SKEPTIC: DAVID HUME
INSTRUCTIONS: Select the best answer according to the text.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Empiricism is the belief that all knowledge begins with
the perception of innate ideas.
2. Empiricists believe that all knowledge can be traced back
to sense data.
3. John Locke was a firm believer in innate ideas.
4. Locke believed that we are born knowing a few key
concepts, such as laws of reason.
5. The correspondence theory of truth holds that an idea is
true if whatever it refers to actually exists.
6. George Berkeley was both an empiricist and an idealist.
7. Berkeley supported Locke s copy theory of truth.
8. According to Berkeley, God is an unknown knower.
9. David Hume thought that most metaphysical speculations
are irrelevant to the lives of ordinary people.
10. Hume claimed that no metaphysical issue is ever clearly
settled.
11. Hume defined ideas as forceful impressions.
12. Hume altered Locke s copy theory of ideas.
13. Hume reduced the self to a bundle of impressions.
14. Hume argued that we cannot perceive identity.
15. Hume argued that we can have empirical knowledge
of the existence of an external world.
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16. Inductive reasoning proceeds from the particular to the
general.
17. According to Hume, there is no empirical evidence for the
existence of cause and effect.
18. Hume argued that nature exhibits no evidence of a plan or
design.
19. According to Hume, no one can actually live as a skeptic.
20. Descriptive language is devoid of all subjective, evaluative
characterizations.
21. Normative language is devoid of all subjective, evaluative
characterizations.
22. Encouraged by early scientific discoveries, modern philosophers
focused on a new holistic approach to philosophy.
23. According to the contemporary philosopher Alison Jaggar,
emotions are necessary components of knowing because they
help us select and evaluate what we experience.
24. According to Alison Jaggar, traditional epistemology trivialized
emotional acumen.
25. According to Hume, it isn t easy to live as a skeptic, but many
people manage to do so through hard work.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
26. The word skeptic comes from a Greek root meaning
.
a. believer
b. to examine
c. one who trusts
d. lover of wisdom
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27. The term empiricism comes from a Greek root meaning
.
a. to doubt
b. to wonder
c. experience
d. scientific
28. Which is the correct historical order of the British
empiricists?
a. John Locke, David Hume, George Berkeley
b. John Berkeley, David Locke, George Hume
c. David Hume, John Berkeley, George Locke
d. John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume
29. Tabula rasa is Latin for _____ .
a. clean slate
b. table of reasons
c. to calculate rationally
d. empirical evidence
30. Locke said that before we can settle philosophical
agreements, we must first _____ .
a. distinguish between what we know clearly and what
we know distinctly
b. study the origins of our ideas
c. calculate the various consequences of holding this or
that idea
d. study math and science
31. Although he rejected Descartes s theory of innate ideas,
Locke did agree with Descartes regarding _____ .
a. the existence of substance
b. a priori ideas
c. the ontological argument
d. the nonexistence of substance
32. According to Locke, _____ qualities exist independently
of any perceiver.
a. primary
b. secondary
c. material
d. empirical
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33. According to Locke, _____ qualities are dependent on a
perceiver.
a. primary
b. secondary
c. material
d. empirical
34. Berkeley s famous question concerned _____ .
a. a tree falling in a forest
b. a squirrel running around a tree
c. blind men and an elephant
d. an ant and a grasshopper
35. Berkeley s formula is _____ .
a. Ought implies can
b. When in doubt, reason it out
c. To be is to be perceived
d. What can be known can be known clearly
36. Hume s popularity soared after he published a book about
_____ .
a. philosophy
b. religion
c. cause and effect
d. history
37. Locke compared the mind at birth to a _____ .
a. bird before it can fly
b. blank sheet of white paper
c. filing cabinet
d. ball of soft wax
38. According to Locke, all ideas come from _____ .
a. sensation
b. other ideas
c. reason
d. the imagination
39. When using the correspondence truth test, the procedure
for checking the truth of an idea is known as _____ .
a. rationalization
b. communication
c. verification
d. inspection
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40. _____ is the view that knowing consists of both the
knower and the known.
a. The egocentric predicament
b. Subjective objectivism
c. Interactionism
d. Epistemological dualism
41. The difficulty of verifying the existence of anything
external to my own ideas generates the _____ .
a. subjectivist paradox
b. epistemological turn
c. egocentric predicament
d. skeptical maze
42. Both _____ and _____ shied away from pursuing the
ultimate logical consequences of their basic premises.
a. Locke/Hume
b. Locke/Descartes
c. Descartes/Hume
d. Berkeley/Hume
43. Berkeley argued that _____ does not exist.
a. the material world
b. God
c. the self
d. reality
44. Berkeley challenged Locke s _____ .
a. empiricism
b. copy theory
c. rationalism
d. cosmology
45. According to Berkeley, all of the qualities we assign to
material objects are _____ .
a. objective properties of those objects
b. illusory
c. relative to the perceiver
d. mirror images of spiritual qualities
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46. Esse est percipi means _____ .
a. Essence exists in particular cases
b. To know is to perceive
c. To be is to be perceived
d. I am, therefore, I know
47. The logical consequence of Berkeley s epistemology is
that _____ .
a. Locke was correct
b. only particular, immediate perceptions can be
known to exist
c. there is a God
d. the unconscious mind is the source of all ideas
48. According to Berkeley, God is _____ .
a. the Uncaused Cause
b. the Unmoved Mover
c. a universal, never-ceasing perceiver
d. only an idea
49. Hume argued that neither _____ nor _____ exist(s).
a. ideas/impressions
b. experience/ideas
c. mind/sensation
d. matter/mind
50. According to Hume, reason is _____ .
a. the supreme ruler of desire
b. the slave of the passions
c. an illusion
d. the product of God s infinite wisdom
51. Hume achieved great fame for writing _____ .
a. Treatise of Human Nature
b. Enquiry into Berkeleian Principles
c. A History of England
d. A Defense of Atheistic Religion
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52. Hume thought that _____ .
a. metaphysics is the queen of the sciences
b. no metaphysical dispute was ever clearly and
thoroughly settled
c. sound metaphysical principles established the
truth of the copy theory
d. metaphysical issues must be settled before
epistemological issues could be addressed
53. Hume distinguished between _____ and _____ on the
basis of intensity.
a. ideas/reasons
b. reason/passion
c. ideas/impressions
d. truth/falsity
54. According to Hume, all ideas can be traced to _____ .
a. imagination
b. impressions
c. thoughts
d. custom
55. The empirical criterion of meaning holds that _____ .
a. whatever exists is perceived
b. life is worthwhile only if it contains a rich variety
of experiences
c. all ideas can be traced back to sense experience
d. all meaningful ideas can be traced back to sense
experience
56. Hume presented the _____ theory of the self.
a. Cartesian
b. bundle
c. unconscious
d. evolving
57. According to Hume, strictly speaking, identity _____ .
a. is not a property of things
b. emerges only after adolescence
c. applies to things as well as to people
d. applies to things, not to people
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58. According to Hume, _____ .
a. something gives order to our experience
b. each experience is unique, and therefore there is no
order among experiences
c. reason has no limits
d. the existence of the external world is known
empirically
59. Hume concluded that _____ accounts for the universal
notion of the independent existence of an external world.
a. the universal observer
b. the nature of imagination
c. the structure of matter
d. nothing
60. _____ is the reasoning pattern that moves from the
particular to the general.
a. Empiricism
b. Deductive reasoning
c. Inductive reasoning
d. Skepticism
61. In Hume s time, cause and effect were defined in terms of
.
a. essential connection
b. operant conditioning
c. chronological sequence
d. necessary connection
62. According to Hume, there is _____ evidence for the
existence of cause and effect.
a. some empirical
b. overwhelming rational
c. no empirical
d. irrefutable
63. According to Hume, the qualities ascribed to God _____ .
a. are based on experience
b. are identifiable by scientific reasoning
c. are meaningless, empty noises
d. are recognized in the hearts of all reasoning
creatures
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64. According to Hume, the argument from design _____ .
a. proves that there is order in the universe, though it
cannot prove the existence of God
b. is based on a faulty analogy
c. is based on a solid analogy
d. proves that God is good
65. What conclusion does Hume draw regarding the origin of
the universe?
a. The universe is a complex mechanism.
b. There is no data for drawing any conclusion.
c. The universe is a living organism.
d. We know that the universe had to have an origin,
but we do not understand exactly how it came to be.
66. According to Hume, _____ .
a. no one can actually live as a skeptic
b. skepticism provides the only rationally consistent
way to live
c. reason is a sufficient guide for conducting one s life
d. reason is utterly irrelevant to settling complex
philosophical disputes
67. Hume argued that even though there is no certainty in
life, _____ .
a. there is certainty in death
b. we are psychologically compelled to live as if
there is
c. no one really believes in certainty anyway
d. there is certainty on the supernatural level
68. According to Hume, _____ .
a. reason s role is secondary to the role of moral
sentiments
b. reason s role is primary and the role of moral
sentiments is to bolster reason
c. inductive analysis reveals the clear pattern of moral
causality the only cause and effect relationship
that can be scientifically supported
d. ethics is a branch of psychology, not philosophy
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69. According to Hume, _____ .
a. all value is based on matters of fact
b. values are mental facts
c. facts themselves are valueless
d. values correspond to facts
70. According to Alison Jaggar, _____ .
a. feminist philosophers have exaggerated the role of
reason in the search for truth
b. emotions are reasons in search of an anchor
c. emotions are more trustworthy than intellectual
judgments
d. emotions are also reasons
71. According to Alison Jaggar, _____ .
a. we trivialize what we don t care about
b. objective detachment is crucial to determining what we
care about
c. feminist philosophers should adopt a more objective
way of presenting their arguments if they want to be
taken seriously as philosophers
d. reasons are also feelings
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Chapter 10
THE SKEPTIC: DAVID HUME
1. Explain what is meant by the epistemological turn. Briefly
outline the stages of the turn from Descartes through Locke and
Berkeley through Hume. *
2. In your own words, reconstruct the basic empirical critique of
rationalism. Be sure your reconstruction includes a thorough
characterization of key components of rationalism and the
empiricist s criticisms of them. *
3. What is the philosophical significance of the question Does a
tree falling in the forest make a sound if no one is there to hear it?
Explain. *
4. Explain how Hume distinguished impressions from ideas. Why
is the distinction important to his philosophy? *
5. What is the empirical criterion of meaning? Explain how it
works by applying it to an example of your own choosing.
6. In your own words, characterize Hume s position regarding
personal identity and immortality.
7. How does Hume account for the external world?
8. First summarize and then analyze Hume s critique of the
argument from design. In the process, identify and discuss some of
the limits of our experience when confronted with arguments that
require knowledge of a seemingly more-than-human sort. Do you
agree with Hume s criticism of the argument from design in
particular and all similar lines of inference in general? What is
Hume s real point here? *
9. Summarize Hume s critique of rationalistic ethics. Then
construct a Humean analysis of some contemporary moral issue.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Hume s approach?
Explain thoroughly. *
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CHAPTER 10 ANSWERS