SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
316
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
CHAPTER 17
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY:
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN AND
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
INSTRUCTIONS: Select the best answer according to the text.
TRUE/FALSE
1. By the twentieth century, diverse philosophers were
struggling against or furthering what has been described
as the post-Nietzschean deconstruction of metaphysics.
2. Capital-D Deconstruction refers to the writings of
Immanuel Kant and Jacques Derrida.
3. Philosophical deconstructors approach philosophy
historically.
4. Philosophical deconstruction has its most direct and
influential expression in Nietzsche s critique of Western
philosophy as just one more historically rooted expression
of the will to power.
5. As generally understood, continental philosophy refers to
a non-literary approach to philosophy that stresses logic,
testability, precision, and clarity.
6. Twentieth-century philosophers often contrast analytic
philosophy with what is broadly referred to as
American-style philosophy.
7. Continental philosophers tend to explain things not by
reducing them to simple entities but by understanding
them in a broader, holistic context.
8. Ludwig Wittgenstein s early interest in mathematics
eventually led to an interest in the philosophy of pure
mathematics.
9. Wittgenstein began the Tractatus while being held in
an Italian prisoner of war camp.
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
317
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
10. Wittgenstein is famous for the consistency of his thought
and for his unwavering faith in formal logic as the basis
of all philosophy.
11. In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein rejects earlier philosophers
attempts to solve philosophical problems, which he
characterizes as bogus problems rooted in linguistic
confusion.
12. The analytic tradition in philosophy began with a
recognition that philosophers need to be sure they know
what they are saying before they can philosophize with
any confidence.
13. Martin Heidegger s philosophy was influenced by
Edmund Husserl s phenomenology.
14. Immediately after the end of World War II, Heidegger
publicly and categorically repudiated his youthful
infatuation with Nazism.
15. Husserl developed phenomenology as a defense of
post-Kantian constructivism.
16. Phenomenology is the epistemological notion that all
knowledge is a product (a construction) of the human
mind rather than a representation of an independently
existing world.
17. According to Heidegger, Husserl correctly saw
phenomenology as the science of beings.
18. According to Heidegger, the fundamental condition of
being human is knowing, perceiving, and thinking about
the world.
19. According to Heidegger, the ontic level is the day-to-day,
ordinary level of facts.
20. According to Heidegger, the question of being requires
analytic detachment, lest we be lost in the swamp of
Being.
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
318
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
21. According to Heidegger, humans, like all other beings,
possess a fixed nature that endures and persists across
time.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
22. As a proper noun, Deconstructionism refers to _____ .
a. any close textual analysis of hidden meanings and
privileges
b. the writings of Jacques Derrida and to an approach
to literary criticism that is not confined to
philosophy
c. the writings of Jacques Derrida and to an approach
to linguistic criticism that is confined to philosophy
d. any hyper-critical attack on common sense
23. As a common noun, deconstruction refers to _____ .
a. the writings of Jacques Derrida and to an approach
to literary criticism that is not confined to
philosophy
b. the writings of Jacques Derrida and to an approach
to linguistic criticism that is confined to philosophy
c. to the treatment of philosophical problems as
conceptual and linguistic confusions that reveal their
ulterior purposes when complex claims and
statements are reduced to their smallest meaningful
components
d. b and c
24. Philosophical deconstructors approach philosophy _____ .
a. ahistorically
b. as a fixed body of arguments containing fixed,
objective meaning
c. as a search for the single, true meaning of a given
text
d. historically
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
319
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
25. _____ originated in England around 1912, when Ludwig
Wittgenstein began to study philosophy with Bertrand
Russell at Cambridge University.
a. Continental philosophy
b. British Empiricism
c. Analytic philosophy
d. Phenomenology
26. As it is currently used, the phrase _____ came into vogue
after World War II to acknowledge a growing divide
between the English-speaking philosophical world and
that of continental Europe.
a. continental philosophy
b. British Empiricism
c. analytic philosophy
d. phenomenological continentalism
27. As generally understood, _____ refers to a non-literary
approach to philosophy that stresses logic, testability,
precision, and clarity.
a. continental philosophy
b. analytic philosophy
c. British Empiricism
d. phenomenological continentalism
28. Common to the _____ tradition is the notion that the
universe consists of independent (atomic) entities,
although individual philosophers disagree about whether
these entities are material particles, sense data,
impressions, facts, or something else.
a. continental
b. phenomenological
c. analytic
d. philosophical
29. Formalism, idealism, phenomenology, and existentialism
are examples of _____ approaches to philosophy.
a. analytic
b. ontic
c. continental
d. positivistic
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
320
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
30. In England, Wittgenstein was influenced by _____ .
a. Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell
b. Martin Heidegger
c. Edmund Husserl
d. Marin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl
31. Wittgenstein began writing his influential _____ while he
was a prisoner of war.
a. Philosophical Investigations
b. On Certainty
c. Against Violence
d. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
32. _____ is the belief that there exists an independent,
objective world of things, facts, and states of affairs that
are accessible to us.
a. Realism
b. Objectivism
c. Phenomenalism
d. Continentalism
33. In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein confidently rejects earlier
philosophers attempts to grapple directly with problems
of existence, knowledge, truth, and value because they
are _____.
a. essentially already solved by common sense
b. boring when compared to the paradoxes of the
spirit
c. too complex and too slippery to solve
d. illusory results of misunderstanding what language
is and how it works
34. In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein says that so-called
philosophical problems will _____ once their true
nature is recognized.
a. disappear
b. emerge from moodiness and sadness
c. grab hold and wake us from our dogmatic
slumbers
d. merge into one meta-problem, the problem of
living
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
321
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
35. In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein says that he has found the
final solution to _____ .
a. the main problems of philosophy
b. all of the problems he sets out to solve
c. Hume s bundle theory of identity
d. the question of Being
36. According to the Tractatus, _____.
a. we know more than we can ever say precisely
b. what can be uttered can also be said
c. what cannot be said cannot be thought
d. meaning is a function of biology
37. In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein asserts that complex
propositions are meaningful only if _____.
a. they are analyzable into simpler and simpler,
ultimately elemental, propositions that consist only
of names
b. they have some moral, religious or personal
significance to human beings
c. a majority of informed experts agrees that they are
true
d. they can be described in terms of their relationships
with other propositions
38. According to the Tractatus, if philosophers do their jobs
correctly, _____ .
a. there will be no need for psychology or theology
since philosophy will answer the problems of life
b. they will find an unceasing supply of meaningful
philosophical questions
c. they will see that all philosophy is ontology
d. they will see that all meaningful propositions fall
into the bailiwick of the natural sciences and allow
science to deal with them
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
322
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
39. The later Wittgenstein _____ .
a. devoted himself to poetry and metaphysics
b. tried to extend the principles elucidated in the
Tractatus to social science and art
c. became convinced that rather than solving the
problems of philosophy, the Tractatus had
succumbed to the problem it set out to combat
d. became convinced that the Tractatus had abolished
philosophy once and for all
40. In the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein begins to
think of words and sentences as _____ .
a. tools and instruments
b. shapes and colors
c. atoms and neutrinos
d. unnecessary
41. In the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein
characterizes the task of the philosopher as _____ .
a. making life conform to the structure of thought
b. logical analysis of grand problems
c. agitating us into wakeful attention to the human
condition
d. seeing how language really works
42. _____ triggered Martin Heidegger s lifelong quest for the
meaning of Being.
a. Wittgenstein s Tractatus
b. Husserl s Phenomenology
c. Franz Brentano s On the Manifold Meaning of Being
according to Aristotle
d. Sartre s Being and Nothingness
43. Heidegger s power as a teacher stemmed, in great part,
from his conviction that _____ .
a. philosophy cannot be divorced from life
b. humor is the foundation of insight and wisdom
c. we are already wise and only need to accept
ourselves to be happy
d. philosophy properly understood ought to be easy
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
323
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
44. Die Kehre refers to Heidegger s _____ .
a. conviction that being = time
b. radically turning away from his early ideas
c. turn back to Catholicism and theology after his
early flirtation with Nazism
d. focus on his early ideas from a different direction
45. _____ uses purely descriptive statements to provide a
descriptive analysis of consciousness in all its forms.
a. Ontology
b. Psychology
c. Phenomenology
d. Constructivism
46. _____ focuses on concrete experienced facts rather than
abstractions in order to reveal the essence of human
consciousness.
a. Ontology
b. Psychology
c. Phenomenology
d. Existentialism
47. _____ is the epistemological notion that all knowledge is a
product of the human mind rather than a representation
of an independently existing world.
a. Ontology
b. Psychology
c. Existentialism
d. Phenomenology
48. Husserl developed _____ as a reaction against the
skepticism that he thought had infected enlightenment
philosophy.
a. ontology
b. phenomenology
c. Deconstructionism
d. metaphysics/empiricism
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
324
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
49. Husserl s solution to the age-old skeptical argument that
we can never be sure that objects of consciousness exist
objectively was _____ .
a. to point out that no one takes the argument seriously
b. to dine, play backgammon, and get a good night s
sleep
c. ontology
d. that we do not need to answer the skeptics
challenge because it is enough for human purposes
that objects of consciousness exist
50. According to Heidegger, Husserl s real insight was _____ .
a. the recognition of a kind of thinking that is
concealed by modern technological and scientific thought
b. treating phenomenology as the science of beings
c. the recognition that Being exists on a transcendental,
Platonic level
d. the realization that consciousness is moody
51. Heidegger begins his search for Being with a
phenomenological study of _____ .
a. Truth with an uppercase T
b. Being-in-transcendence
c. humans
d. God
52. By _____ , Heidegger means human being itself
and individual human beings.
a. existence
b. humanity
c. people
d. essence
53. According to Heidegger, the fundamental condition of
humanity is _____ .
a. knowing, perceiving, or thinking about the world
b. knowing, perceiving, or thinking about God
c. concern about our human condition
d. unease and fearfulness
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
325
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
54. According to Heidegger, the _____ level of existence is
the day-to-day, ordinary level of facts.
a. ontic
b. ontological
c. hermeneutic
d. analytic
55. According to Heidegger, the _____ level of Being refers
to humanity s essence or structure.
a. ontic
b. ontological
c. hermeneutic
d. analytic
56. According to Heidegger, humanity s essence its special,
unique mode of Being involves the study of _____ .
a. Nature
b. God
c. Reason
d. Being
57. According to Heidegger, what makes us human is _____ .
a. our unique biophysical essence, what today we refer
to as DNA
b. that we make choices, that we choose a way
of Being
c. our capacity for reason
d. a mystery beyond all mysteries
58. According to Heidegger, we are the shepherds of _____ .
a. Being
b. Logos
c. one another
d. Light
59. According to Heidegger, the question of being is _____ .
a. about this or that being
b. asked by all entities sooner or later
c. not nearly as important as the answer of being
d. what does it mean to be human
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
326
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
60. For Heidegger, being human means _____ .
a. thinking and reasoning
b. being in the image of God
c. that existence is an issue
d. being able to use language
61. For Heidegger, the special task of philosophy is _____ .
a. analysis of the world first and humanity second
b. the reestablishment of metaphysics in our daily
living
c. to find a way back to God without resorting to faith
d. to evoke the wonder and amazement that are
necessary to make us human beings as opposed to
just beings
62. According to Heidegger, we are qualitatively distinct from
all other beings in that we alone _____ .
a. recognizes the dualistic nature of the world
b. have a fixed nature that endures and persists across
time
c. do not have a fixed nature that endures and persists
across time
d. have been created whole and complete
63. According to Heidegger, it is uniquely human to _____ .
a. suffer without relief
b. have ontological concerns
c. descend from the great chain of Being
d. function as a thing among other things
64. According to Heidegger, we are unique because only
humanity can _____ .
a. think
b. choose not to choose
c. create art and music
d. question Being
65. According to Heidegger, detached thinking causes us to
see ourselves as _____ .
a. we truly exist, as rational beings
b. a passive reactor to things in the world
c. princes of Being
d. shepherds of Being
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
327
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
66. According to Heidegger, humanity is _____ .
a. doomed
b. an ontological accident
c. onticity
d. a relationship
67. The _____ is Heidegger s name for an inauthentic way of
being .
a. they
b. us
c. we
d. them
68. According to Heidegger, when we live inauthentically,
we lose sight of others as _____ .
a. they
b. ready-to-hand
c. equipment
d. human beings or humanity
69. According to Heidegger, humanity exists authentically
by _____ .
a. resisting subjectivity and choosing objectivity
b. embracing the they
c. recognizing that we exist as a relationship with our
world
d. recognizing that we exist as a relationship with the
world
70. According to Heidegger, _____ includes chatter and
gossip.
a. empty dialog
b. idle talk
c. mere talk
d. moody talk
71. According to Heidegger, authentic _____ is
impossible with the they.
a. idle talk
b. moody talk
c. dialogue
d. informative communication
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
328
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
72. According to Heidegger, authenticity means living in and
with the knowledge that _____ .
a. eventually, science and technology will conform to
humanity
b. existence is property, like height or weight
c. existence is a blend of they talk and idle talk
d. authenticity is rooted in understanding and
accepting that we will die
73. According to Heidegger, knowing oneself as a totality
involves_____ .
a. the existential understanding of death, not in the
abstract, but of death in our own case
b. knowing one s roots and ground
c. knowing one as an individual and as a member
of humanity
d. grasping the objective aspects of human existence
74. For Heidegger, the supreme danger of our time involves _____ .
a. idle talk
b. technology
c. fascism
d. capitalism
75. According to Heidegger, technology is _____ .
a. always neutral
b. a mere means to an end
c. never neutral
d. calculative
76. According to Heidegger, modern technology _____ .
a. uses nature as a means in an ongoing exchange
b. treats everything as a means, a resource to be used
c. is inseparable from modern humanity
d. serves but does not transform humanity
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
362
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
Chapter 17
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: LUDWIG
WITTGENSTEIN AND MARTIN HEIDEGGER
1. What is meant by the suggestion that, in important ways,
twentieth-century philosophy is shaped by what has been described
as the post-Nietzschean deconstruction of metaphysics ? Be sure to
explain what the deconstruction of philosophy entails. *
2. Construct a detailed synopsis of modern and postmodern
philosophy in terms of philosophical deconstruction. Show how
Hume, Kant, Bentham, Mill, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche
might reasonably be viewed as deconstructors. *
3. Compare and contrast analytic and continental philosophy.
4. Discuss the analytic notion of meaningfulness by
distinguishing saying from uttering. How does this distinction
affect what the early Wittgenstein saw as the proper task of the
philosopher?
5. What did Wittgenstein mean when he claimed that if we are not
careful, language bewitches intelligence? Explain Wittgenstein s
concern and what he proposed as a way out of bewitchment. Don t
be vague. Be sure to provide one or two examples of bewitchment. *
6. What was Wittgenstein driving at when he said that what can
be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about
must be passed over in silence ? When he said that, did he think that
philosophy could be said ? If not, why not? Explain. *
7. How did the Wittgenstein of the Tractatus propose solving the
so-called problem of skepticism about knowledge of the external
world generated by Locke s egocentric predicament and the sort of
withering arguments Hume made about what we can and cannot
know? Do you think he succeeded? Did he understand the problem?
Explain. *
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
363
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
8. Using the controversy surrounding Heidegger s refusal to
repudiate his purported Nazism, discuss the broader issue of the
relationship between a philosopher s personal life and character
and his or her philosophical arguments and views. Is it fair to judge
ideas in terms of the character of their advocates? Is it reasonable,
in a practical sense, to insist that the philosopher is irrelevant to the
philosophy? Does it matter more when the philosopher addresses
living issues than when he or she deals with abstractions or
analytic problems? Should it? Does it matter philosophically if a
proponent of vegetarianism eats meat? When, if ever, are a
philosopher s personal beliefs and habits philosophically relevant?
Irrelevant? Explain and be specific. *
9. What is humanity, and what is humanity s relation to Being
according to Heidegger? What does he think makes humanity
unique among entities? *
10. What is the role of attitude in Heidegger s philosophy, and how
does it bear on humanity s relationship toward the world? Toward a
world? Carefully explain the distinction between the world and a
world as it relates to Heidegger s characterization of humanity. *
11. What is the they, and what function does it serve? What is its
role in furthering or impeding authenticity?
12. What does Heidegger mean by technology? Is his understanding
of technology different from more common ones? Why is Heidegger
interested in technology at all? That is, what role does he see
technology playing in living authentically?
13. Compare Kierkegaard s crowd (Chapter 14) to Nietzsche s
herd (Chapter 16) and to Heidegger s the they. Are the crowd,
the herd, and the they the same thing? Explain. *
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
386
Last printed 3/14/2023 11:35:00 AM
CHAPTER 17 ANSWERS