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Problems of Philosophy

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Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Chapter 1 - Appearance and Reality

Chapter 2 - The Existence of Matter

Chapter 3 - The Nature of Matter

Chapter 4 - Idealism

Chapter 5 - Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description

Chapter 6 - On Induction

Chapter 7 - On our Knowledge of General Principles

Chapter 8 - How A Priori Knowledge is Possible

Chapter 9 - The World of Universals

Chapter 10 - On Our Knowledge of Universals

Chapter 11 - On Intuitive Knowledge

Chapter 12 - Truth and Falsehood

Chapter 13 - Knowledge, Error, and Probable Opinion

Chapter 14 - The Limits of Philosophical Knowledge

Chapter 15 - The Value of Philosophy

Important Quotations Explained

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Problems of Philosophy

Bertrand Russell

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What method of inquiry, a token of Cartesian thought, does Russell use in the beginning of The Problems of Philosophy?

(A) Absolute skepticism

(B) Empiricism

(C) Radical Doubt

(D) Analysis

Which of the following is Russell's key example of a physical object in the external world?

(A) A window

(B) A table

(C) A balloon

(D) A hand

What was Kant's primary innovation, according to Russell?

(A) A priori knowledge that is not analytic

(B) Knowledge about experience

(C) Epistemology

(D) A priori knowledge that is not synthetic

Which of the following is the best example of sense-data?

(A) A ball of string

(B) A table

(C) A patch of color

(D) A mind

Whose is the metaphysical system that reconstructs the universe into a harmonious whole from a single piece?

(A) Bishop Berkeley

(B) G. W. Leibniz

(C) Friedrich Hegel

(D) Immanuel Kant

What view of realism do Russell's critics say his philosophy advocates?

(A) Direct realism

(B) Platonic realism

(C) Anti-realism

(D) Analytic realism

What kind of knowledge does Russell first distinguish?

(A) Knowledge of Truths

(B) Knowledge of Appearance

(C) Knowledge of Reality

(D) Knowledge of Doubt

Which is the best definition of sense-data?

(A) Another word for sensation

(B) Our neurons

(C) Signs of physical objects

(D) None of the above

Which British philosopher does Russell believe to mistaken in his view of idealism?

(A) Bishop Berkeley

(B) A. N. Whitehead

(C) Rene Descartes

(D) David Hume

Who were the rationalists?

(A) Locke and Hume

(B) Kant and Spinoza

(C) Hegel and Bismarck

(D) Descartes and Leibniz

What is Russell's main point of interest in discussing the rationalists?

(A) Their belief in reason

(B) Their belief in knowledge by way of "innate principles"

(C) Their belief in experience

(D) Their belief in knowledge by way of description

Who are the empiricists that Russell is interested in?

(A) Berkeley, Leibniz, and Bradley

(B) Kant and Leibniz

(C) Locke, Berkeley, and Hume

(D) None of the Above

What is the empiricist view of knowledge?

(A) Knowledge comes from experience

(B) Knowledge comes from logic

(C) Knowledge comes from thought experiments

(D) Knowledge is impossible

What concept does Russell use to begin his discussion of a priori knowledge?

(A) Innate principles

(B) Mathematics

(C) A Universal

(D) Intuition

Which of the following is the best example of a universal?

(A) A model of the solar system

(B) A patch of red

(C) A question

(D) A spatial relation

Which is the best example of a particular?

(A) Whiteness

(B) A white sheet of paper

(C) A piece of reasoning

(D) "Being to the left of"

Which of the following does Russell use in making his case for object terms and object relations?

(A) Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, loving

(B) Hamlet, Ophelia, loving

(C) Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, hating

(D) Hamlet, Ophelia, Polonius, loving

From what theory does Russell draw his theory of universals?

(A) Berkeley's Theory of Ideas

(B) Hegel's Theory of the Universe

(C) Plato's Theory of Ideas

(D) Socrates' Theory of Knowledge

Knowledge by description is based on two criteria, of which one is ______ ?

(A) Knowledge of something by deduction

(B) Knowledge of something by acquaintance

(C) An indirect object

(D) Knowledge of some description

From what logical process do we gain knowledge of generalizations by way of instances?

(A) Deduction

(B) Induction

(C) Comparison

(D) Describing

From what logical process do we gain knowledge of universals by way of particulars?

(A) Deduction

(B) Induction

(C) Comparison

(D) Describing

What kind of experience do we have when we experience sense-data?

(A) Public

(B) Neutral

(C) Intuitive

(D) Private

The Problems of Philosophy was written during which intellectual stage of Russell's career?

(A) Constructive Realism

(B) Moderate realism

(C) Extreme Realism

(D) Nihilistic Realism

Russell believes in a(n) _______ reality.

(A) Imperfect

(B) Dependent

(C) Fluctuating

(D) Independent

According to Russell, what is one of the two ways that we can have knowledge of things?

(A) Knowledge by induction

(B) Knowledge by belief

(C) A priori knowledge

(D) Knowledge by description

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