Unit 2 Test Question PoolDirections Choose the BEST answer fr.docx

Unit 2 Test Question Pool
Directions: Choose the BEST answer from among the four
answer options.
Chapter 4
1. According to the cosmology of atomism (HINT: see pages
47-48, and 51 of chapter 4!)
A) nothing is created out of nothing, nor can something be
reduced to nothing.
B) compounds of atoms are eternal because the atoms that
comprise them are eternal.
C) some things are created out of nothing, and some things can
be reduced to nothing.
D) nothing is created out of nothing, and everything can be
reduced to nothing.
2. Death, according to Epicurus, (HINT: see pages 48 and 52 of
chapter 4!)
A) is either a dreamless sleep or a journey to another world.
B) is deprivation of sensation.
C) is a journey to another world
D) remains a mystery to us.
3. If the fundamental claims of atomism are true, then
A) the cosmos is devoid of spiritual or incorporeal beings.
B) the only truly divine things are the eternal, indestructible
atoms.
C) there is no afterlife.
D) All of the above.

4. If “the impious man is not he who denies the gods of the
many, but he who attaches to the gods the beliefs of the many,”
then
(HINT: see pages 48-49, 53-54!)
A) believers in personal immortality and divine providence are
impious.
B) believers in atomism are impious, and believers in personal
immortality are pious.
C) believers in atomism are pious.
D) Both A and C
5. According to Epicurus, the human soul
A) is made up of atoms
B) cannot survive the death of the body
C) is the organ of sensation
D) All of the above.
6. According to Epicurus,
(HINT: see pages 54-55 of chapter 4!)
A) One ought to pursue wealth, as it can afford us a greater
number of short, but intense bodily pleasures
B) Not all pleasures are to be chosen
C) The happy life requires that one pursue only the vain desires
D) No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of
evils

7. Which of the following BEST describes the logical
connection(s) between atomism and hedonism in Epicurus’
thought? Read each answer option very carefully!
A) Atomism denies the existence of incorporeal beings, such as
immortal souls. If the human soul—the organ of perception and
thought—is made up of atoms which disperse back into nature
at life’s end, then death would be nothing more than a
dreamless, eternal sleep and not a journey into another,
potentially wretched, world. The Epicurean, knowing this,
thereby achieves a reassuring calmness of mind, a tranquility of
soul.
B) According to atomism, the universe is made up exclusively
of atoms and void, and there are immortal gods which are highly
complex compounds of atoms. These gods direct the course of
human events, and reward individuals who avoid
overindulgence in sensual pleasures, and punish with infirmity
and disease those who do not.
C) According to atomism, the universe is made up exclusively
of atoms and void, having been created this way by the gods. In
order to live a good and happy life, the human being must
practice moderation and self-restraint with regard to the bodily
pleasures, and concentrate all of his energies on “knowing the
truth about god.” Only when he understands that mankind was
designed to live according to the universal moral law
established by his Maker can he enjoy the tranquility of soul
which constitutes the very highest kind of pleasure.
D) According to atomism, the universe is made up atoms as
well as spiritual beings, and the human being is a combination
of body and spiritual soul. The very BEST life will be one
dedicated exclusively to caring for our immortal soul so as to be
rewarded in the afterlife by the gods.
8. A man brutally murders an innocent victim. According to
Epicurus, in what way would this act rightly be considered

“evil”?
A) Such an act is a direct violation of the divine
commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.”
B) Such an act is a direct violation of the victim’s unalienable
right to life.
C) The criminal is doing irreparable harm to his own soul.
D) Such an act is evil insofar as it engenders a fear in the mind
of the criminal of eventually being caught and punished
severely by the civil authorities.
9. Which of the following arguments against vulgar hedonism
does Epicurus NOT make?
A) Even though every pain is an evil, not all pains are to be
avoided.
B) Vulgar hedonism undermines traditional morality.
C) The pains consequent upon over-indulgence either cancel
the pleasures or leave a balance of pain.
D) The vulgar hedonist fails to discriminate properly among
the various desires and the different pleasures that come from
their satisfaction.
10. Each of the following is, according to Epicurus, an essential
ingredient to living well EXCEPT:
A) Friendship
B) Equanimity
C) Health
D) Wealth
Chapter 5
1. Each of the following is an essential feature of law EXCEPT:

a. It must be rational.
b. It must be made known.
c. It aims at the good of certain individuals only.
d. It must be made by whoever has care of the community.
2. Law is more concerned with protecting property rights than
with making human beings good.
T/F
3. Each of the following is a type of law discussed by St.
Thomas in our reading EXCEPT:
a. divine law
b. eternal law
c. human law
d. none of the above
4. If a law is not promulgated, then
a. It is not a legitimate law.
b. Everyone has a duty to search for and discover it.
c. It is binding only on those who are able to discover it.
d. None of the above.
5. A law whose effect is to diminish the common good would,
according to St. Thomas, be
a. Legitimate, so long as it’s made by him who has care of the

community.
b. An ordinance of reason.
c. Legitimate, so long as it’s promulgated.
d. Tyrannical.
6. Which of the following statements about the eternal law is
correct?
(HINT: see page 64!)
a. It is God’s rule over the cosmos
b. It is identical with God’s essence, and as such cannot be
known in itself.
c. It is identical with Divine Reason
d. All of the above
7. Divine law is necessary because
(HINT: see pages 62-63!)
a. Of the restricted scope of the human law.
b. Of man’s inability to judge other men’s motives and intent.
c. Man’s ultimate end is not discoverable by human reason.
d. All of the above.
8. Each of the following statements is consistent with St.
Thomas’ natural law theory EXCEPT:
a. The good is that which is consistent with man’s nature.
b. All “lifestyles” are perfectly natural, and hence good.
c. The purpose of law is to make men good.
d. That which runs contrary to man’s nature is “evil”.
9. Each of the following is a natural human inclination
enumerated by Thomas Aquinas EXCEPT:

a. To know the truth about God
b. To procreate
c. To live in society
d. None of the above.
10. According to Thomas Aquinas’ concept of Natural Law, all
of the following would be deemed immoral EXCEPT:
a. Suicide
b. Homosexuality
c. Willful ignorance
d. None of the above
11. According to St. Thomas’ Natural Law teaching,
(HINT: see pages 59, 61-63, 65-68!)
i. God is the author of the natural law
ii. man-made laws are always grounded in the natural law
iii. Nobody can have any understanding of the natural law if
they lack access to the Bible and its teachings
iv. morality is inseparable from human nature
v. Man’s natural inclinations in one society may be completely
different in another society
vi. killing innocents is wrong only because in the Bible God
said “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” i.e., there is no other standard of
good and bad that can be known independently of the Bible.

vii. Philosophy (the love of wisdom) is natural, and hence good.
a. i, ii, iii.
b. i, v, vi.
c. i, iv, vii.
d. iii, vi, vii.
12. Human law
a. Is man-made.
b. Is the application of natural law
c. Is valid only if it aims at the common good
d. All of the above
Chapter 6
1. According to Hobbes, which two needs drive human action?
a. Personal gain and love of others
b. Personal gain and survival
c. Love of others and survival
d. Love of others and desire for peace
2. Why, according to Hobbes, do human beings enter into a
commonwealth?
(HINT: see page 78, paragraph 30!)
a. Self-preservation

b. Commodious living
c. Stability
d. All of the above
3. According to Hobbes’ Leviathan, human life without
government would be characterized by each of the following
EXCEPT:
a. no agriculture
b. no technology
c. no clocks
d. all of the above
4. “But though the benefits of this life may be much furthered
by mutual help; since yet those may be better attained to by
dominion, than by the society of others, I hope no body will
doubt, but that men would much more greedily be carried by
nature, if all fear were removed, to obtain dominion, than to
gain society.”
What is Hobbes’ main argument in this passage?
a. Most people would prefer to achieve comfortable self-
preservation
through entering into collaborative associations
b. The life of a tyrant is preferable to that of a mere citizen
c. The life of a citizen is preferable to that of a greedy tyrant

d. Without law and order, life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish
and short.”
5. “Drive safely: the life you save may be your own.”
This would be an example of:
a. Psychological realism
b. Christ’s Golden Rule
c. Hobbes’ Golden Rule
d. A and B
6. According to Hobbes, government censorship is necessary
a. because some opinions might incite people to rebellion
b. In order to promote concord
c. Because peace, stability, and security are more important
than “free speech” rights
d. All of the above
7. In Hobbes, “good” and “evil” refer in the State of Nature to:
a. Pleasure and pain
b. Virtue and vice
c. The object of love, the object of aversion

d. A and C
8. Each of the following is a characteristic of the state of nature
EXCEPT:
a. It is a war of every man against every man
b. Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short
c. There are abundant resources available for human
consumption
d. There are no property rights
9. For Hobbes, the greatest good and the greatest evil,
respectively, for a human being are:
a. Glory and disgrace
b. Comfortable self-preservation and violent death
c. Salvation of one’s soul and eternal damnation
d. Virtue and vice
10. St. Thomas Aquinas and Thomas Hobbes would agree on
which of the following?
a. Commodious living is the highest object of human aspiration
b. Man is by nature a political animal
c. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you
11. Each of the following is true about Hobbes’ social contract
theory EXCEPT:
a. It is the most viable means of escaping the horrors of the
state of nature
b. It stipulates that one must be willing to sacrifice one’s life on
behalf of the commonwealth

c. It forbids private men the freedom to be the judge of good
and evil actions.
d. It exists for the sake of preventing men from harming one
another and being harmed by one another
12. Which of the following BEST captures the difference
between Hobbes’ Law of nature and St. Thomas Aquinas’
Natural law?
a. The former induces you to treat others as you would want to
be treated, whereas the latter induces you not to treat others as
you would not want to be treated
b. The former seeks the good of the body only, whereas the
latter seeks the good of both body and soul
c. The former promotes charity and self-sacrifice, whereas the
latter promotes hedonism
d. The former sees justice ultimately as the product of divine
legislation, whereas the latter sees justice strictly as a product
of human legislation
Unit 3 Study Questions
Chapter 7
1. Nietzsche announces the death of God in a parable about
a. A madman holding a lantern
b. A lonely prophet walking the earth
c. Jesus
d. A desert hermit living in a cave
2. The madman’s proclamation that “God is dead” refers to the
fact that
a. He has found incontrovertible proof that God never really
existed in the first place

b. God has temporarily withdrawn Himself from the world, only
to return at the end of time
c. People have ceased to believe in God
3. The madman finds the death of God to be so terrifying
because
a. All of his contemporaries are grief-stricken at the sudden
disappearance of God, and do not know how to recover from
this frightening piece of news
b. Without God human life is devoid of any intrinsic purpose,
value, and meaning
c. Both A and B
4. Shakespeare’s Macbeth says that life “is a tale told by an
idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” This would be
an example of
a. Theism
b. Virtue ethics
c. Hedonism
d. Nihilism
5. “Life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of
the strange and weak, suppression, severity…and at the
least…exploitation.” Nietzsche here refers explicitly to
(HINT: see page 86, 89, paragraph 3!)
a. The Will to Power
b. Slave Morality

c. Judeo-Christianity
d. The German people
6. Each of the following is a characteristic of an aristocratic
society EXCEPT:
a. They come into being through conquest
b. Master Morality
c. They are the embodiment of will-to-power
d. They champion full equality among all members of society
7. Master morality is to slave morality as
(HINT: see pages 86-88, 90-91!)
a. nobility is to baseness
b. higher is to lower
c. affirmation of life is to negation of life
d. All of the above
8. The “good” of master morality is to the “good” of slave
morality as
a. Noble is to despicable
b. Mediocrity is to excellence
c. Despicable is to noble
d. Rare is to exceptional
9. The “evil” of slave morality is to the “bad” of master
morality as
a. cowardly is to heroic
b. lover is to beloved
c. self-glorification is to resentment
d. mediocrity is to excellence
10. The “good” of master morality is to the “evil” of slave
morality as
a. resentment is to honor
b. hero is to coward
c. base is to noble

d. They are one and the same thing
11. According to Nietzsche, the modern liberal democratic ideal
a. encourages slavishness
b. is the only honorable value to be found in Judeo-Christianity
c. is embraced by master morality
d. is shunned by slave morality
12. Nihilism is the belief that
a. God is Good
b. Nothingness is an illusion of the mind
c. If we remain ignorant we will annihilate ourselves
d. The world is utterly meaningless
13. According to Nietzsche, the slavish individual expresses
_________ for the noble types.
a. admiration
b. resentment
c. a feeling of kinship
d. affection
14. According to Nietzsche, slave morality originates from
(HINT: see page 87, 91!)
a. a feeling of superiority
b. the need for slaves to survive
c. economic inequality
d. faith in a higher power
15. According to Nietzsche, master morality originates from
a. the aristocratic man’s spontaneous self-glorification
b. resentment toward other aristocratic men
c. the need to combat low self-esteem
d. a will to the denial of life
Chapter 8
1. Ortega can best be described as
a. a nihilist

b. an elitist
c. a feminist
d. an egalitarian
2. According to Ortega, the masses have begun to insinuate
themselves in each of the following areas EXCEPT:
a. politics
b. education
c. the priesthood
d. the arts
3. According to Ortega, the phenomenon of the “masses” as a
concentrated group gaining power and influence in all sectors of
society
a. is nothing new
b. is consistent with the rise of fascism in Spain
c. is a recent phenomenon
d. is a cause for great celebration
4. Each of the following is true about the mass man EXCEPT:
a. he is the “average” man
b. he belongs exclusively to the working class
c. he is comfortable in his mediocrity
d. he is not particularly ambitious
5. Each of the following is true about the “select individual”
EXCEPT:
a. he snobbishly believes that he is simply superior to everyone
else
b. he sets very high standards for himself
c. he assigns himself great tasks
d. his presence is not limited to any particular socio-economic
stratum of society
6. The select individual is to the mass man
a. as higher is to lower
b. as rare is to common
c. as noble is to vulgar
d. all of the above
7. Before the advent of the “crowd phenomenon,” artistic,
political, and intellectual enterprises were directed by

a. anybody who wanted to take part
b. only those who were select individuals
c. only those who were qualified or at least claimed to be
qualified
d. all of the above
8. According to Ortega, hyperdemocracy
a. is a threat to liberal democracy
b. is the mass man’s way of imposing itself on the rest of
society
c. is the mass man’s way of stifling human excellence
d. all of the above
9. Each of the following is a characteristic of the “select
individual” EXCEPT:
a. judges himself against a high standard.
b. complacency
c. qualified for intellectual, aesthetic, and political endeavors
d. runs the risk of being crushed under the weight of the mass
Chapter 9
1. Sartre’s phrase “existence precedes essence” means that
a. God created man as a “blank slate” on which he can make his
own essence.
b. Man created God in his own image
c. Man first has an essence, and then he confers on himself
existence
d. Man exists in a godless universe, without any determinate
nature or essence: he creates his own essence through his
actions.
2. According to Sartre, when you choose how to live, you are
choosing
a. for your loved ones
b. for all mankind
c. for nobody but oneself

3. In Sartre’s view, the existentialist finds the fact that God
does not exist
a. deeply distressing
b. liberating
c. insignificant
d. absurd to the point of being comical
4. Sartre argues that when he speaks of anguish, he is referring
to
a. the feeling of having been abandoned by God
b. the fact that we are not responsible for our actions
c. man’s feeling of total and deep responsibility for all
mankind
d. all of the above
5. According to Sartre, each human being is the sum total of
his/her
a. hopes
b. actions
c. beliefs
d. ambitions
6. Sartre argues that when he speaks of forlornness, he means
that
a. We are not responsible for our actions
b. We can never truly understand human nature
c. God does not exist, so we must face all of the consequences
of this
d. all of the above.
7. Sartre criticizes certain atheists in the 1880s that wanted to
create an atheist ethics on the grounds that
a. without God, there can be no a priori standard of good to
which everyone is bound to conform.
b. there can be no salvation without embracing our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ

c. atheists are generally very immoral people
8. Sartre argues that when he speaks of despair, he means that
a. when one chooses, one chooses for oneself only
b. one should reckon only with what depends on our will
c. life is a tale told by an idiot
d. all of the above
9. According to Sartre, the value of one’s feeling is determined
by
a. the way one feels
b. what one believes
c. the way one acts
d. all of the above
10. Each of the following is true for Sartre EXCEPT:
a. You are the sum total of your hopes and dreams
b. Responsibility for one’s actions involves being responsible
for everyone
c. Man’s situation is characterized by anguish, forlornness, and
despair
d. We are “condemned to be free”

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