Chapter 3 Quiz: The Map of Philosophy

This quiz tests comprehension and understanding. For deeper engagement, see the exercises.

Part A: Multiple Choice

1. Heraclitus and Parmenides famously disagreed about which fundamental question?

a) Whether the gods exist
b) Whether change is real or whether permanence is the fundamental nature of being
c) Whether humans are capable of moral goodness
d) Whether democracy is a valid form of government

2. Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia is best translated as:

a) Pleasure
b) Happiness as a good feeling
c) Flourishing — living fully in the exercise of one's human capacities
d) Obedience to divine law

3. The Stoic distinction that underlies their entire practical philosophy is:

a) The difference between pleasure and pain
b) The difference between knowledge and belief
c) The difference between what is up to us and what is not up to us
d) The difference between God's will and human will

4. Kant's Categorical Imperative, in its second formulation, states:

a) Act so as to maximize happiness for the greatest number
b) Act only according to principles that you could will to be universal laws
c) Always treat persons as ends in themselves, never merely as means
d) Follow the commands of practical reason regardless of consequences

(Note: Both b and c are formulations of the Categorical Imperative — both are correct answers to "formulations of Kant's Categorical Imperative." The question asks specifically for the second formulation, which is c.)

5. In Buddhist philosophy, anicca and anatta refer to:

a) Two forms of meditation practice
b) Impermanence and no-self — the foundational starting points of Buddhist philosophy
c) Compassion and wisdom — the two primary virtues
d) The twin paths of virtue and knowledge

6. Nagarjuna's concept of sunyata (emptiness) means:

a) Things do not exist
b) The world is an illusion with no reality
c) Things have no inherent independent existence; they exist only in dependence on other things
d) The self is empty of consciousness

7. The Confucian concept of ren refers to:

a) Ritual propriety — the proper forms of social interaction
b) The exemplary or noble person
c) Benevolence or humaneness — the central virtue of right relationship
d) The cosmic order underlying social harmony

8. The Daoist concept of wu wei is best understood as:

a) Complete inaction and withdrawal from the world
b) Non-striving action — acting in alignment with the natural flow of things rather than forcing outcomes
c) Obedience to the ruler and respect for hierarchy
d) The suppression of desire through ascetic practice

9. Ubuntu, as a philosophical concept, makes which central claim?

a) Individual rights are the foundation of all ethics
b) The self is constituted through relationships — "a person is a person through other persons"
c) Community welfare should always override individual preferences
d) Traditional authority is the source of moral knowledge

10. The Jain philosophical doctrine of Anekantavada claims:

a) All moral claims are equally valid
b) There is no objective truth
c) Truth is complex and multifaceted; no single perspective captures the whole truth
d) Only sensory perception provides reliable knowledge

11. Henry Odera Oruka's concept of "sage philosophy" was developed to:

a) Prove that African philosophy is identical to Western philosophy
b) Document that rigorous philosophical reasoning exists in African oral traditions
c) Show that written philosophy is superior to oral tradition
d) Argue that African philosophy should adopt Western academic methods

12. The Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace is significant philosophically because:

a) It is the oldest document in human history
b) It proves Indigenous peoples were more advanced than Europeans
c) It constitutes a sophisticated political philosophy — including democracy, federalism, and environmental stewardship — developed long before European Enlightenment political theory
d) It is a religious text that guided Haudenosaunee spiritual practices

Part B: Short Answer

13. In two or three sentences, explain the "perennial philosophy" idea and describe why this chapter suggests resisting it.

14. What is the key difference between how most Western philosophy conceives of the self and how Ubuntu conceives of the self? Give one ethical implication of each view.

15. Nietzsche is often misread. In two or three sentences, explain what "God is dead" actually means in Nietzsche's philosophy — and what he was worried about, rather than celebrating.

16. Explain in your own words why the pre-Socratic debate between Heraclitus and Parmenides is not just ancient history but a live philosophical question with practical relevance.

17. What is the philosophical significance of describing Jain epistemology as "the doctrine of many-sidedness"? What practical attitude toward disagreement does it suggest?

Part C: Application

18. A friend tells you: "I don't need to study other philosophical traditions — Western philosophy is the only tradition that uses rigorous logic and formal argument." Based on what you learned in this chapter, write a specific, accurate response to this claim.

19. Choose any two traditions described in this chapter and identify one concrete ethical question where they would give genuinely different answers. Describe each tradition's response to that question and explain why the responses differ.

20. The chapter argues that each tradition begins from different starting assumptions. Choose one non-Western tradition and explain: (a) what its key starting assumption is, (b) what would be different about ethical reasoning if you accepted that starting assumption rather than the Western individualist assumption of the isolated self, and (c) whether you find the alternative starting assumption plausible.

Answer Key

Multiple Choice: 1. b
2. c
3. c
4. c
5. b
6. c
7. c
8. b
9. b
10. c
11. b
12. c

Short Answer and Application: These questions do not have single correct answers, but strong responses will:

• (13): Describe perennial philosophy as the view that all traditions share a common core; explain that this view tends to flatten genuine differences (e.g., Vedantic Atman=Brahman vs. Buddhist anatta are not the same claim even if both question ordinary identity).

• (14): Western individualism: the self is prior to relationships and then enters into them. Ubuntu: the self is constituted through relationships. Ethical implication of individualism: obligations to others are external, chosen, and limited. Ethical implication of Ubuntu: harm to others is harm to the relational web through which I exist.

• (15): "God is dead" is a cultural diagnosis: the Christian God has lost credibility as the foundation of values. The danger Nietzsche worries about is nihilism — if the value system built on that foundation collapses, nothing means anything. His project is creating new values in the face of nihilism.

• (16): The Heraclitus-Parmenides debate is about whether change is real or stability is fundamental. This remains live in: philosophy of personal identity (are you the same person over time?), metaphysics, physics (is reality made of stable substances or dynamic processes?), Buddhist vs. Western accounts of the self.

• (17): Anekantavada holds that reality is too complex for any single perspective to capture fully. Practically: approach your own philosophical positions with syat ("in some respects"); take seriously the possibility that views you find wrong may capture aspects of truth you are missing.

• (18): Strong responses will cite Nyaya logic (formal Indian epistemology and logic), Madhyamaka Buddhist argumentation (Nagarjuna's rigorous formal arguments about dependent origination), or Neo-Confucian philosophical debate. The absence of awareness of these traditions in Western academia reflects historical exclusion, not the absence of the traditions.

• (19): Any two traditions and any ethical question are acceptable if the reasoning demonstrates understanding of each tradition's starting assumptions. Example: caring for aging parents — Ubuntu says care is constitutive of self/community, not an external obligation; Lockean individualism says care is an obligation that exists but has limits set by individual rights.

• (20): Any non-Western tradition is acceptable. Strong responses show genuine engagement with the alternative starting assumption and honest reflection on whether it is plausible.