Chapter 6 Quiz: Suffering
Multiple Choice
1. Epictetus's "dichotomy of control" holds that:
a) Everything that happens to us is ultimately within our control if we try hard enough
b) Some things are "up to us" (our judgments and responses) and some are not (bodies, reputation, outcomes), and suffering arises from confusing the two
c) Physical pain is within our control but emotional pain is not
d) Stoics believe no suffering is real because the body is irrelevant to the mind
2. The Buddhist concept of dukkha is best understood as:
a) Only the acute suffering of illness and death
b) The suffering caused by bad karma from past lives
c) A pervasive unsatisfactoriness including impermanence, even in pleasant experiences
d) Suffering caused exclusively by attachment to other people
3. The Second Noble Truth identifies the cause of suffering as:
a) Bad fortune and external circumstances
b) Tanha — craving, clinging, and the grasping for permanence in an impermanent world
c) Immoral actions in past lives
d) The human tendency to form relationships
4. Viktor Frankl argues that, even in a concentration camp, prisoners retain:
a) The ability to change their physical circumstances through mental strength
b) The freedom to choose their attitude toward unavoidable suffering
c) The capacity for physical pleasure that transcends circumstance
d) A duty to survive regardless of psychological cost
5. Camus's concept of "the absurd" refers to:
a) The idea that life has no meaning and one should embrace nihilism
b) The collision between the human hunger for meaning and the universe's silence in response
c) The belief that suffering is humorous when viewed from a sufficient distance
d) The irrational nature of most human decisions
6. The Ubuntu concept umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu most closely means:
a) "Suffering is the price of love"
b) "The individual must master their inner life to help others"
c) "A person is a person through other persons" — personhood is fundamentally relational
d) "Wisdom comes through solitary reflection"
7. James Stockdale's experience as a POW is used in the chapter primarily to illustrate:
a) The failure of Stoic philosophy under extreme conditions
b) The importance of military training in maintaining psychological resilience
c) How Stoic philosophy was tested and held up in conditions of severe external deprivation
d) Why the dichotomy of control is only applicable in Western cultural contexts
8. Post-traumatic growth (PTG) refers to:
a) The universal human tendency to recover from any trauma given enough time
b) Positive psychological changes some people report following severe trauma, including greater strength, deeper relationships, and new appreciation for life
c) The psychological suppression of trauma symptoms through willpower
d) The scientific proof that suffering makes people stronger
9. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) draws most directly on which philosophical traditions?
a) Existentialism and Confucianism
b) Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics
c) Stoicism and Buddhist philosophy
d) Ubuntu and Aristotelian virtue ethics
10. Which statement best captures the chapter's conclusion about the different frameworks for suffering?
a) Buddhism is the most empirically supported framework and should be preferred
b) The Stoic dichotomy of control is universally applicable to all types of suffering
c) No single framework adequately addresses the full range of human suffering; different frameworks suit different types of suffering
d) Western frameworks for suffering are fundamentally superior to African and Asian traditions
Short Answer
11. A friend tells you: "Stoicism says that if you're still suffering, you just haven't applied the dichotomy of control correctly — it's your own fault for adding unnecessary suffering." Is this a fair description of Stoicism? What is the response from the chapter?
12. Explain the Buddhist distinction between pain and suffering. Use a specific example to illustrate how one can be present without the other.
13. What does it mean to say that Camus "imagines Sisyphus happy"? Is this a claim about Sisyphus's emotional state, his psychology, his defiance, or something else? Why might Camus think this is possible?
14. The chapter says Ubuntu "restores to the conversation something the other frameworks can obscure." What is that something? Why is it important?
Essay Questions
15. (Short essay, 400–500 words): A close friend is grieving the death of a parent. You want to offer genuine philosophical wisdom, not platitudes. Choose two of the four frameworks from this chapter (Stoicism, Buddhism, Existentialism, Ubuntu) and write a thoughtful account of what each framework would offer your friend — and where each might fall short. Be honest about the limitations.
16. (Longer essay, 600–800 words): The chapter argues that Stoicism and Buddhism both carry a risk of what the exercises section calls "acceptance sliding into passivity in the face of injustice." Is this a genuine problem with these philosophies, or is it a misreading of them? Use specific evidence from both traditions to develop your argument. You may also bring in Ubuntu as a counterpoint or complement.
Answer Key (Selected)
- b
- c
- b
- b
- b
- c
- c
- b
- c
- c