Chapter 19 Quiz: Time, Change, and Impermanence
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. When Heraclitus said "you cannot step into the same river twice," his primary philosophical point was:
a) Rivers are physically dangerous and should be crossed carefully
b) Change is superficial — what matters is the underlying permanence of the riverbed
c) What we call "things" are ongoing processes; stability is a pattern within flux, not a stop to it
d) Time is an illusion, as Parmenides argued
2. The Heraclitean logos refers to:
a) The Greek word for "word," used mainly in theology
b) The rational principle or hidden order that structures all change in the cosmos
c) The emotional response to impermanence that leads to grief
d) The Stoic concept of fate
3. In Buddhist philosophy, the three marks of existence are:
a) Suffering, desire, and liberation
b) Impermanence, suffering, and no-self
c) Change, attachment, and mindfulness
d) Birth, life, and death
4. The Buddhist concept of anicca (impermanence) explains dukkha (suffering) primarily through which claim?
a) Life involves more pain than pleasure, so suffering is statistically inevitable
b) The gods cause suffering as punishment for moral failures
c) We suffer because we cling to things that are impermanent, treating them as if they could be permanently possessed
d) Suffering is an illusion that can be eliminated by ignoring physical sensation
5. Henri Bergson's concept of durée (duration) was primarily a critique of:
a) Buddhist meditation as insufficient to understand time
b) The "spatialization" of time — treating time as if it were a dimension that could be mapped with discrete, measurable points
c) Heraclitus's claim that change is fundamental
d) Heidegger's notion of being-toward-death
6. For the Stoics, the correct response to the impermanence of things we love is best described as:
a) Avoiding attachment entirely so that loss cannot hurt us
b) Applying the dichotomy of control: work vigorously toward preferred outcomes but do not stake your wellbeing on achieving them
c) Seeking divine grace to accept what cannot be changed
d) Extending the timeline of one's plans so that losses are absorbed into a larger narrative
7. Heidegger's concept of "being-toward-death" means:
a) Humans should meditate on death daily as a religious obligation
b) Death is certain and should be planned for practically through wills and insurance
c) Mortality is not just a future event but a structural feature of human existence that shapes how we relate to time, choice, and meaning from the inside
d) Authentic existence requires withdrawing from social life to contemplate finitude
8. The Japanese aesthetic concept of mono no aware refers to:
a) The Zen discipline of sitting in silent meditation for extended periods
b) A bitter resentment of the passage of time, especially in old age
c) A bittersweet sensitivity to the beauty of impermanent things — appreciation intensified by awareness of transience
d) The Japanese architectural style favoring minimalism and empty space
9. Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy claims that:
a) Only mental processes are real; the physical world is an illusion
b) The basic units of reality are stable substances that happen to change over time
c) Reality is constituted by events or actual occasions of experience; becoming is more fundamental than being
d) Change is impossible because it would require something to become what it is not
10. Which statement best captures the key difference between Buddhist and Stoic approaches to impermanence?
a) Buddhism accepts impermanence while Stoicism denies it
b) Stoicism relies primarily on rational argument and the dichotomy of control, while Buddhism relies primarily on meditation and training of pre-conceptual attention
c) Buddhism is pessimistic about life while Stoicism is optimistic
d) Stoicism was developed before Buddhism, so it lacks the depth of Buddhist analysis
Short-Answer Questions
11. Explain Heraclitus's claim about the unity of opposites. Give one example from your own experience in which opposites seem to require or generate each other, and explain how this relates to his broader philosophy of flux.
(Suggested length: 100–150 words)
12. What is the difference between Buddhist non-attachment and simple indifference or detachment? Why does this distinction matter for understanding the Buddhist response to grief and loss?
(Suggested length: 100–150 words)
13. Bergson argues that clock time "spatializes" lived time in a way that distorts experience. Describe a specific situation from everyday life where this distortion seems evident — where clock time and lived duration pull in different directions — and explain what Bergson's concept of durée offers as an alternative.
(Suggested length: 100–150 words)
14. Heidegger distinguishes between "authentic" and "inauthentic" existence in relation to temporality. Without using philosophical jargon, describe what inauthentic existence looks like in a contemporary context — what does a person who is running from their finitude actually do, day to day? What would authentic existence look like in the same context?
(Suggested length: 150–200 words)
15. Process philosophy and Buddhist philosophy both challenge the idea of a fixed, permanent self. In two or three sentences for each, explain how each tradition reaches this conclusion, and then identify one important difference in how they understand what remains — if anything — when the fixed self is dissolved.
(Suggested length: 150–200 words)
Answer Key (Multiple Choice)
- c
- b
- b
- c
- b
- b
- c
- c
- c
- b