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BCS Written Philosophy practice questions

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Question 1History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Plato's allegory of the cave, what do the shadows on the wall primarily represent?

  1. The mathematical structure of reality
  2. The soul's recollection of past lives
  3. The world of Forms as directly known
  4. The deceptive realm of sensible appearances Correct answer.

Explanation

The prisoners mistake shadows for reality, and Plato uses this image for the visible world of sensible objects, which are only imitations of the intelligible Forms. The ascent out of the cave symbolizes the philosopher's turn from appearances toward genuine being.

Question 2History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Aristotle's doctrine of the four causes includes which of the following as the 'final cause'?

  1. The material out of which a thing is made
  2. The defining form or essence
  3. The source of motion or change
  4. The purpose or end for which a thing exists Correct answer.

Explanation

The final cause is the telos, the end or purpose that explains why a thing is as it is, as health is the end of medicine. Aristotle treats it as one of four distinct ways of answering 'why'.

Question 3History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

According to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, moral virtue is best characterized as which of the following?

  1. A disposition to choose the mean relative to us, guided by practical wisdom Correct answer.
  2. A divine gift that cannot be cultivated by practice
  3. A knowledge of the Form of the Good acquired by dialectic
  4. A natural appetite that requires no habituation

Explanation

Aristotle defines virtue as a stable disposition concerned with choice, lying in a mean determined by reason and by the person of practical wisdom. Virtues are acquired through habituation rather than innate endowment or pure instruction.

Question 4History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Descartes' Meditations, what role does the 'evil demon' hypothesis play?

  1. It supplies the most extreme ground for doubting all beliefs Correct answer.
  2. It demonstrates that God is a deceiver
  3. It proves that the external world exists
  4. It establishes the immortality of the soul

Explanation

The demon hypothesis radicalizes doubt by supposing that even mathematics and perception might be systematically falsified. It is a device for reaching an indubitable foundation, not a conclusion Descartes accepts.

Question 5History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Hume's analysis of causation claims that our idea of necessary connection arises from which of the following?

  1. A direct perception of causal power in experience
  2. A custom or habit of the mind produced by constant conjunction Correct answer.
  3. An innate principle implanted by nature as clear knowledge
  4. A rational insight into the essences of bodies

Explanation

Hume argues that we never perceive a necessary tie between events, only constant conjunction. The feeling of necessity is a custom-generated expectation of the imagination, projected onto the world.

Question 6History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Kant's 'Copernican revolution' in philosophy consists in the claim that which of the following holds?

  1. Reason can know things in themselves directly
  2. Objects must conform to our cognition rather than cognition to objects Correct answer.
  3. All knowledge derives from sense experience alone
  4. Space and time are properties of things as they are in themselves

Explanation

Kant proposes that we know objects only as they appear under the forms of our sensibility and the categories of our understanding. This reverses the assumption that knowledge must conform to independent objects.

Question 7History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Plato's Republic, the divided line places which of the following at the highest level of cognition?

  1. Imagining images and shadows
  2. Discursive reasoning about mathematical objects
  3. Noetic insight into the Forms Correct answer.
  4. Belief about visible things

Explanation

The divided line ranks cognition from eikasia and pistis through dianoia to noesis, the direct intellectual grasp of Forms. Mathematics occupies dianoia because it reasons from hypotheses rather than ascending to an unhypothetical principle.

Question 8History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Aquinas' 'five ways' include an argument from contingency that concludes what?

  1. That the world is eternal and uncreated
  2. That there must exist a being necessary in itself Correct answer.
  3. That all beings are contingent without exception
  4. That motion is an illusion of the senses

Explanation

The argument from possibility and necessity holds that since contingent beings exist and cannot ground their own existence, there must be something necessary per se. Aquinas identifies this necessary being with God.

Question 9History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Augustine's account of time in the Confessions argues that time is best understood as what?

  1. A distension of the mind or soul Correct answer.
  2. A measure of celestial motion
  3. An objective feature of the physical world
  4. A number imposed by God on creation

Explanation

Augustine puzzles over how past and future can exist and concludes that time is a distension of the mind, in which the present awareness holds memory, attention, and expectation. He rejects the identification of time with the motion of heavenly bodies.

Question 10History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Which Stoic doctrine holds that only virtue is genuinely good and only vice genuinely bad?

  1. The doctrine of the indifferents Correct answer.
  2. The doctrine of eternal recurrence
  3. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls
  4. The doctrine of the mean

Explanation

Stoics class health, wealth, and reputation as 'indifferents' that are neither good nor bad in themselves, since only virtue and vice bear on happiness. Preferred indifferents may be rationally selected but do not affect the good life.

Question 11History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Epicurus' argument about death holds which of the following?

  1. Death is nothing to us, since where death is, we are not Correct answer.
  2. The soul survives death and can be punished
  3. Suicide is always forbidden by natural law
  4. Death is the greatest evil because it ends all pleasure

Explanation

Epicurus argues that good and evil consist in sensation, and death is the privation of sensation, so it is neither good nor evil for the one who has died. The famous formulation is that death is nothing to us.

Question 12History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Spinoza's Ethics, 'God or Nature' (Deus sive Natura) expresses which view?

  1. That nature is an illusion produced by the mind
  2. That God arbitrarily wills the order of things
  3. That God and Nature are one substance with infinite attributes Correct answer.
  4. That God is a transcendent creator distinct from the world

Explanation

Spinoza identifies God with the single infinite substance, which is also Nature as expressed through its attributes. There is no transcendent creator standing outside the world, and the order of things follows necessarily from the divine nature.

Question 13History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason asserts which of the following?

  1. All truths are analytically derivable from identity alone
  2. Nothing happens without a reason why it is so rather than otherwise Correct answer.
  3. Every substance has no relations to other substances
  4. The actual world is the only possible world

Explanation

The principle states that no fact or event obtains without a sufficient reason for its being so rather than otherwise. Leibniz uses it to argue for God's existence and for this world being the best of possible worlds.

Question 14History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Locke's account of personal identity holds that identity of a person consists in which of the following?

  1. Sameness of immaterial substance
  2. Continuity of consciousness, extending backward by memory Correct answer.
  3. Sameness of the soul's divine origin
  4. Biological continuity of the same living body

Explanation

For Locke, 'person' is a forensic term, and identity extends as far as consciousness can reach back to past actions by memory. Substance identity, whether material or immaterial, is neither necessary nor sufficient for personal identity.

Question 15History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Berkeley's immaterialism claims that the existence of sensible objects consists in which of the following?

  1. Being perceived or being a perceiver Correct answer.
  2. Being composed of indivisible atoms
  3. Existing independently of any mind
  4. Being a mode of a single material substance

Explanation

Berkeley's esse est percipi holds that sensible things exist only as ideas in minds, and their continued existence when unperceived depends on God's perceiving them. He denies any mind-independent material substratum.

Question 16History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Hobbes' state of nature is characterized chiefly by which of the following?

  1. A condition governed by natural law courts
  2. A golden age of natural cooperation
  3. A war of every man against every man Correct answer.
  4. A divinely ordained hierarchy

Explanation

Hobbes describes the natural condition as a war of all against all, driven by competition, diffidence, and glory. Fear of death motivates the transfer of rights to a sovereign through the social contract.

Question 17History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Rousseau's notion of the 'general will' refers to which of the following?

  1. The will aimed at the common good of the citizen body Correct answer.
  2. The sum of all private preferences
  3. The will of the majority at any given moment
  4. The decree of an enlightened monarch

Explanation

The general will is the will of the people considered as a body aiming at the common good, distinct from the mere aggregation of private wills. Rousseau insists it cannot be represented and must be expressed by the assembled citizens.

Question 18History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Hume's Treatise, the self is described as which of the following?

  1. A bundle of perceptions with no underlying owner Correct answer.
  2. A divinely implanted innate idea
  3. A simple immaterial substance
  4. A rational substance known by intuition

Explanation

Hume finds no impression of a persistent self, only a succession of perceptions, and concludes the self is a bundle or collection of perceptions. The mind is a kind of theatre where perceptions appear in constant flux.

Question 19History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Which medieval thinker is best known for the ontological argument that existence is a perfection, so a being than which nothing greater can be conceived must exist?

  1. Anselm of Canterbury Correct answer.
  2. William of Ockham
  3. Duns Scotus
  4. Peter Abelard

Explanation

Anselm's Proslogion presents the argument that a being than which nothing greater can be conceived cannot exist only in the understanding, since existing in reality is greater. Gaunilo's reply and Kant's later objection are standard responses.

Question 20History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Ockham's nominalism holds that universals are which of the following?

  1. Signs or concepts that exist only in the mind Correct answer.
  2. Eternal Forms in a separate intelligible realm
  3. Real substances existing independently of particulars
  4. Divine ideas existing in the mind of God alone

Explanation

For Ockham, only individual substances exist, and universals are mental signs or terms predicable of many things. This rejection of real universals supports his principle of parsimony and his empiricist tendencies.

Question 21History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Descartes' argument in the Second Meditation moves from 'I think' to what conclusion about his nature?

  1. He is identical with God
  2. He is essentially a thinking thing Correct answer.
  3. He is essentially a material body
  4. He is a composite of body and soul known by the senses

Explanation

Descartes concludes that he is certain only of himself as a thinking thing, a res cogitans, while the existence of his body remains doubtful at that stage. The self is known more clearly than body.

Question 22History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Kant's categorical imperative requires that one act in which way?

  1. So that your action conforms to the customs of your society
  2. So that your action serves your own long-term interest
  3. So that the maxim of your action could become a universal law Correct answer.
  4. So as to maximize the total happiness of all affected

Explanation

The first formulation of the categorical imperative tests maxims for universalizability, requiring that the principle of one's action could consistently be willed as universal law. It commands unconditionally, independent of any desired end.

Question 23History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Hegel's Phenomenology, the master-slave dialectic concludes that self-consciousness is achieved through which of the following?

  1. Recognition by another self-consciousness, mediated by labor Correct answer.
  2. Isolation from others and withdrawal into thought
  3. Immediate self-certainty that needs no other
  4. Domination of nature by force alone

Explanation

Hegel argues that self-consciousness exists only in being recognized by another, and the slave's labor transforms the world and thereby achieves a form of self-consciousness the master lacks. The struggle for recognition is central to the dialectic.

Question 24History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Nietzsche's doctrine of eternal recurrence asks the individual to consider which question?

  1. Whether the universe has a first cause
  2. Whether the will is free from causal determination
  3. Whether life would be affirmed if this life had to be lived again endlessly Correct answer.
  4. Whether moral values are universally valid

Explanation

The eternal recurrence is presented as a thought experiment testing one's capacity to affirm life, as in the question whether one would will to live this same life again countless times. It is tied to Nietzsche's critique of otherworldly values.

Question 25History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Plato's Meno, Socrates demonstrates that a slave boy can solve a geometry problem, and this is used to support which doctrine?

  1. That knowledge is recollection of what the soul already knew Correct answer.
  2. That virtue can be taught by sophists
  3. That all knowledge comes from the senses
  4. That geometry is a matter of convention

Explanation

Socrates uses the demonstration to argue that learning is recollection, since the boy arrives at the correct answer without having been taught it in this life. The doctrine supports the immortality of the soul and the possibility of inquiry.

Question 26History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

According to Aristotle, the highest form of human activity, which he identifies with happiness (eudaimonia), consists in which of the following?

  1. The life of theoretical contemplation Correct answer.
  2. The accumulation of material wealth
  3. The pursuit of political honour
  4. The enjoyment of bodily pleasure

Explanation

Aristotle argues in the Nicomachean Ethics that eudaimonia is activity in accordance with virtue, and the highest virtue is theoretical wisdom (sophia). Contemplation is the most divine and self-sufficient activity, so it constitutes perfect happiness. Other goods are necessary conditions but not the essence of eudaimonia.

Question 27History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Plato's allegory of the cave, the shadows on the wall represent which of the following?

  1. The soul's recollection of its prenatal existence
  2. The mathematical objects studied by the guardians
  3. The ordinary sensible world as experienced by the prisoners Correct answer.
  4. The world of Forms as known by reason

Explanation

The cave allegory depicts prisoners who mistake shadows for reality, symbolizing people who take the sensible world to be the whole of reality. The shadows correspond to the realm of becoming, while the objects outside the cave correspond to the Forms. The allegory thus illustrates the philosopher's ascent from opinion to knowledge.

Question 28History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Which of the following best captures Anselm's argument in the Proslogion for the existence of God?

  1. The existence of contingent beings requires a necessary being as their cause.
  2. The idea of a perfect being is innate in the human mind and therefore cannot be false.
  3. A being than which no greater can be conceived must exist in reality, since otherwise a greater being could be conceived. Correct answer.
  4. The order and purpose observable in nature require an intelligent designer.

Explanation

Anselm defines God as 'that than which nothing greater can be conceived.' If such a being existed only in the understanding, a greater being could be conceived that also exists in reality, which is contradictory. Therefore, God must exist in reality as well as in the understanding.

Question 29History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Descartes' method of doubt leads him to reject the reliability of the senses because which of the following reasons?

  1. The senses depend on the body, which is a mode of extension.
  2. The senses cannot provide mathematical knowledge, which alone is certain.
  3. The senses are inherently evil and lead the soul away from God.
  4. The senses sometimes deceive us, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once. Correct answer.

Explanation

In the First Meditation, Descartes notes that the senses have sometimes deceived him regarding small or distant things. Since prudence dictates not trusting entirely what has deceived us even once, he provisionally sets aside all sensory beliefs. This motivates the subsequent hypotheses of dreaming and the evil demon.

Question 30History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, the 'five ways' are intended to demonstrate which of the following?

  1. That faith is superior to reason and cannot be supported by argument
  2. That the world is eternal and uncreated
  3. That human beings have an innate knowledge of God
  4. That God exists as the first mover, first cause, necessary being, perfect being, and intelligent designer Correct answer.

Explanation

Aquinas presents five distinct arguments, often called the five ways, each concluding in a different attribute of God. They proceed from motion, causation, contingency, degrees of perfection, and governance of ends. All five aim to establish the existence of a first principle that all call God.

Question 31History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In the Meditations, Descartes argues that the mind is better known than the body because which of the following?

  1. The body is known through the senses, which are more reliable than reason.
  2. The body is a fiction invented by the imagination and has no real existence.
  3. The mind is a part of the body and is known through anatomy.
  4. The mind is known immediately in the act of thinking, while the body's existence is inferred and remains doubtful. Correct answer.

Explanation

In the Second Meditation, Descartes finds that while he can doubt the existence of his body, he cannot doubt that he is thinking. Thus the mind is known first and more certainly than the body. The body's existence is later established through God's veracity, not immediately.

Question 32History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Hume's fork distinguishes which two kinds of propositions?

  1. Analytic and synthetic judgments
  2. Synthetic a priori and analytic a posteriori
  3. Relations of ideas and matters of fact Correct answer.
  4. Impression and idea

Explanation

Hume divides all objects of human reason into relations of ideas and matters of fact. Relations of ideas are intuitively or demonstratively certain, such as mathematics, while matters of fact concern existence and are grounded in experience. This distinction underlies his critique of causation and induction.

Question 33History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

According to Kant, a judgment is synthetic a priori when which of the following holds?

  1. The predicate is contained in the subject and the judgment is known independently of experience.
  2. The predicate adds to the subject and the judgment is known only through experience.
  3. The predicate is contained in the subject and the judgment is known through experience.
  4. The predicate adds to the subject and the judgment is known independently of experience. Correct answer.

Explanation

Kant distinguishes analytic judgments, whose predicate is contained in the subject, from synthetic judgments, whose predicate adds new information. A priori judgments are known independently of experience, while a posteriori judgments depend on it. Synthetic a priori judgments thus extend knowledge while claiming universal and necessary status, as in mathematics and pure natural science.

Question 34History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Spinoza's claim that 'all things are determined by the necessity of divine nature' implies which of the following about human freedom?

  1. Human freedom is an illusion and no meaningful sense of freedom is possible.
  2. Human freedom consists in understanding necessity and acting from adequate ideas. Correct answer.
  3. Human freedom requires the existence of a transcendent personal God.
  4. Humans have absolute free will that can override the causal order.

Explanation

For Spinoza, everything follows necessarily from God or Nature, so there is no free will in the sense of uncaused choice. Nevertheless, a person becomes free to the extent that she understands this necessity and is guided by reason rather than passive affects. Freedom is thus rational self-determination through adequate knowledge.

Question 35History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Locke's Essay, the primary qualities of bodies are which of the following?

  1. Qualities such as colour, taste, and smell, which depend on the observer
  2. Qualities inseparable from body, such as solidity, extension, figure, and motion Correct answer.
  3. Relations that the mind imposes on otherwise neutral sensory input
  4. Powers to produce ideas in us that resemble nothing in the objects

Explanation

Locke distinguishes primary qualities, which are really in bodies and inseparable from them, from secondary qualities, which are powers to produce ideas in us and do not resemble the bodies. Solidity, extension, figure, motion, and number are primary. Secondary qualities such as colours and tastes depend on the perceiver's constitution.

Question 36History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Berkeley's critique of Locke's distinction between primary and secondary qualities argues which of the following?

  1. Primary and secondary qualities are inseparable in experience, so if secondary qualities are mind-dependent, so are primary ones. Correct answer.
  2. Both primary and secondary qualities are substances inherent in matter.
  3. Primary qualities are the only real qualities, and secondary qualities are mere illusions.
  4. Primary qualities are known by reason, while secondary qualities are known by sense.

Explanation

Berkeley argues that we cannot conceive of a body with primary qualities such as extension and figure without also conceiving of secondary qualities such as colour. Since secondary qualities exist only in the mind, and the two sorts are inseparable, primary qualities must also be mind-dependent. This supports his immaterialism.

Question 37History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Hobbes argues that sovereign power is justified because which of the following?

  1. It rests on the consent of the governed, who retain the right to rebel at will.
  2. It expresses the general will of the people as a collective body.
  3. It is the only way to escape the misery of the state of nature and secure peace. Correct answer.
  4. It is granted by divine right to a single family.

Explanation

Hobbes describes the state of nature as a war of all against all, where life is nasty, brutish, and short. To escape this condition, individuals authorize a sovereign to wield absolute power and maintain peace. The justification of sovereignty is thus prudential and based on the need for security.

Question 38History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel's dialectic of lordship and bondage (master and slave) shows which of the following?

  1. The slave remains a thing and never develops self-consciousness.
  2. The slave, through labor and transformation of the world, attains a higher self-consciousness than the master. Correct answer.
  3. The master achieves true self-consciousness through domination of the slave.
  4. Both master and slave remain equally dependent and neither achieves freedom.

Explanation

Hegel argues that the master's enjoyment consumes the object and depends on the slave's recognition, so the master remains dependent. The slave, by working on and transforming the world, externalizes himself in the object and comes to recognize himself in it. Thus the slave achieves a form of self-consciousness and freedom that the master lacks.

Question 39History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

Nietzsche's critique of traditional morality in On the Genealogy of Morality contrasts 'master morality' with 'slave morality' by arguing which of the following?

  1. Both moralities are equally valid expressions of the will to power and cannot be ranked.
  2. Master morality is universal and rational, while slave morality is merely customary.
  3. Master morality evaluates actions as good or bad based on their consequences for social utility.
  4. Slave morality originates in resentment and revalues weakness as goodness and strength as evil. Correct answer.

Explanation

Nietzsche argues that slave morality arises from the ressentiment of the weak against the strong. It inverts the aristocratic valuation by calling weakness, humility, and self-denial good, and strength and nobility evil. This revaluation is a symptom of declining life, though Nietzsche does not simply endorse master morality either.

Question 40History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern)

In Plato's Meno, Socrates' demonstration with the slave boy is meant to support which of the following claims?

  1. The soul is mortal and perishes with the body.
  2. All learning is derived from sense experience.
  3. Knowledge is recollection of truths the soul knew before birth. Correct answer.
  4. Mathematical knowledge is impossible for the uneducated.

Explanation

Socrates shows that an uneducated slave boy can arrive at a geometrical truth through questioning. He argues that since the boy did not acquire this knowledge in his present life, he must have possessed it before birth, and learning is therefore recollection (anamnesis). This supports the immortality of the soul and the possibility of inquiry.

Question 41Metaphysics and Ontology

Which branch of philosophy studies what exists and what it means for something to exist?

  1. Epistemology
  2. Ontology Correct answer.
  3. Aesthetics
  4. Axiology

Explanation

Ontology is the branch of metaphysics concerned with being as such, asking which categories of things exist and what existence itself amounts to. Epistemology instead studies knowledge, while value theory deals with goodness and beauty. Ontology is thus the core discipline for questions about existence.

Question 42Metaphysics and Ontology

A philosopher claims that only physical objects exist and that everything else is either physical or nothing at all. Which position is this?

  1. Pluralism
  2. Idealism
  3. Physicalism Correct answer.
  4. Dualism

Explanation

Physicalism holds that the fundamental constituents of reality are physical, so anything that exists is either identical with or wholly dependent on physical entities. Idealism reverses this by making mind basic, and dualism posits at least two kinds of substance. The claim described is therefore a form of monistic physicalism.

Question 43Metaphysics and Ontology

Which pair of categories does Aristotle treat as the most basic in his account of what there is?

  1. Cause and effect
  2. Substance and accident Correct answer.
  3. Subject and predicate
  4. Form and matter only

Explanation

Aristotle's Categories distinguishes primary substances, which are individual things, from accidents such as qualities and quantities that depend on them. Substance is what exists in its own right, while accidents exist by inhering in a substance. This dependence relation structures his ontology.

Question 44Metaphysics and Ontology

Which statement best expresses the principle of sufficient reason?

  1. Nothing exists or occurs without a reason why it is so rather than otherwise. Correct answer.
  2. Whatever is possible will eventually happen.
  3. Every true proposition is knowable in principle.
  4. Every event has a cause that precedes it in time.

Explanation

The principle of sufficient reason asserts that there is always an explanation, ground, or reason for anything being the case. It is broader than causation because it covers facts and truths, not only events. It also does not imply that everything possible occurs.

Question 45Metaphysics and Ontology

Which question is a paradigm example of a metaphysical rather than an empirical inquiry?

  1. Why is there something rather than nothing? Correct answer.
  2. How do children acquire language?
  3. Which neurons activate during sleep?
  4. How fast does light travel in a vacuum?

Explanation

Asking why there is anything at all concerns the ultimate ground of existence, which cannot be settled by observation or experiment. The other questions are answerable through measurement or empirical investigation. This makes the existence question a classic metaphysical problem.

Question 46Metaphysics and Ontology

Which of the following is an abstract object in the standard ontological sense?

  1. A passing thunderstorm
  2. A wooden chair
  3. The number seven Correct answer.
  4. A particular stone on a beach

Explanation

Abstract objects are standardly characterised as lacking spatial location and causal power, and numbers are the clearest example. Stones, storms, and chairs are concrete: they occupy space and enter into causal relations. Numbers therefore count as abstract rather than concrete entities.

Question 47Metaphysics and Ontology

What does it mean to say that a property is universal?

  1. It is shared by many particulars and can be wholly present in each of them. Correct answer.
  2. It is a private sensation that only one person can experience.
  3. It is a name that applies to things by convention alone.
  4. It is a particular event that occurs only once.

Explanation

Universals are repeatable entities that many particulars can instantiate at the same time, such as the property of being red. The same universal can be wholly present in distinct instances without being divided. This repeatability distinguishes universals from particulars.

Question 48Metaphysics and Ontology

Which claim is characteristic of nominalism?

  1. Every particular is composed of form and matter.
  2. Only particular things exist, and general terms do not name further entities. Correct answer.
  3. Properties exist independently of the things that have them.
  4. Numbers exist in a realm separate from space and time.

Explanation

Nominalism denies that universals or abstract properties exist over and above particulars, treating general terms as useful devices rather than names of extra entities. It thus keeps the ontological inventory to particular things. Realism about universals is its main rival.

Question 49Metaphysics and Ontology

Which of the following best captures the doctrine of presentism about time?

  1. Time is an illusion generated by the mind.
  2. The future is fixed while the past is open.
  3. Only the present moment and present things exist. Correct answer.
  4. Past and future times exist just as really as the present.

Explanation

Presentism holds that reality contains only what exists now, so past and future entities do not exist at all. It contrasts with eternalism, which treats all times as equally real. The view must then explain how statements about the past can be true.

Question 50Metaphysics and Ontology

A theorist holds that a statue and the lump of bronze it is made from are one and the same object under two descriptions. Which problem does this position most directly face?

  1. The problem of how mathematical truths are known
  2. The problem of how the statue can survive being melted down Correct answer.
  3. The problem of induction
  4. The problem of other minds

Explanation

If statue and lump are strictly identical, they must share all properties, including persistence conditions. Yet the lump survives melting while the statue does not, which threatens the identification. This is the standard puzzle about material constitution and coincidence.