Descartes Quiz

Dr Silika Mohapatra

Introduction to Philosophy

September 2020, JSLH

!1
1. Why did Descartes resolve to treat as being false anything that is
subject to doubt?
a. To rid his mind of false opinions that he first took to be true when he was young. 

b. To avoid making bad practical decisions. 

c. Because anything that is subject to doubt is false.

2. What was the first thing that Descartes found himself unable to doubt
in his meditations?
a. That he exists when he is thinking. 

b. That God exists. 

c. That he has an understanding and will. 

d. That 2 + 3 = 5, and other simple propositions of arithmetic. 

e. That he has a body.

3. What criterion of truth did Descartes arrive at?

a. Divine inspiration. 

b. Logical consistency. 

c. Conformity to sensory experience. 

d. Clear and distinct perception.

4. What is the causal proof for the existence of God?

a. Only an existing infinite substance could generate the idea he has of an infinite
substance. 

b. Existence belongs to the essence of God. 

c. It is impossible to think of a being greater than an infinite substance. 

d. If an infinite substance did not exist, it would not be infinite.

5. According to Descartes, what is the source of human error?

a. Human beings understand everything perfectly well, but perversely refuse to
believe what is true.

b. The human understanding is fundamentally defective in a way that makes avoiding
error impossible. 

c. Human beings have an infinite will but a finite understanding. d. God deceives
human beings in some matters.

!2
6. According to Descartes, what is the nature of bodies?

a. The nature of a body is the matter that makes it up. 


b. The nature of a body is to have all the qualities which are perceived in it by the
senses. 

c. The nature of a body is to be extended. 

d. The nature of a body is its form, which makes it the kind of thing it is.

7. Which of the following was NOT a component of Descartes's

attempted proof that bodies exist?
a. I could not have caused the existence of the ideas I have of bodies. 

b. God is not a deceiver. 

c. I have a strong natural inclination to believe that bodies exist. 

d. If I did not have a body, it would be impossible for me to have sense-perceptions.

8. Which of the following does NOT describe the relation between mind
and body, according to Descartes.
a. It is possible for the mind to exist without a body. 

b. The mind and the body are united so as to form a single thing. 

c. The mind is in the body in the way that a pilot is in a ship.

d. The mind sometimes receives misleading information from the body.

9. What statement does Descartes find which cannot be doubted?

a. I exist

b. I do not exist

c. I have a body

d. I am about to finish this quiz

10. Descartes’ philosophical project is to

a. Find a belief that is absolutely certain in order to provide a foundation for science
b. Show that nothing can be known at all, nothing is certain.

c. Show that all knowledge must be based on sense experience

d. Show that the very pursuit of knowledge is a misguided endeavor.

11. How does the Dream Argument establish the dubitability of our
beliefs about the external world?
a. If we cannot know that we are not dreaming, then we know that we ARE dreaming

b. If we can know anything about the external world, we can be certain that we are

!3
dreaming.

c. If we cannot know that we are not dreaming, then we cannot be certain that our
beliefs about the external world are true

d. It is impossible that we are always dreaming, therefore there must be an external
world

12. Which of the following is one of the philosophical methods Descartes

use in the Meditations?
a. Mysticism

b. Foundationalism

c. Vodoo

d. The Scientific Method

13. What are the two substances that Descartes divides the universe into?

a. Large and small


b. Minds and Thoughts c. Minds and Bodies

d. Bodies and Shapes

14. Descartes discovers something that cannot be doubted. What is it?

a. Descartes maintains that one cannot doubt that an evil demon is very crafty 

b. Descartes maintains that one cannot doubt one's senses

c. Descartes doesn't find anything that is certain

d. Descartes maintains that one cannot deny one's existence while aware of it

15. What does Descartes conclude after testing some possibilities with
the help of the evil demon to see whether it is clear and distinct?
a. Descartes comes to the conclusion that he is a body made up of physical existence
b. Descartes concludes that he is a rational animal 

c. Descartes comes to the conclusion that he is a thinking thing d. Descartes gives up
because his head starts to hurt.

16. What key example does Descartes use to illustrate that the mind and
not the senses are doing the work when it comes to arriving at
knowledge?
a. Descartes uses the example of the Donkey. A Donkey starves to death because he
cannot decide which bale of hay to eat. He takes his witholding assent to far.

b. Descartes uses the example of the Dog. The dog comes to a fork in the road and
sniffs the first path and then goes on to sniff the next path. Without stopping to sniff
the third path the Dog runs down the third path. Descartes concludes that Dog's can

!4
reason. 

c. Descartes uses the example of the wax to show that the mind abstracts and infers
our knowledge.

d. Descartes does not use any examples.

17. There are four steps in the Cartesian Method. Select the four steps
below.
a. Analysis

b. Synthesis

c. Authority quote

d. Clear and distinct 

e. Comprehensiveness

18. Descartes is considered an Epistemological

a. Skeptic

b. Empiricist 

c. Rationalist 

d. Dreamist

19. Descartes is considered a Metaphysical

a. Dualist

b. Monist

c. Idealist

d. Phenomenalist

20. Among the rules of Descartes' method is the following:

a. Doubt only what you have clear and distinct, conclusive reason for doubting. 

b. Multiply possibilities lest you miss a plausible alternative.

c. Accept only what an authoritative source reveals.

d. Make comprehensive reviews.

21. Descartes aims to

a. establish the irrelevance of God to modern physics. 


b. show that the soul is identical with the body.

c. provide a firm foundation for knowledge.

d. prove that first philosophy is founded on a mistake.

!5
22. No matter how hard I try, it is impossible for me to doubt

a. the truths of geometry. 


b. that God exists. 

c. that I am thinking. 

d. that I have a mother.

23. The result of Descartes' methodical doubt is that

a. he knows nothing.

b. he knows that he is a rational animal.

c. he doubts his own existence.

d. he finds something that can indicate a criterion for knowledge.

24. What Descartes calls the “light of nature”

a. certifies something as true because it is lighted up as so clear and distinct it cannot

be doubted. b. is the same as what is „taught by nature.‰

c. is known innately as revealed to us by God.

d. cannot be relied upon unless it is backed up by extensive argument, going back to
simples and moving in small steps to complexes.

25. Descartes’ ontological proof of God’s existence:

a. begins from his certainty about his own existence.


b. relies on the principle that something can be cause of itself.

c. is said to be probable, but less than certain in its conclusion.

d. relies on the principle that past existence causes future existence.

26. The essence of material things, according to Descartes, is

a. extendedness.

b. externality to the mind. 

c. existence.

d. solidity.

27. According to Descartes, the mind, or soul, is

a. a thinking and extended thing.


b. a thinking and unextended thing.

c. identical to the body.

d. an unthinking and unextended thing.

!6
28. Descartes says that the mind is distinct from the body and

a. cannot exist without it.


b. is unknowable.

c. is dependent on material substance. 

d. can exist without the body.

29. Descartes asserts that he knows that he is a substance the whole

essence of which is
a. to breathe.

b. to think.

c. to be extended in space. 

d. to require a body.

30. Cartesian dualism posits

a. a soul and a spirit. 


b. a body and a brain. 

c. two minds.

d. a body and a mind.

!7