Chapter 10—What Is Really Real?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. The major concern of ontology is

a. the definition of different kinds of being.
b. questions about duty.
c. knowledge.
d. astrology.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 439

2. Idealism is the opposite of

a. pluralism.
b. monism.
c. materialism.
d. ontology.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 440

3. The question, "Is there one reality whose nature is undivided, or are there many different real things
that cannot be reduced to a single thing?" expresses
a. an materialist viewpoint.
b. a teleological viewpoint.
c. a pluralistic viewpoint.
d. the problem of the one and the many.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 440

4. Dualism holds that

a. only matter is real.
b. reality is both material and immaterial.
c. only mind is real.
d. ideas are real, but not bodies.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 440

5. One major problem idealism must face is to explain

a. how minds and bodies are related.
b. how minds, which appear to be real and immaterial, are reducible to matter.
c. the physical in terms of the mental.
d. the mental in terms of the physical.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 440

6. Dao literally means

a. yang.
b. road or way.
c. the material stuff out of which things are made.
d. mind.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 442

7. De means
 a. excellence or power.
b. action.
c. no action.
d. perfect harmony.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 442

8. No action (wuwei) means

a. the lack of power to do anything whatsoever.
b. a kind of being that is in conflict with nonbeing.
c. acting spontaneously, freely, and naturally.
d. forcing your will on others.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 442

9. Which of the following, according to the Dao De Jing, best characterizes the Dao?
a. static
b. obvious
c. full
d. nameless
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 443

10. According to the Dao De Jing, opposites are

a. in eternal conflict.
b. complementary.
c. contradictories.
d. irreconcilable.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 444

11. In the Dao De Jing, water is

a. a metaphysical concept.
b. an ethical concept.
c. a natural phenomenon.
d. the source of life.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 446

12. Which of the following best interprets the verse: 'Doors and windows are cut out to make a room, but
it is on its non-being that the utility of the room depends."
a. The Dao is like the floors, walls, and ceilings of a room.
b. The Dao is the door of the universe and the windows are its De.
c. The utility of the world depends on Dao, just as the utility of a room depends on the empty
spaces that allow entrances, exits, and views.
d. The Dao is more like being than nonbeing.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 446

13. If the Dao is invisible, inaudible, and formless, then how can it be known, according to Lao Tzu?
a. It can be known by following the conventional customs, rules, laws, and rituals of society.
b. It can be known by cultivating a quiet and tranquil mind through meditation.
c. It can be known by philosophical speculation and logical argumentation.
d. It cannot be known in any sense at all.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 447
14. Which of the following best interprets the verse: "To be bent is to become straight. To be empty is to
be full. To be worn out is to be renewed"?
a. It is a Daoist saying against admiring only impressive appearances.
b. Old things that are worn out ought to be thrown out.
c. It is not who you are, but how you look that counts.
d. Always judge according to appearances.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 447

15. By Form, Plato means

a. images.
b. the fire in the cave.
c. visible objects.
d. essence.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 450-451

16. For Plato, a just society is one in which

a. there are no classes.
b. merchants rule.
c. lovers of wisdom are the rulers.
d. there is total democracy.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 452

17. Which of the following constitutes a difference between "the many things" and the forms?
a. "The many things" are visible (objects of sight).
b. "The many things" are invisible.
c. The forms are visible.
d. "The many things" are intelligible (objects of thought).
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 453

18. The sun and the Good are alike in so far as the Good makes ____ possible just as the sun makes sight
possible.
a. imagination
b. knowledge
c. opinion
d. faith
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 454

19. Which of the following is an example of an image in Plato's sense?

a. the concept of a triangle
b. the number four
c. a picture of a smiling cat
d. a smiling cat
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 455

20. When comparing the allegory of the cave to the divided line, the prisoner in the cave, upon first
viewing the fake objects, would be like
a. the philosopher contemplating the forms.
b. the mathematician solving a problem.
c. a person understanding the Good.
 d. someone coming to have beliefs or opinions about objects of sense.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 457

21. When comparing the allegory of the cave to the divided line, the cave is to the realm outside the cave
as ____ is to the intelligible.
a. the visible realm
b. the sun
c. the intelligible realm
d. the forms
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 457

22. Education, for Plato, is

a. the art of putting the capacity of sight into the mind.
b. the knowledge of how to put the capacity of reasoning into the soul.
c. the art of imparting new information to people who are ignorant.
d. the art of cultivating understanding of the good.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 458

23. Nondualism, according to Shankara, is the view that holds ultimate reality is
a. plural.
b. many.
c. not two.
d. mental.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 459

24. One way to translate Atman is

a. Self.
b. ego.
c. mind.
d. covering.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 459

25. Shankara claims that reality is that which cannot be sublated. By this he means
a. reality is impermanent.
b. reality is permanent.
c. there is no distinction between appearance and reality.
d. reality is an illusion.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 460

26. The sort of metaphysical knowledge of Atman-Brahman that Shankara is concerned with is
a. intellectual.
b. totally subjective.
c. scientific.
d. liberating.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 461

27. According to Shankara, the universe we experience in the waking state is

a. like the objects we experience in the dream state.
b. Brahman.
 c. Atman.
d. unreal in the sense of being neither sublatable nor unsublatable.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 461

28. According to Shankara, you are not your mind because

a. you are your body.
b. you are your intellect.
c. your mind is changeable.
d. Atman is the vital force or soul.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 463

29. If I argued that peeling off the coverings is like peeling an onion, and once all the layers are gone,
nothing is left, Shankara would most likely counter
a. by saying, "You are right."
b. by claiming Absolute Reality is left.
c. by claiming that the nothing that is left is the void which is Absolute.
d. that Atman is left although Brahman is not.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 464

30. Ignorance, according to Shankara, is

a. being poor at mathematics.
b. purity of heart.
c. discrimination between the real and the unreal.
d. delusion about the true nature of the self.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 466

31. Consider this passage from The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination, "Brahman is the reality-- the one
existence, absolutely independent of human thought or idea. Because of the ignorance of our human
minds, the universe seems to be composed of diverse forms. It is Brahman alone." According to this
passage ____ is what is really real.
a. diverse forms
b. human thought
c. Brahman
d. human minds
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 466

32. Given Shankara's metaphysical viewpoint, which of the following is an example of superimposition?
a. God
b. no-thing
c. rope
d. Atman
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 467

33. Which of the following is a statement that would most likely be made by a direct or naive realist, as
distinguished from an indirect or representational realist?
a. What you see is what you get.
b. My image of you represents you to me, but is not you.
c. Water is neither hot nor cold, but can be experienced as either depending upon the
situation of the experiencer.
d. You see images of material things, not material things.
 ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 468

34. Which of the following is an example of a secondary quality, according to Locke?

a. extension
b. flavor
c. solidity
d. motion
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 468

35. Which of the following is an example of a primary quality, according to Locke?

a. color
b. odor
c. figure
d. hot
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 468

36. Which of the following is an example of the kind of idea Berkeley calls "actually imprinted on the
senses"?
a. imagining a unicorn
b. a bitter flavor
c. dreaming a pear tree
d. mind
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 470

37. Which of the following is an example of the kind of idea Berkeley calls "operations of the mind"?
a. grief
b. a brick wall
c. a loud bang
d. imagining
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 470

38. By "to be is to be perceived" Berkeley means

a. material objects exist external to the mind and then are perceived.
b. x exists if and only if x is perceived.
c. something can be seen and known to be material.
d. only objects independent of the mind can be truly said to exist.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 471

39. Which of the following represents Berkeley's response to the claim that our ideas copy material objects
that exist apart from being experienced?
a. An idea in the mind is caused by an object outside the mind.
b. Either material objects are perceivable or not. If they are, they are ideas. If they are not,
then how can they copy what is totally unlike them?
c. Secondary qualities copy primary, but not the other way around.
d. Copies of ideas exist outside the mind, for example, pictures and paintings.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 471

40. According to Berkeley, the very notion of matter is contradictory because

a. no one claims it exists.
 b. matter cannot be conceived apart from ideas and yet it is supposed to be the opposite of
ideas.
c. there is only one good reason to suppose it exists, and no one has any idea of what that
reason is.
d. to be is to be perceived, but nothing is perceived.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 472

41. Berkeley writes, "In short, if there were external bodies, it is impossible we should ever come to know
it; and if there were not, we might have the very same reasons to think there were that we have now."
By this he means
a. the world as we experience it does not exist.
b. if there were no minds of any sort, the world would still exist.
c. if some mind existed that had all the sensations our minds presently have, such a mind
would never come to believe in the existence of material objects.
d. if there are things outside the mind, we cannot possibly know them, and the same evidence
that exists now for thinking there are would also exist if there were no things outside the
mind.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 473

42. When compared to a Western scientific view of reality, the Mesoamerican view
a. produced clearly erroneous astronomical science.
b. is remarkably similar in its understanding of death.
c. affirmed a sense of connection that is inconsistent with the assumptions of Western
science.
d. supported religious beliefs that were different from, but consistent with, Christian beliefs.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 476

43. The Mesoamerican viewed the universe as consisting of

a. three dynamic levels of reality.
b. creator gods and human creatures.
c. space, time, and sacrifice.
d. interlocked terrestrial and celestial spheres.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 476

44. In the Mesoamerican view, mythic time

a. existed before terrestrial time, but not after terrestrial time.
b. was understood to be purely fictional.
c. was the time in which the creator gods were born.
d. was the time in which many supernatural beings were born.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 477

45. In the Mesoamerican view, death is

a. good, but only if inflicted on enemy warriors.
b. a path into the eternal cycles of reality.
c. always catastrophic.
d. viewed as a temporary sojourn in absolute space.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 478

46. Mesoamericans did not see a conflict between science and religion because
a. their understanding of the meaning of human life necessitated active scientific
 understanding of the cycles of nature.
b. so much of their science was flawed to begin with.
c. they understood that gods and other supernatural beings were really just natural forces.
d. they realized that natural things such as the sun sustained life, whether you wanted to call
those things gods or physical objects.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 479

47. In the Legend of the Four Suns,

a. the Four Suns represented the four kinds of time in which the Aztecs believed.
b. the reasons for the relative insignificance of humans compared to gods are explained.
c. human sacrifice is linked to divine sacrifice.
d. catastrophic endings are presented as punishment for displeasing the gods.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 479

48. The Mesoamericans considered themselves to have a cosmic responsibility, because

a. they recognized that reality consisted of cycles and rhythms of birth and death.
b. like the gods, they had a role in creating the fifth age.
c. like the gods, humans were essential to maintaining the existence of reality.
d. their rulers wanted to control their subjects through creating a sense of religious
responsibility.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 480

49. Valadez calls the Aztec sense of cosmic responsibility a "double-edged sword" because it both
a. affirmed their importance as a people, yet cut them off from the rest of the civilized world.
b. terrorized the populace and caused profound questioning of the meaning of life.
c. affirmed human sacrifice and justified authoritarian regimes.
d. affirmed their importance and imposed heavy obligations.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 480

50. According to Valadez, why was the Spanish reaction to Aztec human sacrifice narrowly Eurocentric?
a. The Spaniards hated anyone who was not Christian.
b. The Spaniards did not understand the connection between the Mesoamerican worldview
and human sacrifice.
c. The Spaniards did not condemn human sacrifice among the natives as much as they might
have if one of their own had been sacrificed.
d. The Spaniards did not really try to explain to the Aztecs why the gods did not truly require
such sacrifices.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 480

51. In Heidegger's, Introduction to Metaphysics, "essents" means

a. things that could be
b. things that are
c. things that God intends
d. things that once were
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 478

52. Which of the following is NOT a reason that Heidegger gives why the question, "Why are there
essents?" is the widest, deepest, and most fundamental of questions?
a. The question is about the ground of all beings
b. The question is about essent as a whole
 c. The question is about essents as they exist now.
d. The question is about everything
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 479

TRUE/FALSE

1. Process ontologies, unlike substance ontologies, emphasize "thingness" as the most fundamental
reality.
a. True
b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 441

2. Yin and yang are opposites that oppose one another.

a. True
b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 443

3. "Reversion is the action of the Dao " means that nature follows a cyclical pattern.
a. True
b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 449

4. According to Plato, the just life is worth living because virtue is its own reward.
a. True
b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 451

5. For Plato, the best and most real things are the eternal or most permanent.
a. True
b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 459

6. To discriminate, according to Shankara, is to distinguish appearance from reality and unreality.

a. True
b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 460

7. According to Shankara, the Atman can be defined positively.

a. True
b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 462

8. The main difference between subjective and objective idealism is that subjective idealism views the
world as a manifestation of an absolute mind.
a. True
 b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 468

9. One way of distinguishing the mind from its ideas, according to Berkeley, is to say that the mind is an
object of ideas.
a. True
b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 471

10. For Valadez, the behavior of the Spaniards in the 1500's toward the Mesoamericans they eventually
conquered was primarily motivated by a desire to acquire the gold and silver used in Aztec art and
religion.
a. True
b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 475

11. When we start to ask, "Why the why?", this is the moment of "recoil" when the question of essents
becomes meaningless, according to Heidegger.
a. True
b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 479-480