Chapter 18 The Meaning Of Life Complete Test Bank

Chapter 18: The Meaning of Life

Test Bank

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 01

1) Albert Camus declared, “Judging whether __________ amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.”

a. there is a God

b. life is or is not worth living

c. knowledge is possible

d. morality is real

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 02

2) Philosophers distinguish life’s value or meaning from __________.

a. law and society

b. religion and politics

c. happiness and moral rightness

d. family relations and friendships

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 03

3) One of the main impediments to thinking clearly about life’s meaning is confusion about __________.

a. which religious belief has the most accurate presentation of meaning

b. what style of philosophy best answers the question about life’s meaning

c. how to ask the correct question concerning life’s meaning

d. what meaning refers to

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 04

4) The meaning or purpose that humans give to themselves is called __________ meaning.

a. external

b. internal

c. personal

d. human

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 05

5) Internalists about meaning in life can be divided into two camps: subjectivists and __________.

a. relativists

b. emotivists

c. Platonists

d. objectivists

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 06

6) __________ is the classic example of a subjectivist regarding meaning in life.

a. Wolf

b. Sartre

c. Tolstoy

d. Schopenhauer

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 07

7) A common criticism of __________ views of meaning is that it seems intuitively obvious that objective standards sometimes apply to us.

a. externalist

b. objectivist

c. subjectivist

d. internalist

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 08

8) Pessimism about meaning in life is also called __________.

a. fundamentalism

b. extremism

c. conformism

d. nihilism

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 09

9) The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer argues that life is __________.

a. meaningful, even if it is hard, and so is worth living

b. meaningful because God exists, and so is worth living

c. bereft of meaning, and so nonexistence would be better than existence

d. bereft of meaning, and so God is not all good

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 10

10) The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer writes, “Unless __________ is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim.”

a. cruelty

b. suffering

c. evil

d. religious faith

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 11

11) Contemporary philosopher Julian Baggini claims that pessimists are guilty of __________.

a. mixing up the two senses of meaning, internal and external

b. not realizing that God does not exist

c. failing to see the value in life generated by God’s love

d. thinking that meaning is internally generated

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 12

12) Contemporary philosopher Julian Baggini claims, “Almost all deniers of meaning in life really seem to be rejecting only the idea that life has a specific kind of meaning: one determined by __________.”

a. God’s purposes or principles, which are external to this world.

b. agents, purposes or principles somehow external to this world.

c. political institutions, purposes or principles internal to this world.

d. religious institutions, purposes or principles internal to this world.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 13

13) Lucretius argues that the meaning of life can be found in rational and prudent __________.

a. pleasure-seeking

b. intellectual endeavors

c. forms of religious worship

d. acts of charity and selflessness

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 14

14) According to Susan Wolf, meaning in life must consist of __________ and __________ elements.

a. internal; external

b. rational; emotional

c. subjective; objective

d. theistic; humanistic

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 15

15) Susan Wolf’s view on meaning in life can be summarized in the slogan: “meaning arises when __________ meets __________.”

a. objective attraction; subjective attractiveness

b. subjective attraction; subjective attractiveness

c. objective attraction; objective attractiveness

d. subjective attraction; objective attractiveness

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 16

16) Religious optimists think that living contrary to God’s plan__________.

a. is to generate a different, but equally worthwhile meaning for one’s life

b. does not mean your life is meaningless

c. is to live a meaningless life

d. is to put one’s soul at risk

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 17

17) __________ argues that the notion of a God assigning a purpose to humans should be objectionable to believers and nonbelievers alike.

a. Baggini

b. Tolstoy

c. Schopenhauer

d. Edwards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 18

18) Paul Edwards focuses on meaning at the level of __________.

a. the particular individual’s life

b. the family and small group relationships

c. the community

d. religious fellowship

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 19

19) Edwards proposes two ways to think about meaning: someone having __________.

a. a fervent religious faith and a place in a religious community to support it

b. an atheistic view of life and the concomitant belief that one is entirely alone in the universe

c. an overall goal or goals, and a passion in pursuing that goal that would not be present without it

d. a stoical outlook on life and a firm grasp of scientific knowledge

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 20

20) __________ asserts that the length of one’s life is irrelevant to the question of life’s meaning.

a. Schopenhauer

b. Tolstoy

c. Baggini

d. Edwards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 21

21) __________ once thought, “My life is a stupid, mean trick played on me by somebody.”

a. Schopenhauer

b. Tolstoy

c. Baggini

d. Edwards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 22

22) Although __________ thinks there is only one consolation in misfortune or affliction, namely the thought that there are others worse off, he also thinks this is a “fate . . . for mankind as a whole.”

a. Schopenhauer

b. Tolstoy

c. Baggini

d. Edwards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 23

23) According to __________, the wretchedness of existence is proof life has no meaning.

a. Schopenhauer

b. Tolstoy

c. Baggini

d. Edwards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 24

24) Both __________ agree that life can be meaningful without recourse to a belief in God.

a. Schopenhauer and Tolstoy

b. Tolstoy and Baggini

c. Baggini and Edwards

d. Edwards and Schopenhauer

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 25

25) According to __________, it does not follow from the rejection of an externalist view of meaning that life has no meaning at all.

a. Schopenhauer

b. Tolstoy

c. Baggini

d. Edwards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 26

26) Tolstoy’s later view of meaning can be classified as __________.

a. optimist/internalist

b. optimist/externalist

c. pessimist/externalist

d. pessimist/internalist

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 27

27) Tolstoy eventually finds that __________ understand the meaning of life better than others.

a. “the criminals, the outcasts, and the idiots”

b. “the poor, the simple and unlettered folk, of pilgrims, monks, dissenters, peasants”

c. “the politicians, the church fathers, the landed gentry”

d. “the children, the women, the underprivileged and unheard voices

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 28

28) __________ argues, “Most reflective religious believers would agree that saying God’s purpose for us is to serve it or live full lives is not adequate.”

a. Baggini

b. Schopenhauer

c. Tolstoy

d. Edwards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 29

29) For the atheistic internalist, meaning is found in __________.

a. the varieties of religious experience

b. the structure of the universe

c. life (i.e., one’s goals, purposes, and concerns)

d. biology

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 18 Question 30

30) According to Landau, __________ is one of the greatest obstacles to finding meaning in life.

a. a lack of religious faith

b. perfectionism

c. misery and loss

d. a lack of interpersonal relationships

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 31

31) To believe life is meaningful, you have to be an atheist.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 32

32) Internalists believe they can have meaningful lives without relying on the concepts of God or transcendent realms.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 33

33) Leo Tolstoy was a lifelong atheist who did not think life has any meaning.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 34

34) Arthur Schopenhauer was a pessimist who claimed life is meaningless.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 35

35) Before converting to Christianity, Tolstoy was what philosophers call an internalist on the question of the meaning of life.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 36

36) Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, “Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest—whether the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards.”

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 37

37) Lucretius holds that life can be meaningful even in a completely materialistic universe devoid of God.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 38

38) A pessimist is one who denies any externally given meaning or purpose to life, but believes that meaning is internally generated.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 39

39) According to the author of Living Philosophy, an obstacle to thinking clearly about life’s meaning is confusion about what meaning refers to.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 40

40) On an internalist view, life can be viewed as meaningful for persons if they come to see their goals or purposes as inherently valuable or worthwhile.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 41

41) Those who believe that God alone bestows meaning on life are internalists.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 42

42) An optimist is defined as a person who believes that God alone bestows meaning on life.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 43

43) Many people, including those who accept a religious worldview, assume that if life has no external meaning, it has no meaning period.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 44

44) The pessimist thinks life has no meaning apart from what one creates for oneself.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 45

45) Belshaw argues that life is meaningless because it is so brief and we are so insignificant compared to the vastness of the cosmos.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 46

46) According to the pessimist position either (1) life’s meaning is external (the common religious perspective), or (2) life’s meaning is internal (the view held mostly by the nonreligious or nontheistic).

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 47

47) According to thinkers like Baggini and Edwards, death undermines the internal optimist’s position.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 48

48) According to Baggini, the idea of God creating people for a purpose is an affront to human dignity.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 49

49) Wolf argues that no human activity is worthwhile in itself.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 18 Question 50

50) According to Landau, meaningful lives must transcend the common and the mundane.

a. True

b. False