Chapter 5 Vaughn Free Will And Determinism Test Bank Docx - Philosophy Here & Now 4e | Practice Test Bank Vaughn by Lewis Vaughn. DOCX document preview.
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Philosophy Here and Now, Fourth Edition
Lewis Vaughn
Chapter 5: Free Will and Determinism
Please Note: All questions that appear with an asterisk are also featured on the Student Oxford Learning Link site.
Multiple Choice Questions
- According to d'Holbach, all the mental and moral attributes that people think are evidence for an immaterial soul are in fact
A) purely intellectual.
B) purely physical and natural.
C) ethereal.
D) undetermined.
- When philosophers talk about free will, they are talking about the power of
A) political systems.
B) socio-economic mobility.
C) living a good life.
D) self-determination.
- *According to d'Holbach, people always act according to
A) free choices.
B) dictates of the soul.
C)) necessary natural laws.
D) undetermined will.
4. *According to Taylor, hard determinism conflicts with
A) the findings of science.
B) scientific determinism.
C) the fact of deliberation and indeterminism.
D) the fact of deliberation and our sense that some actions are up to us.
5. *Soft determinism entails that
A) the thesis of determinism is true.
B) there are no restraints on human behavior.
C) the thesis of determinism is false.
D) we are free to choose our desires.
6. *For the soft determinist, to say that you could have done otherwise is to say that you would have done otherwise if your desires
A) were always the same.
B) were completely under your control.
C) had been different.
D) played no role in your decisions.
7. *Hard determinism entails that
A) determinism and free will are compatible.
B) determinism and indeterminism are compatible.
C) determinism and free will are incompatible.
D) we cannot know whether determinism is true.
8. *According to Sartre, what existentialists have in common is that they think that
A) essence precedes existence.
B) objectivity must be a starting point.
C) existence is a myth.
D) existence precedes essence.
9. According to Sartre, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, and this being is
A) God.
B) man.
C) primitive man.
D) future man.
10. According to Sartre, the first principle of existentialism is that
A) God is dead.
B) man is all-powerful.
C) man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.
D) man is nothing.
11. *According to Sartre, if God does not exist,
A) anything is permissible.
B) moral values must come from nature.
C) moral values still exist.
D) man does not exist.
12. *Libertarianism entails
A) The thesis of determinism is false.
B) The thesis of indeterminism is false.
C) Our actions have no causes whatsoever.
D) Free will is an illusion.
13. *According to James, indeterminism allows that the world has
A) no ambiguous possibilities.
B) a fixed future.
C) ambiguous possibilities.
D) no shadow of turning.
14. *According to Stace, free acts must be
A) those whose immediate causes are psychological states in the agent.
B) uncaused.
C) caused by forces outside the agent.
D) those whose immediate causes are the acts of other agents.
15. It is widely agreed that fatalism and determinism are different in that
A) fate can be avoided whereas determinism cannot.
B) fate is compatible with free will whereas determinism is not.
C) only fatalism claims that our actions make no difference.
D) only determinism claims that our actions don’t cause anything.
16. Rowe says that the problem with Lockean freedom is that, with this kind of freedom,
A) you have the power to do what you will.
B) you cannot act at all.
C) you have no power over your will.
D) doing what you will is impossible.
17. Van Inwagen's case against compatibilism rests in part on the fact that we cannot render a law of nature
A) intelligible.
B) understandable.
C) coherent.
D) false.
18. The doctrine that every event is determined or necessitated by preceding events and the laws of nature is known as
A) libertarianism.
B) hard determinism.
C) determinism.
D) compatibilism.
19. *The challenge of reconciling determinism with our intuitions or ideas about personal freedom is known as the
A) problem of free will.
B) determinism problem.
C) libertarian dilemma.
D) problem of indeterminism.
20. *The movies Gattaca and A Clockwork Orange dramatize the fear of
A) a pleasurable future.
B) a predetermined existence.
C) an open future.
D) violence.
21. If our actions are not free in any important sense, it is difficult to see how we could be
A) determined by outside forces.
B) the subject of accurate predictions.
C) held morally responsible for what we do.
D) human.
22. *Many who reject the notion of free will think that punishing people for crimes makes no sense. They think that instead of punishing criminals, we should
A) leave them to their own devices.
B) ostracize them.
C) terminate them.
D) try to modify their behavior.
23. The view that no one has free will is called
A) determination.
B) determinism.
C) soft libertarianism.
D) hard determinism.
24. *Compatibilism entails that determinism is true, determinism and free will are compatible, and
A) we sometimes act freely.
B) free will is a myth.
C) no one acts freely.
D) soft determinism is false.
25. *The view that some actions are free because they are ultimately caused, or controlled, by the person is called
A) libertarianism.
B) soft compatibilism.
C) ultimate freedom.
D) indetermination.
26. *The view that what will be will be, and no human actions can change it, is known as
A) determinism.
B) soft determinism.
C) futurism.
D) fatalism.
27. *The branch of science that provides a counterexample to the notion that every event has a cause is known as
A) quantum physics.
B) quantum computing.
C) relativity theory.
D) chaos theory.
28. *_______ wrote The Will to Believe and The Varieties of Religious Experience.
A) Jean-Paul Sartre
B) Richard Taylor
C) W. T. Stace
D) William James
29. On the subject of free will, John Locke was a
A) hard determinist.
B) compatibilist.
C) libertarian.
D) fatalist.
30. *Incompatibilists believe that compatibilist freedom is
A) real freedom.
B) a plausible hypothesis.
C) undetermined.
D) not real freedom.
31. Libertarians contend that real freedom is not just the power to act if we will to act, but
A) power over the will itself.
B) power to act according to our desires.
C) power to act in concert with determinism.
D) the nonexistence of any deterministic forces.
32. *William Rowe argues that freedom that is worth the name must include power to
A) will.
B) act randomly.
C) do if we will.
D) desire what we want.
33. *The Consequence Argument is supposed to establish
A) incompatibilism.
B) free will.
C) libertarianism.
D) soft determinism.
34. Many compatibilists think the Consequence Argument fails because
A) it does not define the “past” in a satisfactory way.
B) its logic is faulty.
C) the laws of nature are indeed up to us to some extent.
D) it uses a faulty interpretation of “could do otherwise.”
35. The view that a free action is caused by an agent (person) is called
A) Taylor's freedom.
B) fatalism.
C) the will to believe.
D) agent causation.
36. D'Holbach says that man's life is a course that nature compels him to take without deviation.
A) True
B) False
37. *D'Holbach's view is that science precludes the notion of free will.
A) True
B) False
38. *D'Holbach asserts that when we deliberate about a choice, our decision is free and undetermined.
A) True
B) False
39. Taylor thinks that soft determinism is true to our moral intuitions.
A) True
B) False
40. *Taylor rejects libertarianism.
A) True
B) False
41. Taylor believes that simple determinism allows us to have a plausible form of free will.
A) True
B) False
42. Taylor says that man is condemned to be free.
A) True
B) False
43. Sartre thinks that man's future is predestined.
A) True
B) False
44. Sartre says forlornness comes from the realization that God does not exist, and we must face all the consequences of this.
A) True
B) False
45. Sartre advocates withdrawing from human endeavors.
A) True
B) False
46. *James says that determinism professes that those parts of the universe already laid down absolutely decree what the other parts shall be.
A) True
B) False
47. *James believes that only determinism allows for the possibility of free will.
A) True
B) False
48. *Stace thinks that determinism is compatible with moral responsibility.
A) True
B) False
49. *Stace believes that determinism is consistent with free will.
A) True
B) False
50. Stace accepts compatibilism.
A) True
B) False
51. Van Inwagen is a hard determinist.
A) True
B) False
52. Van Inwagen rejects compatibilism.
A) True
B) False
53. Rowe says that Lockean freedom exists solely at the level of action.
A) True
B) False
54. Rowe says that progress in the philosophical study of free will is not possible.
A) True
B) False
55. William James is a fatalist.
A) True
B) False
56. If the thesis of determinism is true, then fatalism is also true.
A) True
B) False
57. *Hard determinists and Libertarians agree that free will is incompatible with determinism.
A) True
B) False
58. All Libertarians accept agent causation.
A) True
B) False
Essay Questions
59. *What is the problem of free will? What are the two commonsense ideas that seem to conflict and thus give rise to the free will problem?
60. On James's account, how is indeterminism (randomness) supposed to make free will possible? Do you agree that it does? How can randomness make someone free to act as he or she sees fit?
61. *According to James, what are the unpleasant implications of determinism? Do you agree that the implications are as menacing as James thinks they are? Explain.
62. How does Stace use his examination of common language usage to argue for compatibilism? What is Stace's view of punishment? Do you agree with him? Explain.
63. *Consider the theory about free will known as libertarianism. It is based on the premises that determinism is false and that determinism and free will are incompatible. Do you accept these premises? Why or why not?
64. *Imagine someone who always acts according to his or her desires—but the desires have been secretly created by a mad scientist using advanced technology. Can he or she really be said to act freely? Would Locke say that he or she acts freely? Explain.
65. Do you agree with James that the question of free will versus determinism is unprovable and largely a matter of sentiment based on personality type? In that case, are we determined to choose one view or the other?
66. D'Holbach points out that without the doctrine of free will, the notion of just punishment crumbles: that religion could not justify God's sending people to hell for their sins, and the Law could not justify its system of punishments without the doctrine. Do you agree with d'Holbach?
67. *What is d'Holbach's argument that we do not have free will? Do you think the argument is sound? Explain. Why does d'Holbach maintain that choice does not prove the free agency of man?
68. Critics of compatibilist freedom say that merely being able to act according to your desires without constraints is not real freedom if your desires are determined for you in the first place. Do you agree with this criticism? Explain.
69. In your own words, explain the idea of agent causation. How is this supposed to help solve the problem of free will? Do you think agent causation is plausible? Why or why not?
70. *If scientists proved once and for all that determinism is true, how do you think most people would react? Do you think most people would continue to hold each other responsible? What does that show, if anything, about our intuitive ideas about freedom?
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