Test Bank Chapter 15 The Pragmatists Peirce And James

Chapter 15: The Pragmatists: Peirce and James

Test Bank

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 01

1) Pragmatism is an American strain of __________ thought.

a. democratic

b. Hegelian

c. empiricist

d. rationalist

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 02

2) According to pragmatism, the truth of a belief is synonymous with __________.

a. its correspondence to reality

b. the practical results of accepting it

c. how it comports with religious belief

d. its logical implications

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 03

3) __________ is the founder of pragmatism.

a. James

b. Clifford

c. Dewey

d. Peirce

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 04

4) Pragmatism was in part a reaction to__________.

a. traditional metaphysical philosophizing

b. radical empiricism

c. skepticism

d. utilitarianism

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 05

5) __________ is the view that our claims to knowledge may turn out to be false.

a. Pragmatism

b. Utilitarianism

c. Fallibilism

d. Evidentialism

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 06

6) According to Peirce, the meaning of a concept is equivalent to __________.

a. its use

b. its real-world effects

c. its reference

d. its verification conditions

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 07

7) According to Peirce, a true belief is one that __________.

a. corresponds to reality

b. is logically consistent with all other beliefs

c. is beneficial to human life

d. is destined to be agreed upon by all competent investigators

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 08

8) Some critics have taken issue with Peirce’s view of truth on the grounds that it __________.

a. is impractical

b. is possible to devise multiple hypotheses to account for the same evidence

c. conflicts with current scientific practice

d. is inherently relativistic

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 09

9) __________ is the view that we are justified in believing something only if it is supported by evidence.

a. Pragmatism

b. Utilitarianism

c. Fallibilism

d. Evidentialism

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 10

10) James’s notion of truth involves __________.

a. practical consequences for individuals

b. reasonable consensus

c. rational certainty

d. scientific instrumentation

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 11

11) For James, a __________ is a true choice between opposing beliefs.

a. legitimate option

b. real option

c. genuine option

d. powerful option

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 12

12) For Peirce, the __________ is the only satisfactory way to fix belief.

a. a priori method

b. method of science

c. method of tenacity

d. method of authority

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 13

13) According to James, a __________ option is an option that reflects alternatives that could possibly be actualized.

a. forced

b. live

c. momentous

d. precipitous

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 14

14) A __________ option is unavoidable.

a. forced

b. live

c. momentous

d. precipitous

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 15

15) A __________ option is one that really matters.

a. forced

b. live

c. momentous

d. precipitous

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 16

16) James asserts that, absent evidence but confronted with a genuine option, we have the right to let our __________ nature decide.

a. rational

b. passional

c. empirical

d. emotional

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 17

17) James repudiates __________.

a. fallibilism

b. evidentialism

c. live options

d. empirical evidence

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 18

18) James says that a genuine option is __________.

a. true

b. momentous but not forced

c. live but not momentous

d. forced, live, and momentous

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 19

19) James maintains that the desire for a certain kind of truth can __________.

a. change nothing

b. never help create a fact

c. bring about that truth’s existence

d. have no religious significance

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 20

20) According to James, religion says essentially two things: __________ and __________.

a. God exists; we are better off believing that God exists

b. God exists, God is good

c. the best things are eternal; God is eternal

d. the best things are eternal; we are better off believing that eternal things are best

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 21

21) Some detractors have criticized James’s argument for the religious hypothesis on the grounds that __________.

a. the religious hypothesis does not really present us with a forced option

b. it is wrong to believe anything upon insufficient evidence

c. the claims of religion can be decided by argument and evidence

d. the religious hypothesis does not really present us with a momentous option

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 22

22) Fallibilism is a(n) __________ thesis.

a. epistemological

b. metaphysical

c. logical

d. ethical

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 23

23) The __________ is a method of fixing belief whereby one refuses to be unsettled by contrary evidence.

a. a priori method

b. method of science

c. method of tenacity

d. method of authority

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 24

24) The __________ is a method of fixing belief whereby one looks to traditional sources of information.

a. a priori method

b. method of science

c. method of tenacity

d. method of authority

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 25

25) The __________ is a method of fixing belief whereby one is guided by one’s own reason.

a. a priori method

b. method of science

c. method of tenacity

d. method of authority

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 26

26) The __________ is a method of fixing belief whereby one uses independent measures, fundamental hypotheses about the world and about the human condition.

a. a priori method

b. method of science

c. method of tenacity

d. method of authority

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 27

27) Peirce thinks that __________ undermine(s) the method of tenacity.

a. “social impulse”

b. authoritarian regimes

c. censorship

d. people’s urge to be free

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 28

28) The method of authority is based on our natural propensity to __________.

a. avoid groups

b. live in and organize groups

c. live solitary lives

d. never question authority

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 29

29) Many philosophers have practiced the __________ method, but since there is so much variety in what they claim is “agreeable to reason,” the method is less objective than it should be.

a. a priori method

b. method of science

c. method of tenacity

d. method of authority

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 15 Question 30

30) Although it aims at fixing belief, the __________ invites disagreement.

a. a priori method

b. method of science

c. method of tenacity

d. method of authority

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 31

31) Pragmatism is the doctrine that the meaning of a belief is equivalent to the real-world effects of accepting it.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 32

32) A pragmatist explicates the meaning of terms according to their use or the user’s dispositions to act.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 33

33) A pragmatist explicates the meaning of terms according to their correspondence with reality.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 34

34) Peirce criticized traditional metaphysics.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 35

35) James thinks that one’s religious belief need not be supported by verifiable evidence.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 36

36) James thinks that belief in God is dependent on evidence.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 37

37) According to James, the method of science is the only acceptable way to fix a belief.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 38

38) According to James, answers to moral questions must always await sensible proof.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 – Question 39

39) Evidentialism is the view that we are justified in believing something only if it is practical to do so.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 40

40) Peirce’s notion of truth involves reasonable consensus.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 41

41) James’s notion of truth involves scientific instrumentation.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 42

42) James thinks our passional nature must decide “a genuine option that cannot by its nature be decided on intellectual grounds.”

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 43

43) For Peirce, the method of authority is the only satisfactory way to fix belief.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 44

44) A momentous option is a an option that reflects alternatives that could possibly be actualized.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 45

45) A forced option is unavoidable.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 46

46) A momentous option is one that really matters.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 47

47) James asserts that, absent evidence but confronted with a genuine option, we have the right to let our passional nature decide.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 48

48) James calls the decision to believe or not to believe in a divine reality the religious hypothesis.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 49

49) James says that a genuine option is live, forced, and momentous.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 15 Question 50

50) According to James, it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.

a. True

b. False