Teat Questions Paper

A reduction ad absurdum argument starts with…

Select one:

a. The assumption that God does not exist.

b. A premise assumed in order to argue that it’s true.

c. A premise that the arguer will in the end claim is false.

d. The conclusion of the argument.

“free choice” according to Plantinga means…

Select one:

a. A choice that could result in bad consequences.

b. A choice that is not influenced by where we grew up and who our parents are.

c. A choice free of coercion, stress, or other psychological maladies.

d. A choice God would approve of.

All of the following are natural evil theodicies except…

Select one:

a. Evil is a means to good.

b. The free will defense.

c. Evil is necessary as a counterpart to good.

d. Evil is necessitated by the causal laws of our universe.

Alvin Plantinga claims the argument from evil does not, in the end, succeed because…

Select one:

a. There is no evil in the world that we live in—it just seems like there is.

b. The free will defense fails.

c. Evil in the world can be justified.

d. Evil is essential to the western conception of God since the Devil exists.

For Descartes, why do we necessarily exist, despite the possibility that we’re being deceived by an evil demon?

Select one:

a. Because it is wildly implausible that we’re being deceived by an evil demon

b. Because we cannot be deceived about mathematical truths

c. Because even if we doubt our existence, we must exist to doubt it

d. None of the above

For Grau, what is one important difference between the experience machine and the matrix?

Select one:

a. The experience machine is entered into voluntarily

b. The experience machine might take away our free will, while the matrix leaves it intact

c. The experience machine guarantees us pleasure

d. The matrix is run by machines

For the free will defense to work, it must be the case that…

Select one:

a. People really do have free will; it’s not just that they think they do or it looks like they do.

b. A world which features free beings and some evil is better than world in which there is no free will and everyone is maximally happy.

c. Free will entails the existence of evil done by those who freely choose it.

d. All the answers are correct.

How does Richard LaCroix defend the claim that the existence of goodness does not entail any evil?

Select one:

a. It’s possible that God could have created a universe without free will.

b. It’s possible that God could have created nothing at all (other than herself).

c. It’s possible that God could have made it so that there is no difference between good and evil.

d. It’s possible that God could have created only angels.

How does Weisberger object to the argument that evil is necessary for future goods?

Select one:

a. It’s hard to figure out what the future short term goods could be.

b. It doesn’t account for the suffering of non-humans.

c. It seems as though God could have created less evil and that evil could have produced the same future goods.

d. All of the answers are correct.

The following are necessary pillars to the idea that God allows for evil in order to develop good character except:

Select one:

a. Humans must live in a world in which it seems as though there is no God even though there is.

b. Suffering must drive people toward good behavior rather than bad.

c. The amount of evil in the world must be appropriate for producing the best character.

d. People will, as a result of suffering, be more likely to live a religious life rather than resort to atheism.

What does Putnam hold is required for a word to successfully refer?

Select one:

a. That it be accidental

b. That the word refers to a real object

c. An appropriate causal connection between the object referred to and the speaker referring

d. All of the above

What is Neo’s predicament?

Select one:

a. Neo has awoken from a simulated “dreamworld”

b. Neo is considering whether to stay in the Matrix

c. Neo is considering whether he should be a skeptic about reality

d. None of the above

What is Nozick getting at with his experience machine thought experiment?

Select one:

a. That we only value the experience of pleasure

b. That we value being a certain person, not the experience of being that type of person

c. That we value contact with reality

d. both (b) and (c)

What is the brain in a vat scenario?

Select one:

a. The possibility that all of our experiences are simulated and we are really brains in vats in some lab

b. The possibility that we are the only thing that exists, and everyone else is a brain in a vat

c. The possibility that we are being deceived by an evil demon

d. The possibility that all of our language refers to a brain in a vat, which produces all experience

What is the difference between the “logical” formulation of the argument from evil and the “evidential” one?

Select one:

a. There is no difference.

b. The logical formulation is deductive and the evidential one is inductive.

c. Only the logical formulation is a reductio

d. The evidential formulation does not involve the existence of God in as God is imagined to be in the traditional western conception.

What scenario does Descartes imagine that is even more nefarious than dream skepticism?

Select one:

a. That we are in an experience machine

b. That an evil demon is deceiving us

c. That we are a brain in a vat

d. None of the above

What sort of knowledge can survive dream skepticism, according to Descartes?

Select one:

a. Nothing

b. Truths arrived at through the use of reason

c. Everything

d. Knowledge we gather from sensation

Which of the following is NOT involved in the conception of God that the argument from evil addresses?

Select one:

a. God is all-powerful.

b. God is all-knowing.

c. God cares about each of God’s children equally.

d. God is all-good.

Who is René Descartes?

Select one:

a. A philosopher who argued that the brain in a vat inspired skepticism is incoherent

b. A philosopher who created the “experience machine” thought experiment

c. A philosopher who considered skeptical scenarios involving dreams and evil demons

d. A philosopher who argued that we value more than what we can be conscious of

Why might the phenomenon of dreaming lead us to a sort of skepticism?

Select one:

a. It doesn’t lead us to skepticism

b. Because sometimes dreams are better than reality

c. Because we can successfully refer to things in our dreams

d. Because there is no principled way to tell the difference between a dream and real life

According to Descartes, it is entirely possible that we are brains in a vat, and so we should be skeptical about our experience.

Select one:

True

False

Alvin Plantinga is a theist

Select one:

True

False

Descartes argues that God exists, because we have an idea of God and couldn’t have created it ourselves.

Select one:

True

False

For Unger, the practice of buying life insurance shows that we value more than just what we are conscious of.

Select one:

True

False

God could allow for some evil as long there is some greater good that is produced by it; if this was true, it would answer the argument from evil.

Select one:

True

False

Hilary Putnam was a famous dream skeptic.

Select one:

True

False

It’s possible for the evil that exists to be understood as punishment for actions yet to be committed, according to Weisberger.

Select one:

True

False

La Croix thinks he can answer Plaintinga’s challenge by arguing that God must have created nothing at all and it would be a better world.

Select one:

True

False

Natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes are instances of moral evil.

Select one:

True

False

Nozick is well known for arguing that we only value the experience of pleasure.

Select one:

True

False