Mock Test - Metaphysics
True/False
___Materialism is the belief that reality is essentially idea and mind rather than matter.
___ Isaac Newton argued that all material bodies in the universe move in accordance with
the universal laws of nature.
___Compatibalism is the view that human actions are completely determined by prior
events.
___ Pantheism means “all God.” It is an alternative to traditional monotheism. Belief that
everything is God and God is everything.
___Monotheism is the view that there are multiple gods.
___ Atheists deny the existence of God because it cannot be either proved or disproved.
___ St. Augustine wrote about a city of God. He argued that what is real is the flesh, and
the spiritual world is temporary.
___St. Thomas Aquinas claimed that there are six proofs for the existence of God.
___ Brahman is the Hindu concept of an impersonal Supreme Being; the source and goal
of everything; the ultimate reality.
___Democritus is the founder of modern Idealism.
Multiple Choice
1. The direct experience of God or of an ultimate religious reality; the belief that such
subjective religious experiences are genuine is called _______.
a) Existentialism b) Mysticism c) Panentheism d) Agnosticism
2. __________ is the theory/philosophy that humans are whatever they make
themselves. It denies any human nature since humans create their own nature
through their free actions.
a) Existentialism b) Mysticism c) Panentheism d) Agnosticism
3. _______ is when people have control over what they do and are free to choose
otherwise.
a) Determinism b) Free Will c) Compatibalism d) Libertarianism
4. The view that rejects the idea that determinism rules out freedom and responsibility
and that argues that instead that casual determinism is compatible with freedom is called
________.
a) Determinism b) Free Will c) Compatibalism d) Libertarianism
5. _______ argued that the non-intelligent mechanism of evolution through natural
selection, working over million of years, can produce living things whose parts appear to
be designed by an intelligent being to achieve some purpose.
a) Immanuel Kant b) Rene Descartes c) Soren Kierkegaard d) Charles Darwin
6. ________ is the founder of modern existentialism. His philosophy is focused in getting
clarity about what to do, understanding reality through subjectivity, and overcoming the
gap between God and humanity
a) Immanuel Kant b) Rene Descartes c) Soren Kierkegaard d) Charles Darwin
7. Which of the following is NOT one of the six dimensions of religion?
a) Experience, or emphasis on events in which the believer feel immediately and
strikingly the presence of God or supernatural dimension.
b) Ritual, or acts of worship, prayer, sacraments and readings of Sacred
Scriptures.
c) Reality, or the world or state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an
idealistic or notional idea of them.
d) Organization, or an organized social group that preserves and perpetuates the
religion.
8. A set of beliefs about the universe and its relation to the supernatural is called ______.
a)
b)
c)
d)
a doctrine
morality
a myth
Democritus
9. What were Aquinas’ two cosmological proofs for the existence of God?
a)
b)
c)
d)
God is the first being and first mover.
God is the first cause and first mover.
God is the first cause and first creator.
God is the first being and first creator.
10. What is metaphysics?
a) The world or state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic
or notional idea of them.
b) The act of instilling an idea into someone's mind by entering his or her
dreams.
c) The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of reality.
d) The belief in a personal God who intervenes in the lives of the creation.
Long Answer
Compare and contrast the materialism of Hobbes with the idealism of Berkeley. Which
position has more merit in your opinion?
Short Answers
1. Describe St. Anselm’s ontological proof for the existence of God. What
objections to this view did Kant raise?
2. Describe Aquinas’ two cosmological proofs for the existence of God. What
objections have been raised to these proofs?
3. Is atheism more or less rational than agnosticism? Explain.
4. How does Kierkegaard’s distinction between the subjective thinker and the
objective thinker affect his understanding of religious faith and belief?
5. What does Tillich mean when he uses the terms “depth” and “the ground of all
being” to describe God?
Matching – Match the quote to the person who said it.
Blaise Pascal
Thomas Hobbes
Rene Descartes
Paul Tillich
St.Augustine
Ernest Nagal
Immanuel Kant
George Berkeley
William James
Mary Daly
The traditional concept of God is male,
sexist, oppressive to women, and
legitimates patriarchy – the rule of men
over women. We must reject it, especially
in its Christian form, and replace it with the
“Goddess.”
Atheism denies the existence…of a selfconsistent, omniscient, righteous and
benevolent being who is distinct from and
independent of what has been created.
If you erroneously believe in God, you lose
nothing (assuming that death is the
absolute end), whereas if you correctly
believe in God, you gain everything
(eternal bliss). But if you correctly
disbelieve in God, you gain nothing (death
ends all), whereas if you erroneously
disbelieve in God, you lose everything
(eternal damnation).
We could not know anything with certitude
if there were no God to guarantee that our
knowledge is generally accurate.
Only the conscious minds and
ideas/perceptions are reality.
All we can truly know about the world is
the measurable aspects.
Traditional concepts of God objectified
God and turned God into an “invincible
tyrant”.
Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all
perfection, of all forms
Our morality forces us to believe in the
possibility of a just world where evil is
punished and good is rewarded, and this is
possible only if there is a God and an
afterlife.
We can never be absolutely sure about
anything but we desire truth. There will
inevitably be a non-intellectual, nonrational element to what we choose to
believe.
5 Short Answer
1 Long Answer