CALICUT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

V SEMESTER
B. A PHILOSOPHY
Modern Western Philosophy
QUESTION BANK FOR INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
Multiple Choice Questions

1. Modern western philosophers unlike the medieval thinkers were critical about ___________.
a) scientific advance b) dogmatic theology
c) rationalism d) all these
2. Find out the items in the List B that match those in the List A.
List A List B
1. Descartes 1. Empiricism
2. Kant 2. Skepticism
3. Locke 3. Rationalism
4. Hume 4. Transcendentalism
a) 2, 3, 1, 4 b) 4, 2, 3, 1 c) 2, 3, 1, 4 d) 3, 4, 1, 2
3. Modern western philosophy is ____________ in general.
a) reflective b) critical
c) both (a) and (b) d) neither (a) nor (b)
4. Modernism marked a clear shift ___________.
a) from faith to reason b) from reason to faith
c) from science to religion d) from religion to science
5. European __________ is subdivided into the Humanistic and the Natural Science period.
a) Philosophy b) Theology c) Renaissance d) None of these
6. Modern western philosophers showed increased interest in ___________.
a) theology b) scientific inquiry c) astronomy d) all these
7. In the ___________ era, freedom of thought and rational inquiry became the watchwords of
philosophy.
a) ancient b) classical c) medieval d) modern
8. _____________ is considered as the father of modern western philosophy as well as rationalism
a) Descartes b) Kant c) Hume d) Socrates
9. Find the odd one out.
a) Aristotle b) Kant c) Hume d) Descartes
10. _________ is/are not applicable to Descartes.
1. French 2. Medieval 3. Empiricist d) Rationalist
a) 1 and 2 b) 2 and 4 c) Only 2 d) 2 and 3
11. _________ is/are applicable to Descartes and Locke.
1. Medieval 2. Modern 3. Rationalist 4. Empiricist

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 a) 1 and 4 b) Only 2 c) Only 3 d) 2 and 4
12. __________ propositions need no proof.
a) Universal b) Self-evident c) Particular d) None of these
13. According to Descartes, deduction and _________ are the means to attain true knowledge.
a) experience b) logic c) intuition d) all these
14. According to Descartes, ___________ ideas are clear and distinct.
a) innate b) adventitious c) factitious d) none of these
15. ‘Cogito ergo sum’ refers to the idea of __________.
a) God b) World c) the Self d) Reason
16. Cartesian skepticism is precisely _____________.
a) ontological b) methodological c) ethical d) axiological
17. Dualism recognizes ____________.
a) one and only one substance b) two substances
c) many substances d) none of these
18. ___________ is not applicable to Spinoza.
1. Monism 2. Rationalism 3. Dualism 4. Pluralism
a) Only 3 b) Only 1 c) 1 and 2 d) 3 and 4
19. ‘A substance cannot depend on anything else, and hence there can be only one substance.’ This
position is precisely termed ______________.
a) Rationalism b) Dualism c) Monism d) Empiricism
20. Psychophysical ___________ is the view of Spinoza.
a) dualism b) parallelism c) interactionism d) none of these
21. According to Spinoza, Reality is ____________.
a) God or Nature b) Neither God nor Nature
c) Only God d) Only Nature
22. ‘Mind and matter are not substances’. This is the point of Spinoza’s disagreement with _______.
a) Kant b) Hume c) Hegel d) Descartes
23. Leibnitz conceived plurality of __________ substances.
a) spiritual b) physical c) material d) all these
24. ‘No two monads can ever have any causal relation to each other’. Hence, they are __________.
a) interactive b) windowless
c) both (a) and (b) d) neither (a) nor (b)
25. According to Leibnitz, Monads are ___________ in number.
a) two b) one c) infinite d) none of these
26. According to Leibnitz, ____________ pre-established the harmony between monads.
a) None b) God c) Mind d) Matter
27. Spinoza’s monism is a solution suggested to resolve the problem of ____________ in Cartesian
philosophy.
a) Rationalism b) God c) Dualism d) Cogito
28. ___________ was suggested as a hypothesis to solve the problem of mind-body interaction.
a) Dualism b) Rationalism c) Occasionalism d) all these
29. According to Descartes, the very idea of a perfect being implies His existence. This is the
_______ proof of the existence of God.
a) Ontological b) Cosmological c) Causal d) All these

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30. According to Descartes, the idea of God is __________.
a) clear and distinct b) doubtful and vague c) empirical d) none of these
31. ___________ recognize sense perception as the source and standard of knowledge.
a) Rationalists b) Empiricists c) Idealists d) Intuitionists
32. ____________ is the author of Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
a) Spinoza b) Descartes c) Hegel d) Locke
33. Sensation and reflection are the primary sources of all ideas. This is the postulate of _________.
a) Rationalism b) Idealism c) Empiricism d) None of these
34. According to Locke, we understand the internal states of mind by __________.
a) Sensation b) Intuition c) Reflection d) All these
35. For ______________, knowledge is a posteriori.
a) Rationalists b) Idealists c) Intuitionists d) Empiricists
36. For ______________, true knowledge is a priori.
a) Empiricists b) Idealists c) Intuitionists d) Rationalists
37. According to Locke, qualities are divided into __________.
a) a priori and a posteriori b) physical and mental
c) primary and secondary d) empirical and spiritual
38. Find out the items in the List B that match those in the List A.
List A List B
1. Berkeley 1. Cogito ergo sum
2. Hegel 2. Abstract Monism
3. Descartes 3. Absolute Idealism
4. Spinoza 4. To be is to be perceived
a) 2, 3, 1, 4 b) 4, 3, 1, 2 c) 2, 1, 3, 4 d) 4, 2, 3, 1
39. ____________ is the dictum of Subjective Idealism.
a) Cogito ergo sum b) esse est percipi
c) both (a) and (b) d) neither (a) nor (b)
40. The term Tabula rasa implies the rejection of _____________.
a) sense experience b) empiricism c) innate ideas d) primary qualities
41. Mentalism is another term for _____________.
a) Subjective Idealism b) Rationalism
c) Absolute Idealism d) None of these
42. Ideas do not exist without a perceiving mind. This is the argument of __________.
a) Locke b) Spinoza c) Berkeley d) Marx
43. _________ rejected the existence of a material substance apart from the perceiver’s idea.
a) Berkeley b) Locke c) Spinoza d) None of these
44. Hume divided all perceptions into ____________.
a) primary and secondary b) impressions and ideas
c) matter and mind d) innate and acquired
45. __________ proposed the Law of Association of Ideas.
a) Locke b) Spinoza c) Berkeley d) Hume
46. According to Hume, our idea of causation is only the result of a constant __________ of ideas.
a) impression b) dissociation c) separation d) conjunction
47. According to Hume, our idea of causation does not imply ________.

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 a) perception b) necessity c) contingency d) any of these
48. In Locke’s system, __________ is a primary quality.
a) colour b) sound c) smell d) extension
49. According to Locke, solidity and extension are ___________ qualities.
a) primary b) secondary
c) both (a) and (b) d) neither (a) nor (b)
50. _________ is not included in Locke’s catalogue of primary qualities.
a) extension b) solidity c) colour d) figure
51. According to Locke, there are no _________ ideas and hence mind is a tabula rasa.
a) clear b) sensible c) innate d) complex
52. ‘If no one perceives a thing, God always perceives everything’. This is the view of ________.
a) Berkeley b) Spinoza c) Descartes d) Hume
53. Both Locke and Berkeley are ____________.
a) Empiricists b) Idealists c) Occasionalists d) Rationalists
54. ___________ ends up in skepticism regarding any certain knowledge.
a) Spinoza b) Descartes c) Locke d) Hume
55. ___________ is the author of the Critique of Pure Reason.
a) Berkeley b) Kant c) Locke d) Descartes
56. In a/an ___________ proposition, the predicate is part of the subject.
a) synthetic b) analytic c) empirical d) None of these
57. ___________ knowledge is independent of sense experience.
a) a priori b) a posteriori
c) both (a) and (b) d) neither (a) nor (b)
58. According to Kant, causality is a/an ____________ concept.
a) empirical b) synthetic a priori
c) synthetic a posteriori d) none of these
59. Noumena refer to ___________.
a) thing-in-itself b) sensible objects c) empirical reality d) all these
60. According to Kant, sensibility and __________ constitute knowledge.
a) perception b) causality c) understanding d) noumena
61. According to Kant, space and time are the ___________ conditions of all knowledge.
a) possible b) a priori c) a posteriori d) perceived
62. According to Kant, human reason cannot have genuine knowledge about the ____________.
a) phenomena b) noumena
c) both (a) and (b) d) neither (a) nor (b)
63. In Kant’s table of judgments, universal, particular and singular represent ___________.
a) quality b) modality c) relation d) quantity
64. __________ is/are applicable to Hegel.
1. German 2. Materialist 3. Idealist 4. Absolutist
a) Only 1 b) All except 2 c) All except 4 d) Both 1 and 2
65. Dialectic has a central place in the philosophy of ____________.
a) Hegel b) Marx
c) both (a) and (b) d) neither (a) nor (b)
66. Marx had rejected the __________ in Hegelian philosophy.

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 a) idealism b) dialectic c) materialism d) all these
67. “The real is rational and the rational is real”. This is the crux of _________ philosophy.
a) Cartesian b) Kantian c) Hegelian d) Marxian
68. The first of the dialectical triad is ___________.
a) thesis b) antithesis c) synthesis d) all these
69. In Hegelian dialectic, __________ is the synthesis stage.
a) Being b) Non-being c) Becoming d) None of these
70. Dialectical development involves the negation of ____________.
a) Becoming b) reasoning c) relation d) negation
71. Berkeley and Hegel are ____________.
a) Empiricists b) Idealists c) Materialists d) Skeptics
72. In Hegel’s philosophy, ____________ is the ultimate reality.
a) God b) Dialectics c) Material world d) Absolute Idea
73. The source of Marxian materialism is ____________.
a) Feuerbach b) Hegel c) Engels d) None of these
74. __________ is the author of Phenomenology of Spirit.
a) Feuerbach b) Engels c) Hegel d) Marx
75. Marx insisted on the philosopher’s task of ____________ the world.
a) interpreting b) changing c) understanding d) negating
76. According to Marx, ___________ is the lever of social change.
a) Absolute Idea b) Class war c) Love d) God
77. The necessary and basic cause of class war, according to Marx, is ___________.
a) economic b) cultural c) religious d) none of these
78. Marxian revolution aims at the liberation of the ____________ class.
a) ruling b) bourgeois c) working d) noble
79. Find out the items in the List B that match those in the List A.
List A List B
1. Interactionism 1. Kant
2. Absolute Idealism 2. Marx
3. Transcendentalism 3. Descartes
4. Dialectical materialism 4. Hegel
a) 4, 2, 3,1 b) 1, 3, 4, 2 c) 2, 4, 3, 1 d) 3, 4, 1, 2
80. Marx conceived ____________as the necessary culmination of class war.
a) dialectics b) proletariat dictatorship c) capitalism d) historical materialism
81. __________ was closely associated with Marx in developing his philosophy.
a) Engels b) Hegel c) Feuerbach d) Lenin
82. Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat determines the class conflict in ___________ society.
a) Feudal b) Communist c) Capitalist d) none of these

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 ANSWER KEY

1b 2d 3c 4a 5c 6b 7d 8a 9a 10 d 11 b

12 b 13 c 14 a 15 c 16 b 17 b 18 d 19 c 20 b 21 a 22 d

23 a 24 b 25 c 26 b 27 c 28 c 29 a 30 a 31 b 32 d 33 c

34 c 35 d 36 d 37 c 38 b 39 b 40 c 41 a 42 c 43 a 44 b

45 d 46 d 47 b 48 d 49 a 50 c 51 c 52 a 53 a 54 d 55 b

56 b 57 a 58 b 59 a 60 c 61 b 62 b 63 d 64 b 65 c 66 a

67 c 68 a 69 c 70 d 71 b 72 d 73 a 74 c 75 b 76 b 77 a

78 c 79 d 80 b 81 a 82 c

Prepared By:
Dr. M. Ramakrishnan
Former Head of the Dept. of Philosophy
Govt. Brennen College, Thalassery
(Former Chairperson, Board of Studies in Philosophy, University of Calicut)