Module 4 - Foundations Of Western Philosophy: Middle Ages And Scholasticism

Question 1

From where did medieval philosophers believe knowledge of the truth came?

Answer 1

God

Question 2

Augustine’s worldview was the dominant influence on medieval philosophy.

Answer 2

true

Question 3

Which set of philosophies did the early medieval period emphasize?

Answer 3

neoplatonic

Question 4

Why did the later medieval period of philosophy shift towards an interest in Aristotle?

Answer 4

because Arabic translations of Aristotle’s writings had been discovered in the Crusades

Question 5

When the Roman empire and its educational centers collapsed, where was knowledge from the past preserved and studied?

Answer 5

monasteries

Question 6

Who wrote Sic et Non?

Answer 6

Abelard

Question 7

who was Boethius?

Answer 7

the medieval theologian/philosopher who hoped to translate many of the ancient Greek works into Latin

Question 8

what was Anselm’s ontological argument?

Answer 8

a definitive proof that God existed which did not rely on any outside logic or philosophy

Question 9

Who was Héloïse?

Answer 9

the intelligent philosopher who had a scandalous affair with Peter Abelard while she studied under him

Question 10

What does the technical philosophical term “universal” mean?

Answer 10

a characteristic that can be observed in multiple objects

Question 11

Which educational institution grew out of the late medieval period?

Answer 11

Universities

Question 12

The only thing the scholastics had in common was a commitment to rigorous scholarly debate

Answer 12

True

Question 13

What was the scholastic method?

Answer 13

A style of teaching in the medieval university classroom

Question 14

The European university arose as a result of Arabic influence through the crusades

Answer 14

True

Question 15

Which textbook was the standard textbook in medieval universities?

Answer 15

Sentences

Question 16

Aside from philosophy, in which field were Avicenna and Averroës experts?

Answer 16

medicine

Question 17

Clocks were invented during the golden age of Islam when Aristotle’s ideas were popular.

Answer 17

true

Question 18

Which Arabic-speaking scholar developed a precursor to the Western philosophy of tabula rasa, but proposed that people must learn knowledge of the truth from experiences in the world?

Answer 18

Avicenna

Question 19

Averroës was a 16-year old Jewish prodigy, a master of innovative Hebrew poetry.

Answer 19

false

Question 20

How many commentaries did Averroës try to write on each of the works of Aristotle?

Answer 20

three, a short, medium, and long one for varying skill levels

Question 21

Who was the seminal figure that made Aristotle’s ideas palatable to the average Christian towards the end of the medieval period?

Answer 21

Aquinas

Question 22

Why were Aristotle’s ideas unpopular in the West during the medieval period?

Answer 22

because Christianity adopted platonism since the time of Augustine

Question 23

What was Aquinas’s nickname during his time as a student at university?

Answer 23

“the dumb ox”

Question 24

Thomas Aquinas brought about the eventual end of the medieval period.

Answer 24

true

Question 25

Before Aquinas, most Christians had assumed that they could not learn any truths by observing and experimenting on the physical world.

Answer 25

true

Question 26

What were monastic schools?

Answer 26

the first place where medieval students preserved knowledge and studied it

Question 27

Which was a defining feature of medieval philosophy?

Answer 27

It was almost always intertwined with theology.

Question 28

What threatened to make many ancient philosophical writings lost to history?

Answer 28

the gradual decline of the Greek language

Question 29

Which ancient Greek philosopher was rediscovered in Arabic translations by the Crusaders?

Answer 29

Aristotle

Question 30

After monastic and cathedral schools, which became the center of education in the late medieval period?

Answer 30

universities

Question 31

Who was the early medieval scholar, philosopher, and theologian who attempted to translate Plato and Aristotle’s works into Latin but was executed by the king of Italy before he could?

Answer 31

Boethius

Question 32

Who is remembered for developing the ontological argument for the existence of God?

Answer 32

Anselm

Question 33

Who was the medieval philosopher known for quitting multiple schools and then having an affair with one of his students after starting his school?

Answer 33

Abelard

Question 34

What is the term that medieval philosophers used to describe a characteristic which can be seen demonstrated in more than one object, such as “blueness” or “heaviness”?

Answer 34

universal

Question 35

Which of the following books was written by Peter Abelard and contrasted the disagreements between statements made by earlier church fathers?

Answer 35

Sic et Non

Question 36

By what title was the Arabic scholar Averroës known in the West?

Answer 36

The Commentator

Question 37

Who was Avicebron?

Answer 37

young prodigy of Hebrew poetry with Neoplatonic thought

Question 38

Why was Aristotelian philosophy controversial among Christian thinkers in the late medieval period?

Answer 38

Christians could see scientific advancements under Aristotelianism but were unsure whether they were compatible with orthodox Christianity.

Question 39

Who is known as the founder of Islamic philosophy?

Answer 39

Avicenna

Question 40

Which Arabic scholar, like Anselm, created an argument for the existence of God but applied it to the God of the Quran?

Answer 40

Avicenna

Question 41

Which movement was defined by its encouragement of vigorous debate?

Answer 41

Scholasticism

Question 42

When did the university arise in Europe?

Answer 42

in the late medieval period

Question 43

What was the first movement in the West to question Augustine’s authoritative blend of Neoplatonism and philosophy in nearly a thousand years?

Answer 43

scholasticism

Question 44

Who was Peter Lombard?

Answer 44

the author of the classic textbook used in medieval universities

Question 45

Which earlier book most deeply influenced Peter Lombard’s Sentences?

Answer 45

Abelard’s Sic et non

Question 46

Why was Aquinas’s philosophical work so influential on the field of science?

Answer 46

because he convinced Europe that the physical world right in front of them was a source of truth

Question 46

Who was Thomas Aquinas?

Answer 46

scholastic theologian who shifted the philosophical tide in Europe toward Aristotelianism

Question 47

Who was the teacher, philosopher, and theologian whose career is considered the golden age of scholasticism in the late medieval period?

Answer 47

Aquinas

Question 48

In the late medieval period, which scholastic thinker unravelled the blend of theology and philosophy which dominated the West since the time of Augustine?

Answer 48

Aquinas

Question 49

Which arose in the years after Aquinas due in large part to his influence?

Answer 49

rationalism

Question 50

Aristotle believed that reality consists of the natural world. His students would spend time walking around to observe nature. They would note the way things were in plant life, animal life, geography, and so forth. Aristotle’s approach was much more ______ than Plato’s.

Answer 50

naturalistic

Question 51

The existence of all things could be summed up with two ideas according to Aristotle: ______ and _____.

Answer 51

form and matter

Question 52

Aristotle believed one’s ethics came from the _____. Ethics are things determined to be good or bad, right or wrong, helpful or hurtful.

Answer 52

soul

Question 53

Plato was frustrated by the constant arguments over true knowledge. His solution was to develop a theory that eliminated disagreements and settled the matter of true knowledge once and for all. The study of true knowledge is known as ________, the branch of philosophy focusing on knowledge and justified belief.

Answer 53

epistemology

Question 54

Socrates’s instructional method—dialogue based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking—was different from the Sophists who sought to _____________________.

Answer 54

input their own opinions and beliefs into the minds of students.

Question 55

Justin Martyr saw an overlap between Christianity and the Greco-Roman philosophies. For instance, both sought to live_______, although their motivation varied. Thus, he concluded that there were some useful truths in the teachings of the philosophers.

Answer 55

a virtuous life

Question 56

To understand Neoplatonic thought, one must first understand Plato’s famous analogy about a cave. Plato believed there was truth beyond what could be ______________.

Answer 56

seen in the physical realm

Question 57

The figure often considered the founder of the Neoplatonist movement was ______ in the third century CE. He founded a philosophy school in Rome and began writing down his lectures at the encouragement of one of his students.

Answer 57

Plotinus

Question 58

As is common in eras of unrest, people discovered that their worldview was insufficient for the complexities of life. In response, _______ articulated a political philosophy that allowed the Christians in his care to make sense of the fears with which they dealt regularly.

Answer 58

Augustine

Question 59

Augustine believed Christians could participate in wars, acting as agents for a manmade government as long as a few basic qualifications were met: (Select all that apply)

Answer 59

The war must be declared by a legitimate government authority.

The war must be conducted for a just cause, such as an act of defense.

The Christian soldier must have the proper motives: he must grieve bloodshed rather than seek personal glory on the battlefield and must fight for eventual peace.

Question 60

In Thomas Acquinas’s worldview, Aristotle’s philosophy could be a way to discover truths also discoverable through Christianity. The two used different rules to arrive at that truth. In this line of thinking, Aristotelianism may reveal information not expressly revealed by God but is true. This concept allowed _______ to rise in the West.

Answer 60

rationalism

Question 61

Approximately one century after Augustine, a philosopher and theologian named _______ rose to prominence. He was worried some of the greatest minds would be lost to the Latin-speaking world, so he set out to translate the works of Plato and Aristotle into Latin.

Answer 61

Boethius

Question 62

Anselm is remembered for pursuing a single line of reasoning that could prove God’s existence without relying on any outside logic or philosophy. Thus, he formulated the _________ for God’s existence.

Answer 62

ontological agreement

Question 63

_________ was known as the father of Islamic philosophy. Blending bits of Neoplatonic thought with Aristotelian ideas and Muslim theology, he crafted a worldview that launched the Arabic-speaking world into the philosophical scene. He is remembered for making sense of Muslim beliefs by using logic and philosophy.

Answer 63

Avicenna

Question 64

Beginning in the twelfth century and exploding in the thirteenth, such educational centers were found in major cities across the entire continent. In particular, the universities of ____________ were esteemed for their philosophy and theology degrees. To achieve a doctorate in this field required one to undergo fourteen years of rigorous academic classes.

Answer 64

Paris and Oxford

Question 65

Philosophers ask questions and try to answer them. To some degree, the “love of wisdom” for most philosophers can be framed by a single question: _____________

Answer 65

What is the good life?

Question 66

In simple terms, ______ refers to the pursuit of wisdom in terms of knowing and understanding our universe, our world, and the ways that humans think and live.

Answer 66

philosophy

Question 67

_________ is the division of philosophy concerned with questions related to being, existence, or reality.

Answer 67

Metaphysics

Question 68

In the pre-Socratic age, beginning around the 6th century BCE, philosophers attempted to deduce the working of the world around them based on ____________.

Answer 68

their natural observations

Question 69

Aristotle viewed ___________ as the characteristics or qualities that ordinary objects or things have in common. They can be identified in the types, properties, or relations observed in the world.

Answer 69

universals