CLT Philosophy and Worldview 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Thomas Aquinas's 'Five Ways' in the Summa Theologiae are arguments for?
- The immortality of the human soul
- The existence of God (Correct answer)
- The truth of Christian Scripture
- The superiority of faith over reason
Correct answer: The existence of God
Aquinas's Five Ways are five arguments — from motion, causation, contingency, gradation, and design — each concluding to the existence of God.
Question 2: Augustine's doctrine of 'original sin' holds which of the following?
- Each person sins independently with no inherited moral debt
- Human nature is fundamentally disordered due to Adam's fall (Correct answer)
- Sin only affects the body, not the rational soul
- Children are born morally neutral until they make their first choice
Correct answer: Human nature is fundamentally disordered due to Adam's fall
Augustine argued that Adam's disobedience corrupted human nature, passing both guilt and disordered desires (concupiscence) to all his descendants.
Question 3: Anselm of Canterbury's ontological argument defines God as?
- The unmoved mover who set the cosmos in motion
- That than which nothing greater can be conceived (Correct answer)
- The ground of being that underlies all existence
- The creator whose existence is proven by the complexity of creation
Correct answer: That than which nothing greater can be conceived
Anselm's definition — 'that than which nothing greater can be conceived' — is the premise from which he argues God must exist in reality, not merely in the mind.
Question 4: The scholastic method, as practiced in medieval universities, was primarily characterized by?
- Empirical observation and systematic experiment
- Rigorous logical disputation to reconcile authorities with reason (Correct answer)
- Mystical contemplation and rejection of rational argument
- Humanistic study of classical literature and rhetoric
Correct answer: Rigorous logical disputation to reconcile authorities with reason
Scholasticism used formal logical disputation (quaestio format) to resolve apparent conflicts between ancient authorities like Aristotle and Christian doctrine.
Question 5: Augustine's concept of the 'Two Cities' in The City of God refers to?
- Rome and Jerusalem as competing centers of civilization
- The spiritual community of those who love God and the worldly community of those who love self (Correct answer)
- Heaven and Hell as destinations for the righteous and wicked
- Athens and Rome as models of philosophy and law
Correct answer: The spiritual community of those who love God and the worldly community of those who love self
Augustine contrasts the City of God (those who love God above self) with the City of Man (those who love self above God), showing history as their intermingled struggle.
Question 6: Which medieval philosopher is known for the synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy and Christian theology?
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Peter Abelard
- Thomas Aquinas (Correct answer)
- Duns Scotus
Correct answer: Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas's Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles systematically integrated Aristotle's logic, metaphysics, and ethics with Catholic Christian doctrine.
Question 7: The Great Chain of Being, influential in medieval and Renaissance thought, describes?
- The sequence of historical ages from gold to iron
- A hierarchical ordering of all existence from God down through angels, humans, animals, and matter (Correct answer)
- The chain of logical reasoning that leads from premises to God's existence
- The succession of emperors and popes as co-rulers of Christendom
Correct answer: A hierarchical ordering of all existence from God down through angels, humans, animals, and matter
The Great Chain of Being (scala naturae) arranged all creatures in a fixed hierarchy of perfection, with God at the summit and bare matter at the bottom.
CLT Philosophy and Worldview 3
Thomas Aquinas's 'Five Ways' in the Summa Theologiae are arguments for?