PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Metaphysics and Reality 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Ontology is the branch of metaphysics that studies:
- The nature and limits of human knowledge
- The fundamental nature of being and existence (Correct answer)
- The principles of valid reasoning
- The relationship between language and the world
Correct answer: The fundamental nature of being and existence
Ontology investigates what kinds of things exist, what it means to exist, and how entities relate to one another at the most fundamental level.
Question 2: Which metaphysical position holds that reality is fundamentally mental or mind-dependent?
- Materialism
- Idealism (Correct answer)
- Dualism
- Neutral monism
Correct answer: Idealism
Idealism, associated with Berkeley and Hegel, holds that the physical world either is constituted by minds or depends on minds for its existence.
Question 3: The problem of universals concerns the question of:
- Whether time travel is logically possible
- What the nature and existence of general properties (like redness) are (Correct answer)
- How causation connects events
- Whether the self persists through change
Correct answer: What the nature and existence of general properties (like redness) are
Universals debates center on whether abstract properties exist independently (realism), only in particular things (immanent realism), or not at all (nominalism).
Question 4: Leibniz's principle of the identity of indiscernibles states that:
- No two distinct things share all their properties (Correct answer)
- Objects persist through change by retaining essential properties
- Time is relational rather than absolute
- Every event has a sufficient reason
Correct answer: No two distinct things share all their properties
Leibniz held that if two things share every property, they are numerically identical—there cannot be two distinct but perfectly similar things.
Question 5: In metaphysics, 'possible worlds' semantics, developed by Saul Kripke and David Lewis, is primarily used to analyze:
- The nature of scientific laws
- Concepts of necessity, possibility, and counterfactuals (Correct answer)
- The relationship between mind and body
- The persistence of objects through time
Correct answer: Concepts of necessity, possibility, and counterfactuals
Possible worlds allow philosophers to define necessity (true in all worlds), possibility (true in some world), and counterfactuals (what would be true if things were different).
Question 6: The ship of Theseus thought experiment illustrates the philosophical problem of:
- Personal identity over time
- Object identity and persistence through change (Correct answer)
- The nature of causation
- The existence of abstract objects
Correct answer: Object identity and persistence through change
If every plank of a ship is gradually replaced, is it still the same ship? The puzzle tests our criteria for object identity through material change.
PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Metaphysics and Reality 1
Ontology is the branch of metaphysics that studies: