PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: The Meaning of Life 2

Question 1

Albert Camus argued that the 'absurd' arises from the conflict between what two things?

Accepted Answer

Human desire for meaning and the universe's silence

Answer

Camus held that absurdity emerges from the clash between humanity's insistence on meaning and the world's indifferent, irrational silence.

Question 2

In Aristotle's ethics, 'eudaimonia' is best translated as:

Accepted Answer

Flourishing or well-being

Answer

Eudaimonia refers to a life of flourishing achieved through the exercise of virtues and rational activity, not merely pleasure.

Question 3

Which philosopher famously claimed that 'God is dead' and diagnosed nihilism as a cultural crisis?

Accepted Answer

Friedrich Nietzsche

Answer

Nietzsche declared 'God is dead' to signal the collapse of absolute values in modernity and warned of the resulting nihilistic void.

Question 4

Hedonism as a theory of the meaning of life holds that life is meaningful insofar as it contains:

Accepted Answer

Pleasure and the absence of pain

Answer

Hedonism identifies pleasure (and the minimization of pain) as the sole intrinsic good that makes life worth living.

Question 5

The 'experience machine' thought experiment by Robert Nozick is designed to challenge which view?

Accepted Answer

Hedonism

Answer

Nozick's experience machine argues that if pleasure were all that mattered, we would plug in—yet most people wouldn't, suggesting other things have intrinsic value.

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: The Meaning of Life 2