PhD Doctor of Philosophy Metaphysics and Ontology

Question 1

Ontology is the branch of metaphysics that investigates the nature and categories of:

Accepted Answer

Being and existence

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Knowledge and justification

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Moral value

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Logical inference

Question 2

Platonism in metaphysics holds that abstract objects such as numbers and properties:

Accepted Answer

Exist independently of minds and concrete things

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Are mental constructions

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Are useful fictions

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Reduce to physical patterns

Question 3

Nominalism in the debate over universals holds that only:

Accepted Answer

Particular individual things exist

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Abstract universal forms exist

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Both particulars and universals exist

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Mental images exist

Question 4

The principle of parsimony (Occam's Razor) in metaphysics recommends not multiplying:

Accepted Answer

Entities beyond necessity

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Arguments beyond their scope

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Intuitions without evidence

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Definitions without precision

Question 5

Mereology is the study of the relationship between:

Accepted Answer

Parts and wholes

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Causes and effects

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Mind and body

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Space and time

Question 6

Quine's criterion of ontological commitment states that we are committed to the existence of all entities that are:

Accepted Answer

Values of bound variables in true statements

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Named by nouns in our language

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Perceived by the senses

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Logically necessary