HPS210 Exam Questions With 100%
Correct Answers
Ionian Philosophers - ANSWER Thales of Miletus, and Animaxer
Thales of Miletus - ANSWER Gods exist but don't intervene. Fundamental elements are
water in 3 forms.
Animaxer - ANSWER Spontaneous generation of animals. Fundamental elements are
earth, water, air, fire.
Pythagoras - ANSWER Number, not matter, is fundamental. Nature can all be quantified.
Pythagorean Cosmology - ANSWER Three sphered cosmology, Olympos, Cosmos,
Uranos. Perfect circular motion. Fixed stars and wandering stars. Not geocentric.
Motion and Change Philosophers - ANSWER Heraclitus, Parmenides , and Zeno's school
of thought.
Heraclitus - ANSWER Change is constant and everywhere.
Parmenides - ANSWER Change is an illusion. You can't make something from nothing.
Zeno - ANSWER Paradox of motion; infinite number of halfway points, will take infinite
time, therefore can never reach the final destination.
Athens - ANSWER One of the most powerful city states in 5-4th centuries BCE. Centre of
greek philosophy.
Socrates - ANSWER Method is to teach through questioning his students. Little interest
in natural philosophy. Ideal forms.
Plato - ANSWER Studied with pythagoreans. Founded the Academy in Athens. Wrote
Timaeus, a dialogue describing the creation of the universe by a demiurge from
preexisting material. Gave the world teleology, things are designed and have a purpose.
Believed the senses deceived us, and that the world was composed of things that are
just copies of forms from an ideal world.
Plato - ANSWER Studied under Socrates
Timaeus - ANSWER Dialogue written by Plato, described the creation of the universe by
a demiurge (craftsman) from preexisting material. One of the first greek descriptions of
the universe with a beginning.
Plato - ANSWER Two sphered cosmology, terrestrial and celestial. Described the motion
, of sun, moon, planets through perfect circular motion.
Plato - ANSWER Matter is made up of geometrical figures. Five regular solids, one for
each element. These 3D figures are made up of triangles, squares, and pentagons
arranged 3 dimensionally. "like attracts like"
Aristotle - ANSWER Studied under Plato at the Academy, then founded his own school in
Athens, the Lyceum.
Aristotle - ANSWER Tutor to Alexander the Great.
Aristotle - ANSWER Interested in the natural world. First systemic natural philosopher.
Aristotle - ANSWER Trusts the senses, and rejects Plato's ideal forms. Maintains Plato's
orderly universe (disagrees with atomists). The universe is eternal and uncreated.
Aristotle - ANSWER Two sphered cosmology, but the terrestrial spere is composed of
four elements; combinations of hot/cold, wet/dry. Celestial sphere is composed of one
element, aether/ quintessence.
Aristotle - ANSWER Everything consists of form (qualities of the object) and matter
(composition of the object).
Aristotle - ANSWER Four causes behind all change. Formal (structure/ design of a
being), material (physical properties/ makeup), efficient (the agent of change) and final
(the purpose).
Aristotle - ANSWER Two kinds of motion: natural and violent.
Natural: things move according to nature. In terrestrial realm, heavy things (earth,
water) move to centre, light things (air, fire) move away from the centre.
Violent: moving an object against its natural motion.
Ultimate source is the unmoved mover, all movement is traced back to them.
Aristotle - ANSWER Believed in observational, not experimental theorizing. If you
intervene through experiment, the object may not act naturally, and therefore you're not
learning proper natural philosophy.
Ancient atomism - ANSWER Democritus and Epicurus' school of thought.
Epicurus - ANSWER Revived the original work of Democritus.
Epicurus - ANSWER Natural and mechanistic. No god or immaterial things shape natural
philosophy. World is constructed of an innumerable, not infinite, number of atoms. No
distinction between terrestrial and celestial, everything is random ad purposeless (no
teleology).
Epistemology - ANSWER Theory of knowledge, especially with regards to method,
Correct Answers
Ionian Philosophers - ANSWER Thales of Miletus, and Animaxer
Thales of Miletus - ANSWER Gods exist but don't intervene. Fundamental elements are
water in 3 forms.
Animaxer - ANSWER Spontaneous generation of animals. Fundamental elements are
earth, water, air, fire.
Pythagoras - ANSWER Number, not matter, is fundamental. Nature can all be quantified.
Pythagorean Cosmology - ANSWER Three sphered cosmology, Olympos, Cosmos,
Uranos. Perfect circular motion. Fixed stars and wandering stars. Not geocentric.
Motion and Change Philosophers - ANSWER Heraclitus, Parmenides , and Zeno's school
of thought.
Heraclitus - ANSWER Change is constant and everywhere.
Parmenides - ANSWER Change is an illusion. You can't make something from nothing.
Zeno - ANSWER Paradox of motion; infinite number of halfway points, will take infinite
time, therefore can never reach the final destination.
Athens - ANSWER One of the most powerful city states in 5-4th centuries BCE. Centre of
greek philosophy.
Socrates - ANSWER Method is to teach through questioning his students. Little interest
in natural philosophy. Ideal forms.
Plato - ANSWER Studied with pythagoreans. Founded the Academy in Athens. Wrote
Timaeus, a dialogue describing the creation of the universe by a demiurge from
preexisting material. Gave the world teleology, things are designed and have a purpose.
Believed the senses deceived us, and that the world was composed of things that are
just copies of forms from an ideal world.
Plato - ANSWER Studied under Socrates
Timaeus - ANSWER Dialogue written by Plato, described the creation of the universe by
a demiurge (craftsman) from preexisting material. One of the first greek descriptions of
the universe with a beginning.
Plato - ANSWER Two sphered cosmology, terrestrial and celestial. Described the motion
, of sun, moon, planets through perfect circular motion.
Plato - ANSWER Matter is made up of geometrical figures. Five regular solids, one for
each element. These 3D figures are made up of triangles, squares, and pentagons
arranged 3 dimensionally. "like attracts like"
Aristotle - ANSWER Studied under Plato at the Academy, then founded his own school in
Athens, the Lyceum.
Aristotle - ANSWER Tutor to Alexander the Great.
Aristotle - ANSWER Interested in the natural world. First systemic natural philosopher.
Aristotle - ANSWER Trusts the senses, and rejects Plato's ideal forms. Maintains Plato's
orderly universe (disagrees with atomists). The universe is eternal and uncreated.
Aristotle - ANSWER Two sphered cosmology, but the terrestrial spere is composed of
four elements; combinations of hot/cold, wet/dry. Celestial sphere is composed of one
element, aether/ quintessence.
Aristotle - ANSWER Everything consists of form (qualities of the object) and matter
(composition of the object).
Aristotle - ANSWER Four causes behind all change. Formal (structure/ design of a
being), material (physical properties/ makeup), efficient (the agent of change) and final
(the purpose).
Aristotle - ANSWER Two kinds of motion: natural and violent.
Natural: things move according to nature. In terrestrial realm, heavy things (earth,
water) move to centre, light things (air, fire) move away from the centre.
Violent: moving an object against its natural motion.
Ultimate source is the unmoved mover, all movement is traced back to them.
Aristotle - ANSWER Believed in observational, not experimental theorizing. If you
intervene through experiment, the object may not act naturally, and therefore you're not
learning proper natural philosophy.
Ancient atomism - ANSWER Democritus and Epicurus' school of thought.
Epicurus - ANSWER Revived the original work of Democritus.
Epicurus - ANSWER Natural and mechanistic. No god or immaterial things shape natural
philosophy. World is constructed of an innumerable, not infinite, number of atoms. No
distinction between terrestrial and celestial, everything is random ad purposeless (no
teleology).
Epistemology - ANSWER Theory of knowledge, especially with regards to method,
