Ethics in America DSST Questions and Answers(A+ Solution guide)

Ethics - Answer-The academic discipline of analyzing morality, based on reasoning, rules and logic. Cosmogony - Answer-The study of the origin of the universe. Pythagoras - Answer-A pre-Socratic philosopher, mathematician and cosmologist who wrote nothing himself, but is historically thought to have believed in the magic of numbers and reincarnation. Sophists - Answer-A group of traveling teachers from the fifth century BC who were paid to lecture on a variety of topics. They can be considered the first relativists, and gained a reputation for being untrustworthy thanks to their reliance on persuasion over truth. Relativism - Answer-The belief that every point of view and standard of behavior is equally valid. Thucydides - Answer-A Greek historian who wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War, which presented a mixture of facts and fact-based fictionalization. In it he raises questions of the ethics of war. He equated freedom with happiness and courage. Socrates - Answer-One of the most famous thinkers of all time, not for his beliefs, but his dialectic method of teaching. He never wrote anything himself, but was memorialized in the works of his student, Plato. For him, virtue and knowledge were the same, and all wickedness stemmed from ignorance. The Athenian government saw him as a threat and had him executed. Dialectic - Answer-Also known as the Socratic Method, a method of argument in which one person asks the other questions to try to get them to realize their own answers or the flaws in their argument. Plato - Answer-Founder of the Academy and writer of the Republic. Allegory of the Cave - Answer-An extended metaphor created by Plato. It describes a group of prisoners in a cave, chained so their backs are to the entrance. They believe that the shadows (sensed reality) before them are reality, until someone manages to get free, turn around and see the source of the shadows (the real world, which can only be experienced intellectually).Aristotle - Answer-A philosopher and Plato's student who concentrated on empirical knowledge. He believed that change is necessary and natural, and everything has a purpose. He wrote Nicomachean Ethics, and that balance was the key to happiness. Stoics - Answer-Followers of Zeno, Greeks who believed that absolute laws and destiny ruled the universe, and that since humans could not change fate, they were happiest when they simply accepted it and lived with self-control. Hedonists - Answer-Also known as Epicureans after their original teacher, these believed that happiness was the purpose of life, and anything that reduced pain and increased happiness was therefore good. Christianity - Answer-A religion founded by Jesus Christ, based on the Bible, that teaches that humanity is fallen and can only find salvation through faith in Christ and his substitutiary sacrifice. Judaism - Answer-The oldest monotheistic religion, it is based on the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, and influenced both Christianity and Islam. It places emphasis on history, laws and religious community.