Memorize these and recognize 49.6% of all Philosophy clues.
| # | Answer | Count | Sample Clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rene Descartes | 14 | Cartesianism, based on mathematical principles, comes from the Latin verison of his name |
| 2 | Plato | 13 | Upon this thinker's death in 347 B.C., the Greek philosopher Speusippus, his nephew, took over the academy |
| 3 | Nietzsche | 12 | This 19th-century German philosopher asked "Is man only a blunder of God, or is God only a blunder of man?" |
| 4 | Soren Kierkegaard | 12 | This 19th century Danish philosopher was known to his followers as "S.K." |
| 5 | Jean-Paul Sartre | 8 | This existentialist gave the world "Nausea", a philosophical novel, in 1938 |
| 6 | John Locke | 7 | This Englishman's "Second Treatise" laid the groundwork for future democracies & the U.S. constitution |
| 7 | ethics | 7 | 2 basic approaches in this field are deontology (an act is inherently good or bad) & teleology (depends on the result) |
| 8 | Confucius | 7 | In Chinese this influential philosopher is called K'ung Fu-Tzu |
| 9 | Bertrand Russell | 6 | While writing "Principia Mathematica", this 20th century British thinker was a lecturer at Cambridge |
| 10 | Socrates | 5 | Plato & Xenophon left accounts of this philosopher who wrote nothing himself |
| 11 | Aristotle | 5 | Greek philosopher whose works were the basis for most scientific study well into 17th c. |
| 12 | utilitarianism | 4 | Jeremy Bentham founded this doctrine whose name comes from utilis, Latin for "useful" |
| 13 | logic | 4 | You need to learn to wield a syllogism in this millennia-old branch of philosophy |
| 14 | Thoreau | 4 | In July 1846 he spent a night in jail rather than pay a tax; that led to his essay "Civil Disobedience" |
| 15 | a skeptic | 4 | From Greek "to examine", it's one who constantly doubts or questions |
| 16 | Reason | 3 | Kant wrote "Critiques" of pure & practical this, the method of making logical correlations |
| 17 | nature | 3 | Rousseau argued that man is happier & morally better not in society but in a "state of" this, like wild plants & animals are |
| 18 | Hegel | 3 | Many of Kierkegaard's works were a strong reaction against this German's idealist phenomenology |
| 19 | hedonism | 3 | This -ism, the idea that life is for pleasure, became the name of a clothing-optional resort in Jamaica |
| 20 | cynicism | 3 | Antisthenes has been credited with starting this Greek sect, now the -ism that says people are only out for themselves |
| 21 | cosmology | 3 | Metaphysics is often divided into 2 areas: ontology, the study of being, & this, the study of the physical universe |
| 22 | aesthetics | 3 | It's the philosophical study of art & of the judgments of art & beauty |
| 23 | Adam Smith | 3 | 239 years ago he wrote of "the enormous debts which... will in the long run probably ruin all the great nations of Europe" |
| 24 | Thomas Aquinas | 3 | Thomism, based on the ideas of this Dominican friar, combined Greek philosophy & Christian theology |
| 25 | Spinoza | 3 | This 17th c. Dutch Jew was excommunicated from his synagogue for his independent thinking |
| 26 | effect | 3 | A 1954 article by Michael Dummett is provocatively titled, "Can" one of these "precede its cause?" |
| 27 | synthesis | 2 | According to Hegelian dialectic, this is the solution to the 2 opposites thesis & antithesis |
| 28 | stoicism | 2 | Tranquility of mind is important in this -ism taught by its founder Zeno from a porch in Athens |
| 29 | St. Augustine | 2 | A Florida city is named for this medieval author of "The City of God" |
| 30 | Rousseau | 2 | In "The Social Contract", this French thinker claimed that "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains" |
| 31 | pragmatism | 2 | This -ism of assessing ideas by their practical consequences is the title of a William James work |
| 32 | nihilism | 2 | The name of this philosophy that began in Russia in the 1850s is derived from the Latin noun for "nothing" |
| 33 | metaphysics | 2 | In 1934 A.J. Ayer set out to show "the Impossibility of" this, a plural noun for the study of the nature of the universe |
| 34 | love & hate | 2 | Empedocles said that these were the 2 basic emotions or forces |
| 35 | idealism | 2 | Philosophy portrayed in More's "Utopia" & personified in Don Quixote's tilting at windmills |
| 36 | I think | 2 | Act which led Descartes to conclude, "...therefore I am" |
| 37 | free will | 2 | Some say this 2-word concept of desire & decision isn't real; experiments show people exposed to that viewpoint behave worse |
| 38 | experience | 2 | Empiricism is the theory that all knowledge comes from this |
| 39 | existentialism | 2 | Philosophical movement most associated with Jean-Paul Sartre |
| 40 | Diogenes | 2 | After this lantern-carrying Greek's death, a marble dog was placed on top of his monument in Corinth |
| 41 | Athens | 2 | Unlike the Academy, the school Epicurus founded in this city in 306 B.C. regularly admitted women |
| 42 | the truth | 2 | David Hume said the love of this, which a witness is asked to tell, "never is, nor can be carried to too high a degree" |
| 43 | the mind | 2 | Qualia are events in this realm, one of the 2 in Descartes' dualist philosophy |
| 44 | the existence of God | 2 | St. Anselm is famous for his proof of this |
| 45 | Karl Marx | 2 | He & his collaborator Engels were both members of the Young Hegelian philosophical group |
| 46 | Jeremy Bentham | 2 | 1789's "Principles of Morals" by this man defined utilitarianism as the greatest good for the greatest number |
| 47 | belief in God | 2 | Pascal's wager is that you may as well hold this belief because that gives you everything to gain & nothing to lose |
| 48 | deduction | 2 | Method of reasoning which goes from general statements to specific conclusions |
| 49 | David Hume | 2 | I was born in Edinburgh in 1711, 28 years before I published the first volumes of "A Treatise of Human Nature" |
| 50 | Abelard | 2 | A major figure in logic, he is perhaps best known for his love affair with a student named Heloise |
These appear 8+ times. Memorize these first.
Jump to: Chemistry / Elements | Math / Physics | Biology / Animals | Other | Astronomy / Space | Botany / Plants