Chapter 09 Self Quiz

. To say that a calculator is "deterministic" means that

given the same input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, leaving nothing to chance.

given the same input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, except insofar as chance interferes.

given any input at all input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, leaving nothing to chance.

given any input at all input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, except insofar as chance interferes.

. __________ imagined a supernatural "demon," with unlimited memory, an unlimited ability to calculate, and a complete knowledge of the laws of physics, who, given a complete description of the world at some particular time, could figure out the whole subsequent course of history-- including all human actions.

Plato

Descartes

Newton

Pierre-Simon Laplace

. Owing to the belief in deterministic physics during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the solar system was sometimes compared to a(n)

firmly grounded building.

animal with interrelated parts.

giant clock.

well-functioning city.

. According to the text, in contrast to the merely apparent "chance" character of dice rolls or coin flips, some quantum physicists believe __________ is/are a genuinely random process.

the origin of life

radioactive decay

Einstein-Rosen bridges

All of the above

. Which of the following is an aspect of what we have in mind when we say that we have "free will"?

You have a number of different options before you.

You are, to some extent, in control of which option you chose.

You are responsible for your choice.

All of the above

. Determinism is particularly threatening to the idea that

we are responsible for what we do-- that is, that we are at fault for the things we do wrong or deserve credit for the good things we do.

God exists and is the cause of the universe.

there is an afterlife-- that is, heaven and hell.

All of the above

. Philosophers who suggested that we have free will even though determinism is true are known as

quantum theorists.

soft determinists.

hard determinists.

libertarians.

. When Hume said that a free person acts "according to the determinations of the will," he meant that a free person's actions are a result of

radical, metaphysical freedom.

a will determined by the universal laws of physics.

her decisions, in pursuit of what she desires.

All of the above

. Which condition(s) not obtaining led Hume to believe that the movements of an epileptic person having a seizure aren't free?

The person is acting in pursuit of what he desires, and his actions are a result of his own decisions.

There are no obstacles in the person's way, which prevent him from acting as he chooses.

Both a and b

None of the above

. __________ rejected determinism by stating: "Determinism, in denying that anything else can be in its stead, virtually defines the universe as a place in which what ought to be is impossible," in other words, as an organism whose constitution is afflicted with an incurable taint, an irremediable flaw.â

William James

Baron d'Holbach

Immanuel Kant

David Hume

. Scientific libertarians think that

hard and soft determinism are false.

there is randomness in our neural processes, similar to the randomness in contemporary physics, so that our decision-making is not deterministic.

because our decisions are indeterministic, we are, in part, free.

All of the above

. __________ claimed that we each have a nonphysical, "transcendental" self, that is outside space and time, is ungoverned by the laws of physics, and makes free decisions for which we are morally responsible.

William James

Baron d'Holbach

Immanuel Kant

David Hume