1. The philosophic insistence on providing a logos for the world and our experience of it might rely ultimately on adopting a certain mythos, insofar as:

A. Philosophy assumes that it is possible and meaningful to reason about the world and experience.

B. The myths of philosophy are really lies that are told to make so-called philosophic enquiries sound more respectable

C. Philosophy is based on logic, whereas myths are not based on logic

D. Mythos refers to the philosophic understanding of the world, whereas logos refers to the philosophic understanding of our
experience of the world

2. Plato indicates that the knowledge of pure reason is preferable to conceptual understanding, because knowing that something is a certain kind of thing is not as good as knowing:

A. How we come to learn what to call a thing in virtue of our own experiences

B. The logos or rationale of the thing, that is, why it is the way it is.

C. Why we differ among ourselves about what we claim to know.

D. The difference between knowledge and opinion as outlined in Plato's divided line image.

3. For Socrates, the beliefthat "virtue is knowledge" is related to his claim that "the unexamined life is not worth living,"
because he believes that:

A. The unexamined life is one in which we live day to day without asking questions about who we are and why we are here in
the first place

B. The Delphic oracle identified Socrates as the wisest person on earth because he claimed to know nothing.

C. By questioning traditional beliefs, we learn to recognize some answers seem to be more satisfactory than others

D. The only way to be a good or worthwhile person is to know ·how human beings should behave based on universal norms or values

4. Aristotle says that what makes things be what they are -their--essence-does not exist apart from individuals that exist in the world. So if all the members of a species were destroyed, then their essence or form:

A. would likewise be destroyed

B. would be destroyed only ifthere were no one around to remember the species

C. would continue existing (as with Plato's forms) in some other realm of being.

D. would not be destroyed because there was no essence or form originally to be destroyed; there are only individuals, not
universal essences or nature of things.

5. Which of the statement below best captures what Kant' sconstructivism says about the world of which we can have knowledge?

A. It is entirely created by our minds.

B. It has it own structure completely independent of our minds.

C. Its fundamental structure depends on our minds, but our minds must work with given material that they don't create.

D. It's sustained by a single divine mind.

6. Kant believed there was only one thing that determined one's standing in the moral universe, this was:

A. desire to show kindness

B. honesty

C. integrity

D. ability to reason

7. According to intuitionists, our ethical intuitions are:

A. An incentive to do our duty, but not a way of knowing our duty

B. Special sources ofethical knowledge

C. Temptations to be shunned

D. Sources of happiness, but not sources of knowledge

8. Mill claims that the distinction between justice and other moral obligations corresponds perfectly to the distinction between:

A. Perfect and imperfect obligations

B. Positive and negative duties

C. Strong and weak duties

D. Absolute and relative obligations

9. Why does Russell think that we need to accept an additional postulate in order to justify the inference to existence of other minds?

A. Because science has shown that there are no other minds

B. Because the only way to infer the existence of other minds is to use some particular religious worldview

C. Because nothing in physics alone" can 'tell us whether other minds exist

D. Because additional postulates make the analogical reasoning stronger.

10. Why does Russell think that the uncertainty of philosophy is a valuable thing?

A. Because studying philosophy helps us realize that the world is puzzling

B. Because studying philosophy forces us to think harder so as to achieve certainty.

C. Because studying philosophy teaches us to respect those who know more than we do.

D. Because studying philosophy encourages us to learn as much as we possibly can.

11. Which one of the following is the most appropriate description of Aristotle's God?

A. Pure form and perfect actuality

B. Pure matter and perfect actuality

C. Pure form·and pure potentiality

D. Pure matter and pure potentiality

12. Which of the following is not at liberty according to Hume?

A. A man locked in a room with a friend, who does not want to leave his friend yet.

B. A woman who wants a sandwich because she has been influenced by advertising to buy one

C. A student who misses his bus and has to wait for another one

D. A kleptomaniac who forgets to take his medication and starts stealing things from people.

13. Which of the following, according to Husserl, is not a feature of the phenomenological description of an event?

A. The description of the experiencing

B. It focuses on the objectifying position of the event

C. The description of the experienced

D. The event may properly be called internal

14. Which of the following, according to Heidegger, is not a part of the meaning of the 'the essent'?

A. That which is at any time

B. That which brings it about that this thing is

C. That which changes on the basis of our questions

D. That which is

15. Wittgenstein concludes that if someone reads the Tractatus properly, that' person realizes that ...

A. the propositions of the Tractatus are true a priori

B. the propositions of the Tractatus are nonsensical

C. ethics is the subject of all linguistic analysis

D. the limits to thought have been clearly defined

16. Sartre claims that all existentialists agree that "existence precedes essence," which means

A. the existence of God or of matter precedes human meaning

B. all things start as matter and take on form as a secondary nature

C. human nature evolved after people did

D. people come into the world without any given meaning

17. According to Quine, extensional agreement between two predicates

A. would be sufficient to insure analyticity

B. insures that they have the same truth value

C. is equivalent to cognitive synonymy

D. tells us nothing about the truth or meaning ofeither predicate

18. According to Derrida, which of the following is not true of all writing?

A. It carries with it a force that breaks with its context

B. It must be capable of functioning in the absence of all 'receivers' or readers

C. It must continue to be readable even when the author is gone

D. It is exhausted or given fully in the moment ofits being written

19. The that Descartes says must exist is characterized by

A. a combination ofbody

B. a mind with thoughts and a separate body with sense perceptions

C. a body that has sensory perceptions only

D. a mind that thinks rationally only

20. According to Rousseau, why do mostworld rulers look after their people?

A. Because rulers have been appointed by the people to keep the peace.

B. Because rulers wish to exploit their subjects.

C. Because rulers have an obligation to the people to rule them.

D. Because rulers care for their people as a father cares for his children

21. According to Locke, the difference between primary and secondary qualities is that

A. primary qualities are inherent in all objects and secondary qualities are inherent in some

B. primary qualities exist in the objects themselves, while secondary qualities exist only in our perception

C. primary qualities are separable from the objects while secondary qualities make up an objects essence·

D. primary qualities are deceptive, but can be known by careful, logical reasoning, while secondary qualities cannot be known at all.

22. According to Kant, a priori "intuitions" are possible because ...

A. intuitions exist only in the mind apart form reason and perception

B. intuitions are what the mind immediately knows prior to thought

C. they are not possible, because intuitions are always based on a posteriori experience

D. intuitions are logical arguments and proofs which are true by definition

23. Leibniz disagrees with Spinoza's view ofcreation because...

A. Leibniz believes God created this particular world purposefully, while Spinoza thinks this is just one ofmany worlds which God necessarily created.

B. Leibniz wonders if God could have made a better world, but Spinoza thinks this is the best ofall possible worlds

C. Leibniz believes that God allowed imperfection in his world, while Spinoza thinks the world is perfect.

D. Leibniz believes God is under necessity to create while Spinoza thinks God creates by God's own will.


24. Innate principles do not exist because of all of the following reasons except ...

A. universal consensus proves nothing

B. children and insane persons obviously do not have them

C. all of the disagreement surrounding morality suggests it is not an innate principle

D. nothing can be understood that is clearly represented to the sense.

25. The conclusion that God is the only substance containing all attributes is based on all of the following premises except..

A. substance necessarily exists

B. all things that exist necessarily exist

C. substance is essential and infinite.

D. substances cannot create each other.

26. Mill states that good must be something that is desired as an end in itself and concludes that the only thing which is so
desired is

A. things which have utility

B. a life lived in accordance with virtue

C. that which is desired for the sake of duty only.

D. the increase ofpleasure and the decrease ofpain

27. Which of the following sentences is an atomic sentence

A. Aristotle is a friend

B. Aristotle is a philosopher and logician

C. Plato and Aristotle are philosophers

D. Either Plato or Aristotle is a philosopher

28. When the relation between two propositions is one of sub-contrary,

A. They cannot be both false

B. They cannot be both true

C. They are contradictory

D. They cannot be consistent

29. The capitalistic system isolates people from one another for all of the following reasons except

A. workers are at odds with the foremen and so alienate themselves from their bosses

B. people can only relate through the products of their labor, and when they are isolated from the products of their labor, they are also isolated from one another

C. since workers each own a part of the means ofproduction, they cannot agree to work together.

D. workers compete for jobs with other workers, which builds hostility rather than camaraderie.


30. According to Nyaya, anyathakhyati occurs due to ...

A. Manasapratyaksa

B. Jnanalaksanapratyaksa

C. Samanyalaksanapratyaksa

D. Yogajapratyaksa

31. How is the knowledge ofnegation (abhava) accounted by the Advaita Vedanta?

A. By means of sense perception

B. By means of inference

C. By means of intuition

D. By means of non-apprehension

32. Consider the following combinations:

i) Asteya, aparigraha, niyama
ii) Ahimsa, brahmacarya
iii) Manana, mudita, uipeksa
iv) Asteya, aparigraha, satya

Which one of the following combinations given above are acceptable in Jaina ethics?

A. i and ii

B. ii and iv

C. ii and iii

D. i and iv

33. Jainism classifies paroksa knowledge into:

A. Mati and sruta

B. Mati and avadhi

C. Mati and kevala

D. Avadhi and kevala


34. Consider the following statements concerning Nyaya-vaisesika view ofsamanya.

1) The individual alone is real and there is no universal other than particular object of experience.
2) The universal is the basis of the notion of sameness that we have with regard to all the individuals of a certain class
3) There is no universal subsisting in another universal.

Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

A. 2 only

B. 2 and 3

C. 3 only

D. 1 and 3

35. Who among the following thinkers defined pratyaksa as 'kalpanopadam abhrantam?

A. Asanga

B. Dignaga

C. Dharmakirti

D. Santaraksita

36. Which one among the following is acceptable to Buddhism?

A. Pramanavyavasta

B. Pramanasamplava

C. Both pramanavyavastha and pramanasamplava

D. Neither pramanavyavasthaand pramanasamplava

37. According to Nyaya, the universal of sound (sabdatva) is known through ...

A. Pratyaksa

B. Anumana

C. Sabda

D. Upamana

38. If Carvaka accepts an inference that will be because ...

A. its conclusion serves his self interest

B. it is consistent with his belief

C. its conclusion is verified by perception

D. it is consistent with the views of others

39. In which stage ofastangayoga the distinction between knower, known and knowledge disappears.

A. Asamprajnasamadhi

B. Samprajnasamadhi

C. Sanandasamadhi

D. Sasmitasamadhi

40. Which one of the following is not an argument for the existence ofprakrti?

A. Bhedanamparimanat

B. Samanvayat

C. Sanghatapararthatvat

D. Karanakaryavibhagat

41. When a Mimamsaka concludes that the criminal escaped on account of collusion with the second guard of the prison because he definitely knows that the first guard was not involved in the collusion is an instance of

A. anumana

B. tarka

C. arthapatti

D. samsaya

42. In predicate logic, the individuals in a proposition ...

A. need to be distributed

B. comprise of proper names

C. represent quantifiers

D. are predicate letters

43. Natural deduction system or derivative system in logic is concerned with ...

A. truth values

B. semantic entailments

C. logical interpretations

D. rules of inference

44. In the method of symbolization, material implication is employed to symbolize ...

A. Universal proposition

B. Existential proposition

C. Affirmative proposition

D. Negative proposition

45. In truth functional logic, the antecedent and consequent of a material implication are

A. never false together

B. necessarily true

C. independent of each other

D. causally related





Part-B

Maximum Marks: 30 Answer any two questions choosing at least one from each section. All questions carry equal marks. Marks: 20

1. "Just as the skepticism of Hume helped Kant to come out of his dogmatic slumber, so also Carvaka Philosophy saved Indian Philosophy from dogmatism". Discuss.

2. Examine how pratityasamutpadavada is central to Buddhism.




1. What is the verifiability theory of meaningfulness? What are the principal objections against it?

2. Is the concept of freedom consistent with the theory of determinism of Spinoza? Support your answer with arguments


Write short notes on any two of the following choosing at least one from each section. All questions carry equal marks. Marks: 10
Section: I


1. Elucidate Ramanuja's criticism ofMayavada.

2. Explain the Buddhist refutation of substance as a category.


Section: II


1. "The rational is real and the real is rational"-Comment.

2. Kant's objections against the ontological arguments for the existence of God.