Understanding Objectivism Test (01)

1) Identify the three leading arguments (according to Dr. Peikoff) against philosophy: [p.2]

2) Objectivism says you must like skyscrapers. [p.14]

3) Dr. Peikoff maintains that If someone reads a book on Objectivism (reading in full focus), is sincere, concludes that the philosophy makes sense, and decides that he agrees with it, then he understands it. [p.19]

4) According to Dr. Peikoff, definitions can sometimes be positively harmful to your mental process. [p.22]

5) Dr. Peikoff holds that there are three variants of the mind/body dichotomy that should be singled out as the real heart of the dichotomy (focusing on how they would be a problem to Objectivists): [p.25]

6) Rationalism is a form (or a symptom) of the mind/body dichotomy. [p.26-29]

7) According to Dr. Peikoff, fundamental philosophic ideas are almost never profoundly controversial. [p.45]

8) Dr. Peikoff calls the process of taking a concept back to its concretes: [p.58]

9) Emotions are essential to automatize the process of concretization. [p.60]

10) Induction is the process of coming to conclusions on the basis of earlier abstractions. [p.63]

11) Deduction is the process of coming to conclusions on the basis of observation. [p.63]

12) According to Objectivism, you should always tell the truth. [p.71]

13) According to Dr. Peikoff the following is a proper characterization of honesty: “the essence of honesty is facing reality – not evading, exercising your mind.” [p.71-72]

14) The mental process of concretizing without a principle and without structure is called: [p.77]

15) The issue of principles is not the same issue as the fact that life has objective requirements.[p.90]

16) By what method do humans know the future? [p.93]

17) There are two roots of the concept of “principle”: [p.93-94]

18) Is rationality a concrete or an abstraction? [p.95]

19) Identify the following concept: “first we learn a given idea; then we leave it, we move to something else, we learn other subjects; then we encounter the original idea again, but now with more knowledge, with a deeper context.” [p.101-102]

20) According to Dr. Peikoff, there are contexts in which it is justified to lie to a person who is not threatening the use of force. For example, it can be perfectly moral to lie to protect one’s privacy from a busybody that has no right the information in question. [p.103]

21) In Lecture Four, Dr. Peikoff provides a checklist for examining the methodology used in a presentation. Which of the following is not listed on that checklist? [p.112 -113]

22) Objectivism maintains that it is bad to force a mind. [p.126]

23) It’s easy to see that force is bad for the victim, that it’s against his life. But it’s more difficult to prove that force is evil for the perpetrator. [p.127]

24) The government should prohibit whatever is immoral. [p.140]

25) The principle of “Occam’s Razor” states: [p.143]