Memorize these and you could recognize 44.0% of all Philosophy clues.
| # | Answer | Appearances | Sample Clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plato | 11 | Aristocles was the real name of this Athenian known for his "Dialogues" |
| 2 | Soren Kierkegaard | 10 | This 19th century Danish philosopher was known to his followers as "S.K." |
| 3 | Rene Descartes | 10 | Often called the father of modern philosophy, his philosophy was often called "Cartesianism" |
| 4 | Nietzsche | 8 | This 19th-century German philosopher asked "Is man only a blunder of God, or is God only a blunder of man?" |
| 5 | John Locke | 6 | His "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" says the mind is a tabula rasa, or clean slate, at birth |
| 6 | ethics | 6 | It's the branch of philosophy that deals with human conduct & the differences between right & wrong |
| 7 | Jean-Paul Sartre | 6 | This existentialist examined Marxism in his "Critique de la Raison Dialectique" |
| 8 | Socrates | 5 | It's said Aristophanes' mockery helped lead to a death sentence for this philosopher |
| 9 | Confucius | 5 | He say, key to orderly social life is the gentleman of noble character, not of noble birth |
| 10 | utilitarianism | 4 | Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill developed this, which seeks the greatest good for the most people |
| 11 | logic | 4 | It's the study of the principles of reasoning |
| 12 | Bertrand Russell | 4 | Nobel Prize-winning English philosopher who wrote "Principles of Mathematics" & was an anti-nuclear activist |
| 13 | Aristotle | 4 | Plato considered him his brightest student and called him the "mind of the school" |
| 14 | Reason | 3 | Will & Ariel Durant defined the era between 1558 & 1648 as the "Age of ..." this |
| 15 | cosmology | 3 | Metaphysics is often divided into ontology--the study of being--& this study of the physical universe |
| 16 | aesthetics | 3 | This branch of philosophy studies the principles of art & beauty |
| 17 | Thomas Aquinas | 3 | Thomism, based on the ideas of this Dominican friar, combined Greek philosophy & Christian theology |
| 18 | skeptic | 3 | From Greek "to examine", it's one who constantly doubts or questions |
| 19 | effect | 3 | A 1954 article by Michael Dummett is provocatively titled, "Can" one of these "precede its cause?" |
| 20 | Thoreau | 2 | This American philosopher lived with R.W. Emerson before & after his time at Walden Pond |
| 21 | synthesis | 2 | In Hegel's theory of progress, this emerges from the conflict between thesis & antithesis |
| 22 | St. Augustine | 2 | This 4th century saint drew inspiration for his "The City of God" from Plato & St. Paul |
| 23 | Spinoza | 2 | 17th century Dutch Jewish philosopher who said, "Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue" |
| 24 | Rousseau | 2 | In his 1762 treatise "The Social Contract", this Swiss-French philosopher made a case for civil rights |
| 25 | nihilism | 2 | The name of this philosophy that began in 19th century Russia comes from the Latin for "nothing" |
| 26 | nature | 2 | Anti-civilization philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau advocated man's "Return to" this |
| 27 | love & hate | 2 | Empedocles held there were 4 basic substances: air, earth, water & fire, & these 2 basic emotions |
| 28 | idealism | 2 | This -ism can mean the pursuit of noble, impractical goals or, in philosophy, the belief that reality is in one's mind |
| 29 | Hegel | 2 | Schlegel was a romantic philosopher; this rhyming contemporary theorized about the dialectic |
| 30 | hedonism | 2 | The name of this, the belief that pleasure is the highest good of life, comes from Greek for "pleasure" |
| 31 | free will | 2 | The opposite of determinism is this 2-word phrase used in an 1889 Henri Bergson book title |
| 32 | experience | 2 | Empiricism believes all knowledge comes from this, which William Blake wrote "Songs of" |
| 33 | Diogenes | 2 | Guinness calls this Greek lamp-carrying philosopher a "famous cynic" |
| 34 | cynicism | 2 | Antis thenes began this-ism with the view that self-interest is the primary motive of human behavior |
| 35 | Athens | 2 | The Stoics derived their name from a painted porch in this Greek city |
| 36 | Adam Smith | 2 | This Scottish economist wrote "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", a philosophical treatise, in 1759 |
| 37 | 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" |
| 38 | the mind | 2 | Qualia are events in this realm, one of the 2 in Descartes' dualist philosophy |
| 39 | the existence of God | 2 | St. Anselm is famous for his proof of this |
| 40 | Karl Marx | 2 | He & his collaborator Engels were both members of the Young Hegelian philosophical group |
| 41 | Jeremy Bentham | 2 | 1789's "Principles of Morals" by this man defined utilitarianism as the greatest good for the greatest number |
| 42 | 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 |
| 43 | deduction | 2 | Method of reasoning which goes from general statements to specific conclusions |
| 44 | Abelard | 2 | A major figure in logic, he is perhaps best known for his love affair with a student named Heloise |