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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Socrates discuss Asclepius' philosophy?
(a) His leadership is well established.
(b) He has a practical approach of only treating patients whom he knows he can heal.
(c) His leadership is a good example of how not to lead.
(d) He disagrees with Socrates about the ideal republic.

2. To understand Ion's poetically inspired spirit, Socrates employs a metaphor of which of the following?
(a) An eye attempting to see itself, explaining how our mental visions are limited by the bounds of our brain.
(b) A newly born start to explain how small and insignificant our world is in the greater picture.
(c) A magnet to explain how a poet's inspiration moves from the muse to the audience.
(d) A dying animal to explain how the sole individual is part of a significant collective.

3. In Socrates' ideal nation, literature which depicts the afterlife should depict it as___________.
(a) Negative.
(b) Positive.
(c) Foreboding.
(d) Mysterious.

4. How does Socrates plan to keep the soldiers of the republic from fighting?
(a) He reasons that if they make the most money, they will always be happy.
(b) Socrates does not have a measure for ensuring peace among the guardian-class.
(c) He reasons that if they belonged to the same family, they would not fight.
(d) He trusts that anyone who becomes a solider would put his state before his personal emotions.

5. Who is the surprise visitor to the symposium, and why does he come?
(a) There is no surprise visitor.
(b) Alcibiades comes because he is drunk and wants to seduce Socrates.
(c) Aristotle arrives late because he traveled farther than the others.
(d) Appolodorus comes because he is angry he wasn't invited.

6. What is a symposium?
(a) An ancient restaurant.
(b) An outdoor gathering of philosophers near a nobleman's residence.
(c) A small club of Sophists.
(d) An all- night drinking party where various elite Greeks discuss the meaning of love.

7. By the end of Book IV Socrates has still not proved _______________.
(a) Justice manifests on earth.
(b) Courage comes from education and fear comes from ignorance.
(c) Laws affect the flow of life.
(d) Justice is preferable to injustice.

8. How does Socrates rebut the definition of virtue offered by the poets?
(a) By proving to Meno that there are many commonly held virtues.
(b) By giving Meno a solid definition of virtue.
(c) By instructing Meno that it is impossible to have an abstract entity which moves other things but does not move itself.
(d) By showing Meno that all men desire good things, but that not all men are virtuous.

9. Describe Thrasymachus' view of Socrates.
(a) He can't follow Socrates' logic.
(b) He chastizes Socrates for asking questions freely, but dodging them when he is asked a question himself.
(c) He hates Socrates and thinks Socrates is stupid.
(d) He likes the Socratic method of reasoning.

10. One virtue that Socrates constantly refers to in his reasoning throughout Book III is_____________.
(a) Will.
(b) Courage.
(c) Originality.
(d) Balance.

11. Glaucon offers Socrates a proof that ____________________.
(a) An unjust lifestyle is more rewarding than a just one.
(b) A just life is better than a just one.
(c) Justice can't have a consistent definition.
(d) Appearing unjust but actually being just is most desirable.

12. How does Thrasymachus first define justice?
(a) "Being impartial and unbiased in all decisions."
(b) "Nothing other than the advantage of the stronger."
(c) "Making laws to one's own disadvantage."
(d) "Acting selflessly, so that the kingdom may prosper."

13. In Ion, Socrates concludes that Ion's ability to memorize poetry is which of the following?
(a) Divinely inspired, just like the very poets whom Ion recites.
(b) Not proof that he knows what it actually means.
(c) Proof that he knows what it actually means.
(d) An art that he learned from others.

14. Which of the following does Socrates reason about poetry?
(a) Poetry was not meant to be read aloud.
(b) A poem's content always belongs to the one who recites it.
(c) If poetry consists of statements which belong to other arts, then such "other arts" are actually one thing.
(d) A poem's content cannot belong to the one who recites it.

15. What poet is cited by Cephalus to explain the paradox of old age?
(a) Homer.
(b) Petrach.
(c) Shakespeare.
(d) Pindar.

Short Answer Questions

1. When pressed by Socrates to explain his skill, Ion asserts which of the following?

2. In Ion, Socrates compares Ion to which of the following?

3. What are the three social classes in the republic, according to Socrates?

4. Complete the comparison: philosophers have wisdom whereas common men have _______

5. Why does Glaucon continue conversing with Socrates?

(see the answer keys)

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