🧠 100 Philosophy GK Questions with Answers
Explore the fascinating world of Philosophy with these 100 General Knowledge questions covering famous philosophers, philosophical schools, ethics, logic, metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy, Indian philosophy, Greek philosophy and major philosophical ideas.
1
Who is widely regarded as the father of Western philosophy?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Socrates.
2
Who was the teacher of Plato?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Socrates.
3
Who was the student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Plato.
4
Who founded the Academy in Athens?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Plato.
5
Who was the tutor of Alexander the Great?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Aristotle.
6
Which Greek philosopher founded the Lyceum?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Aristotle.
7
Which philosopher is associated with the statement “Know thyself”?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Socrates is strongly associated with the principle of self-knowledge.
8
Which Greek philosopher wrote “The Republic”?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Plato.
9
Which philosopher wrote “Nicomachean Ethics”?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Aristotle.
10
Which Greek philosopher is associated with the theory of Forms?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Plato.
11
Which philosopher is associated with the concept of the “Golden Mean”?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Aristotle.
12
Which ancient philosopher founded Stoicism?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Zeno of Citium.
13
Which school of philosophy was founded by Epicurus?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Epicureanism.
14
Which philosopher is famous for the allegory of the Cave?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Plato.
15
Which philosopher is traditionally associated with the paradox of Achilles and the tortoise?
Greek Philosophy
Answer: Zeno of Elea.
16
Who wrote “Meditations on First Philosophy”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: René Descartes.
17
Which philosopher is associated with the phrase “Cogito, ergo sum”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: René Descartes.
18
Who wrote “Leviathan”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Thomas Hobbes.
19
Who wrote “Two Treatises of Government”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: John Locke.
20
Which philosopher is associated with the idea of the social contract?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, among several major social-contract theorists.
21
Who wrote “The Social Contract”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
22
Which philosopher wrote “Critique of Pure Reason”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Immanuel Kant.
23
Who developed the philosophical system known as German Idealism?
Western Philosophy
Answer: German Idealism was developed by several philosophers, including Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel.
24
Who wrote “Phenomenology of Spirit”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: G. W. F. Hegel.
25
Which philosopher is associated with the concept of the “categorical imperative”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Immanuel Kant.
26
Who wrote “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche.
27
Which philosopher famously proclaimed “God is dead”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche.
28
Who wrote “Being and Time”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Martin Heidegger.
29
Which philosopher is closely associated with existentialism and “Being and Nothingness”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre.
30
Who wrote “The Second Sex”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Simone de Beauvoir.
31
Which philosopher is strongly associated with utilitarianism?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
32
Who wrote “On Liberty”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: John Stuart Mill.
33
Who wrote “A Theory of Justice”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: John Rawls.
34
Which philosopher developed the thought experiment called the “veil of ignorance”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: John Rawls.
35
Which philosopher is associated with logical positivism and the Vienna Circle?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Several thinkers were associated with logical positivism, including Rudolf Carnap and Moritz Schlick.
36
What does the Sanskrit word “Darshana” generally mean in Indian philosophy?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: A philosophical view, vision or system of thought.
37
How many orthodox schools are traditionally counted among the classical Hindu philosophical systems?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Six.
38
Which school of Indian philosophy is associated with Gautama?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Nyaya.
39
Which school of Indian philosophy is associated with Kanada?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Vaisheshika.
40
Who is traditionally regarded as the founder of Yoga philosophy?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Patanjali.
41
Who is traditionally associated with the Vedanta school?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: The Vedanta tradition is rooted in the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Gita; major teachers include Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva.
42
Who is the most famous exponent of Advaita Vedanta?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Adi Shankaracharya.
43
What does “Advaita” mean?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Non-duality.
44
Which philosopher developed Vishishtadvaita Vedanta?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Ramanuja.
45
Which philosopher is associated with Dvaita Vedanta?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Madhvacharya.
46
Who founded Buddhism?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.
47
What are the Four Noble Truths associated with?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Buddhism.
48
Which principle is central to Jain ethics?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Ahimsa, or non-violence.
49
What is “Karma” in Indian philosophical traditions?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: The principle that actions have consequences, understood differently across traditions.
50
What does “Moksha” generally refer to in Indian philosophy?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
51
What branch of philosophy studies the nature of reality?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: Metaphysics.
52
What branch of philosophy studies knowledge?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: Epistemology.
53
What branch of philosophy studies morality?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: Ethics.
54
What branch of philosophy studies beauty and art?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: Aesthetics.
55
What branch of philosophy studies correct reasoning?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: Logic.
56
What is epistemology?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The philosophical study of knowledge, belief and justification.
57
What is metaphysics?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The branch of philosophy concerned with fundamental questions about reality, existence and being.
58
What is ethics?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: The philosophical study of morality and how people ought to act.
59
What is ontology?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The study of being, existence and what kinds of things exist.
60
What is epistemic skepticism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The philosophical position that questions whether, or how, certain knowledge can be attained.
61
What is utilitarianism?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: An ethical theory that evaluates actions partly by their consequences, especially overall well-being.
62
What is deontology?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: An ethical approach that emphasizes duties, rules or principles.
63
What is virtue ethics?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: An ethical approach emphasizing character and virtues.
64
What is a syllogism?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: A form of deductive reasoning involving premises leading to a conclusion.
65
What is a logical fallacy?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: An error or flaw in reasoning that can make an argument unsound or misleading.
66
What is determinism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The view that events, including human actions, are determined by prior conditions and laws of nature.
67
What is free will?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The capacity or condition of making choices in a way that is genuinely one’s own.
68
What is dualism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The view that reality, especially mind and body, involves two fundamentally different kinds of substance or aspect.
69
What is materialism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The view that matter or the physical world is fundamental to reality.
70
What is idealism in philosophy?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: A family of views giving a fundamental role to mind, ideas or experience in understanding reality.
71
Who wrote “The World as Will and Representation”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Arthur Schopenhauer.
72
Who wrote “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Ludwig Wittgenstein.
73
Which philosopher is associated with the statement “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Ludwig Wittgenstein.
74
Who wrote “The Myth of Sisyphus”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Albert Camus.
75
Which philosophical movement is closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Existentialism.
76
Who wrote “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Thomas S. Kuhn.
77
Who introduced the concept of “falsifiability” as a criterion for scientific theories?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Karl Popper.
78
Which philosopher wrote “The Open Society and Its Enemies”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Karl Popper.
79
Who wrote “Discourse on the Method”?
Western Philosophy
Answer: René Descartes.
80
Which philosopher is famous for the idea that humans are condemned to be free?
Western Philosophy
Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre.
81
Which ancient Indian text is a major source of philosophical teachings on duty and action?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Bhagavad Gita.
82
What does “Ahimsa” mean?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Non-violence or non-harming.
83
What does “Dharma” broadly refer to in Indian traditions?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: It can refer to duty, ethical order, law, conduct or the sustaining order of reality, depending on the tradition and context.
84
What is “Samsara”?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: The cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
85
What is “Nirvana” in Buddhism?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Liberation from suffering and the cycle of rebirth.
86
Which philosophical tradition emphasizes the doctrine of anatta or “no-self”?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Buddhism.
87
Which ancient Indian philosophical school is generally regarded as non-theistic and emphasizes atomism?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Vaisheshika.
88
Which school of Indian philosophy is especially associated with inference and reasoning?
Indian Philosophy
Answer: Nyaya.
89
What is existentialism primarily concerned with?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: Questions concerning existence, freedom, responsibility, meaning and individual choice.
90
What is nihilism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: A family of views associated with rejection or denial of certain values, meanings or foundations, depending on the form of nihilism.
91
What is the philosophical study of political authority and justice called?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: Political philosophy.
92
What is skepticism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: A philosophical approach that questions whether and how knowledge or justified belief is possible.
93
What is rationalism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The view that reason plays a fundamental role in acquiring knowledge.
94
What is empiricism?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The view that experience, especially sensory experience, is central to knowledge.
95
What is the philosophical problem of mind and body?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: The question of how mental states and physical states are related.
96
What is the “Golden Rule” in ethics?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: The principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated.
97
What is a priori knowledge?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: Knowledge or justification considered independent of particular sensory experience.
98
What is a posteriori knowledge?
Ethics & Logic
Answer: Knowledge or justification based on experience.
99
What is the Socratic method?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: A method of inquiry based on questioning and dialogue to examine assumptions and clarify ideas.
100
What is philosophy literally understood to mean?
Philosophy Concepts
Answer: “Love of wisdom,” from the Greek words philia (love) and sophia (wisdom).
🔎 No philosophy questions found. Try another search term.
Leave a Reply