Subjects · Leaving Cert Religious Education
Leaving Cert Religious Education: Socrates, Plato & Aristotle
How often Socrates, Plato & Aristotle comes up on the Religious Education papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.
HL Asked on 4 of the last 9 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2024.
OL Asked on 8 of the last 9 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. most years
Quick ones on Socrates, Plato & Aristotle.
- Rhetoric (the art of persuasion)
- Dialectic (the Socratic method)
- Empiricism (the scientific method)
- He relied only on divine revelation for knowledge
- He said the senses always deceive us, unlike reason
- He held that knowledge begins with sense experience
- To find what is true of it in every case
- To prove the gods do not exist
- To win arguments in the law courts
Show the answers
(a) Dialectic (the Socratic method)
(b) He held that knowledge begins with sense experience
(c) To find what is true of it in every case
Higher Level
Asked on 4 of the last 9 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2024.
Every paper, year by year
| Year | Where it came up |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Not asked |
| 2024 | A1 |
| 2023 | A1 |
| 2022 | Not asked |
| 2021 | A1 |
| 2019 | Not asked |
| 2018 | A1, A2 |
| 2017 | Not asked |
| 2016 | Not asked |
Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.
More Socrates, Plato & Aristotle questions
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, 3 marks
In Plato's philosophy, what are the Forms?
- Physical objects we touch every day
- The gods of Mount Olympus
- Perfect, unchanging ideas that things copy
Show the answer
Perfect, unchanging ideas that things copy
Plato held that every beautiful thing we see is an imperfect copy of Beauty itself, a Form that never changes. The Forms are known by reason, not by the senses.
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, 3 marks
For Aristotle, the efficient cause of a statue is…
- The purpose it serves
- The sculptor who made it
- The marble it is made of
Show the answer
The sculptor who made it
Aristotle's four causes are material (what it is made of), formal (its shape or nature), efficient (what brings it about) and final (its purpose). The sculptor is the agent who makes it.
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, 2 marks
How was Socrates put to death in 399 BCE?
- He drank a cup of hemlock poison
- He was killed in battle at Sparta
- He was exiled to Persia for life
Show the answer
He drank a cup of hemlock poison
Condemned by an Athenian jury, Socrates refused to escape. Plato's dialogues describe him calmly discussing the soul with friends before drinking the hemlock.
Ordinary Level
Asked on 8 of the last 9 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. most years
Every paper, year by year
| Year | Where it came up |
|---|---|
| 2025 | A1 |
| 2024 | A1 |
| 2023 | A1 |
| 2022 | A2 |
| 2021 | A3 |
| 2019 | A2 |
| 2018 | A2 |
| 2017 | Not asked |
| 2016 | A1 |
Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.
More Socrates, Plato & Aristotle questions
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, 2 marks
The word philosophy comes from Greek words meaning...
- Study of the gods
- Fear of death
- Love of wisdom
Show the answer
Love of wisdom
Philo means love and sophia means wisdom. Philosophers like Socrates searched for wisdom by asking questions and using reason, not only by relying on tradition.
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, 2 marks
How did Socrates mainly search for the truth?
- By doing experiments in a laboratory
- By questioning people in dialogue
- By writing many long books
Show the answer
By questioning people in dialogue
Socrates questioned people in the streets of Athens to test their ideas. This question-and-answer approach is called the Socratic method. He wrote nothing himself.
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, 2 marks
Which saying is linked with Socrates?
- The unexamined life is not worth living
- I think, therefore I am
- Religion is the opium of the people
Show the answer
The unexamined life is not worth living
Socrates believed people must question how they live in order to live well. I think, therefore I am belongs to Descartes; the opium line comes from Marx.