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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the concepts of praise or blame indicate according to Aristotle?

2. What do Voltaire's letter criticizing France formulate in the French people?

3. Like Aristotle, what does Bacon see needs to be removed to avoid revolution?

4. What does Socrates ask Cephalus to define?

5. What is one result of Aristotle's prolific output of writing?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Durant see the evolution of stoicism into the Christian religion?

2. Describe Spinoza's identification of three ethical systems.

3. Describe the mathematical form of Spinoza's approach to his philosophy.

4. Explain why Spinoza gives up everything for philosophy.

5. Why is Aristotle's philosophy often criticized as dry and uninteresting?

6. How is Bacon's philosophy comparable to Plato's?

7. Briefly describe Plato's ideal rulers.

8. How does Plato differentiate between emotion and knowledge?

9. Describe Aristotle's idea of what a man's goal in life should be.

10. Explain the reasons for a break between Plato and Aristotle.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on Spencer's idea that a militant society exalts certain virtues and condones what other people might call crimes. Use the modern debate over the use of torture in wartime investigations as an example.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on Spinoza's idea that one thing may be good, bad, or indifferent all at the same time which he illustrates by music. In your essay identify and explain how something like modern electronics may be good, bad, or indifferent all at the same time.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay on Aristotle's idea of the soul as pure thought. In the essay discuss how this concept destroys the soul as it is generally understood in Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions.

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