View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part I.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What examples does Burke use to argue that some sights are pleasurable to all people?
(a) Objects or ideas that he argues are morally repugnant.
(b) Objects he and others he knows think are beautiful.
(c) Objects he says can only be found in country estates.
(d) Objects he opines are among the ugliest animal species.

2. What problem does Burke see with the contemporary notion of "taste?"
(a) Everyone pays too much attention to taste and not enough attention to reason.
(b) Nobody Burke knows seems to have taste.
(c) It's principles have not been made uniform.
(d) The concept of taste is misunderstood and badly defined.

3. What, according to Burke, is responsible for common deviations in natural taste?
(a) Custom and habit.
(b) Confusion of the mind.
(c) Humankind's natural curiosity.
(d) A willingness to deceive others.

4. Which method of teaching does Burke think best?
(a) Allowing the learner to investigate the subject.
(b) Testing the learner on the subject.
(c) Lecturing the learner on the subject.
(d) Referring obliquely to the subject in conversation with the learner.

5. What problem does Burke find with merely defining a term like "taste?"
(a) There is a danger of confining and limiting the term to our present understanding.
(b) People may disagree with and contest his definition.
(c) The process of defining the term may go on forever, and become overwhelming.
(d) Taste is only an idea, not a reality, so it cannot be defined or described.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Burke note about youth, as related to taste?

2. In what year was "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" first published?

3. What natural powers in man does Burke say relate to external objects?

4. What two main passions connect with this creative power of the mind?

5. Why does Burke offer a second edition of "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 410 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample