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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Burke assert is necessary for the success of "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?
(a) To demonstrate his expansive knowledge of the passions.
(b) To make his readers agree with him.
(c) To debunk all outmoded notions of the sublime.
(d) To establish the principles of taste.

2. Why is grief a part of pleasure, according to Burke?
(a) Because people actively and willfully grieve.
(b) Because all endings are beginnings.
(c) Because grief always gives way to laughter.
(d) Because grief reminds the individual that life continues.

3. How does Burke define sympathy?
(a) As a painful realization, and reasoned acceptance, of one's humanity .
(b) As an unnecessary show of weakness that will cause pain.
(c) As a desirable state of mind reached by looking inward towards one's own soul.
(d) As a sort of emotional substitution between people or through art.

4. What natural powers in man does Burke say relate to external objects?
(a) The judgment, emotions, and the will.
(b) The senses, passions, and the will.
(c) The senses, imagination, and judgment.
(d) The imagination, passions, and the senses.

5. Why, as Burke argues, are humans "more inclined to belief than to incredulity?"
(a) Because God is born in all of us, so we have a natural inclination to believe in him.
(b) Because believing something is easy, whereas not believing is more difficult.
(c) Because believing makes it easier to get along with others in the social-contract model of society.
(d) Because belief engages the imagination pleasantly, while incredulity is naturally negative.

Short Answer Questions

1. What problem does Burke find with merely defining a term like "taste?"

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

3. What does Burke term the "creative power" of the mind?

4. What is the general reason Burke wrote the book, as stated in the First Preface?

5. Into which two classes does Burke group the passions of society?

(see the answer key)

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