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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. How many articles did Rousseau contribute to the Encyclopedia?

2. To what book did Hannah Arendt write a preface in 1950?

3. When did the words "perfectibilite" and civilisation" (55) make their first appearance in a European language?

4. What was Voltaire's father's occupation?

5. When did Marx and Engels write The Communist Manifesto?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Clearing a Space," what did Fukuyama and Zakaria have to say about Western civilization and world development?

2. In "Loving Oneself Through Others," what was Montaigne's impression of moneymaking, and how did that idea change in the 18th century?

3. In "Clearing a Space," what is modernity?

4. In "Clearing a Space," what became the universalist creed and what was seen as a marker of progress?

5. In the Prologue what are many themes of the global unrest that the author has seen?

6. In "Clearing a Space," what was the purpose of history and how did it become sanitized?

7. In "Loving Oneself Through Others," what was Rosseau's view of religion?

8. In the Prologue, what mystery did Emile Durkheim struggle with in his book from 1897?

9. In the Prologue, what was the attitude and thought about the world after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989?

10. In "Loving Oneself Through Others," in Le Mondain, what did Voltaire tell people to do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mishra discusses the poem Le Mondain written by Voltaire. What was Le Mondain an ode to? What ideals about wealth were followed in the Middle Ages? How did Voltaire dismiss the Christian past? What did he promote instead? What changes did he propose in Western culture? In what way did Voltaire usher in a moral revolution through Le Mondain?

Essay Topic 2

The word “philosophes” was a French word for philosopher. How did philosophes view themselves and their abilities? How did their role change in the time period before and after Voltaire? What was the role of the philosophe in society?

Essay Topic 3

Mishra believes that modernization in non-Western countries causes an identity crisis. What does Mishra say about an identity crisis arising from attempts to modernize in non-Western countries? What examples does he provide? What is exposed about identity crises and modernity?

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