View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Hobbes say that people are always seeking more power, wealth, or popularity?

2. Why does law need interpretation?

3. How does Hobbes define liberty?

4. What happens in an assembly that cannot happen with a monarch?

5. What is the sovereign power, whether it is an individual or an assembly?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Hobbes differentiate between command and counsel?

2. What is one advantage Hobbes sees in a monarchy?

3. Describe briefly Hobbes' contract of a commonwealth.

4. Why does Hobbes say men will give up some of their freedoms?

5. What is Hobbes idea of people being created equal?

6. What are the two ways Hobbes says a commonwealth is created?

7. How does Hobbes say a person can increase intellectual virtue?

8. What does Hobbes say about having an aversion to something people know nothing about?

9. How does Hobbes illustrate what he calls compound imagination?

10. In what way does Hobbes warn against errors in logic or speech?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Obliquely in the book, Hobbes seems to be defending the English monarchy. Write a paper pointing out how the religious part of the book might also have been a defense of the Church of England. Describing some of the facts about the origins of the Church of England, how do the part of the book attacking the Catholic church fit into that picture?

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on education. People are to this day accusing universities of poisoning the minds of our young people. Explain why you think so many people fear higher education, philosophy, and modern science.

Essay Topic 3

Write a paper on imagination. Hobbes discredits most imagination as foolishness like coupling the concept of a man and a horse to come up with the idea of a centaur. Take the opposite position and write about how imagination is good and what it has given to the world.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 775 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample