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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the concepts of praise or blame indicate according to Aristotle?
(a) the need for athletic contests
(b) a way of avoiding responsibility
(c) disagreements in society
(d) moral responsibility and free will

2. What biological notion does Aristotle reject?
(a) vegetarianism
(b) extinction of species
(c) evolution of species
(d) survival of the fittest

3. Who eventually dominates Greek philosophy and government?
(a) the invading Persians
(b) the fierce Spartans
(c) the libertarians
(d) the Macedonians Aristotle and Alexander

4. What does Baruch Spinoza begin to feel about his traditional Jewish education?
(a) confused by different interpretations of the Torah
(b) fulfilled educationally
(c) tired with how long it takes
(d) unsatisfied with answers he gets in the synagogue

5. What is the first of four books written by Spinoza?
(a) The Treatise on Religion and the State
(b) The History of War
(c) The Fall of the Roman Empire
(d) The Philosophy of the Ages

6. Why does Spinoza say an allegorical interpretation of the Bible allows it to be?
(a) not a great mystery
(b) not a book of rules and regulations
(c) not contrary to reason
(d) not difficult to understand

7. What motivates Voltaire to accept Prince Frederick's invitation and travel expenses to join him in his court in Potsdam?
(a) a warrant for his arrest in Paris
(b) his curiosity about German philosophy
(c) his sorrow after the death of his mistress
(d) an opportunity to learn German

8. What does Spinoza suggest the aim of Biblical language is meant to do?
(a) to attract the imagination of popular minds
(b) to attract intellectuals
(c) to conceal great mysteries
(d) to compete with Greek mythology

9. What does Spinoza's Ethic do with Buddhism and Christianity, the philosophy of Machiavelli and Nietzsche, and the democracy of the Greeks?
(a) integrates and reconciles all three ethical systems
(b) takes only bits and pieces from each
(c) keeps them separate for different ethnic groups
(d) throws them out in favor of his own ideas

10. To what end does Socrates develop his Socratic Method?
(a) to test the assumptions of his pupils
(b) to impress the multitudes
(c) to open a private university
(d) to perfom biological experiments

11. Who suggests that men are at fault because they chose to live in houses in cities?
(a) Frederick
(b) Bacon
(c) Voltaire
(d) Rousseau

12. What does Aristotle devise to integrate the particular with the universal?
(a) sophistry
(b) metaphysical examination
(c) the syllogism
(d) the Aristotlean Method

13. How is Plato's early life best described?
(a) a life of poverty and destitution
(b) a comfortable athletic youth and a successful soldier
(c) a playboy and a religious fanatic
(d) an idle life and a failure as a soldier

14. What happened after Spinoza dispensed with faith?
(a) the faithful dispensed with him
(b) religion died
(c) new religions sprang up
(d) the faithful were devastated

15. What does Socrates ask Cephalus to define?
(a) the best form of government
(b) the blessing he receives from education
(c) the greatest blessing he receives from wealth
(d) the meaning of the word moral

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the foundation of Plato's Republic?

2. What drives the Jews out of their natural home?

3. What comprises Plato's writing style?

4. What is a special element of soul in the human being according to Aristotle?

5. In what work does Voltaire discuss the morals and spirit of the nations from Charlemagne to Louis XIII?

(see the answer keys)

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