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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. What does the publisher of Schopenhauer's book eventually tell him?

2. What does Kant insist must be absolute and derived only from the inner self by direct perception and intuition?

3. What work of Spencer's theorizes that all ultimate religious ideas eventually become logically inconceivable?

4. Who leads the popular philosophic community of the early 19th century?

5. In what work does Spencer freely express his best ideas with suggestive generalization and political philosophy?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe briefly Spencer's definition of life.

2. Define the contrast between Bergson and Croce.

3. In his The Critique of Pure Reason how does Kant say knowledge comes?

4. Describe the competition between Schopenhauer and Hegel.

5. Describe Schopenhauer's views of youth and old age.

6. Briefly discuss Bergson's idea of creative evolution.

7. What is the value Kant sees of the Bible and the churches?

8. How does Kant's work ironically work against his stated aim?

9. How does Spencer see his fame?

10. How does Schopenhauer's philosophy sound like modern merchandising?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay expressing your opinion on a mathematical formula for explaining life and evolution. Include examples of philosophers dedicated to the mathematical model and those who opposed it.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on Aristotle's idea of the soul as pure thought. In the essay discuss how this concept destroys the soul as it is generally understood in Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay on Spencer's idea that a militant society exalts certain virtues and condones what other people might call crimes. Use the modern debate over the use of torture in wartime investigations as an example.

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