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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. As Russell visits China, he develops new perspectives and better understanding of a profounder culture to what effect?

2. Whose mission is it to save religion from reason and science from skepticism?

3. What affects Schopenhauer as he travels through France and Austria?

4. With what famous composer does does Nietzsche study the piano?

5. What contemporary philosophers does Durant discuss in this chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Define the difference between the study of science and the study of social studies and political affairs.

2. How does Nietzsche show his attitude toward religion?

3. Describe briefly Spencer's definition of life.

4. What select group is Schopenhauer included in during the first half of the 19th century?

5. Analyzing religious ideas in First Principles, what does Spencer conclude?

6. How does Kant respond after reading Berkeley, Hume, and Rousseau?

7. How does Schopenhauer illustrate, along with Aristotle, that the power of will drives plants, animals and man?

8. What is Nietzsche's thought on democracy and Christianity?

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

10. Briefly describe Spencer's formula of evolution.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Write an essay on truth. In your essay comment on the difficulty of determining what truth is. Give your opinion on approaching the study of truth as a search for its origins or as a practical application for the future.

Essay Topic 3

Write a critical essay on Durant's book. Discuss his organization of the book and the selection of philosophers he chose to feature. Conclude with a recommendation for others to read the book.

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