Deck 5: Politics

Question 1

One reason that his friend gives as to why Socrates should escape from prison is that Socrates owes nothing to the state.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Socrates argues that his obligations to the state are stronger than his obligations to his family.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Like Rousseau, Grotius argues that slavery can never be justified.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

According to Rousseau, there are times when an individual must be forced to be free.

Question 5

Jefferson argues that the legitimacy of government is derived from the consent of the governed.

Question 6

One of the natural rights listed by Jefferson was the right to privacy.

Question 7

One of Mills' main reasons for introducing the Racial Contract was to provide a conceptual framework for discussing inequality.

Question 8

While Mills believes that the Racial Contract has political and moral implications, he does not believe that it has epistemological implications.

Question 9

Marx and Engels argue that the capitalist system of production contains the seeds of its own destruction.

Question 10

According to Marx and Engels, a communist revolution will increase the need for political power.

Question 11

Wong claims that liberal feminism is the bridge to freedom.

Question 12

Wong argues that women of color are best suited to lead the movement toward liberation.

Question 13

Dewey claims that true democracy is a way of life.

Question 14

According to Dewey, one of the assumptions of democracy is belief in the equality of natural endowments.

Question 15

Maududi argues that Islamic political philosophy begins with belief in the absolute sovereignty of Allah.

Question 16

According to Maududi, the Islamic state is all-embracing.

Question 17

Allen criticizes European-derived models of government because they place too much emphasis on tradition.

Question 18

According to Allen, Native American tribal systems were generally hierarchical in nature.

Question 19

Mill argues that tyranny is still possible in a democracy.

Question 20

According to Mill, autonomy is the ultimate court of appeal on all ethical questions.

Question 21

Camus points out that the concept of revolt is relative to a certain historical period and to certain political realities.

Question 22

Camus claims that the process of revolt is motivated by resentment.

Question 23

Gandhi argues that passive resistance always excludes violence.

Question 24

According to Gandhi, soul force is much stronger than physical force.

Question 25

King argues that one should always avoid extremism.

Question 26

According to King, there are four basic steps in a nonviolent campaign.

Question 27

Carmichael claims that integration is a subterfuge for the maintenance of white supremacy.

Question 28

Carmichael argues that violence must never be used to overcome political oppression.

Question 29

According to hooks, social transformation is the starting point of self-transformation.

Question 30

Because of its racist and classist assumptions, hooks rejects feminism.

Question 31

Thoreau claims that that government is best which governs not at all.

Question 32

According to Thoreau, democracy represents the ideal form of government.

Question 33

Goldman says that under present conditions anarchism is impractical.

Question 34

According to Goldman, religion is the dominion of human conduct.

Question 35

The friend who tried to convince Socrates that he should escape from prison was

A) Plato.
B) Phaedo.
C) Aristotle.
D) Crito.

Question 36

Socrates argues that we should

A) only injure others in self defense.
B) disobey unjust laws.
C) never return injury for injury.
D) harm ourselves rather than harming others.

Question 37

Rousseau claims that the most ancient of all societies was

A) the family.
B) found in China.
C) the spirit-based clan.
D) the monarchy.

Question 38

According to Rousseau, the moral collective body established by the social contrast is ruled by the

A) categorical imperative.
B) principles of natural liberty.
C) individual sovereign.
D) general will.

Question 39

Jefferson says that his purpose in writing the Declaration of Independence was to

A) declare the natural rights of man.
B) state his theory of the legitimacy of government.
C) justify the Colonies' separation from Great Britain.
D) argue against the institution of slavery.

Question 40

Which of the following was not among the natural rights listed by Jefferson?

A) the right to life
B) the right to property
C) the pursuit of happiness
D) the right to liberty

Question 41

In the selection in the text, Mills describes the origin and development of the

A) Direct Harm Principle.
B) Declaration of Independence.
C) Communist Manifesto.
D) Racial Contract.

Question 42

Which of the following philosophers was not listed by Mills as a contractarian?

A) Rousseau
B) Kant
C) Spinoza
D) Locke

Question 43

According to Marx and Engels, the capitalist system of production was derived from

A) the agricultural system of production.
B) the Bourgeois system of production.
C) the commodity system of production.
D) the feudal system of production.

Question 44

The term that Marx and Engels use to name the dominant class in a capitalist society is

A) Proletariat.
B) Bourgeoisie.
C) Overlords.
D) the Third Estate.

Question 45

Wong begins her essay with

A) a quote from Marx.
B) a factory song.
C) a prison poem.
D) a description of her early life.

Question 46

With which of the following statements would Wong agree?

A) The Soviet Revolution provides a perfect model for revolution in the United States.
B) Capitalism is the best economic system to assure the liberation of women.
C) Socialism cannot exist within a single country but must be a worldwide system.
D) Only recently have women begun to resist oppression.

Question 47

The Dewey selection in the text was originally delivered to a group of

A) college professors.
B) school administrators.
C) classroom teachers.
D) philosophy students.

Question 48

According to Dewey, the best means of social interaction thus far devised is encased in the principles of

A) anarchism.
B) communism.
C) libertarianism.
D) democracy.

Question 49

Maududi claims that an Islamic state is run by

A) the Islamic clergy.
B) everyone living in the state.
C) the entire Muslim population.
D) divine messengers from Allah.

Question 50

With which of the following statements would Maududi not agree?

A) An Islamic state is diametrically opposed to Western democracies.
B) The separation of church and state must be upheld.
C) The Islamic state is an ideological state.
D) It is important to morally educate the people.

Question 51

Allen quotes from the Constitution of which of these Native American groups?

A) the Sioux
B) the Hopi
C) the Miwok
D) the Iroquois

Question 52

Which of the following was not identified by Allen as a traditional value or practice in Native American society?

A) respect for authority
B) bathing frequently
C) genuine courtesy
D) sharing with others

Question 53

Mill argues that the government is never justified in

A) taxing people without their consent.
B) prohibiting actions that harm others.
C) limiting human autonomy.
D) regulating wholly self-regarding actions.

Question 54

Mill describes himself as

A) an anarchist.
B) a monarchist.
C) a utilitarian.
D) an egalitarian.

Question 55

According to Camus, the process of revolt gives rise to human

A) solidarity.
B) subjectivity.
C) arrogance.
D) resentment.

Question 56

For which of the following does Camus believe that the notion of revolt had no meaning?

A) a Greek slave
B) a serf
C) a member of the first Christian communities
D) a contemporary worker

Question 57

The term that Gandhi coined to refer to the type of resistance that he considered justified was

A) duragraha.
B) satyagraha.
C) himsa.
D) ahimsa.

Question 58

In order to practice soul force, Gandhi says a person must

A) totally deny that he or she has a body.
B) give up all attachments to life.
C) meditate forty days and nights.
D) eliminate all vestiges of anger.

Question 59

King's letter in the text was written from

A) his office in Atlanta.
B) his church in Montgomery.
C) his jail cell in Birmingham.
D) his house in Mobile.

Question 60

With which of the following statements would King not agree?

A) There is something in the flow of time that will cure all ills.
B) Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
C) There is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth.
D) It is wrong to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.

Question 61

Carmichael wrote "Power and Racism" when he was the chairperson of

A) the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
B) the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
C) the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
D) the Black Panther Party.

Question 62

Carmichael compares the United States to

A) a school of flesh-eating piranhas.
B) an octopus of exploitation.
C) a black widow of oppression.
D) the rotting corpse of a dead dog.

Question 63

According to hooks, we live in a world governed by the politics of

A) empowerment.
B) denial.
C) expropriation.
D) domination.

Question 64

In her childhood, hooks says that she was more immediately threatened by

A) coercive adult male authority.
B) racist oppression.
C) class exploitation.
D) her lack of education.

Question 65

Thoreau claims that the highest court of moral appeal is

A) individual conscience.
B) the principle of utility.
C) personal preference.
D) the spirit of revolt.

Question 66

Which of the following was not included in Thoreau's list of the injustices committed by the United States government?

A) slavery
B) the treatment of Native Americans
C) the invasion of Panama
D) the invasion of Mexico

Question 67

Which of the following social institutions is not criticized in Goldman's essay in the text?

A) property
B) religion
C) government
D) family

Question 68

Goldman claims that the greatest American anarchist was

A) Thoreau.
B) Emerson.
C) Proudhon.
D) Wilde.

Question 69

Describe two of the reasons that Socrates' friend uses to try to convince him to escape from prison. What arguments does Socrates use to counter these reasons?

Question 70

Carefully explain Socrates' argument as to why he owes loyalty to the laws of Athens. What, according to Socrates, should one do if one disagrees with certain laws? Do you believe that Socrates has accurately described the relationship of the individual to the state? Defend your answer.

Question 71

Explain carefully what Rousseau means by the social contract. Why and how is the social contract enacted? Do you think Rousseau's concept of the social contract adequately explains the origin and legitimacy of social obligation? Why or why not?

Question 72

Define the following terms as they are used by Rousseau: natural liberty, social liberty, general will. How are these terms related to one another in Thoreau's theory of the origin of government?

Question 73

Carefully explain Jefferson's theory of the origin and legitimacy of government. Under what conditions does Jefferson think that one can abolish a government? Under what conditions, if any, do you think it is acceptable to abolish a government?

Question 74

Compare and contrast Jefferson's theory of the origin and legitimacy of government with Plato's theory. Do you think Plato would have been convinced by Jefferson's argument that the colonists were justified in separating from Great Britain? Defend your answer.

Question 75

Explain carefully what Mills means by the Racial Contract. How and why, according to Mills, did this contract originate? Do you agree with Mills that such a contract has existed in Western society? Why or why not?

Question 76

What are the essential similarities and differences between the classical social contract and the Racial Contract? In what ways, according to Mills, does the Racial Contract undermine the social contract?

Question 77

Identify and describe the two basic classes that, according to Marx and Engels, exist in a capitalist society. How did these classes originate, and how are they related to each other?

Question 78

List and discuss four of the changes that Marx and Engels think will result from a communist revolution. Which, if any, of these changes would you welcome? Explain your answer.

Question 79

Explain carefully what Wong means by socialist feminism. What are her principal reasons for believing that a socialist feminist revolution is needed?

Question 80

Compare and contrast Marx and Engels' views on the nature and value of revolution with the views of Wong. How do your own views compare and contrast with the views of these philosophers?