Deck 17: Europe during the Enlightenment

Question 1

A philosophe may be defined as an individual who was a(n):

A) freethinker.
B) trained philosopher.
C) ordained cleric.
D) member of the nobility.
E) philosopher by avocation.

Answer 1

freethinker.

Question 2

Although most Enlightenment thinkers did challenge certain central tenets of eighteenth-century culture and politics,a few held truly radical views.Among this radical group was:

A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
B) René Descartes.
C) Edmund Burke.
D) Maria Theresa.
E) John Locke.

Answer 2

Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Question 3

In his essay,"What Is Enlightenment?," Immanuel Kant compared humanity's intellectual history to:

A) a morality play.
B) a recursive mathematical formula
C) the growth of a child.
D) a dawning spiritual awareness.
E) its economic and social development.

Answer 3

the growth of a child.

Question 4

Although much admired in many segments of the population,Voltaire's forthrightness kept him in trouble and even got him a short stay in prison in the:

A) Fontainebleau.
B) Bastille.
C) Frontenac.
D) Louvre.
E) le Havre.

Question 5

The motto of the Enlightenment "Dare to know!" was coined by:

A) Immanuel Kant.
B) Baron de Montesquieu.
C) Isaac Newton.
D) David Hume.
E) Voltaire.

Question 6

The philosophes of the Enlightenment,as exemplified by Voltaire,particularly admired England because of:

A) the deistic position taken by the Church of England.
B) the literary genius of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Fielding.
C) its constitutional monarchy and policy of religious toleration.
D) the continued success and expansion of its mercantile empire.
E) the support by the Church of scholarly research at Oxford and Cambridge.

Question 7

A cornerstone of Enlightenment thinking was skepticism,as developed by the Scottish philosopher:

A) Immanuel Kant.
B) Robert Hooke.
C) Isaac Newton.
D) David Hume.
E) John Cabot.

Question 8

The life and career of Cesare Beccaria was dedicated to the idea that:

A) the only legitimate rationale for punishment was to maintain the social order.
B) the philosophes should become, following Plato, the rulers of the world.
C) the philosophes were atheists and should be persecuted as heretics.
D) human progress would result from a completely new scientific method.
E) the laws ought to be reformed to protect middle-class private property.

Question 9

John Locke is best known today as a political philosopher,but in the eighteenth century he was better known for his studies of:

A) thermodynamics.
B) sociology.
C) human knowledge.
D) morals and ethics.
E) medicine.

Question 10

Although the majority of the philosophes held relatively disparaging views of Judaism,_________,a German philosopher,was a notable exception.

A) Felix Mendelssohn
B) Gotthold Lessing
C) Alexander von Humboldt
D) Immanuel Kant
E) Paul Henri d'Holbach

Question 11

For the philosophers,an important implication of John Locke's tabula rasa was:

A) that all human beings are equal in natural and all other rights.
B) its emphasis on political and economic liberalism.
C) that private property was the foundation of all legitimate government.
D) that environment determines all social progress.
E) that human beings were set in their behavior from birth.

Question 12

Voltaire's attitude toward injustice,fanaticism,and intolerance was solidified due to a murder case tried in 1762; the defendant in the case was:

A) Jean Le Rond.
B) François Arouet.
C) Jean Calas.
D) Cesare Beccaria.
E) Giovanni Vico.

Question 13

In The Spirit of Laws,Baron de Montesquieu argued:

A) that all political institutions ought to conform to environmental conditions.
B) that Christianity was solely responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire.
C) that the government that governs least governs best of all.
D) in favor of the separation and balancing of the powers of government.
E) in favor of a strong monarchy balanced by a strong nobility.

Question 14

In general,the philosophes considered Judaism and Islam:

A) as religions in need of rational reform.
B) to be enlightened partners in human progress.
C) superstitious and backward religions.
D) the objects of necessary persecutions.
E) the equal of Christianity as all were religions "of the Book."

Question 15

Deism,the "religion" of the Enlightenment,expressed the belief that:

A) there is no God.
B) humankind is predestined to either heaven or hell.
C) God created the universe, but no longer took any active interest in it.
D) Catholicism had become too liberal and a return to true Christianity was needed.
E) humankind can know God only through nature.

Question 16

The Enlightenment was vitally concerned with each of the following EXCEPT the:

A) danger of arbitrary and unchecked authority.
B) value of religious toleration.
C) overriding importance of law.
D) importance of reason in all affairs.
E) need to subordinate sensual pleasure to the disciplined, rational mind.

Question 17

One of the most remarkable publications of prerevolutionary France was Denis Diderot's:

A) The Spirit of Laws.
B) Philosophical Letters.
C) Nathan the Wise.
D) Encyclopedia.
E) Candide.

Question 18

Of the few Enlightenment thinkers who were atheists,the most famous was:

A) Voltaire.
B) Moses Mendelssohn.
C) Gotthold Lessing.
D) Baron de Montesquieu.
E) Paul-Henri d'Holbach.

Question 19

The Enlightenment battle cry of "Écrasez l'infâme" best represents the ideas of:

A) Denis Diderot.
B) Immanuel Kant.
C) Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
D) François Marie Arouet (Voltaire).
E) John Locke.

Question 20

The genesis of the Enlightenment may be found in the:

A) Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.
B) Catholic Reformation of the seventeenth century.
C) scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
D) writings of Voltaire and Rousseau.
E) art of the High Renaissance.

Question 21

In her Vindication of the Rights of Woman,Mary Wollstonecraft argued that:

A) republicanism was an ill-conceived idea dedicated to the violent disruption of society.
B) there was no such thing as a natural division of labor in any human society.
C) women were deserving of the protection of men since they were the weaker sex.
D) virtue ought to mean different things to men and women.
E) all men and women share a common humanity.

Question 22

One philosophe organization,founded by Warville de Brissot,which called for the abolition of slavery was the:

A) Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
B) International League of Abolitionists.
C) League for the Union of all Humanity.
D) Society of the Friends of Blacks.
E) Society of the Friends of Slaves.

Question 23

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's somewhat conflicting views of female nature illustrate:

A) the shifting meaning of "nature" by the middle of the eighteenth century.
B) his belief that women have the same natural rights as men.
C) the idea that men and women should receive an identical education.
D) the general view that women were little more than creatures of lust and passion.
E) that intellectuals of the eighteenth century had difficulty admitting they thought women inferior.

Question 24

According to the Abbé Guillaume Thomas François Raynal,the one event that had a profound impact on Europeans was the:

A) legal decision in the Calas case.
B) discovery of the New World.
C) trial of Galileo Galilei.
D) fall of the Roman Empire.
E) publication of Copernicus's theory.

Question 25

_________ was a Jewish philosopher who argued that religion should be voluntary,that secular states should promote tolerance,and that progress for everyone would come through humanitarianism.

A) Baruch Spinoza
B) Moses Mendelssohn
C) Nathan Lessing
D) Alexander von Humboldt
E) Felix Mendelssohn

Question 26

The South Pacific region was explored extensively by both the French and the English.The French explorer,Louis-Antoine de Bougainville,searched the South Pacific in search of a new route to China.He was soon followed by the English explorer:

A) Robert Boyle.
B) Robert Hooke.
C) James Caville.
D) James Cook.
E) John Cabot.

Question 27

Mary Wollstonecraft agreed with Jean-Jacques Rousseau in all of the following respects EXCEPT:

A) a hatred of monarchy.
B) fervent advocacy of virtue and moral autonomy.
C) a specialized program of female education.
D) a hostility to great disparities of status or wealth.
E) a commitment to the precepts of nature.

Question 28

Which of the following statements best expresses the philosophes' attitude toward slavery?

A) Slavery corrupted its victims, and so slaves were not ready for freedom.
B) Slavery was compatible only with a society based on paternalism and deference.
C) All slavery is inhuman, and governments ought to take steps to eradicate it immediately.
D) Slavery was uneconomical and contrary to laissez-faire principles.
E) Slavery was justified by ancient practice and by the Bible and should, therefore, be allowed everywhere Europeans ruled.

Question 29

The "invisible hand" of Adam Smith's theory could best guide economic activity because:

A) state-owned manufacturing signified the wealth of a nation.
B) it controlled middle-class entrepreneurs with legislative restrictions on trade.
C) it made all mercantilist interests legitimate functions of government.
D) all humans are rational and are the best judges of their own interests.
E) Smith believed that economics was controlled by something beyond human understanding.

Question 30

The eighteenth-century Enlightenment produced an elite or high culture that was typified by:

A) inclusiveness.
B) exclusiveness.
C) its parochial nature.
D) its cosmopolitan nature.
E) its narrowness of interests.

Question 31

Mary Wollstonecraft believed that equality laid the basis for virtue and thus argued that society ought to seek "the perfection of our nature and capability of:

A) order."
B) affection."
C) redemption."
D) happiness."
E) peace."

Question 32

Although the philosophes condemned slavery,they did not argue for its immediate abolition and used many different means of avoiding the issue.One of their numbers,_________,exposed the hypocrisy of this approach by wondering how the Europeans would view slavery if they themselves were being enslaved.

A) Baron de Montesquieu
B) Denis Diderot
C) Voltaire
D) Jean Calas
E) Moses Mendelssohn

Question 33

Although not well understood when first published in the eighteenth century,Jean-Jacques Rousseau's book,_________,would become very influential during the French Revolution later in the same century.

A) The Social Contract
B) Julie
C) Emile
D) La Nouvelle Helios
E) Meditations on a First Philosophy

Question 34

In his novel Emile,Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that:

A) children are by nature good and are equal in their capacity to learn.
B) children should be taught to use reason very early in life.
C) women ought to have the same education as men.
D) the state should be responsible for creating an elaborate system of public education.
E) children are selfish by nature and need to be restrained and taught by rote.

Question 35

Unlike the French physiocrats who believed that the wealth of a nation came from the land and agricultural production,Adam Smith believed that the wealth of a nation came from its:

A) gold and silver.
B) labor.
C) natural resources.
D) trade.
E) slaves.

Question 36

The South Pacific island of Tahiti was first discovered for the Europeans by:

A) James Cook.
B) Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.
C) Ferdinand Magellan.
D) Alexander von Humboldt.
E) Sydney Parkinson.

Question 37

According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau,freedom meant:

A) the worst corruption of the "social contract."
B) equal citizens obeying the laws they had made themselves.
C) the total absence of any restraints within a society.
D) the ability of human beings to think on their own.
E) having nothing left to lose.

Question 38

With the rise in literacy and the book business in the eighteenth century,censorship was:

A) surprisingly nonexistent.
B) institutional throughout Europe.
C) uneven in its implementation.
D) left to the Roman Catholic Church.
E) applied only to books for children.

Question 39

Closely following voyages of discovery,many Enlightenment thinkers such as Denis Diderot believed that the Tahitians best represented humanity:

A) as Europeans ought to attempt to emulate.
B) in its natural state.
C) in its degenerate state.
D) as innocent yet corrupted by Europeans.
E) as corrupt but possible to be saved through conversion to Christianity.

Question 40

Although much exploration was carried out by the French and the English,people from many other nations participated in the exploration of the New World.One of these,_________,was hailed by Charles Darwin as "the greatest scientific traveler who ever lived."

A) Moses Mendelssohn
B) Paul Henri d'Holbach
C) Immanuel Kant
D) Gotthold Lessing
E) Alexander von Humboldt

Question 41

Laissez-faire economics originated in the writings of the Scottish economist Adam Smith who argued against state monopolies and for the encouragement of individual interests in the economy.

Question 42

According to Lessing,religion is authentic or true only insofar as it makes the believer virtuous.

Question 43

Voltaire's reputation stemmed not from his philosophy,but from his effectiveness as an advocate.

Question 44

Of all thinkers from the scientific revolution,John Locke had the widest-ranging impact on Enlightenment scholars.

Question 45

Tabula rasa means "human mind."

Question 46

Unlike the writers of the scientific revolution,the Enlightenment writers wrote for large audiences.

Question 47

Which of the following rulers did not attempt at least some enlightened reforms inspired by the philosophes?

A) Maria-Theresa
B) Catherine the Great
C) Joseph II
D) Louis XV
E) Frederick the Great

Question 48

The Dictionnaire was the greatest achievement of the philosophes,bringing an understanding of language and its history to the common people.

Question 49

Due to the high regard,the philosophes such as Voltaire had for England,English became the language of the Enlightenment.

Question 50

The philosophes of the eighteenth century used people's houses in which to meet and converse on a more informal basis than that provided by the royal academies.These informal meetings were known as:

A) salons.
B) lodges.
C) aeries.
D) teahouses.
E) coffeehouses.

Question 51

Even with the literacy rate that Europe enjoyed,formal schooling remained an unattained goal.For example,by the end of the eighteenth century in Russia,only _________ out of a population of 40 million had attended any kind of school.

A) 12,000
B) 22,000
C) 32,000
D) 42,000
E) 62,000

Question 52

The general culture that developed from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment was:

A) artistic.
B) focused exclusively on science.
C) anti-intellectual.
D) nationalistic.
E) literary.

Question 53

Captain Cook was killed by cannibals in New Zealand,adding to the ferocity of the Western image of the Maori.

Question 54

The Enlightenment was not only a western European trend in thinking,but also found in central and southern Europe.

Question 55

All of the following describe attitudes or policies of Frederick the Great EXCEPT:

A) started the most professional and efficient bureaucracy in Europe.
B) opposed to capital punishment and judicial torture.
C) encouraged religious tolerations of Jews.
D) depended on a foreign policy of diplomacy in the service of maintaining peace with his neighbors.
E) dedicated to agricultural innovation and improvement.

Question 56

In the war against its American colonists,Britain found itself opposed also by:

A) France and Russia.
B) France and Spain.
C) the Netherlands and Spain.
D) Russia, France, and Spain.
E) France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Question 57

Poland suffered repeated losses of its territory to which countries?

A) Lithuania, Russia, and Hungary
B) Hungary, Prussia, and Austria
C) Ottoman Empire, Denmark, and Prussia
D) Russia, Denmark, and Austria
E) Russia, Austria, and Prussia

Question 58

Catherine the Great's effort to codify Russian Law along enlightened models was abandoned after:

A) the Russian nobility threatened to revolt.
B) her husband, Peter III, was assassinated.
C) the Ottomans suddenly invaded.
D) a massive peasant revolt intervened.
E) Catherine herself decided to pursue enlightened reforms through the more efficient means of royal decree.

Question 59

The eighteenth century saw the birth of a new literary genre,the novel,and the growing acceptance of women as authors.The most famous woman from this period,as recognized today,was the English novelist:

A) George Eliot.
B) George Sand.
C) Moll Flanders.
D) Jane Austen.
E) Mary Ann Evans.

Question 60

Although the majority of people possessed few books,at most a Bible and one or two other religious works,it appears now that literacy rates were much higher than had previously been believed,perhaps as high as _________ percent for men and _________ percent for women in European urban centers.

A) 85; 60
B) 70; 30
C) 55; 25
D) 40; 20
E) 20; 10

Question 61

How did the writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment deal with the topic of slavery?

Question 62

The first daily newspaper was printed in London.

Question 63

How did Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the position of women in the Enlightenment?

Question 64

What was the impact of the exploration of the Pacific world on Europe?

Question 65

Define Rousseau's argument for legitimate authority.

Question 66

How did the Enlightenment affect the lower classes of Europe?

Question 67

Rousseau argued that men and women should receive the same education to enable them to be and create good citizens.

Question 68

Among the fastest growing group of readers in the eighteenth century was the female middle class.

Question 69

Literacy rates were highest in the country where industry was slower and communities were closer to enable education and the borrowing of books.

Question 70

France entered into war with Britain on behalf of the American colonies following the battles at Lexington and Concord.

Question 71

What was the Enlightenment,and what role did the scientific revolution play in its creation?

Question 72

What impact did the Enlightenment have on government in the eighteenth century?

Question 73

What new "learned societies" were formed in the eighteenth century,and what was their role in Enlightenment society and government?

Question 74

What was the effect of print culture on the eighteenth century?

Question 75

What was the impact of John Locke's theories on the thinkers of the Enlightenment?