Unit 4 MCQ Practice

Unit 4 MCQ Practice

by Michael Cox

Multiple Choice

1. Why did Blake contend that the philosophies of Voltaire and Rousseau, as well as the scientific discoveries of Democritus and Newton, were "sands upon the Red Sea shore?"

• A. Blake was pleased with the ideas and discoveries of such Enlightened and scientific figures as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Newton and likened their achievements to the miracle of the Hebrews escaping slavery in Ancient Egypt.

• B. Blake was pleased that the ideas of figures like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Newton helped further secularize the Church across Europe.

• C. Blake was displeased with the ideas of people like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Newton and thought that their rationalism actually blinded them, like sand in a windstorm.

• D. Blake was displeased with critics of Enlightened philosophers and scientists and believed that such criticisms only blinded their own mocking eyes.

Multiple Choice

2. Which of the following events most likely added to William Blake's disdain in this poem for Voltaire, Rousseau, and the Enlightenment in general?

• A. The de-Christianization of France during the most radical years of the French Revolution.

• B. The refusal of refractory priests to sign the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the fighting that subsequently broke out across France.

• C. The passage of the Six Acts in Britain.

• D. The passage of the Carlsbad Decrees in Germany.

Multiple Choice

3. What did Goethe mean by the quote above?

• A. That science is beneficial because of its attempts to understand the parts of an object rather than the object as a whole.

• B. That science is responsible for people losing their souls.

• C. That scientific pursuits dull the senses and turn living things into mere objects.

• D. That learning comes from scientific study in a laboratory rather than from the human soul.

Multiple Choice

4. Which of the following most likely influenced Goethe's words?

• A. Goethe, who lived through the French occupation of Germany, was referring to Napoleon's breakup of the Holy Roman Empire and the creation of the German Confederation of the Rhine.

• B. Goethe's words were a reaction to the importance placed not only on science, but also on the negative impact that science and industrialization had on people and nature.

• C. Goethe's reference to "scholars" was an attack on the role that Protestant religious doctrine played in bringing about the diminished role of Catholicism in Germany.

• D. Goethe was critical of how Germany had never united under one monarch and hoped nationalism would prevail in bringing back Germany's "living soul".

Multiple Choice

5. Smiles' assertion that "everything that is wrong in society results from that which is wrong in the Individual," most closely resembles the beliefs of which theorist?

• A. Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

• B. John Locke.

• C. Karl Marx.

• D. Jeremy Bentham.

Multiple Choice

6. "Yet the end of all Reform is the improvement of the individual. When men are bad, society is bad." Samuel Smiles's conclusion drawn from the end of the excerpt above, is a restatement of a part of liberal political philosophy. What makes it a liberal argument?

• A. Liberalism argues that everyone must take personal responsibility for themselves and their property, and if they do not, chaos and anarchy will ensue. Smiles's argument is liberal because he argues that poorer people are not taking responsibility for their property.

• B. Liberalism rests on a radical universalism: that everyone deserves the same freedoms. Samuel Smiles here is arguing that the working classes have progressively been granted the same freedoms as their richer peers, but have failed to use them effectively.

• C. Liberalism holds that all people are responsible for their own behavior and the state should trust them to act in their own best interests. Smiles's argument is liberal because he argues that the working classes will not be able to improve their situation until they take responsibility for their own behavior and try to improve themselves.

• D. Samuel Smiles's argument is not a liberal argument. With his emphasis on a good home life, he is making a conservative argument that values social hierarchy and tradition.

Multiple Choice

7. "We have had household suffrage and vote by ballot..." is a reference to the reforms demanded by which British social movement?

• A. Trade unionists

• B. Landed aristocrats

• C. Early feminists

• D. Anti-colonial nationalists

Multiple Choice

8. Choose ONE statement below that best summarizes the argument Elizabeth Sanford is making about women's lives.

• A. Sanford argues that women now command respect thanks to their individual qualities. It is therefore in everyone's best interests to treat women well because that improves home life, and thus society at large.

• B. Sanford argues that women are no longer seen as domestic goddesses. This is detrimental to women and to society, because they are now treated worse in the home and therefore perform their duties less well.

• C. Sanford argues that women should be respected for their individual qualities that they exert throughout society and in public life. The more women are respected and given a voice in public affairs, the better society will be.

• D. Sanford argues that women's happiness is irrelevant to their roles as wives and mothers. As long as they ensure that their families are fed, clothed, and comfortable, they will have done their duty and society will prosper.

Multiple Choice

9. Elizabeth Poole Sanford's argument in the passage is most likely a response to which of the following developments in the British Industrial Age and simultaneous Victorian Era?

• A. The misogynistic tendency to view women as sub-human.

• B. The rapid increase in the number of independent, female clerical workers.

• C. The determination, evoked as a theme in period novels, that women should not be so tied to the domicile.

• D. The enforcement of traditional gender norms which moved most to create stricter separate spheres for the sexes.