Quiz on Thomas Hobbes and His Influence

In which year was Thomas Hobbes born?

• 1700

• 1651

• 1588

• 1600

What major event occurred in the year Hobbes was born?

• The signing of the Magna Carta

• The Spanish Armada threatened England

• The Glorious Revolution

• The American Declaration of Independence

What is the central problem of politics according to Hobbes?

• How to maintain religious harmony

• How to keep ordinary people safe from chaos

• How to expand territorial boundaries

• How to achieve economic prosperity

What is the title of Hobbes's great book published in 1651?

• The Social Contract

• Leviathan

• The Prince

• The Republic

How does Hobbes describe life in the 'state of nature'?

• Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short

• Peaceful and prosperous

• Organized and structured

• Full of joy and cooperation

What must people agree to in order to escape mutual destruction, according to Hobbes?

• A religious covenant

• A military alliance

• A social contract

• A trade agreement

Which method did Hobbes use to treat politics?

• Like a religious doctrine

• Like geometry

• Like a literary analysis

• Like a historical narrative

Which philosophers disagreed with Hobbes's conclusions but accepted his rule about political theory?

• Niccolò Machiavelli and Montesquieu

• John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant

• Plato and Aristotle

• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

What bold idea about equality did Hobbes propose?

• All people are born with equal wealth

• All people are roughly equal in their capacity to kill or be killed

• All people have equal talents

• All people have equal intelligence

How did later liberal thinkers use Hobbes's equality premise?

• To justify economic inequality

• To justify absolute monarchy

• To justify limited, accountable rule

• To justify religious authority