Deck 9: Culture and Religion in the Age of the Enlightenment

Question 1

The overriding goal of the Enlightenment was ________.

A) to undermine superstition and ignorance through the application of reason
B) to broaden the application of scientific values and methodology beyond the university
C) to discover the laws of the universe and apply them in an attempt to reform society
D) to develop a public sphere where individuals could openly discuss and debate ideas
E) to bring the light of reason to the world

Answer 1

C

Question 2

________ was the unquestioned centre of the Enlightenment.

A) Edinburgh
B) London
C) Madrid
D) Berlin
E) Paris

Answer 2

E

Question 3

The Enlightenment is associated with a number of individuals, but ________ is perhaps the most widely read and influential of all the Enlightenment thinkers.

A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
B) Voltaire
C) Adam Smith
D) Denis Diderot
E) John Locke

Answer 3

B

Question 4

With notable exceptions such as ________, enlightened thinkers did not believe that ordinary people (including peasants and workers) should have full political rights.

A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
B) Thomas Hobbes
C) John Locke
D) Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
E) Jonathan Swift

Question 5

Within the broader sphere of economics, the physiocrats attempted to challenge the commitment to mercantilism. Physiocrats believed that ________ were the true sources of wealth.

A) trade and commerce
B) industry and manufacturing
C) labour and wages
D) land and agriculture
E) colonial markets and natural resources

Question 6

The eighteenth century saw the birth of a number of new religious groups, including the ________, a group that was heavily involved in Protestant missionary activity.

A) Methodists
B) Mennonites
C) Deists
D) Moravians
E) Jesuits

Question 7

Enlightenment thinkers saw themselves as members of an international community united by a common set of values. The name given to that international community was ________.

A) the Republic of Letters
B) the Philosophes
C) the Rational Progressive Network (RPN)
D) the Freemasons
E) the Public Sphere

Question 8

The Encyclopédie was a massive undertaking that brought together over 140 contributors in writing 60,000 articles. The underlying goal of the Encyclopédie was ________.

A) to collect and present current knowledge on all topics
B) to support the reforming efforts of Louis XV
C) to change the general way of thinking
D) to provide a steady and regular income for all the philosophes
E) to destroy religious belief and undermine religious authority

Question 9

Moses Mendelssohn was one of the leading figures in the ________ Enlightenment or Haskalah.

A) musical
B) Jewish
C) philosophical
D) German
E) political

Question 10

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a prolific writer whose ideas were somewhat inconsistent, yet there was one central idea throughout his works: ________.

A) that progress and civilization had corrupted mankind and alienated them from their natural goodness and purity
B) that education would help society break the chains of the social contract
C) that inequality was the natural state of humanity
D) that the application of reason would solve all the problems of society
E) that men and women needed to be equal before society could achieve full Enlightenment

Question 11

Enlightenment thinkers believed only those human practices and institutions that conformed to nature and reason should be kept; everything else was to be discarded.

Question 12

As a group, philosophes were committed to a life of solitary contemplation and very few attempted to engage with society.

Question 13

Ideas within the public sphere circulated freely during the Enlightenment, but remained under the control of individual monarchs and religious institutions.

Question 14

Montesquieu's Persian Letters was a fictional travel narrative that was used to critique European barbarism and superstition.

Question 15

Conservatives and Catholics in France were pleased with Jean le Rond d'Alembert's article on Geneva in the Encyclopédie, which encouraged d'Alembert to continue the project.

Question 16

Atheism became more common in the later Enlightenment, but it was still relatively rare in the eighteenth century.

Question 17

In terms of politics and government, Enlightenment thinkers were united in the rejection of hereditary divine-right monarchy.

Question 18

Adam Smith set out an argument for unrestrained capitalism in The Wealth of Nations.

Question 19

John Locke's The Reasonableness of Christianity was a satirical work that ultimately argued Christianity was irrational.

Question 20

According to Cesare Beccaria, punishment should be guided by natural laws and its ultimate purpose was the correction of criminal behaviour rather than its deterrence.

Question 21

Jonathan Swift and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were both skeptics who did not support the broad Enlightenment principle that reason was the cure for all of humanity's problems.

Question 22

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's political writings, including Discourse on the Origins of Inequality Among Men (1754) and The Social Contract (1762), attracted widespread attention and support during his lifetime.

Question 23

Carl Linnaeus developed his taxonomic system as part of attempt to reveal the relationships between creatures and uncover the mind of God in the living world.

Question 24

By the end of the eighteenth century, some European rulers began to promote religious tolerance as a way to increase their own power and enhance the productivity of their states.

Question 25

Jesuit missionaries continued to receive widespread support throughout the eighteenth century, particularly in relation to their attempts to accommodate Indigenous and customs with Christian practices.

Question 26

Pietism enjoyed support in Brandenburg-Prussia because Elector Frederick III believed that it provided a way to strengthen the relationship between the ruler and the people.

Question 27

People learned to read before they learned to write in the early modern period, so there were a number of people who could read but not sign their names.

Question 28

Catholic countries did not see the same increase in literacy during the early modern period because the Roman Catholic Church forbade the practice of individual Bible reading.

Question 29

Universities witnessed fundamental transformations in education during the early modern period and remained at the forefront of innovation in education.

Question 30

There is considerable evidence to suggest that enlightened ideas permeated society and brought about significant changes to people's culture and beliefs.

Question 31

What were the general principles and assumptions of Enlightenment thought?

Question 32

As a movement, the Enlightenment had three broad phases. What were the three phases of the Enlightenment?

Question 33

Who were the philosophes?

Question 34

The German sociologist Jürgen Habermas discusses the idea of the public sphere. What was the public sphere?

Question 35

What role did Jean Calas play in Voltaire's ideas?

Question 36

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu was a giant of the early Enlightenment, whose greatest work was The Spirit of the Laws. What was the content and significance of The Spirit of the Laws?

Question 37

The Encyclopédie was a significant work of the Enlightenment. What was the Encyclopédie?

Question 38

Religion in the Enlightenment is often associated with Deism. What was Deism?

Question 39

The critique of organized and established religion was a central feature of the Enlightenment, but this critique did not emerge suddenly in the eighteenth century. What were the precedents and foundation of this critique?

Question 40

What principles united Enlightenment political philosophy?

Question 41

How did the physiocrats attempt to reform the French economic system?

Question 42

Adam Smith remains one of the most influential economic theorists. What were Smith's economic principles and theories?

Question 43

How did the Enlightenment mark a transformation in the study of history?

Question 44

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the most prominent critics of the Enlightenment. How did Rousseau's thought differ from the prevailing views of the Enlightenment?

Question 45

How did the practice of science develop during the Enlightenment?

Question 46

How did the practice of Catholicism change during the eighteenth century?

Question 47

A series of Protestant reform movements emerged during the eighteenth century. What united these reform movements?

Question 48

How did the Enlightenment affect Europe's Jewish population?

Question 49

What was the reading revolution?

Question 50

The European literacy rate grew significantly throughout the early modern period. How was the literacy rate increased?

Question 51

The Enlightenment is often regarded as the end of the early modern period and the beginning of the modern era. Did the Enlightenment inaugurate the modern era?

Question 52

What was the Enlightenment?

Question 53

Was the Enlightenment a secular movement?

Question 54

The Enlightenment was an important moment in eighteenth-century European history, but was it the defining moment of the period? Should we look at the eighteenth century through the lens of the Enlightenment?

Question 55

The Enlightenment witnessed the birth of the social sciences as an area of discrete inquiry. What were the social sciences and how did they develop during the Enlightenment?

Question 56

Although they lived during the same time, Voltaire and Rousseau stand at two ends of the Enlightenment. How would you compare Voltaire and Rousseau's ideas? How did these two men represent two phases of the Enlightenment?

Question 57

Enlightenment thinkers may have attempted to undermine some of the traditional components of European society, but they were content to let other hierarchies remain, particularly in relation to gender. How did Enlightenment thinkers understand women's place in society?

Question 58

In addition to being an "Age of Reason," the eighteenth century also experienced religious revivals and changes to the practice of religion. How did religious expression and practice change during the eighteenth century?

Question 59

Literacy rates began to increase during the sixteenth century, but the dramatic consequences of literacy were not truly felt until the eighteenth century. How did the nature of reading change during the eighteenth century?

Question 60

Although many Enlightenment thinkers believed in the concept of reason, a number of individuals reacted against the Enlightenment's emphasis on reason and rationality. How did those who opposed the emphasis on reason react to the Enlightenment?