Question 1

...................has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy'.

Accepted Answer

René Descartes is often called the 'Father of Modern Philosophy' due to his significant contributions to the field, particularly his development of Cartesian doubt and the cogito argument ("I think, therefore I am").

Question 2

............... was born in La Haye en Touraine (now Descartes), Indre-et- Loire, France.

Accepted Answer

René Descartes, a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, was born in La Haye en Touraine, which was later renamed Descartes in his honor.

Question 3

In his 'Discourse on the Method', ...............attempts to arrive at a fundamental set of principles that one can know as true without any doubt.

Accepted Answer

René Descartes, in his 'Discourse on the Method', seeks to establish a set of fundamental principles that can be known with absolute certainty, famously encapsulated in the statement "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am").

Question 4

Giovan Battista (Giambattista) Vico was an .............. political philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist.

Accepted Answer

Giovan Battista (Giambattista) Vico was an Italian philosopher, known for his work in the fields of rhetoric, history, and law, among others.

Question 5

.................. is best known for his magnum opus, the Scienza Nuova of 1725, often published in English as New Science.

Accepted Answer

Giambattista Vico is best known for his work "Scienza Nuova" (1725), where he introduced a new approach to the philosophy of history and culture.

Question 6

The Enlightenment beginning in Britain's Glorious Revolution of ............

Accepted Answer

The Enlightenment, a period emphasizing reason, science, and individual rights, is often said to have begun with Britain's Glorious Revolution in 1688. This event marked the overthrow of King James II in favor of William of Orange and Mary, leading to significant political reforms and the establishment of constitutional monarchy.

Question 7

The French Revolution of .......................

Accepted Answer

The French Revolution began in 1789, marking a significant period of radical social and political upheaval in France.

Question 8

In The Spirit of Laws, .............explored the natural order that he believed underlay polities as well as economies.

Accepted Answer

Montesquieu, in "The Spirit of Laws," explored the idea of a natural order underlying political systems and economies, advocating for the separation of powers within government.

Question 9

................ preferred form of government was constitutional monarchy, which existed in France before Louis XIV .

Accepted Answer

Montesquieu advocated for the separation of powers within a government, a principle that is often associated with constitutional monarchies. His ideas were influential in the development of modern democratic governance structures, contrasting with the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV's France.

Question 10

Although the positivist approach has been a recurrent theme in the history of Western thought, the modern sense of the approach was developed by the philosopher and founding sociologist ................. in the early 19th century.

Accepted Answer

Auguste Comte is credited with the development of the positivist approach in the modern sense during the early 19th century. He is often referred to as the father of sociology and was instrumental in establishing the discipline as a distinct field of study, emphasizing the importance of using scientific methods to understand society.

Question 11

.................first described the epistemological perspective of positivism in 'The Course in Positive Philosophy'.

Accepted Answer

Auguste Comte is credited with the first description of the epistemological perspective of positivism in his work 'The Course in Positive Philosophy'.

Question 12

Leopold von Ranke was a .............. positivist historian and a founder of modern source-based history.

Accepted Answer

Leopold von Ranke was a German historian, known for being a founder of modern source-based history and for his methodological approach to historical research, emphasizing the importance of primary sources.

Question 13

............was born in Wiehe, then part of the Electorate of Saxony.

Accepted Answer

Leopold von Ranke, a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history, was born in Wiehe, which was then part of the Electorate of Saxony.

Question 14

In 1814, ...............entered the University of Leipzig, where his subjects were Classics and Lutheran theology.

Accepted Answer

Leopold von Ranke, a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history, entered the University of Leipzig in 1814, where he studied Classics and Lutheran theology.

Question 15

................... introduced a system for understanding the history of philosophy and the world itself often called 'dialectic": a progression in which each successive movement emerges as a solution to the contradictions inherent in the preceding movement.

Accepted Answer

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel introduced the dialectical method in philosophy, which posits that history and reality progress through a series of contradictions and their resolutions, leading to the development of new stages in thought and society.

Question 16

.....................usage of the English-language word 'ghost', in his 1590 The Faerie Queene, demonstrates the former, broader meaning of the English-language term.

Accepted Answer

Edmund Spenser, in his 1590 work "The Faerie Queene," used the word "ghost" in a way that reflects its broader, older meaning in the English language.

Question 17

Geist is a central concept in ................ The Phenomenology of Spirit .

Accepted Answer

Geist is a central concept in Hegel's work "The Phenomenology of Spirit," where it refers to mind or spirit as part of his philosophical system.

Question 18

In ..................... the London Communist League (Karl Marx and Frederick Engels) used Hegel's theory of the dialectic to back up their economic theory of communism.

Accepted Answer

In 1847, the London Communist League, with prominent members Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, adopted Hegel's dialectical method to support their economic theory of communism, leading to the development of dialectical materialism.

Question 19

.................... published his theory of human evolution in 1859.

Accepted Answer

Charles Darwin published his theory of human evolution in 1859 in his book "On the Origin of Species."

Question 20

............... is best known for his 12-volume A Study of History.

Accepted Answer

Arnold Joseph Toynbee is best known for his 12-volume series "A Study of History," in which he analyzes the rise and fall of civilizations.

Quiz 2: Important Figures and Works in Western Philosophy and History