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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of these was not written by Brecht?

2. What play did Hellman write in the 1960s that was a big success?

3. What year did Sartre die?

4. What was the name of the American philosophy graduate who became Russell's secretary?

5. What occupation did Wilson's father hold?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Johnson describe Wilson's writings?

2. Describe Orwell's appearance.

3. Describe Jean-Paul Sartre's appearance.

4. What did Orwell think of fellow intellectuals in comparison to the poor?

5. What type of relationship did Wilson have with other writers?

6. What political views did Wilson adopt during the Great Depression?

7. Why does Johnson describe Russell as being detached from physical reality?

8. What activity of Russell's resulted in a mock War Crimes Tribunal held in Stockholm?

9. Why does Johnson believe that Gollancz is an important intellectual if he did not give birth to a salient idea himself?

10. What event caused Orwell to realize that the left was capable of injustice and cruelty of kind almost unknown?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The pursuit and the relation of truth are important themes in Intellectuals. Using at least three intellectuals discuss how they relate to this theme of truth and their attitude towards it. Comment on what inferences Johnson draw towards the importance of truth.

Essay Topic 2

Johnson suggests that many of the thinkers could not relate or communicate with people, but were great at sympathizing with ideas. Using textual evidence, identify at least three thinkers who sympathized with ideas rather than actual people and explain how this was manifested.

Essay Topic 3

Why is Bertrand Russell called an abstract philosopher? Using textual evidence discuss what the underlying premise of his philosophy was and how it affected his work and other intellectuals.

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