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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. What is needed to be able to judge what is just or unjust?

2. What does Hobbes call reasoning with oneself?

3. Why does Hobbes say the multitude cannot protest against the sovereign?

4. Where can a monarch go for advice?

5. What does Hobbes say a person is doing when he stops defending himself?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Hobbes say about justice, gratitude, modesty, equity, and mercy?

2. What is one advantage Hobbes sees in a monarchy?

3. How does Hobbes define justice?

4. Give Hobbes' idea about how much a country needs individuals.

5. What does Hobbes believe about judicial interpretation?

6. How does Hobbes define the origins of religion?

7. In any political situation, what does Hobbes identify as a basic right?

8. Relate Hobbes' examples of a contract or a covenant.

9. What are the three sovereignties Hobbes defines?

10. What are the two ways Hobbes says a commonwealth is created?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on Hobbes' idea that everything actually belongs to the sovereign of a commonwealth. Does your house and all your possessions belong to the government? Write your paper as an argument for or against that idea.

Essay Topic 2

Look up information about the civil war in England during Hobbes' lifetime and write a summary of the conflict to explain Hobbes' references to the war. This information can be used to explain why Hobbes wrote the book and from where many of his ideas sprang.

Essay Topic 3

In Hobbes' political philosophy, the only valid reason for taking up arms against a sovereign is for self protection. Write your paper based on Hitler's taking over Germany and the plight of the Jews and other minorities his persecuted. Hobbes' theory is that the people thus under such a sovereign are constrained to obey the laws of the sovereign first.

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