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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. How is Plato's early life best described?

2. What circumstance does Spinoza say keeps the racial existence of the Jews?

3. What are two theories from the Orient that gain acceptance in Greece?

4. What is one result of Aristotle's prolific output of writing?

5. What does Aristotle say is the need of Motion?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the scope of Bacon's philosophy miss his goal?

2. How does Plato state the cause of political problems in the world?

3. Describe the philosophers before Socrates, Plato, and aristotle.

4. Who are the students of Socrates?

5. How does Durant see the evolution of stoicism into the Christian religion?

6. what methodology marks a difference in the thought processes of Plato and Aristotle?

7. How does Plato see population as a political problem of war that can be controlled?

8. Describe the origins of stoicism and Epicureanism in Greek philosophy.

9. How is Bacon's philosophy comparable to Plato's?

10. Why is Aristotle's philosophy often criticized as dry and uninteresting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a critical essay on Durant's book. Discuss his organization of the book and the selection of philosophers he chose to feature. Conclude with a recommendation for others to read the book.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on Aristotle's idea of the soul as pure thought. In the essay discuss how this concept destroys the soul as it is generally understood in Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay on the death of Socrates. In your essay discuss the devotion of his students and why Socrates chooses not to escape Athens but drink the hemlock instead. Be sure to include the real reason Socrates is sentenced to death.

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