POSC 201 FINAL REVIEW JMU UPDATED ACTUAL
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. According to Curtis in Volume one of his The Great Political Theories, why does "political philosophy
proper" begin with the ancient Greeks?
Answer:
The Greeks supplied the earliest known systematic expositions of political concepts and regimes.
Question:
2. According to Curtis (Vol. One), the Greeks regarded the opposite of polites (citizenship) to be
Answer:
idiotes, or a person wholly uninterested in public affairs or incapable of understanding the importance of
politics.
Question:
3. Curtis (in Vol. One) describes the Sophists as
Answer:
cosmopolitan, skeptical, and often democratic.
Question:
4. Regarding justice, the Code of Hammurabi
Answer:
requires "an eye for an eye," and a "tooth for a tooth."
Question:
5. According to C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man, the Hindu concept of Rta
Answer:
reveals the moral nature to which the good must conform.
Question:
6. For Lewis, the right defense against false sentiment is
Answer:
to inculcate just sentiments.
Question:
7. The ancient concept of the Tao, is according to Lewis,
Answer:
an ancient Chinese concept that represents the "reality beyond predicates ...".
Question:
8. Lewis adds that, according to Confucius, "in ritual it is
Answer:
harmony with nature that is prized.
,Question:
9. Additionally, Lewis reminds us that the ancient Jews
Answer:
"likewise praised the [transcendent] Law as being true.
Question:
10. Why does the sophist Gorgias (in Plato's dialog, Gorgias) insist that what he teaches is the most
important thing to learn?
Answer:
Because it is responsible for personal freedom and enables an individual to gain political power and
influence in his community through winning arguments and convincing others to support your case.
Question:
11. How does Gorgias understand the purpose of what he teaches?
Answer:
persuasion for the sake of winning people over to your side in any public meeting or issue of law before
the court.
Question:
12. In Gorgias (Zeyl translation) Socrates posits two types of persuasion, what are they?
Answer:
one that provides conviction without knowledge and one that provides knowledge.
Question:
13. In Gorgias (following Zeyl), Socrates states that, regarding what is just and unjust, oratory (or rhetoric)
is a producer of
Answer:
conviction-persuasion
Question:
14. In Gorgias (Zeyl translation), to what other activity does Socrates compare oratory?
Answer:
pastry baking
Question:
15. According to Mortimer Adler in his Six Great Ideas, what is everybody's business?
Answer:
philosophy
Question:
16. Adler states that "Plato was
Answer:
wrong, not right, in holding that ideas are subjects that the human mind can think about. He was right in
insisting on their objectivity.
Question:
17. According to Adler, "everyone is called to one common human vocation
, Answer:
that of being a good citizen and a thoughtful human being.
Question:
18. "So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens."
Answer:
Deuteronomy 10:19 (also in Exodus 23)
Question:
19. "You shall not deny one of your needy fellow men his rights in his lawsuit. You shall keep away from
anything dishonest. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death nor shall you acquit the guilty."
Answer:
Exodus 23:6-7
Question:
20. "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burn for burn, stripe for stripe."
Answer:
Exodus 21:23-24.
Question:
21. "You had heard it said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, offer no resistance
to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him as well."
Answer:
St. Matthew 5: 38-39.
Question:
22. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you . . . Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Answer:
St. Luke 6: 27-49
Question:
23. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil . . . who are wise in their own sight and prudent in their
own esteem . . . who acquit the guilty of bribes, and deprive the just man of his rights."
Answer:
Isaiah 5
Question:
24. "Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and who write oppressive decrees, depriving the needy of
judgment and robbing my people's poor of their rights, making widows their plunder and orphans their
prey."
Answer:
Isaiah 10
Question:
25. "You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor."
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. According to Curtis in Volume one of his The Great Political Theories, why does "political philosophy
proper" begin with the ancient Greeks?
Answer:
The Greeks supplied the earliest known systematic expositions of political concepts and regimes.
Question:
2. According to Curtis (Vol. One), the Greeks regarded the opposite of polites (citizenship) to be
Answer:
idiotes, or a person wholly uninterested in public affairs or incapable of understanding the importance of
politics.
Question:
3. Curtis (in Vol. One) describes the Sophists as
Answer:
cosmopolitan, skeptical, and often democratic.
Question:
4. Regarding justice, the Code of Hammurabi
Answer:
requires "an eye for an eye," and a "tooth for a tooth."
Question:
5. According to C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man, the Hindu concept of Rta
Answer:
reveals the moral nature to which the good must conform.
Question:
6. For Lewis, the right defense against false sentiment is
Answer:
to inculcate just sentiments.
Question:
7. The ancient concept of the Tao, is according to Lewis,
Answer:
an ancient Chinese concept that represents the "reality beyond predicates ...".
Question:
8. Lewis adds that, according to Confucius, "in ritual it is
Answer:
harmony with nature that is prized.
,Question:
9. Additionally, Lewis reminds us that the ancient Jews
Answer:
"likewise praised the [transcendent] Law as being true.
Question:
10. Why does the sophist Gorgias (in Plato's dialog, Gorgias) insist that what he teaches is the most
important thing to learn?
Answer:
Because it is responsible for personal freedom and enables an individual to gain political power and
influence in his community through winning arguments and convincing others to support your case.
Question:
11. How does Gorgias understand the purpose of what he teaches?
Answer:
persuasion for the sake of winning people over to your side in any public meeting or issue of law before
the court.
Question:
12. In Gorgias (Zeyl translation) Socrates posits two types of persuasion, what are they?
Answer:
one that provides conviction without knowledge and one that provides knowledge.
Question:
13. In Gorgias (following Zeyl), Socrates states that, regarding what is just and unjust, oratory (or rhetoric)
is a producer of
Answer:
conviction-persuasion
Question:
14. In Gorgias (Zeyl translation), to what other activity does Socrates compare oratory?
Answer:
pastry baking
Question:
15. According to Mortimer Adler in his Six Great Ideas, what is everybody's business?
Answer:
philosophy
Question:
16. Adler states that "Plato was
Answer:
wrong, not right, in holding that ideas are subjects that the human mind can think about. He was right in
insisting on their objectivity.
Question:
17. According to Adler, "everyone is called to one common human vocation
, Answer:
that of being a good citizen and a thoughtful human being.
Question:
18. "So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens."
Answer:
Deuteronomy 10:19 (also in Exodus 23)
Question:
19. "You shall not deny one of your needy fellow men his rights in his lawsuit. You shall keep away from
anything dishonest. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death nor shall you acquit the guilty."
Answer:
Exodus 23:6-7
Question:
20. "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burn for burn, stripe for stripe."
Answer:
Exodus 21:23-24.
Question:
21. "You had heard it said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, offer no resistance
to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him as well."
Answer:
St. Matthew 5: 38-39.
Question:
22. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you . . . Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Answer:
St. Luke 6: 27-49
Question:
23. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil . . . who are wise in their own sight and prudent in their
own esteem . . . who acquit the guilty of bribes, and deprive the just man of his rights."
Answer:
Isaiah 5
Question:
24. "Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and who write oppressive decrees, depriving the needy of
judgment and robbing my people's poor of their rights, making widows their plunder and orphans their
prey."
Answer:
Isaiah 10
Question:
25. "You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor."
