Writers

Question 1

Simone de Beauvoir

Answer 1

WWII feminist, wrote “The Second Sex”

Question 2

Hannah Arendt

Answer 2

20th century writer, wrote about Nazi criminal

Question 3

Chateaubriand

Answer 3

Romantic writer; opposed anti-Clericalism of French Revolution

Question 4

Machiavelli

Answer 4

political theorist during Renaissance

Question 5

Charles Montesquieu

Answer 5

writer of checks and balances and separation of political powers

Question 6

Thomas Malthus

Answer 6

British writer (18th-19th centuries); theorized Europe headed toward overpopulation

Question 7

Sigmund Freud

Answer 7

author of “The Interpretation of Dreams.” Believed people used defense mechanisms to defend their egos.

Question 8

Wilfred Owen

Answer 8

wrote “Dulce et Decorum Est”-describes some horrors of WWI

Question 9

Bossuet

Answer 9

wrote “Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Scripture”; described “divine right of kings” theory; King Louis XIV’s tutor. Argued for absolutism.

Question 10

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 10

wrote “Leviathan”; argues for a powerful ruler

Question 11

Adam Smith

Answer 11

wrote “Wealth of Nations”

Question 12

Edward Gibbon

Answer 12

wrote “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”

Question 13

Olympe de Gouges

Answer 13

wrote “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Female Citizen” (women excluded from vote by National Assembly during French Revolution; Olympe against that)

Question 14

Cesare Beccaria

Answer 14

wrote “Essay on Crimes and Punishments”; advocates rehabilitation of criminals, not strict punishments

Question 15

Friedrich Nietzsche

Answer 15

19th century philosopher; his philosophy admired by Nazis. (1789) argued nation should be governed according to general will. Very outspoken atheist. Popularized phrase “God is dead.”

Question 16

Albert Camus

Answer 16

post WWII philosopher and writer (extentialist)

Question 17

Charles Lyell

Answer 17

wrote “Principles of Geology” (1830)-influenced Charles Darwin

Question 18

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Answer 18

explained history without reference to God’s will (Gibbon)

Question 19

Karl Marx

Answer 19

A 19th century German philosopher. Published “The Communist Manifesto” and “Das Kapital.”

Question 20

Thomas Carlyle

Answer 20

19th century British historian and social writer.

Question 21

George Orwell

Answer 21

(1903-1950) Socialist, criticisms of dictatorship. Wrote “Animal Farm” and “1984.”

Question 22

Edmund Burke

Answer 22

18th century writer. Wrote “Reflections on the Revolution in France”; seen as beginning of modern conservatism.

Question 23

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Answer 23

18th century writer. French philosopher. Concept of the “noble savage” advocated system of education that allows students to follow natural interests. Argued (1789) that a nation should be governed according to the general will. Wrote “The Social Contract.”