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Philosophers and Their World Trivia Quiz

This is a quiz about the social and historical context of great philosophers

A multiple-choice quiz by wwtbam1. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
wwtbam1

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
358,845

Updated
Jun 09 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
396

One at a Time - Single Page

Question 1 of 10

1. Which great philosopher was so slow to develop that he was called "The Dumb Ox" during his childhood? Hint

Duns Scotus

John Locke

Aristotle

Thomas Aquinas

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Question 2 of 10

2. Which philosopher was selected by a great king to be tutor to his son, who became one of the great conquerors of history? Hint

Aristotle

Pythagoras

Plato

Pheidippides

3. Although Jefferson banned this philosopher's work from the University of Virginia, which great philosopher was a major contributor to the Founding Fathers' understanding of the republican government enjoyed in the USA? Hint

Rene Descartes

John Locke

David Hume

Adam Smith

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Question 4 of 10

4. This great Jewish philosopher fled from Spanish and Portuguese oppression to the Netherlands to avoid trouble with the ruling class. Hint

Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza

Sancho Panza

Cervantes

Ruy Diaz Mio Cid

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Question 5 of 10

5. Which great philosopher taught on the Painted Porch? Hint

Zeno of Citium

Heraclitus

Socrates

Anaxamander

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Question 6 of 10

6. Whose idea was it to use a razor to cut through the baloney in an argument, saying that the simplest hypothesis is likely the best one? Hint

William of Orange

John Dun Scotus

William Tell

William of Occam

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Question 7 of 10

7. Which two great philosopher-mathematicians both claimed to be the "father of modern calculus"? Hint

Hobbes and Locke

Linnaeus and Huygens

Newton and Leibniz

Descartes and Barrow

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Question 8 of 10

8. Which great German philosopher, author of "Being and Time," lived for many years in a small hut in the Black Forest? Hint

Martin Heidegger

Edmond Husserl

Immanuel Kant

Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Question 9 of 10

9. Which philosopher's idea of a "superman" was taken and abused by the Nazi propaganda machine during the 1930s and 1940s? Hint

Friedrich Nietzsche

Thomas Mann

Edmond Husserl

Zarathustra

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Question 10 of 10

10. Lillian Hellman and Leonard Bernstein wrote an operetta based on whose novel "Candide"? Hint

Jules Stein

John Steinbeck

Voltaire

Gertrude Stein

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which great philosopher was so slow to develop that he was called "The Dumb Ox" during his childhood?

Answer: Thomas Aquinas

Thomas was big for his age, and didn't talk much, but when he got started, he wrote some of the foundational philosophy of Catholic thought, by weaving Aristotle's logical and natural philosophy into the Christian theology.

2. Which philosopher was selected by a great king to be tutor to his son, who became one of the great conquerors of history?

Answer: Aristotle

Aristotle was Alexander the Great's tutor in the ancient Greek disciplines of art, rhetoric, philosophy. Funny that Alexander took such a military turn.

Answer: David Hume

Jefferson thought Hume's "History of England" was full of "Tory poison", and that Hume's thinking was anti-federalist. Funny thing, though, is that Hume supported American independence all his adult life, and felt he was "an American in principle."

4. This great Jewish philosopher fled from Spanish and Portuguese oppression to the Netherlands to avoid trouble with the ruling class.

Answer: Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza

Spinoza was unappreciated in his time, and his great "Ethics" turned the philosophical world on its head, challenging both the medieval thought of St. Thomas and the new thinking of Descartes.

5. Which great philosopher taught on the Painted Porch?

Answer: Zeno of Citium

The Stoic philosophy of Zeno is named after the Greek word for Porch--stoa. The area where Zeno taught was covered with famous frescos of real and imaginary scenes from Greek history and tradition.

6. Whose idea was it to use a razor to cut through the baloney in an argument, saying that the simplest hypothesis is likely the best one?

Answer: William of Occam

Occam probably never used the quotes attributed to him, and the idea was well-established by Aristotle, Ptolemy and Aquinas. But somehow Occam's Razor (or Ockham's Razor) stays as the famous quote.

7. Which two great philosopher-mathematicians both claimed to be the "father of modern calculus"?

Answer: Newton and Leibniz

Leibniz published his "Nova Methodus" first, but Newton's many treatises, published over time, were more popular with the scientific crowd of the day.

8. Which great German philosopher, author of "Being and Time," lived for many years in a small hut in the Black Forest?

Answer: Martin Heidegger

Heidegger spent many years living in a small hut in the Black Forest while he wrote some of the most important (and some of the most impenetrable!) philosophy of the twentieth century. His stature and the remoteness of the cabin earned him the nickname Gnome of the Black Forest.

9. Which philosopher's idea of a "superman" was taken and abused by the Nazi propaganda machine during the 1930s and 1940s?

Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche

Husserl was the father of phenomenology, and worked to understand the core of truth. Mann was an educator and philosopher in Germany, and "Thus Sppke Zarathustra" was another Nietzsche creation.

10. Lillian Hellman and Leonard Bernstein wrote an operetta based on whose novel "Candide"?

Answer: Voltaire

Voltaire's satirical pen was never so sharp than when he was exposing the inconsistency and hypocricy of the ruling classes. Doctor Pangloss, Candide, and a cast of characters across two continents tells a great story! Jules Stein, of course, wrote great songs, but not for this play. Steinbeck and Gertrude Stein were great writers, but did not have Bernstein as a collaborator.

Source: Author wwtbam1

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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