Philosophers from the Age of Enlightenment Quiz

Answer: Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher and mathematician. He wrote about the dualism of mind and matter, and he argued for the existence of innate knowledge. i.e., knowledge humans are born with.

Answer: Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher whose 1651 book "Leviathan" sets out a social contract theory of government.

Answer: John Locke

John Locke (1632-1704) was an influential English philosopher. His tabula rasa theory hypothesizes that all knowledge comes from experience or perception, putting him at odds with Locke's innate knowledge theory.

Answer: David Hume

David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scottish philosopher in the empiricist school of thought. His famous statement that reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions, puts him in the sentimentalist tradition, which holds that ethics are based on emotion or sentiment, rather than on abstract moral principle.

Answer: Voltaire

Voltaire (1694-1778) was a French writer who was a strong advocate of freedom of speech and freedom of religion; that is, he was for the separation of church and state. He was a prolific writer, as his lifetime private correspondence consist of over 20,000 letters, which have been collected in a 102-volume set.

Answer: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a philosopher from Geneva, which in the eighteenth century had not yet joined the Swiss confederation. Rousseau's writings had a great influence on the French revolution.

Answer: Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a French writer, perhaps best known for publishing an encyclopedia. His hostility to the Catholic Church is reflected in the quote about "the entrails of the last priest".

Answer: Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was born in Ireland but moved to England in 1750. He worked to put his conservative views into effect by serving in the British House of Commons from 1766 to 1794. During his time in parliament, he was an outspoken critic of the British mistreatment of the American colonies and mistreatment of India, and he advocated for the rights of Catholics and the Irish. For all his many writings and tireless political advocacy, he is rightfully regarded as the father of modern conservatism.

Answer: Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German philosopher who introduced the concept of the categorical imperative in 1785. The imperative can be expressed as, "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can will that it should become a universal law". In other words, a contemplated action should not be undertaken if it would not be alright if everyone did it.

For example, I may be tempted not to vote, thinking that my one vote is meaningless; but what if everybody took this attitude?

Answer: Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was an English philosopher who is regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism. His ideas are developed in detail in his 1789 book, "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation".