POSC Exam 2 Study Guide
Flashcard 1
Q: What was the Protestant Reformation?
A: A movement that challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and led to the creation of Protestant churches.
Flashcard 2
Q: What is Sola Scriptura?
A: "Scripture Alone"; the Bible is the highest religious authority.
Flashcard 3
Q: What is the Priesthood of All Believers?
A: The belief that every Christian can have a direct relationship with God without needing a priest as an intermediary.
Flashcard 4
Q: What is pluralism?
A: The existence of many different beliefs and viewpoints within the same society.
Flashcard 5
Q: Why was the printing press important?
A: It spread ideas, increased literacy, and encouraged religious and political diversity.
Scientific Revolution
Flashcard 6
Q: Who was Francis Bacon?
A: A philosopher who promoted empirical science and the scientific method.
Flashcard 7
Q: What is the scientific method?
A: A process of observation, evidence gathering, and experimentation.
Flashcard 8
Q: What is replication?
A: Reproducing a scientific result to verify its accuracy.
Flashcard 9
Q: What is Descartes' "Cogito Ergo Sum"?
A: "I think, therefore I am."
Flashcard 10
Q: What is radical doubt?
A: Descartes' method of questioning everything that can be doubted.
Hobbes: Knowledge & Human Nature
Flashcard 11
Q: Who wrote Leviathan?
A: Thomas Hobbes.
Flashcard 12
Q: What was Hobbes's main concern?
A: Preventing violence and civil war.
Flashcard 13
Q: What is empiricism?
A: The view that knowledge comes through sensory experience.
Flashcard 14
Q: What is materialism?
A: The belief that everything that exists is physical matter.
Flashcard 15
Q: What is psychic materialism?
A: The belief that thoughts, emotions, and mental activities are physical processes.
Flashcard 16
Q: What is nominalism?
A: The belief that general concepts are names humans create rather than independent realities.
Flashcard 17
Q: According to Hobbes, what is reason?
A: Calculation of consequences.
Flashcard 18
Q: What is an appetite?
A: A movement toward something desired.
Flashcard 19
Q: What is an aversion?
A: A movement away from something disliked or feared.
Flashcard 20
Q: According to Hobbes, what is good?
A: Whatever an individual desires.
Flashcard 21
Q: According to Hobbes, what is evil?
A: Whatever an individual seeks to avoid.
Flashcard 22
Q: What is deliberation?
A: Internal conflict between competing desires.
Flashcard 23
Q: What is the will?
A: The desire that ultimately wins and leads to action.
Hobbes: Power & Conflict
Flashcard 24
Q: What is power?
A: Present means of obtaining future goals.
Flashcard 25
Q: What does Hobbes mean by "power after power"?
A: Humans continuously seek more power to secure future safety and success.
Flashcard 26
Q: What is honor?
A: Social recognition, respect, or reputation.
Flashcard 27
Q: Why is fear important in Hobbes's philosophy?
A: Fear of violent death motivates people to create government.
Hobbes: State of Nature
Flashcard 28
Q: What is the state of nature?
A: A condition with no government, laws, courts, or police.
Flashcard 29
Q: Why are people naturally equal according to Hobbes?
A: Because even weaker individuals can potentially kill stronger ones.
Flashcard 30
Q: What is competition?
A: Conflict over limited resources.
Flashcard 31
Q: What is diffidence?
A: Fear and distrust of others.
Flashcard 32
Q: What is glory?
A: Desire for reputation, status, and recognition.
Flashcard 33
Q: What are the three causes of conflict?
A: Competition, diffidence, and glory.
Flashcard 34
Q: What is the state of war?
A: A condition of constant insecurity and potential violence.
Flashcard 35
Q: What famous phrase describes life in the state of nature?
A: "Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
Hobbes: Natural Rights & Laws
Flashcard 36
Q: What is a natural right?
A: Freedom to do whatever is necessary for self-preservation.
Flashcard 37
Q: What is a natural law?
A: A rule of reason that promotes peace.
Flashcard 38
Q: What is the First Law of Nature?
A: Seek peace.
Flashcard 39
Q: What is the Second Law of Nature?
A: Give up some freedoms if others do the same.
Flashcard 40
Q: What is the Third Law of Nature?
A: Keep agreements.
Flashcard 41
Q: What is justice according to Hobbes?
A: Keeping agreements; justice exists only after contracts are formed.
Hobbes: Government
Flashcard 42
Q: What is the social contract?
A: An agreement to surrender some freedoms in exchange for security.
Flashcard 43
Q: What is a commonwealth?
A: A political community created by a social contract.
Flashcard 44
Q: What is Leviathan?
A: Hobbes's name for the state.
Flashcard 45
Q: What is personation?
A: The sovereign acting as the representative of the people.
Flashcard 46
Q: What is a "mortal god"?
A: Hobbes's description of the powerful state.
Flashcard 47
Q: What is sovereignty?
A: Supreme political authority.
Flashcard 48
Q: What is absolutism?
A: Government with very strong centralized authority.
Flashcard 49
Q: Why does Hobbes support absolutism?
A: Because he fears civil war more than tyranny.
Religion & Politics
Flashcard 50
Q: What is an ecclesiastical commonwealth?
A: The relationship between religion and government.
Flashcard 51
Q: What is Erastianism?
A: The doctrine that the state should control religion.
Flashcard 52
Q: What themes are found in the Book of Job?
A: Suffering, authority, and human limitations.
Locke
Flashcard 53
Q: Who was John Locke?
A: An English philosopher who emphasized natural rights and limited government.
Flashcard 54
Q: What was Locke's main political question?
A: How government can protect individual rights.
Flashcard 55
Q: What was the Exclusion Crisis?
A: The political struggle over whether James II should inherit the throne.
Flashcard 56
Q: Who was the Earl of Shaftesbury?
A: Locke's political patron and opponent of absolutism.
Flashcard 57
Q: What was the Glorious Revolution?
A: The 1688 replacement of James II with William and Mary.
Flashcard 58
Q: Why is the English Bill of Rights important?
A: It limited royal power and strengthened Parliament.
Filmer & Divine Right
Flashcard 59
Q: Who wrote Patriarcha?
A: Sir Robert Filmer.
Flashcard 60
Q: What is the Divine Right of Kings?
A: The theory that kings rule through authority given by God.
Flashcard 61
Q: How does Locke reject the Divine Right of Kings?
A: He argues authority comes from consent, not birth or divine inheritance.
Liberalism
Flashcard 62
Q: What is liberalism?
A: A political philosophy emphasizing rights, liberty, and limited government.
Flashcard 63
Q: What is secularism?
A: Separation of religion and government.
Flashcard 64
Q: What is a theocracy?
A: Government ruled by religious authorities.
Locke's State of Nature
Flashcard 65
Q: How does Locke's state of nature differ from Hobbes's?
A: It is generally peaceful and governed by natural law.
Flashcard 66
Q: What is natural equality?
A: The idea that all humans possess equal moral worth.
Flashcard 67
Q: What is egalitarianism?
A: The belief that people deserve equal moral consideration.
Flashcard 68
Q: How is natural law discovered according to Locke?
A: Through reason and divine command.
Flashcard 69
Q: What is the fundamental law of nature?
A: Preserve mankind whenever possible.
Flashcard 70
Q: Why does Locke oppose suicide?
A: Human life belongs to God and should be preserved.
Flashcard 71
Q: What is the executive power of nature?
A: The individual's right to enforce natural law in the state of nature.
Property & Revolution
Flashcard 72
Q: What is self-ownership?
A: The belief that individuals own their own bodies and labor.
Flashcard 73
Q: What is the labor theory of property?
A: Property is created when labor is mixed with unowned resources.
Flashcard 74
Q: What are Locke's three natural rights?
A: Life, Liberty, and Property.
Flashcard 75
Q: What is the state of war for Locke?
A: A condition that occurs when someone violates another person's rights.
Flashcard 76
Q: Is Locke's state of nature the same as a state of war?
A: No.
Flashcard 77
Q: When is revolution justified?
A: When government consistently violates natural rights.
Must-Memorize Comparison
Flashcard 78
Q: Hobbes's highest political value?
A: Security.
Flashcard 79
Q: Locke's highest political value?
A: Liberty and rights.
Flashcard 80
Q: Hobbes and Locke in one sentence?
A: Hobbes: Order through a strong sovereign. Locke: Liberty through limited government.