Political Theory Practice Exam UPDATED
ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS
A. It is the search for wisdom about the nature and purpose of political association - correct
answer what is the best way to describe political theory/ philosophy?
A. It is the search for wisdom about the nature and purpose of political association
B. It is the useless study of worthless old books about irrelevant subjects
C. It is the study of the nature of reality
D. It studies the essence of value and behavior
D. All of the above - correct answer which of the following are questions political theory
attempts to answer?
A. How did the present, lamentable situation come about?
B. How can it be fixed?
C. What is the best possible political regime or governmental arrangement?
D. All of the above
A. Hesiod's works and days - correct answer "goods are not to be grabbed; much better if god
lets you have them. If any man by force of hands wins him a great fortune, or steals it by cleverness of
tongue, as so often happens among people when the intelligence is blinded by greed, a man's
shameless spirit tramples his sense of honor; lightly the gods wipe out that man, and diminish the
household of such a one who does evil to guest or suppliant, or goes up into the bed of his brother, to
lie in secret with his brother's wife... With all these zeus in person is angry, and in the end he makes
them pay a bitter price for their unrighteous dealings.
The above quote is drawn from:
A. Hesiod's works and days
B. Thucydides' history of the peloponnesian war
C. Homer's iliad
D. Aristotle's ethics
,B. It foreshadows what later became the natural law tradition in western political thought - correct
answer which of the following best describes the above quote?
A. It raises fundamental questions about the nature of law, politics, and political obligation.
B. It foreshadows what later became the natural law tradition in western political thought
C. It declares that the good citizen has an absolute duty to obey the law
D. It presents a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate rule and thereby defines tyranny
A. Aristotle - correct answer the thinker who first proposed that good government could be
achieved by having two forms of bad government balance and check another was:
A. Aristotle
B. Plato
C. Aquinas
D. Montesquieu
D. Ethics - correct answer which of the following was not written by plato?
A. Gorgias
B. Statesman
C. Laws
D. Ethics
A. Sparta - correct answer plato's model for his guardian/warrior class was
A. Sparta
B. Corinth
C. Carthage
D. Rome
C. Foster human excellence - correct answer the classical greeks thought that government
should:
A. Facilitate the christian life
B. Establish and maintain order
C. Foster human excellence
,D. Secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
A. Facilitate the christain life - correct answer medieval christendom thought that government
should:
A. Facilitate the christain life
B. Establish and maintain order and prosperity
C. Foster human excellence
D. Secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
D. Aristotle was much less interested than plato in describing the ideal state - correct answer the
views of plato and aristotle differed, in that:
A. Speech and reason set human beings apart for plato but not for aristotle
B. Aristotle assumed the polis, or city state was the optimum size of human community, while plato
felt it was the empire
C. Aristotle felt that social order required society's most important tasks to be performed by its most
able citizens, while plato assumed that the polity should match talents to tasks
D. Aristotle was much less interested than plato in describing the ideal state
A. Tyranny - correct answer the ancients believed that when monarchy decays into its bad
counterpart, it becomes:
A. Tyranny
B. Oligarchy
C. Democracy
D. Aristocracy
A. The myth of metals - correct answer in plato's republic what is sometimes called the "noble
lie" refers to
A. The myth of metals
B. The allegory of the cave
C. The simile of the sun
D. The analogy of the divided line
, A. Eros - correct answer referring to the decline of the good polis in the republic prof. Eric
voegelin says that "the disembodiment of the idea is the story of decomposition of the soul through
the metamorphosis if _________________."
A. Eros
B. Philia
C. Agape
D. Dikaiosune
D. Polity - correct answer the mixed form of government that aristotle described as being
merged from other less than ideal forms of government was called:
A. Monarchy
B. Aristocracy
C. Oligarchy
D. Polity
D. Both a and b above - correct answer according to aristotle, a well-designed government
should give the people:
A. The function of electing the magistrates to office
B. The function of holding magistrates accountable
C. The right of holding office themselves
D. Both a and b above
D. The idea of the good - correct answer we associate all of the following except
__________________ with aristotle:
A. What is natural is good
B. The best way is the middle way
C. The purpose of life is to live well
D. The idea of the good
C. First put in practice by the romans - correct answer ideas such as representation, federalism,
checks and balances, and separation of powers were:
A. All derived from athenian democracy
ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS
A. It is the search for wisdom about the nature and purpose of political association - correct
answer what is the best way to describe political theory/ philosophy?
A. It is the search for wisdom about the nature and purpose of political association
B. It is the useless study of worthless old books about irrelevant subjects
C. It is the study of the nature of reality
D. It studies the essence of value and behavior
D. All of the above - correct answer which of the following are questions political theory
attempts to answer?
A. How did the present, lamentable situation come about?
B. How can it be fixed?
C. What is the best possible political regime or governmental arrangement?
D. All of the above
A. Hesiod's works and days - correct answer "goods are not to be grabbed; much better if god
lets you have them. If any man by force of hands wins him a great fortune, or steals it by cleverness of
tongue, as so often happens among people when the intelligence is blinded by greed, a man's
shameless spirit tramples his sense of honor; lightly the gods wipe out that man, and diminish the
household of such a one who does evil to guest or suppliant, or goes up into the bed of his brother, to
lie in secret with his brother's wife... With all these zeus in person is angry, and in the end he makes
them pay a bitter price for their unrighteous dealings.
The above quote is drawn from:
A. Hesiod's works and days
B. Thucydides' history of the peloponnesian war
C. Homer's iliad
D. Aristotle's ethics
,B. It foreshadows what later became the natural law tradition in western political thought - correct
answer which of the following best describes the above quote?
A. It raises fundamental questions about the nature of law, politics, and political obligation.
B. It foreshadows what later became the natural law tradition in western political thought
C. It declares that the good citizen has an absolute duty to obey the law
D. It presents a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate rule and thereby defines tyranny
A. Aristotle - correct answer the thinker who first proposed that good government could be
achieved by having two forms of bad government balance and check another was:
A. Aristotle
B. Plato
C. Aquinas
D. Montesquieu
D. Ethics - correct answer which of the following was not written by plato?
A. Gorgias
B. Statesman
C. Laws
D. Ethics
A. Sparta - correct answer plato's model for his guardian/warrior class was
A. Sparta
B. Corinth
C. Carthage
D. Rome
C. Foster human excellence - correct answer the classical greeks thought that government
should:
A. Facilitate the christian life
B. Establish and maintain order
C. Foster human excellence
,D. Secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
A. Facilitate the christain life - correct answer medieval christendom thought that government
should:
A. Facilitate the christain life
B. Establish and maintain order and prosperity
C. Foster human excellence
D. Secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
D. Aristotle was much less interested than plato in describing the ideal state - correct answer the
views of plato and aristotle differed, in that:
A. Speech and reason set human beings apart for plato but not for aristotle
B. Aristotle assumed the polis, or city state was the optimum size of human community, while plato
felt it was the empire
C. Aristotle felt that social order required society's most important tasks to be performed by its most
able citizens, while plato assumed that the polity should match talents to tasks
D. Aristotle was much less interested than plato in describing the ideal state
A. Tyranny - correct answer the ancients believed that when monarchy decays into its bad
counterpart, it becomes:
A. Tyranny
B. Oligarchy
C. Democracy
D. Aristocracy
A. The myth of metals - correct answer in plato's republic what is sometimes called the "noble
lie" refers to
A. The myth of metals
B. The allegory of the cave
C. The simile of the sun
D. The analogy of the divided line
, A. Eros - correct answer referring to the decline of the good polis in the republic prof. Eric
voegelin says that "the disembodiment of the idea is the story of decomposition of the soul through
the metamorphosis if _________________."
A. Eros
B. Philia
C. Agape
D. Dikaiosune
D. Polity - correct answer the mixed form of government that aristotle described as being
merged from other less than ideal forms of government was called:
A. Monarchy
B. Aristocracy
C. Oligarchy
D. Polity
D. Both a and b above - correct answer according to aristotle, a well-designed government
should give the people:
A. The function of electing the magistrates to office
B. The function of holding magistrates accountable
C. The right of holding office themselves
D. Both a and b above
D. The idea of the good - correct answer we associate all of the following except
__________________ with aristotle:
A. What is natural is good
B. The best way is the middle way
C. The purpose of life is to live well
D. The idea of the good
C. First put in practice by the romans - correct answer ideas such as representation, federalism,
checks and balances, and separation of powers were:
A. All derived from athenian democracy
