Chapter 11 Quiz: Political Philosophy
Instructions: Questions 1–12 are multiple choice. Questions 13–15 are short answer. Questions 16–17 are essay prompts.
Part A: Multiple Choice
1. The "state of nature" in social contract theory refers to:
(a) The natural environment before human civilization (b) A thought experiment imagining human life before political authority, used to justify the basis of political legitimacy (c) The ideal condition that political society should approximate (d) The psychological nature of human beings before socialization
2. Hobbes's state of nature is characterized by:
(a) Natural rights protected by natural law (b) Peaceful cooperation among rational individuals (c) A war of all against all arising from roughly equal human capacity and scarce resources (d) The oppression of the weak by the strong
3. According to Hobbes, the social contract requires individuals to:
(a) Preserve their natural rights by delegating some authority to government (b) Transfer virtually all authority to a sovereign in exchange for security (c) Participate democratically in shaping the laws they live under (d) Consent explicitly before being bound by any law
4. Locke's state of nature differs from Hobbes's primarily because:
(a) Locke thought people are fundamentally good while Hobbes thought they are fundamentally evil (b) Locke believed natural law provides a moral framework governing behavior even without government (c) Locke lived in a more peaceful historical era (d) Locke's subjects were more educated and rational
5. For Locke, government forfeits its authority when:
(a) It becomes unpopular with a majority of citizens (b) It fails to achieve good outcomes for society (c) It violates the natural rights it was created to protect (d) It does not follow the procedures established by Rousseau
6. Rousseau's concept of the "general will" refers to:
(a) The majority vote of the population (b) The will of the strongest citizens (c) The community's true common interest, as opposed to the sum of private interests (d) A unanimous agreement among all citizens
7. Which of the following BEST describes Rawls's concept of "public reason"?
(a) Making political arguments accessible to uneducated citizens (b) Requiring all political arguments to be secular (c) In political contexts, appealing only to reasons that all reasonable citizens could accept regardless of their comprehensive doctrines (d) Conducting political debate in public rather than private settings
8. Condorcet's Jury Theorem is used in political philosophy to support:
(a) Rule by experts rather than popular majorities (b) An epistemic argument for democracy — that aggregated judgment tends to be more accurate than individual judgment (c) The need for constitutional limits on democracy (d) Proportional representation over first-past-the-post voting
9. Habermas's "deliberative democracy" theory holds that democratic legitimacy derives from:
(a) The outcome of elections conducted according to fair procedures (b) Efficient aggregation of citizen preferences (c) Qualified experts making decisions on behalf of citizens (d) The quality of free and equal public deliberation through the exchange of reasons
10. Michael Sandel's communitarian critique of liberal democracy argues that:
(a) Democracy should be replaced by a system governed by tradition and hierarchy (b) Liberal democracy's procedural neutrality leaves citizens without shared moral purpose and rests on an implausible "unencumbered self" (c) Liberal democratic rights are incoherent because they depend on a social contract no one signed (d) Individual rights should take precedence over community values in all cases
11. The main problem with "tacit consent" as a basis for political obligation is:
(a) Most people don't benefit enough from their government to be obligated to it (b) Only explicit, voluntary consent can generate genuine moral obligations, and "you can always leave" is not a genuinely voluntary option (c) Governments have not done enough to deserve citizens' loyalty (d) The social contract tradition is based on historical events that never actually occurred
12. The "fair play theory" of political obligation (Hart/Rawls) grounds political obligation in:
(a) Explicit consent to the constitution (b) The natural duty to support just institutions (c) The obligation of reciprocity that arises from benefiting from a cooperative scheme others sustain through their compliance (d) The social contract entered into by founding generations
Part B: Short Answer
3–5 sentences each.
13. In a single paragraph, explain the key difference between Locke's and Hobbes's accounts of what the social contract does and why it matters politically.
14. Why does Rawls argue for "public reason" in political life? What problem is it designed to solve, and what is the main criticism of the concept?
15. Is political obligation a genuine philosophical puzzle, or is the answer obvious? Identify the strongest argument for thinking there is a real obligation to obey law, and the strongest argument against. Then say which you find more convincing.
Part C: Essay Prompts
Choose one. 500–700 words.
16. Compare Locke and Rousseau on the question of political authority. Both reject Hobbes's near-absolute sovereign, but they justify political authority differently and reach different conclusions about democracy and legitimacy. What does each offer that the other misses? Is either of their accounts fully adequate?
17. "The fact that political obligation is philosophically puzzling does not mean there is no obligation — it means the obligation is complex." Evaluate this claim. Drawing on the three theories of political obligation (consent, fair play, natural duty), explain why none is fully satisfying and then explain what, if anything, you think follows from this for our actual obligations as citizens.
Answer Key (Multiple Choice)
- b | 2. c | 3. b | 4. b | 5. c | 6. c | 7. c | 8. b | 9. d | 10. b | 11. b | 12. c