CLEP Humanities : Analyzing the Content of Nineteenth-Century Nonfiction and Philosophy
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Example Questions
Example Question #147 : Literature
The philosophical concept of "the categorical imperative" is most closely associated with which thinker?
Jeremy Bentham
John Stuart Mill
Immanuel Kant
Søren Kierkegaard
Arthur Schopenhauer
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a profoundly influential philosopher who helped reshape philosophical trends in Europe around the turn of the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. Key to his thought was that moral imperatives needed to be absolute and grounded in reason. Kant referred to this imperative as the "categorical imperative," which was an argument that there is always an absolute moral right that should be followed.
Example Question #1 : Analyzing The Content Of Nineteenth Century Nonfiction And Philosophy
Which of the following authors wrote Democracy in America?
Alexis de Tocqueville
John Adams
John Stuart Mill
Baron von Hugel
Thomas Jefferson
Alexis de Tocqueville
The French nobleman, Alexis de Tocqueville, came to the United States in 1831 ostensibly to study prison reform in the new nation. During his time in the United States, he took copious notes and undertook some travels to help him understand the newly formed democratic republic. After his return to Europe, he penned the text Democracy in America, which gave a kind of "outsider's look" at the new nation and its institutions.
Although written by a foreigner, it was quite perspicuous on many trends in American governance and culture. To this day, it remains a text that various political factions (of differing allegiances) quote seemingly to their own personal advantage. Though certainly "high level" and dated, it remains an important text for understanding the founding of the United States of America.
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