Module 10 - Modern and Contemporary Worldviews: Modernism and Existentialism

Question 1

Existentialism was an incredibly optimistic philosophy.

Answer 1

false

Question 2

Which of the following seemed inadequate to explain the world after WWI?

Answer 2

human reason

Question 3

What did existentialism claim was an inevitable part of life?

Answer 3

tragedy

Question 4

Who was the Danish philosopher who blended existential thought with the Christian faith?

Answer 4

Søren Kierkegaard

Question 5

Friedrich Nietzche was known for his statement “God is dead.”

Answer 5

true

Question 6

Existentialism is more pessimistic than nihilism.

Answer 6

false

Question 7

According to existentialists, all humans are what?

Answer 7

situational

Question 8

Existentialists sought to prescribe a solution to a meaningless existence.

Answer 8

true

Question 9

What was the word that existentialists used to describe a person who was acting in line with their values?

Answer 9

authentic

Question 10

Existentialism taught which of the following?

Answer 10

If people want to live meaningful lives, they must pursue what they value most.

Question 11

Existentialists believed that science was able to reveal all truths to humanity.

Answer 11

false

Question 12

In order to learn truths about their innermost selves, the existentialists turned to the human intellect.

Answer 12

false

Question 13

What was the most important emotion to an existentialist?

Answer 13

anxiety

Question 14

According to the existentialist philosophers, what truth can anxiety reveal about one’s inner self?

Answer 14

That they are overwhelmed at the choices they must make in order to live a meaningful life

Question 15

To which new source of knowledge did the existentialists turn?

Answer 15

one’s inner emotions

Question 16

True or False: The existentialists believed that situational rightness was the biggest threat to human freedom.

Answer 16

false

Question 17

What did the existentialists think caused people to outsource their decision-making to a religious, political, or ethical set of guidelines rather than making choices for themselves?

Answer 17

The overwhelming responsibility of one’s own freedom

Question 18

Which of the following biblical characters did Kierkegaard use to describe the need for the individual to make their own choices in their unique situation?

Answer 18

Abraham

Question 19

True or False: Sartre claimed that a person who abdicated their responsibility to make their own choices was living in “bath faith.”

Answer 19

true

Question 20

If a person was living authentically, which of the following did the existentialists say they should expect?

Answer 20

Such a person will have to stand out from the crowd.

Question 21

The existentialist movement in philosophy created a parallel movement in art, but no other disciplines seemed affected by it.

Answer 21

false

Question 22

Which of the following modern artistic movements is best exemplified by the painting The Scream?

Answer 22

expressionism

Question 23

Action painting was art intended to capture the artist’s free choices at a particular moment in time.

Answer 23

true

Question 24

Who was the most famous of the action painters?

Answer 24

Jackson Pollock

Question 25

What did the surrealists seek to imitate in their art?

Answer 25

The dream state in which one’s deepest desires and fears are revealed

Question 26

Existentialist political philosophy seemed to deny the core existentialist claim that everything was meaningless.

Answer 26

true

Question 27

Who was the existential philosopher who was highly critical of the French during WWII?

Answer 27

Jean-Paul Sartre

Question 28

Who was the feminist existentialist who wrote The Second Sex?

Answer 28

Simone de Beauvoir

Question 29

Although many of the existentialists supported the bloody Marxist revolution in China, they all passionately decried the evils of the Holocaust.

Answer 29

false