Q 01/05

Which pair of political labels comes from where deputies sat in France's National Assembly in 1789?

A) Frontbench and backbench

B) Left and right

C) Upper and lower house

D) Insiders and outsiders

Answer · why

B) Left and right

Left and right began as a seating plan: defenders of the old regime gathered on one side of the chairman, partly to escape the shouting from the other...

Q 02/05

Which 1651 book by Thomas Hobbes, named after a sea monster in the Book of Job, defends absolute rule?

A) Behemoth

B) Juggernaut

C) Leviathan

D) Colossus

Answer · why

C) Leviathan

Leviathan was written during the English Civil War, and its title page shows the state as a crowned giant whose body is made up of hundreds of tiny pe...

Q 03/05

Which Florentine diplomat wrote The Prince, advising rulers that it is safer to be feared than loved?

A) Francesco Guicciardini

B) Baldassare Castiglione

C) Girolamo Savonarola

D) Niccolò Machiavelli

Answer · why

D) Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli wrote it after losing his government post and never saw it in print: the book appeared five years after his death, and his name be...

Q 04/05

In Plato's Republic, which group does Socrates say must become rulers before an ideal city can exist?

A) Philosophers

B) Mathematicians

C) Soldiers

D) Merchants

Answer · why

A) Philosophers

Philosophers alone grasp what is truly good, the argument runs. Plato later tried coaching a real ruler, the young tyrant of Syracuse, who proved an u...

Q 05/05

John Locke wrote of life, liberty and estate; which phrase ends the Declaration of Independence's trio?

A) The consent of the governed

B) A more perfect union

C) The pursuit of happiness

D) The common defense

Answer · why

C) The pursuit of happiness

The pursuit of happiness closes Jefferson's most famous sentence. Scholars argue over whether he was reworking Locke, for whom protecting property was...