PS120 Part 1
Tannenbaum, pgs. 33-39, PT5-S18
Aristotle: Endorsing Community
True or False Questions
1. Believing in the imperial model as the best form of government, Aristotle instructed his young pupil, Alexander the Great to apply it when put in a position to do so. True or False
2. One area where Aristotle strongly disagreed with Plato involved the idea of philosopher-kings ruling the polis, with the former believing that practical knowledge arising from experience is a sounder basis for governing. True or False
3. Aristotle argued that supernatural abstractions, such as the forms or the soul which are not real, must be rejected as unreasonable. True or False
4. Because human beings are unique, Aristotle believed, they can live apart from the polis and achieve a just and happy existence. True or False
5. Good laws present good examples and implant good habits in people, argued Aristotle, constituting the foundation of a good polis. True or False
6. The accumulation of wealth is always beneficial to the polis and must be supported at the expense of the poor, according to Aristotle. True or False
7. According to Aristotle, men are superior to women based on their reasoning power; therefore, men are more fit to command and women must obey. True or False
8. Conventional slaves, unlike natural slaves, can never become citizens due to their inability to reason. True or False
9. In Aristotle’s Politics, the household and the village must be suppressed by the polis for the higher good. True or False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is Aristotle’s preoccupation in the Politics? a) how can the common man be better trained to protect the polis and from where is an adequate supply of food available, b) is there a god or many gods and how do they help maintain order and stability in the polis, c) should slaves be allowed to marry their guardians or is this act a violation of what is good and natural, d) why has the Greek polis declined as a viable form of government and what should be done about it.
2. Aristotle’s disagreement with Plato’s Republic and communism is based on the following: a) it removes a man’s aggressive tendency and destroys the incentive to improve, b) it takes away what is natural by removing their ability to have their own family and property, c) it removes the need for wealth and power among all the citizens of the polis, qualities that are inherent in them, d) it gives too much power to the philosophers and not enough to the auxiliaries.
3. Aristotle’s telos refers to: a) focusing on the highest end or goal of an object, b) seeing the gods for the first time, c) an invisible being that protects people from themselves, d) having eternal existence when shedding one’s body.
4. For Aristotle, searching for knowledge that leads to wisdom brings men to: a) disappointment and destruction, b) frustration and further self-examination, c) perfection and personal self-aggrandizement, d) self-realization and happiness.
5. Excess or extremes in either direction can injure things of value, argues Aristotle, and finding the middle ground is good: a) happy medium, b) deliberate moderation, c) golden mean, d) conscious structure.
6. What is Aristotle’s central concern? a) justice, b) liberty, c) community, d) honor.
7. According to Aristotle, what is the ultimate goal of a community? a) happiness, b) preserving life, c) punishing the transgressor, d) protecting one’s property.
8. Why is true friendship unattainable in a household unlike a village, according to Aristotle? a) a wife is always scheming to escape her husband’s wrath, b) slaves enjoy the friendship of the wife at the expense of the master, c) wives and slaves actually are in the same position, d) friendship must be based on equality.
9. A self-sufficient economic unit that requires neither imports nor exports to satisfy the natural needs of all its members: a) dictatorship, b) specialization, c) autarky, d) division of labor.
10. According to Aristotle, which of the following can achieve the highest form of friendship—political friendship: a) the household, b) the village, c) the polis, d) personal wealth.
Fill-in Questions
1. What does Aristotle mean by man is a rational animal?
a) Rational acts are based on use of the _____ and are exclusively ______.
b) His goal is to exercise his ______to the fullest;
c) only then can men be ______.
2. When is the role of money harmful to the polis, according to Aristotle?
a) when profit becomes its ______.
b) in the most extreme case, when money is ______in order to make more money, as with payments of ______.
c) the profit motive introduces ______and unlimited desire for ______replaces natural limits on human needs.
3. What does the village provide, according to Aristotle:
a) a greater degree of ______and economic self-sufficiency,
b) it permits production for ______,
c) it facilitates friendship, which Aristotle considers a ______for all humans,
d) and friendship promotes ______.
Answers
True or False Questions
1. False
3. False
5. True
7. True
9. False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. d
3. a
5. c
7. a
9. c
Fill-in Questions
1. a) mind, human, b) reason, c) happy
3. a) protection, b) exchange, c) natural requirement, d) social harmony
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