Foundations of Western Thought
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Course Introduction
Foundations of Western Thought explores the key ideas, texts, and thinkers that have shaped the intellectual traditions of the Western world from antiquity to the early modern era. The course examines the philosophical, political, and religious foundations laid by ancient Greece and Rome, the influence of Judeo-Christian traditions, and the development of pivotal concepts such as reason, democracy, justice, and individualism. Through critical engagement with primary sources and scholarly interpretations, students gain insight into the historical contexts and enduring legacies of foundational Western thinkers, preparing them to analyze how these ideas continue to inform contemporary debates and cultural paradigms.
Recommended Textbook
Culture and Values A Survey of the Humanities 8th Edition by Lawrence S. Cunningham
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Chapter 1: Beginnings
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Q1) _______________________ Family of languages including Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic.
Answer: Semitic
Q2) _______________________ Center of the Minoan civilization.
Answer: Knossos
Q3) _______________________ Assyrian king of ancient Mesopotamia.
Answer: Ashurbanipal
Q4) What are three universal themes touched upon in the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Answer: The universal themes touched upon in the Epic of Gilgamesh include:
-The elevation of some human beings over others
-The disregard for nature and the natural order of things
-The virtues and rewards of the simple life
-The pleasures of love, companionship, food, and drink
-The fear of death
-The desire for fame and glory
Q5) _______________________ A river in ancient Mesopotamia.
Answer: Euphrates
Q6) _______________________ Egyptian god who was symbolic of death and rebirth.
Answer: Osiris
Page 3
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Chapter 2: The Rise of Greece
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Q1) How did the physical geography of Greece affect the development of the states?
Answer: Greece is comprised of a series of mountain ranges and high hills which crisscross and divide the region into discrete areas.Thus, the main urban centers and accompanying states developed in relative isolation from one another.
Q2) What characterizes early Greek music?
A)It was instrumental, performed only for kings and nobility.
B)It was choral, performed by large groups at private concerts.
C)It was polyphonic, with several interweaving melodies.
D)It was monophonic, made up of single melodies.
Answer: D
Q3) _______________________ Rectangular panels that alternate with triglyphs on a Doric frieze.
Answer: Metope
Q4) What Greek epic poem recounts the story of Achilles and the Trojan War?
A)The Odyssey
B)The Iliad
C)The Aeneid
D)The Epic of Gilgamesh
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Classical Greece and the Hellenistic Period
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Q1) _______________________ Daughter of Agamemnon; rescued by Artemis
Answer: Iphigenia
Q2) Why are Greek tragedies still read and performed?
Answer: Greek tragedies are read and performed today because they deal with human experiences which still have emotional and intellectual power and relevance.
Q3) What was the subject of the Canon by Polyclitus?
A)a mathematical formula for human proportions
B)a design for a previously unknown weapon
C)the proportions of celestial bodies
D)the makeup of the ideal state
Answer: A
Q4) Into which empire were the Hellenistic cities absorbed?
A)The Byzantine Empire
B)The Roman Empire
C)The Persian Empire
D)The Adriatic Empire
Answer: B
Q5) _______________________ According to Aristotle, the "cleansing of the soul"
Answer: Catharsis
5
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Chapter 4: Rome
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Q1) _______________________ Egyptian Queen defeated by Octavian
Q2) What are the two main periods of Roman history called?
A)The Caesarean and Augustan Periods
B)Republican and Imperial Rome
C)The Epicurean and Stoic Periods
D)Punic and Octavian Rome
Q3) What was the function of the Pont du Gard?
A)It was a pedestrian bridge.
B)It was an aqueduct.
C)It was an equestrian bridge.
D)It was a military outpost.
Q4) In what sense did the Roman Empire survive until C.E.1453?
Q5) What reforms did Augustus implement?
Q6) _______________________ Elected representative of the plebeians
Q7) What Greco-Roman philosophy is associated with Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius?
A)Stoicism
B)Epicurianism
C)Animism
D)Tarquinianism
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Chapter 5: Ancient Civilizations of India and China
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Q1) What famous church was built in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Constantine?
A)Saint Mark's Cathedral
B)Saint Peter's Basilica
C)The Coliseum
D)Saint John's Cathedral
Q2) What was the "Babylonian Captivity"?
A)The period immediately before the coming of Christ
B)The enslavement of the Babylonian people
C)The imprisonment of the Babylonian people
D)A period of Hebrew exile
Q3) _______________________ One of many gods is chosen to be worshipped
Q4) What prompted the Christian church to create the position of cantor?
Q5) Why were early Christians persecuted by the government of Rome?
A)They refused to worship the state gods.
B)They rebelled openly against the government.
C)They broke the law by engaging in sacrificial rites.
D)They encouraged vandalism against Roman properties.
Q6) _______________________ Hallway that crosses the nave
Q7) _______________________ Belief in many gods
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Chapter 6: The Rise of the Biblical Tradition
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Q1) What work of Augustine's is considered the beginning of self-reflective writing in the West?
A)Beatitudes
B)Confessions
C)Revelation
D)City of God
Q2) _______________________ Sixth-century C.E.church designed by Anthemius and Isidorus.
Q3) What famous church was commissioned by Theodoric's reign?
A)The Church of San Vitale
B)The Church of St.Peter
C)The Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
D)The Church of St.Paul
Q4) _______________________ Italian schools where Greek refugee scholars taught and wrote
Q5) _______________________The small colored cubes that make up a mosaic
Q6) What basic problem is the subject of Consolation of Philosophy? What is the solution, according to Lady Philosophy?
Q7) _______________________ A group of early Christians that saw Jesus as distinct from God the Father.
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Chapter 7: Early Christianity: Ravenna and Byzantium
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Q1) What is the name of the body of literature which consists of authoritative commentaries on the Qur'an and explanations of oral traditions?
A)The Shari'a
B)The Taj Mahal
C)The Alhambra
D)The Hadith
Q2) What building in Jerusalem is one of the earliest and most spectacular achievements of Islamic architecture?
A)The Great Mosque
B)The Shrine of Muhammad
C)The Dome of the Rock
D)The Ka'bah
Q3) What is the name of the Islamic Legal code?
A)The Law of Muhammad
B)Al- Khwarizmi
C)Sharia
D)Sûra
Q4) _______________________ Niche inside mosque which faces Mecca
Q5) _______________________ Decoration using complex interlaced lines
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Chapter 8: Islam
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Q1) In what town did Charlemagne build his palace and royal chapel?
A)Aachen
B)Poitiers
C)Roncesvalles
D)Rome
Q2) What was the name of the most important style of architecture between 1000 and 1150?
A)Neo-Classical
B)Romanesque
C)Gothic
D)Classical
Q3) _______________________Grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic
Q4) What is the name for the semicircular space above the doors on a Romanesque church?
A)trumeau
B)tympanum
C)ambulatory
D)mandorla
Q5) _______________________Latin for "plainsong" or "plainchant"
Q6) What were the important economic developments of Charlemagne's reign?
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Chapter 9: The Rise of Medieval Culture
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Q1) Why did medieval universities require their student to participate in note-taking and copying?
A)Because books were so expensive
B)To emphasize patience and discipline
C)Because students fell asleep in class
D)To improve short-range vision
Q2) How can Aquinas's worldview be described?
A)Egalitarian
B)Democratic
C)Hierarchical
D)Transcendent
Q3) For what contribution is Abbot Suger most famous?
A)He wrote one of the most important epic poems of the Middle Ages.
B)He introduced the major features which defined Gothic architecture.
C)He organized and implemented a highly effective system of distributing food to the poor.
D)He reconciled Aristotelian logic with the Hebrew scriptures.
Q4) How did the cathedral play an integral part in the lives of the townspeople?
Q5) What characterizes the music of the school of Notre-Dame?
Q6) _______________________ Multiple melodies moving in contrast to one another.
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Chapter 10: The High Middle Ages
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Q1) What are the five parts of the Mass Ordinary?
Q2) What is the narrative framework of Canterbury Tales?
A)a group of Renaissance artists
B)a group fleeing to the countryside
C)a group on a pilgrimage
D)a group of traveling musicians
Q3) What architect was responsible for the magnificent dome of Florence Cathedral?
A)Giovanni Pisano
B)Michelangelo
C)Bernini
D)Brunelleschi
Q4) _______________________ Refers to the 1300s in Italy
Q5) Who was crowned poet laureate of Rome in 1348?
A)Petrarch
B)Boccaccio
C)Dante
D)Boethius
Q6) What were the various responses that people had to the catastrophe of the plague?
Q7) _______________________ Italian for "Public Palace" begun in 1288
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Chapter 11: The Fourteenth Century: a Time of Transition
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Q1) Which book of Machiavelli is often considered the first purely secular study of political theory? According to Machiavelli, what was the role of morality in the exercise of power? What justification did he offer for the use of cruelty or hypocrisy?
Q2) What were seen as the advantages of humanist education and learning?
A)It would perfect and ennoble man.
B)It would provide entertainment.
C)It would satisfy humanity's basest desires.
D)It would leave to a life of solitary religious devotion.
Q3) How was Botticelli's Birth of Venus influenced by Platonic idealism as well as the Christian view of the Virgin Mary?
Q4) What is the subject of The Praise of Folly?
A)A celebration of the comedic arts
B)A satirical criticism of society
C)A call to live for the moment
D)An account of a traveling actors' troupe
Q5) From what class did most women who received a humanistic education come? What pressures did women scholars confront? Who in the text exemplifies the pressures women faced?
Q6) _______________________ Four-lobed frame used in the Baptistery competition
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Chapter 12: The Renaissance in the Fifteenth Century
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Q1) Which city is most associated with the High Renaissance in Italy?
A)Venice
B)Rome
C)Padua
D)Florence
Q2) _______________________ Financial support given for artistic projects
Q3) In Raphael's School of Athens who are the two philosophers in the center?
A)Epicurus and Thales
B)Socrates and Plato
C)Socrates and Aristotle
D)Plato and Aristotle
Q4) What were the characteristics of the Castiglione's ideal courtier?
Q5) How did Venetian painters differ from painters in southern Italy during the Renaissance?
A)Venetians painted religious subjects, while southern painters focused on secular subjects.
B)Venetians painted frescoes, while southern painters focused on oil painting.
C)Venetians emphasized color, while southern painters focused on line.
D)Venetians painted nudes, while southern painters focused on clothed figures.
Q6) _______________________ An educated Venetian companion and entertainer
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Chapter 13: The High Renaissance and Mannerism in Italy
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Q1) What popular musical compositions did Thomas Morley write?
A)ballads
B)motets
C)madrigals
D)frottolas
Q2) Who was the most famous French composer of chansons in the 1500s?
A)Clement Janequin
B)Thomas Tallis
C)Clement Marot
D)Henrich Isaac
Q3) Who suggested that the Earth and planets orbit the sun?
A)Vesalius
B)Copernicus
C)da Vinci
D)Paracelsus
Q4) _______________________ Court painter and portraitist for Henry VIII
Q5) _______________________ Literary form made popular in Italy by Ariosto
Q6) _______________________ Keyboard instrument which was played on a lap or table
Q7) _______________________ A painting consisting of three separate panels
Q8) _______________________ Elizabethan audience members who stood near the stage Page 15
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Chapter 14: The High Renaissance in the North
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Q1) _______________________ Poetic form Milton used for Paradise Lost
Q2) _______________________ System of reasoning that starts from the observation of specific instances
Q3) What was the name of the military religious order founded by Ignatius Loyola? Why was it so successful?
Q4) _______________________ Novel telling a story involving a rogue or adventurer
Q5) Why did Dutch painters have to depend on the tastes and demands of the open market rather than the patronage of the Church?
Q6) _______________________ Italian word for "slow," used to indicate musical tempo
Q7) Which French king was called the "Sun King"?
A)Charles V
B)Charles X
C)Louis XIV
D)Louis XVI
Q8) What kinds of subjects were commonly commissioned from Dutch painters?
A)Group portraits
B)Solo portraits
C)Battle scenes
D)Agricultural scenes
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Chapter 15: The Seventeenth Century: the Baroque Era
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Q1) _______________________ Artist of Marriage à la Mode series of paintings
Q2) _______________________ Military leader who crowned himself Emperor of France
Q3) What two moods or emotions can be found in the painting Pilgrimage to Cythera?
A)Romantic love and nostalgia
B)Religious fervor and devotion
C)Patriotism and dedication
D)Intimacy and calm
Q4) Why did Montesquieu favor establishing a system of "checks and balances" in government?
Q5) Which English writer championed women's rights and challenged traditional ideas about education?
A)Wollstonecraft
B)Swift
C)Pope
D)Dryden
Q6) _______________________ King who said "Après moi le déluge" After me, the flood)
Q7) What are the characteristics of the Rococo style of art?
Q8) _______________________ Turbulent period in France from 1792-1795
Q9) _______________________ Musical form in three sections: Exposition, Page 19
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Chapter 16: The Eighteenth Century
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Q1) Which of these nineteenth-century artists were known especially for their scenes depicting nature?
A)Constable and Turner
B)Daumier and Goya
C)Delacroix and Caspar Friedrich
D)David and Géricault
Q2) _______________________ Short melancholic piano piece in a form used extensively by Chopin
Q3) Who were the great musical virtuosos of the nineteenth century?
A)Chopin, Berlioz, and Scarlatti
B)Liszt, Chopin, and Paganini
C)Beethoven, Haydn, Liszt
D)Mussorgsky, Smetana, and Paganini
Q4) Who were the Transcendentalists?
A)A group of French poets whose work dealt with spiritual themes
B)A group of American writers inspired by the natural world
C)A group of English painters whose works portrayed nature
D)A group of French composers who sought to convey images through music
Q5) What contributed to the rise of the novel in the nineteenth century?
Q6) What is the story of Faust?
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Chapter 17: Romanticism, Realism, and Photography
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Q1) _______________________ French name given to the period 1870-1914
Q2) Why was Ibsen such an important Norwegian dramatist? What themes do his plays explore?
Q3) Which post-impressionist left France and its civilization for the attractions of Tahiti and "barbarism"?
A)Gauguin
B)van Gogh
C)Cézanne
D)Matisse
Q4) How do Mary Cassatt's paintings show the influence of Japanese art?
A)They portray scenes of Japanese landscapes
B)They use flat planes and broad areas of color
C)They use pen and ink to create simple images
D)They focus on moments of meditation
Q5) _______________________ Strauss' term for "symphonic poem"
Q6) According to the text, why was Cézanne such an important post-impressionist painter? What is it about Cézanne's Mont Saint-Victoire that makes it not realistic? What geometric shapes are apparent? How can Cézanne be seen as a predecessor to Cubist and Abstract Art?
Q7) What innovations did Gustav Mahler bring to his symphonies?
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Chapter 18: Toward the Modern Era: 1870-1914
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Q1) In what novel did Sinclair Lewis criticize American materialism?
A)Brave New World
B)Babbit
C)Remembrance of Things Past
D)Ulysses
Q2) _______________________ Film director of Potemkin and Alexander Nevsky
Q3) Which Czech author wrote The Trial and The Castle?
A)Tolstoy
B)Proust
C)Dostoyevsky
D)Kafka
Q4) What form of music was a distinctively American contribution to Western culture?
A)polka
B)jazz
C)tango
D)twelve-tone
Q5) What impact did the "Great War" of 1914-1918 have on European society?
Q6) What was the goal of the fictionalized society portrayed by Huxley in Brave New World? What warning does Huxley convey to his readers?
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Q7) _______________________ Musical form used in "King" Oliver's "West End Blues"
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Q1) What contemporary building can be described as "exoskeletal"?
A)The American Center in Paris
B)The Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture
C)The Seagram Building
D)The Guggenheim Museum in New York
Q2) What term is applied to the music of Steve Reich, which builds lengthy pieces out of multiple repetitions of simple chords and rhythms?
A)serialism
B)minimalism
C)structuralism
D)aleatorialism
Q3) ______________________ Danish existential philosopher (1813-1955)
Q4) _______________________ painting style that uses large blocks of color
Q5) How do the Bulgarian artists Christo and Jean-Claude create art?
A)They paint murals on public buildings.
B)They cover large areas with cloth.
C)They build sculpture from garbage.
D)They use their bodies in a staged setting.
Q7) _______________________ Algerian-born French existentialist writer Page 24
Q6) How did the existentialist movement influence the ideas of modern society?
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