Modern Thought “Jeopardy”!

1. Modern Thought “Jeopardy”! SETUP: Get out a PEN and set up a sheet of blank paper like this model: RULES: I give you the answers, you write down the question. SCORING: (note points when you write down your response): Correct response to initial prompt: 4 points After first (A) hint: 3 points After second (B) hint: 2 points After third (C) hint: 1 point PRIZES: 20+ points: Personal greeting from the Professor 16+ points: Personal greeting from your neighbor 12+ points: Permission to pat yourself on the back 8+ points: Satisfaction that you are in the right class Less than 8 points: Consolation prize: Three cozy evenings curled up reviewing your favorite Western Civilization text book Are you in the right course? Here is a qualifying examination 24 points (perfect score) OR highest score in class: A COMPLETE SET OF COURSE TEXTS!

2. #1 He came from a family with a long and distinguished history of government service, but his father was a bastard who was banned from public service because of indebtedness. He received a good education, and after becoming a member of the law guild, he served in a number of diplomatic positions, including Secretary of the governing council of his country, where he was essentially the government's highest ranking bureaucrat. When the government was overthrown he was sent into internal exile, but was soon indicted as a conspirator against the new rulers. To extract a confession of his conspiratorial plans, he was subject to severe torture, including six drops on the strappado, well beyond the normal torturer’s allotment of two drops. A wiry, tough, and committed republican, he was returned to exile when he would not confess to any crimes. While in exile he wrote his most famous works, one of which was dedicated to those who had ordered his torture. HINTS: (A) He collaborated with Leonardo da Vinci to divert the river Arno in order to force the surrender of Pisa (B) His home country was Florence (C) His name is synonymous with deceit and deception

3. #2 A famous revolutionary figure, he grew up in genteel poverty, and became a regicide who in 1649 led the trial and execution by beheading of Charles, King of England, on charges of high treason – a remarkable conceptual innovation. A military leader of great skill, he led the armies that had defeated Charles’ forces during the English Civil War. He was also responsible for creating the conditions of the current political stalemate in Northern Ireland. He ruled England with the support of the infamous Rump parliament, which he had essentially created by purging the House of Commons of members he didn't like Three years after his death, following the restoration of the monarchy, his body, along with those of his fellow regicides, was exhumed, beheaded, and the head displayed on a pike outside Westminster hall for 20 years. Obviously, he was not well loved by supporters of the royalist cause, or many other Englishmen, for that matter. HINTS: (A) A well known Puritan (B) Served as Lord Protector of England for nearly a decade (C) Has the same first name as the title of a popular musical based on a Charles Dickens novel BONUS HINT: The order of the questions provides useful information

4. #3 Born the son of a watchmaker and tinker, his mother died shortly after his birth. When he was 10 his father abandoned him to be raised by relatives. He was apprenticed to a notary, but fled his home when he was 16, and began a life of wandering in Europe. His intellectual gifts attracted attention, and he found many patrons. For a time he even worked as an assistant to an Ambassador. He was well known for his entertaining wit, reckless manner, and boundless vanity. He wrote a number of popular works, and even dabbled in music, composing the operetta, “The Gallant Muses.” Perhaps best known for his criticisms of inequality, his advocacy of community, and his defense of participatory democracy, he did not live his life according to his political teachings. He could not settle in any community for very long, he had trouble keeping friendships, he could not keep his marriage vows, and he abandoned all of his 5 children to an orphanage. He lived his last years in suspicion and distrust of everyone, and when he died suddenly at age 66, it was thought he might have committed suicide. HINTS: (A) He was born in Geneva, but is often thought of as a French thinker (B) He is (wrongly) said to have coined the idea of “the noble savage” (C) His most famous work is The Social Contract

5. #4 Something of a child prodigy, he learned to read as a toddler and began the study of Latin at age three. At 12 he was sent to Oxford, and was admitted to the bar at age 16. A prolific linguist, he eventually became fluent in 7 different languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Latin, and Greek, and was familiar with a half dozen more. He became disillusioned with the law, and when he was made financially independent after the death of his father, he dedicated himself to progressive political movements, including prison reform, poor relief, the codification of international law, the decriminalization of homosexuality, and animal welfare. One of the most influential founders of University College in London, which was one of the first colleges open to all races, sexes, and classes. A bit of an eccentric, for ten years before his death he carried around the glass eyes he planned to have inserted in his body after death. He fancied himself an amateur scientist, and when he died, he was embalmed with a fluid of his own invention. He gave all of his estate to UCL, on the condition that his body be kept on display at the College, and was present at all meetings of the College governing board. Unfortunately, his scientific skills left something to be desired. In a short time, the body shriveled up, and the head fell off.

6. A wax effigy replaced the decomposed body, and the head was placed at the foot of the effigy. Undergraduates being what they are, the head frequently went missing. Once it was found in a storage locker at Aberdeen Station, and it occasional served as a ball for impromptu soccer matches on the college lawn. Eventually the head was boxed and stored away from the scheming plans of pranksters. The effigy, called the "auto-icon," can still be viewed at UCL. The minutes of the College governing board most often read "Mister X present but not voting," although it is said he does occasionally vote, always for the motion on the floor, whenever there is a tie. HINTS: (A) Designer of the innovative prison called the Panopticon (B) He coined a number of neologisms that have become part of common idiom. "Maximize" and "Minimize" being the most familiar (C) Founder of the movement known as Utilitarianism

7. #5 Another child prodigy, he was educated entirely by his father, with the help of the famous thinker we just considered. Shielded from playing with boys his own age, he was reading Greek by the age of 3, Latin and algebra by the age of 8, and had finished most of the literary “classics” by the age of 14. At age 12 he was already considered a competent logician, and by age 16 he had become well-known as an economist. At age 21 he had a nervous breakdown, which he attributed in part to the rigors of his childhood education. Intellectually, the result was that he broke from the perspectives of his teachers. Emotionally, the result was that he entered into a life-long relationship with a woman who became his collaborator and friend. When the woman’s husband died, they were married and stayed together until her death. It has been rumored that the relationship was Platonic until the end; apparently the marriage was never consummated. HINTS: (A) Sometimes described as the last of the heirs of the Scottish Enlightenment (B) Often said to be the founding father of libertarianism (C) Perhaps the most famous Utilitarian other than his father, and his father’s friend

8. #6 Born to a Jewish family of liberal political leanings, as a young man he was prone to squandering money, drunkenness, and rowdy behavior. His father had to move him from one college to another, but he eventually finished his PhD, with distinction. By then, however, he had become involved in radical politics, and this, in addition to his Jewish background, prevented him from securing an academic position, despite his obvious intellectual talents. He became a journalist and newspaper editor, but authorities persecuted him and shut down his papers, and he was forced to move from one country to another. He finally settled in London, where he worked as a political activist, independent scholar, and freelance journalist. His best friend, collaborator, and financial supporter was a rich Englishman whose family had made its fortune in textiles. He loved to live comfortably, was very generous with his time and money, and was a devoted father and husband. He was also a poor money manager, and was frequently bailed out of his debts by his millionaire friend – who also accepted paternity for an illegitimate child he fathered by the family housekeeper.

9. Burdened with bad health, he frequently suffered from painful carbuncles, furuncles, severe hemorrhoids, pleurisy, and bronchitis. He also suffered painful family misfortunes that caused him severe emotional distress. Two of his children died in their youth; when his children and wife were seriously ill, he often could not afford to pay a doctor to provide for their care, and his eldest – and favorite -- daughter later died of cancer at the age of 39. Given all this, it was a wonder he ever completed any work at all, yet he regularly spent 10 hours a day in the British Museum Library, where he wrote most of his enormous corpus of works. HINTS: (3) He was born in Germany (2) His collaborator was Friedrich Engels (1) His magnum opus was titled “Capital”

10. Switch papers with a neighbor! • SCORING • 4 points for correct question on initial description • 3 points for correct question on hint “A” • 2 points for correct question on hint “B” • 1 point for correct question on hint “C”

11. #1: The theorist of deceit. Who is Niccolo Machiavelli?

12. #2 The regicide Who is Oliver Cromwell?

13. #3 Theorist of the Noble Savage (not!) • Who is Jean-Jacques Rousseau?

14. #4 The Auto- Icon! • Who is Jeremy Bentham and that rotten head?

15. #5 The Libertarian Utilitarian • Who is John Stuart Mill?

16. #6 The author of Das Kapital? • Who is Karl Marx? (Marx’s grave at Highgate Cemetery, London) BONUS! 5 points: What is the name of this tune? 3 points: Who is performing this song? THE INTERNATIONALE BILLY BRAGG HINT: The ‘anthem’ of the movement with which Marx is identified

17. Your Name 64 examination 1. 2. A. A. B. B. C. C. 3. 4. A. A. B. B. C. C. 5. 6. A. A. B. B. C. C. ANTHEM BONUS: ARTIST BONUS: