Kierkegaard to Spencer

O 115-137

1. Which Christian philosopher criticized the idea of trying to capture all of objective reality while allowing the real, existing individual to "slip through the holes of the dialectical net," contending instead that truth is subjective? (Hint": he was called "The Melancholy Dane" and the grandfather of existentialism. He urged a "leap of faith.")

2. Which German philosopher anticipated Marx and "brought Hegel down to earth"? 

3. What is Marx's third stage of consciousness, and fifth epoch? What characterizes the fourth epoch? Did he agree that free competition creates free individuals?

4. (T/F) Nietzsche was probably a Nazi, though he thought of philosophy as a benign vocation.

5. What did he see as the central problem of modern man? Who were his greatest early influences?

6. (T/F) Nietzsche said his critique of Christianity was a temporary mask, reflecting the flux and transiency of everything.

7. What is the fundamental distinction in Nietzsche's theory of art?

8. What did Nietzsche call Christianity? Why? What did he call Kant and Mill? What did he mean by "Ubermensch"? Which of Nietzsche's ideas did Freud like?

9. What is Utilitarianism? What are some of the leading objections to it? How did Mill differ from Bentham?

10. What was the main principle of Mill's On Liberty?

11. Who invented a "religion of humanity" but also predicted that his optimistic and socially progressive philosophy, called _________, would replace religion? What stages did he say would lead to that development?

12. Which philosopher coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" and (according to most mainstream evolutionists) badly misapplied evolutionary ideas to society in general?