Humanities CLEP Questions And 100% Correct
Answers Latest Update
Transcendentalism - ANSWER any system of philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and
spiritual above the empirical and material
Popular Transcendentalists - ANSWER - Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Henry David Thoreau
Humanism - ANSWER A term that was originally coined during the Renaissance, it was a
belief that man was the center of the universe. Humanism in general is a philosophy that
centers around the capabilities of man.
Neoplatonism - ANSWER Is the last accepted pagan philosophy and was founded by
Plotinus around 300 AD and based around the ideas of Plato. Disregarding the idea of
separate, opposite realms of being -such as good and evil-, Plotinus instead mapped out
a logical order to life beginning with The One, who provides the minds of every
individual. Then there is the World Soul, connecting the intellectual with the material
world of Earth. The dead were then thought to be reabsorbed into The One, and the
process repeated - although not through reincarnation.
Existentialism - ANSWER looks at the direct relationship between the individual and the
universe and or God. Well-known existentialists include Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul
Sartre, with Søren Kierkegaard by and large considered as the father of this
philosophical school of thought. According to Sartre, the only true self-proclaimed
existentialist in the group, there is no God and no absolute moral necessities of
mankind—man is free to live his own life as he sees fit. Kierkegaard regarded this
freedom as cause of many sleepless nights, for he did not trust mankind to behave
properly if this belief were to overtake the masses.
Martin Heidegger - ANSWER Wrote "Being and Time". nfluenced by the work of Edmund
Husserl and considered a founding father of existentialism, Heidegger ultimately
, rejected both associations. Instead, he focused simply on "being" and examining human
moods and experiences. Heidegger's work led the way for the modern study of
hermeneutics.
Hans-Georg Gadamer - ANSWER - student of Martin Heidegger
- wrote "Truth and Method"
- considered to be the father of Hermeneutics
The thing is that Gadamer largely argued it is impossible to be unbiased in anything, and
even the historical accounts are forever biased by our own experiences. However,
factual a historical summary may be, the way we interpret it is still in comparison with
our own life experiences, which are not shared experiences by those who experienced
those historical events firsthand.
Manichaeism - ANSWER The belief that Satan represented all things material, and God
all things of light; each human being is a composite of matter - Satan - and godly light -
God - and suffered not from sin, but from contact with matter.
Founded by Mani, who believed himself a descendent of both Buddha and Plato,
Manichaeism does not support the concept of personal sin-to adherents, it was a
physical act, usually committed without thought. The religion had two classes: the
elect-guaranteed a pleasant afterlife due to their vow of celibacy and religious
teaching-and the auditors, who looked after the elect in hopes of being reborn as an
elect in their next life.
Islam - ANSWER - founded by the prophet Mohammad
- Followers, called Muslims, go by the book of the Qur'an, the word of God as told to
Mohammed. There are five basic principles to Islam: first, there is only one God, and
Mohammed is the only mouthpiece of God; second, five daily ritual prayers; third, paying
a religious tax; fourth, fasting during sunlight during the month of Ramadan; and fifth,
traveling to Mecca to reunify the nation of Islam-a pilgrimage taken by many each year.
Buddhists believe in the four noble truths of existence: it is suffering, it is caused by
need, the cessation of need can cease suffering, and there is a way to the cessation of
suffering.
While Buddhists do not believe in a god, they follow the teachings of the mortal Buddha,
who through much meditation finally discovered the Truth and sought to share the
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