©THEBRIGHT EXAM SOLUTIONS
11/8/2024 12:08 PM
Humanities CLEP Exam Questions And
Answers 100% Pass
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✔focuses on 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 largely regarded as the father of this philosophical movement. 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.
, ©THEBRIGHT EXAM SOLUTIONS
11/8/2024 12:08 PM
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
- Gadamer largely argued that it is impossible to be unbiased in anything, and even historical accounts
are forever biased by our own experiences. As factual as a historical summary may be, the way we
interpret it is still to compare with our own life experiences, which are not the same experiences shared
by those who experienced the historical events firsthand.
Manichaeism - answer✔Is 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
endorse the notion of personal sin—to followers, sin was a physical, tangible concept. The religion was
divided into two classes—the elect, who were guaranteed a happy afterlife due to their lifetime of
celibacy and religious teachings, and the auditors, who tended to the elect and hoped to be reborn as
elect in the 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 - answer✔- believe in the four noble truths: existence is suffering, suffering is caused by need,
suffering can cease, and there is a path to the cessation of suffering.
- Though 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 experience with others.
Buddhists follow five basic rules: no stealing, no promiscuity, no lying, no drinking, and no killing.
