Quiz Feb.24

1. Machiavelli's key idea was that a politician ("prince") needs to have what quality?  LH 53

2. Does Nigel think the adjective "machiavellian" correctly implies that the politicians it describes are simply evil or self-serving? LH 55-6

3. Name one of the qualities Cicero and Seneca thought a politician should have, that Machiavelli rejected. PB 46

4. What famous English utilitarian argued in On Liberty that individuals should be free to conduct their own "experiments of living" so long as they harm no one else? P 89

5. What difficult philosophical question is raised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? P 92

6. Name a famous advocate of civil disobedience. P 98

BONUS: What kind of argument is the objection to civil disobedience that it encourages law-breaking? P100

BONUS+: Name the English philosopher I frequently mention who supported and practiced civil disobedience.

DQ:

1. What qualities do you value in politicians? Do you always vote according to party allegiance, or for the "best" candidate regardless of party?

2. Do you think our current leaders (in all branches of government) are "machiavellian"? How so? Do you approve or disapprove of their quality of leadership?

3. Who do you think have been our best leaders? Why? Were they also the most successful politicians? If not, why not? Who are the best leaders in the world today, in your judgment? Why?

4. Are you a libertarian? What role do you think government should play in regulating people's personal habits with respect to the consumption of dangerous or habit-forming drugs, personal safety, and other "self-regarding" behaviors?

5. Do you believe there is a human right to free speech? Or to anything else (including FDR's "Four Freedoms" - freedom of worship and expression, f. from want & fear)? Can you prove it?

6. Have you ever engaged in an act of deliberate law-breaking, in order to challenge what you considered an unjust law? Are there circumstances in which you would do so? Would you risk arrest on behalf of social justice, climate change, or anything else?