[Topic wise IAS World History Question Bank (1979-2015)]: (1) Enlightenment and Modern ideas

1. Enlightenment and Modern ideas:
(i) Major ideas of Enlightenment: Kant, Rousseau
(ii) Spread of Enlightenment in the colonies
(iii) Rise of socialist ideas (up to Marx); spread of Marxian Socialism
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(i) Major ideas of Enlightenment: Kant, Rousseau
(ii) Spread of Enlightenment in the colonies

1. What is meant by the ‘rediscovery of ancient civilization’? Show how the ‘New Learning’ was a major element in the beginning of Modern Europe. [1986, 60 Marks]

2. “The discovery of the new world, coinciding with the swift diffusion of printed books, taught the Europeans that ‚Truth‛, in Bacon’s noble phrase, ‚is the daughter not of authority, but of time.” Comment. [1989, 20 Marks]

3. “The Renaissance was the discovery of the world arid of man.” Comment. [1990, 20 Marks]

4. “His (Martin Luther’s) rebellion was essentially popular and national.” Comment. [1991, 20 Marks]

5. Assess the intellectual quickening which occurred in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. How did it influence modern society and civilization? [1993, 60 Marks]

6. “The Renaissance was not a political or religious movement. It was a state of mind”. Commnt. [1994, 20 Marks].

7. “The Renaissance and the Reformation are the two springs of modern history, rival sources of the intellectual and moral freshening of modern life.” Comment. [1995, 20 Marks]

8. “The era of discovery and exploration was but another aspect of the Renaissance interest in the world and man.” Comment. [1996, 20 Marks]

9. “Of all forms assumed by the Protestant Reformation, Calvinism has been the most far- reaching in its scope and the most profound in its influence.” Comment. [2000, 20 Marks]

10. “The Renaissance was the discovery of the world and of man.” Comment. [2002, 20 Marks]

11. “Rousseau’s political philosophy contains the seeds of Socialism, Absolutism and Democracy.” Comment. [2004, 20 Marks]

12. “The Renaissance scholars laid the eggs which Luther; the father of the reformation later on hatched.” Discuss. [2006, 60 Marks]

13. Give reasons for the origin of the Renaissance in Italy. [2007, 60 Marks]

14. “The Enlightenment represented alternative approaches to modernity, alternative habits of mind and heart, of conscience and sensibility.” Discuss. [2008, 60 Marks]

15. “…he (Voltaire) was living in the Age of Enlightenment … . The age itself was not enlightened.” — E. Kant. Critically evaluate. [2010, 20 Marks]

16. “The promptings of the heart are more to be trusted than the logic of the mind.” Rousseau. Critically evaluate. [2011, 20 Marks]

17. “The despotic rulers of Europe were influenced by the philosophy of Enlightenment and begun to follow a benevolent policy towards their subjects.” Critically examine. [2012, 20 Marks]

18. “for Kant, enlightenment is mankind’s final coming of age, the emancipation of the human consciousness from an immature state of ignorance and error.” Critically examine.  [2013, 20 Mark]

19. “Reusseau strove to reconcile the liberty of the individual and the institution of Government through a new vision of the Contract-Theory of Government.” Critically examine. [2014, 10 Marks]

20. “Enlightened despots (Europe) were not necessarily politically liberal.” Critically examine. [2014, 10 Marks]

(iii) Rise of socialist ideas (up to Marx); spread of Marxian Socialism

1. “The Heavenly Land system was significant in that it greatly expanded the idea of equalizing rich and poor and landowning which the peasant wars had put forward in the past.” Comment. [1991, 20 Marks]

2. “Marxian Commumism is primarily the offspring of German Hegelianism and French Socialism.” Comment. [2001, 20 Marks]

3. “France was more fertile than Britain in producing new Socialist theories and movements, though they bore less concrete results in France than in Britain.” [2008, 20 Marks]

4. If we, were to define our conception of the State, our answer would be that the State is the banker of the poor. The government would finance and supervise the purchase of productive equipments and the formation of workshops.” In light of the above statement of Louis Blanc, throw light on the Pre-Marxist Socialist Thought in Europe. [2014, 20 Marks]

5. “France was more fertile than Britain in producing new Socialist theories and movements, though they bore less concrete results in France than in Britain.” Critically examine. [2015, 10 Marks]