3.3.1.1.2 Liberalism: key thinkers Quiz: AQA Politics, Unit 3

The 20 questions

1. Which thinker is associated with the idea of natural rights to life, liberty and property?

   • John Locke
   • Thomas Hobbes, who argued that natural rights are absolute and cannot be transferred to a sovereign
   • Karl Marx, who argued that natural rights exist only within a classless and stateless society
   • Edmund Burke, who argued that rights are granted by tradition and cannot be derived from nature

2. What is meant by Locke's concept of the 'fiduciary power' of government?

   • Government holds power in trust for the people and must act for their benefit
   • Government holds power by divine appointment, which the people may never question or resist
   • Government holds power through the financial control of the monarch, who may keep the public purse
   • Government holds power by hereditary right and may use it as it chooses without accountability

3. Which thinker argued for the 'harm principle', that the state may restrict liberty only to prevent harm to others?

   • John Rawls, who argued that the state may restrict liberty to ensure economic equality for every citizen
   • John Stuart Mill
   • Thomas Hill Green, who argued that the state may restrict liberty to advance the common good at all times
   • Michael Oakeshott, who argued that the state should restrict liberty to protect established traditions

4. Which distinction does Mill draw in relation to liberty?

   • Legal actions, which the law permits, and illegal actions, which the courts have prohibited
   • Economic actions, which concern trade, and political actions, which concern voting and elections
   • Self-regarding actions, which affect only the individual, and other-regarding actions, which affect others
   • Public actions, which occur in government, and private actions, which occur only in the home

5. What does John Rawls's 'veil of ignorance' ask people to do when designing principles of justice?

   • Choose principles without knowing their own place in society, talents or social position
   • Choose principles only after learning their own social position, so that each person protects their interests
   • Choose principles by consulting religious authorities, who determine the moral order of society
   • Choose principles by majority vote of the wealthiest citizens, who alone have the right to decide

6. Which principle is central to Rawls's theory of justice, concerning inequality?

   • The market principle, which requires that prices alone decide how all social goods are distributed
   • The difference principle, which permits inequalities only if they benefit the least advantaged
   • The equal wealth principle, which requires that every citizen receive the same income in all cases
   • The inheritance principle, which requires that all wealth pass to the state on the death of its owner

7. Which thinker argued that the state should promote self-development and that freedom involves positive opportunities?

   • Thomas Hill Green
   • Charles Maurras, who argued that the state should promote self-development through national culture
   • Mary Wollstonecraft, who argued that the state should provide compulsory education for all children
   • Robert Nozick, who argued that the state should promote self-development through taxation and welfare

8. Which work by Mary Wollstonecraft responded to Edmund Burke's critique of the French Revolution?

   • A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), written as a direct response to the Reflections of Burke
   • Two Treatises of Government (1689), which defended natural rights against the claims of divine kings
   • A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)
   • Leviathan (1651), which set out a theory of the sovereign and the state of nature for the modern era

9. Which movement is associated with Betty Friedan, a figure central to liberal thinking on equal rights?

   • The trade union movement in Britain, which Friedan led in campaigns for a national minimum wage
   • The anti-slavery movement of the nineteenth century, which Friedan joined as a young abolitionist
   • The feminist and civil rights movements in the USA, including her role in founding the National Organization for Women
   • The environmental movement of the 1960s, which Friedan helped to found as a scientific adviser

10. What did Locke argue made government legitimate?

    • Divine appointment, so that resistance to rulers is always sinful whatever they choose to do
    • Hereditary succession, so that a monarch holds lifelong power regardless of consent of the people
    • The consent of the governed, with the right to resist government that violates natural rights
    • Ownership of all property by the state, which allows it to decide what rights citizens may hold

11. How did Locke describe the state of nature?

    • A condition in which the sovereign holds unlimited power over subjects, who have no natural rights and no means of redress
    • A condition in which property is held in common and no law or government is required at all
    • A condition in which people are free and equal under natural law, but lack a reliable impartial judge
    • A condition of war of all against all, in which life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short

12. Which work by Mill sets out the harm principle?

    • The Communist Manifesto (1848), which sets out the class struggle and the aims of the working class
    • Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), which defends tradition against rational reform
    • Leviathan (1651), which sets out the power of the sovereign and the nature of human conduct
    • On Liberty (1859)

13. Mill criticised which view of pleasure?

    • Asceticism, arguing that all pleasure is sinful and should be avoided by individuals, by the church and by the state alike
    • Relativism, arguing that pleasure has no moral value in any form and cannot be compared
    • Crude hedonism, arguing that intellectual and moral pleasures are of higher quality than bodily pleasures
    • Egoism, arguing that individuals should seek only their own pleasure without regard for society

14. According to Mill, why should individuals be free to pursue their own good?

    • Individuals should be free only in matters that the state has approved in advance for their benefit
    • Individuals should be free only so long as they remain loyal to the monarch and the established order
    • Individuals should be free only to pursue the good that the church defines for them in each case
    • Individuals develop their character and capacities by making their own choices, which benefits society as a whole

15. What is the purpose of Rawls's two principles of justice?

    • To set fair terms of social co-operation, guaranteeing equal basic liberties and fair equality of opportunity
    • To establish state ownership of major industries and natural resources held by the community
    • To justify the inheritance of wealth across generations without any limit on the amount passed on
    • To confirm the authority of the monarch over the judiciary and the armed forces of the state

16. Which is one of the basic liberties protected in Rawls's first principle of justice?

    • The right to hold a seat in the hereditary upper chamber of the legislature by birth alone
    • The right to receive an unlimited inheritance from parents, regardless of the size of the estate
    • The right to a fixed income set by the state each year, irrespective of work or contribution
    • Freedom of thought and liberty of conscience

17. Which view is associated with Thomas Hill Green on the state's role?

    • The state should leave all matters of welfare to private charity and the market, without intervention
    • The state should restrict all education to a single religious doctrine approved by the established church
    • The state should abolish private property so that individuals can develop through collective ownership
    • The state should create conditions in which individuals can develop their capacities, including through education and public health

18. How did Wollstonecraft challenge aristocratic privilege?

    • She argued that inherited rank and unequal rights lacked any rational justification
    • She argued that the monarch should hold absolute power over the aristocracy in every matter of state
    • She argued that all rank should be decided by lot in every public office in the country
    • She argued that aristocratic privilege was essential to the stability of the commonwealth and to good order

19. What did Wollstonecraft argue about women?

    • Women should be trained only in the arts, which preserves their natural talents and moral character
    • Women are naturally suited to domestic life and should be excluded from public education, public office and most paid work
    • Women should be educated and granted equal rights, since their apparent inferiority came from a lack of education
    • Women should be denied property rights to protect the stability of the family unit in every case

20. Which organisation did Betty Friedan help to found in 1966?

    • The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which litigated against segregation
    • The National Organization for Women
    • The Liberal Party of the United Kingdom, which campaigned for proportional representation in elections
    • The Fabian Society, which promoted gradual socialism through education and parliamentary reform

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