SparkNotes: Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: Quiz

Kant's main purpose in writing Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason was to:

(A) Contend that genuine religious experience requires an individual's firm commitment to moral conduct

(B) Explore why Christianity is falling out of favor with the masses

(C) Argue that religious beliefs, rituals, and church attendance are all worthless from a moral point of view

Kant's attitude toward most religious traditions is best characterized as:

(A) Dismissive; Kant believes that most religious traditions are a waste of time

(B) Critical; Kant worries that by overemphasizing tradition, organized religions fail to underscore the importance of moral behavior

(C) Enthusiastic; Kant holds that religious traditions have a positive moral effect on their adherents

According to Kant, the Christian doctrine of original sin is of doubtful validity because:

(A) Adam is not be responsible for Eve's disobedience, and therefore humankind could not have inherited Adam's sin

(B) Reasonable people simply do not believe in original sin, and because reason guides belief, there must be something false about the doctrine of original sin

(C) Contrary to the doctrine of original sin, we have good reason to believe that people do act freely when they act immorally

In Kant's view, our tendency to do good things comes in three varieties. These are:

(A) Helping those in need, exhibiting empathy to our loved ones and close friends, exercising environmental consciousness

(B) Preserving the species, seeking the approval of others, respecting moral law

(C) Helping others as a byproduct of doing helping ourselves, praying for guidance, following the mandates of our parents

Our natural propensity to evil is best understood as:

(A) An innate tendency over which we have no control

(B) An inherited tendency that inhibits our ability to do the right thing from time to time

(C) A tendency to which we freely succumb when making immoral decisions

According to Kant, the distinction between acting on a whim and acting on a moral or immoral principle depends upon:

(A) Whether an individual knows right from wrong

(B) Whether an individual is aware of the likely consequences of her actions

(C) Whether an individual consciously decides to carry out an action he understands

When Kant says that human nature is fragile, he means that:

(A) Humans tend to adopt a number of different personas, which suggests that they are not stable creatures

(B) People tend to get upset easily

(C) Humans often tend to act against their better judgment

When Kant says the human heart is impure, he means that:

(A) People are always thinking about sex

(B) People have a tendency to supplement moral motivations with immoral ones when deliberating a course of action

(C) The motives that people use to justify their behavior are different from the motives that actually do motivate their behavior

When Kant says that human beings are depraved, he means that:

(A) People cannot help but do truly evil things, such as committing murder or grand larceny

(B) People find it difficult to embrace moral behavior completely, even in the midst of doing the right thing

(C) People would rather be guided by immoral desires than by moral law

Which of the following is most clearly an example of moral behavior, in Kant's view?

(A) Peter decides to take Mary to the Senior Prom, but only because he thinks that doing so will give him a chance to get closer to Veronica, Mary's best friend

(B) Virginia, an attorney with a well-known law firm, decides to take on a wrongful discharge case. She takes the case because her client was treated inhumanely and because she believes that a cash settlement is likely and that she will receive a sizable portion of the settlement

(C) Jacob, who is usually motivated by the approval of his peers, realizes that his sign language skills would be invaluable to the local community center. He decides, against his own judgment, that he has a responsibility to volunteer at the center, even though he will probably receive praise from his friends and family members

Guilt, in Kant's view, involves:

(A) Sincere recognition that past actions were not dutiful, and hence were immoral

(B) Public declaration of wrongdoing

(C) Apologizing, sincerely or insincerely, to the offended party

Kant believes that Judaism:

(A) Actually promotes immoral conduct

(B) Is indifferent to immoral conduct

(C) Does not cultivate the moral virtues to the same extent that Christianity does

All religious delusions are, according to Kant, traceable to:

(A) Human selfishness

(B) Anthropomorphism, or the tendency to create God in our own image

(C) Moral myopia, or the tendency to misunderstand the most important purposes of religious institutions

Which of the following best captures Kant's attitude about the possibility of reincarnation?

(A) Hostility; since we have no evidence to support reincarnation, it is a silly idea

(B) Acceptance; reincarnation provides the best explanation for depravity in human beings, and therefore is likely

(C) Agnosticism; since we do not have evidence to support reincarnation, we should remain neutral about it until new information emerges

Would Kant be likely to support gender-based restrictions on who may enter the priesthood?

(A) Yes; Kant would support such policies because he believes that stable religious communities encourage moral conduct

(B) Probably not; unless such policies could be clearly linked to increased general levels of moral conduct, Kant would not support them

(C) Definitely not; Kant would not support a policy that violates the liberty of women who want to become servants of the church

According to Kant, Jesus is best described as:

(A) The Son of God

(B) An embodiment of the ideal moral being

(C) A noble, but mortal, teacher

Kant believes that as attendance at Church services declines:

(A) People naturally become better, because they are no longer being brainwashed by an organized religious institution

(B) People may become better through their own efforts, or they may become more complacent

(C) People naturally become more prone to immoral conduct

Kant would say that since we make God in our own image:

(A) God does not exist, since he is a figment of our own imaginations

(B) All of our preconceptions about God are necessarily false

(C) It is hard to tell whether God really exists, or whether he possesses the attributes we project onto him

Kant believes that scriptural scholars are:

(A) Useless; after all, true moral behavior comes from within

(B) Somewhat useful; by clarifying religious doctrine, they provide clues for genuine moral reformers interested in bettering religious traditions

(C) Useful; by clarifying religious doctrine, they church leaders encourage moral behavior among the congregation

In Kant's view, the Christian scriptures describe the Kingdom of Heaven as:

(A) A union of individuals who have chosen to follow moral law

(B) A union of individuals who have been made clean through their faith in Jesus

(C) A union of individuals who never committed sins serious enough to incite God's wrath

The real obstacle that stands between human beings and true moral behavior is:

(A) The limitless desire for fame and fortune

(B) The tendency to subordinate moral law to desires and incentives

(C) The predisposition to believe that promoting our own selfish interests will serve the public good in the long run

Does moral law require us to sacrifice our own well-being for the sake of doing what is right?

(A) Yes, because doing what is right usually conflicts with our self-interest

(B) Maybe, because doing what is right can, in extreme cases, conflict with our self-interest

(C) No, because although doing what is right sometimes conflicts with our self- interest, it does not force us to sacrifice our own well-being

Does moral law apply to all people without exception?

(A) Yes, undoubtedly

(B) Maybe, but there are difficult cases in which local cultural norms supercede the moral law

(C) No, it only applies to overly-educated, middle- and upper-middle class Westerners

Local cultural norms are best thought of as:

(A) Complete nuisances; local cultural norms do nothing but get in the way of true moral progress, because they impede the adoption of the universal moral law

(B) Partially beneficial, and partially problematic; local cultural norms sometimes do get in the way of adopting the moral law, but they facilitate solidarity in a social group

(C) Completely beneficial; there is no clash between the moral law and local cultural norms

Kant would probably call the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have done unto yourself):

(A) An unhelpful way to summarize the richness of a complex religion like Christianity

(B) A helpful way to summarize Christianity's message, because the Golden Rule calls attention to our capacity to empathize with the plight of others

(C) A helpful way to summarize Christianity's message, because it highlights how our social interactions make our moral duties more obvious to us