Recent Development in Western Thought Multiple Choice Questions
1. The main proponents of post-structuralism
A. jacques derrida
B. jaques lacan
C. michel foucault
D. all the above
Answer: D. all the above
2. Who are the most prominent theoretician and practitioner of ‘Deconstruction’
A. husserl
B. derrida
C. barthes
D. none of these
Answer: B. derrida
3. The linguist generally associated with the initiation of ‘Structuralism’ as a movement is:
A. ferdinand de saussure
B. simon blackburn,
C. noam chomsky
D. levi-strauss
Answer: A. ferdinand de saussure
4. Which of the following critics is associated with post-structuralism rather than structuralism
A. michel foucault
B. vladimir propp
C. roman jacobson
D. jacques lacan
Answer: A. michel foucault
5. Post-structuralism is a movement that came to prominence first during the 1960s. the movement was basically a response against:
A. colonialism
B. humanism
C. structuralism
D. post-colonialism.
Answer: C. structuralism
6. The general science of sign is known as
A. philology
B. linguistics
C. semiology
D. none of these
Answer: C. semiology
7. The concept of ‘Metalanguage’ was mentioned in:
A. the death of the author
B. elements of semiology
C. lecture series
D. elements of semiology
Answer: D. elements of semiology
8. The Open Work was created by:
A. ronald barthes
B. umberto eco
C. lévi-strauss
D. jacques derrida
Answer: B. umberto eco
9. The concept of ‘Metalanguage’ was developed by:
A. derrida
B. levi-strauss
C. searle
D. barthes
Answer: D. barthes
10. Speech and Phenomenon is written by
A. roland barthes
B. julia kristeva
C. jacques derrida
D. foucault
Answer: C. jacques derrida
11. The Death of the Author is the work of
A. roland barthe
B. julia kristeva
C. jacques derrida
D. foucault
Answer: A. roland barthe
12. One of the key terms in Derrida’s thought is
A. good writing
B. structuralism
C. difference
D. presence
Answer: C. difference
13. Post-structuralism gets connected most commonly to structuralism. Nevertheless, it also gets related to another literary movement which is:
A. postmodernism
B. post-colonialism
C. colonial literature
D. neoclassicism
Answer: A. postmodernism
14. The concept which establishes an association between post-structuralism and postmodernism is:
A. structuralism
B. classicism
C. common literary beliefs
D. humanism
Answer: D. humanism
15. Derrida calls ‘preference for presence over absence’ as
A. illusion
B. prejudice
C. metaphysics of presence
D. first principle
Answer: C. metaphysics of presence
16. Post-structuralism, as a movement, developed in:
A. england
B. france
C. italy
D. austria
Answer: B. france
17. Where did logical positivism originate
A. italy & germany
B. austria & america
C. austria & germany
D. none of these
Answer: C. austria & germany
18. Author of The New Science
A. jean baudrillard
B. giambattista vico
C. jean-françois lyotard
D. jean jacques rousseau
Answer: B. giambattista vico
19. Jacques Derrida cannonballed into the American academy with this paper, in 1966:
A. “the purveyor of truth”
B. “seminar on \the purloined letter\”
C. “structure, sign, and play in the discourse of the human sciences”
D. “can the subaltern speak?” jacques derrida\s of grammatology explains:
Answer: C. “structure, sign, and play in the discourse of the human sciences”
20. Jacques Derrida’s Of Grammatology explains:
A. theory of “writing”
B. issues with jacques lacan
C. plan for world domination
D. the grammar of modern klingon
Answer: A. theory of “writing”
21. Which author-hating lit critic and cultural theorist described text as a “multi-dimensional space,” and a “tissue of quotations”
A. jean-luc picard
B. roland barthes
C. michel foucault
D. barbara johnson
Answer: B. roland barthes
22. Post-Structuralism emerged as a critique of Structuralism. Who founded Structuralism:
A. jean baudrillard
B. ferdinand de saussure
C. michel foucault
D. jacques derrida
Answer: B. ferdinand de saussure
23. Which of the following was written by Jacques Derrida
A. birth of the clinic
B. madness and civilization
C. history of sexuality
D. of grammatology
Answer: D. of grammatology
24. Which Post-Structuralist philosopher came up with the concept of Deconstruction:
A. jacques derrida
B. jean baudrillard
C. michel foucault
D. gilles deleuze
Answer: A. jacques derrida
25. Why does Jean Baudrillard think we live in simulated realities:
A. we can’t tell the difference between a dream and reality.
B. we can never know the truth, so we adopt ideologies which reshape the world in our minds.
C. we like to live in denial about our responsibility.
D. we try to control the world around us through our actions.
Answer: B. we can never know the truth, so we adopt ideologies which reshape the world in our minds.
26. Which Post-Structuralist philosopher stated, “Academics’ lives are seldom interesting”:
A. michel foucault
B. jacques derrida
C. jean baudrillard
D. gilles deleuze
Answer: D. gilles deleuze
27. Author of Capitalism and Schizophrenia:
A. michel foucault
B. jean baudrillard
C. ferdinand de saussure
D. gilles deleuze
Answer: D. gilles deleuze
28. Which Post-Structuralist philosopher was interested in the “power-knowledge relationship”:
A. gilles deleuze
B. jacques derrida
C. michel foucault
D. ferdinand de saussure
Answer: C. michel foucault
29. Which Post-Structuralist philosopher started in philosophy by studying “pataphysics”
A. gilles deleuze
B. jean baudrillard
C. michel foucault
D. jacques derrida
Answer: B. jean baudrillard
30. Postmodernism rejects which of the following metanarratives;
A. science/ secularism
B. christian
C. muslim
D. all metanarratives are rejected
Answer: D. all metanarratives are rejected
31. Baudrillard’s simulacra means
A. something unique and individual
B. the sign that creates the perception of reality than reality itself
C. truth
D. a lie
Answer: B. the sign that creates the perception of reality than reality itself
32. Which French Philosopher argued that there were no meta or grand narratives, only micro narratives?
A. jean baudrillard
B. john the baptist
C. jean-françois lyotard
D. jean jacques rousseau
Answer: C. jean-françois lyotard
33. Author of, On humanistic education
A. jean baudrillard
B. giambattista vico
C. jean-françois lyotard
D. jean jacques rousseau
Answer: C. jean-françois lyotard
34. According to vico Humanity
A. consequence of institution
B. presupposition
C. cause
D. relation
Answer: A. consequence of institution
35. For Vico human essence is
A. pre-existent one
B. no pre-existent
C. inherited
D. irrational
Answer: B. no pre-existent
36. According to Vico the structure is
A. static
B. transformable
C. idle
D. idea
Answer: B. transformable
37. Langue and parole are the concept of
A. jean baudrillard
B. john the baptist
C. ferdinand de saussure
D. jean jacques rousseau
Answer: C. ferdinand de saussure
38. According to Saussure a language is a system of
A. signs
B. logic
C. symbols
D. numbers
Answer: A. signs
39. Systematic study of meaning
A. semantics
B. logic
C. signs
D. epigraphy
Answer: A. semantics
40. Linguistic system, consists of
A. structures
B. prejudice
C. symbols
D. numbers
Answer: A. structures
41. According to Saussure two axis of language are
A. compound and simple
B. diachronic and synchronic
C. rigid and flexible
D. noumena and phenomena
Answer: B. diachronic and synchronic
42. For Vico Language, is a kind of
A. knowledge
B. power
C. dominance
D. collective intelligence
Answer: D. collective intelligence
43. Author of Course in General Linguistics
A. ferdinand de saussure
B. kant
C. jean-françois lyotard
D. jean jacques rousseau
Answer: A. ferdinand de saussure
44. Author of Mythologies
A. ferdinand de saussure
B. jean-françois lyotard
C. roland barthes
D. jacques derrida
Answer: C. roland barthes
45. the reproduction of labour-power complete with
A. ruling ideology
B. economics progress
C. economic reproduction
D. social enriching
Answer: A. ruling ideology
46. Louis Althusser consider State institutions as
A. apparats
B. institutions for good life
C. ideological apparatus
D. social welfare institutions
Answer: A. apparats
47. believed that the “unified self” was just a product of Western culture and that if there was a “self, it must be plural.”
A. ferdinand de saussure
B. jean-françois lyotard
C. jean jacques rousseau
D. jacques derrida
Answer: D. jacques derrida
48. The philosophical school founded by Derrida is called
A. structuralism
B. decentralism
C. phenomenology
D. semantics
Answer: B. decentralism
49. Althusser considered the mode of production contains complex articulation of:
A. only economic practice
B. only political practices
C. economic, political and ideological practices
D. economic and political practices
Answer: C. economic, political and ideological practices
50. Who has measured ‘modernity as an unfinished project’
A. jean baudrillard
B. john the baptist
C. jean-françois lyotard
D. habermas
Answer: D. habermas
51. In “The Death of the Author,” Roland Barthes argues what about
A. biographical information about the author must be considered when evaluating literature.
B. a text and its author text are unrelated.
C. it is possible to distil meaning from a work based on the author\s politics.
D. authorial intent must be considered when evaluating literature.
Answer: B. a text and its author text are unrelated.
52. who popularised the conception of an ‘epistemological break’ in Marxian thought
A. l. althusser
B. j. habermas
C. j.c. alexander
D. r. fahrendorf
Answer: A. l. althusser
53. Which among the following is not the work of Louis Althusser
A. lenin and philosophy and other essays
B. on the reproduction of capitalism trans
C. madness and civilization
D. for marx
Answer: C. madness and civilization
54. In Of Grammatology, Jacques Derrida argues what about literature? Choose one answer.
A. no fixed, stable meaning is possible.
B. language must be studied in conjunction with history in order to create meaning.
C. there is no potential for multiple and differing meanings in a work of literature.
D. literature is timeless, and thus meaning does not change.
Answer: A. no fixed, stable meaning is possible.
55. To whom, the sign, firmly speaking, must always stand ‘under erasure’, as necessary but
inadequate
A. louis althusser
B. michel foucault
C. husserl
D. jacques derrida
Answer: D. jacques derrida
56. Which one of the following concepts is not given by Derrida
A. cultural capital
B. logocentrism
C. deconstruction
D. difference
Answer: A. cultural capital
57. Derrida’s Deconstruction yields a critique of
A. cultural capital
B. logocentrism
C. deconstruction
D. difference
Answer: B. logocentrism
58. The central idea of Ferdinand de Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics;
A. language is inseparable from its historical context.
B. there are five phases of linguistic development.
C. language can be analysed as a formal system of elements.
D. linguistics is too complicated to be distilled to a formula.
Answer: C. language can be analysed as a formal system of elements.
59. Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance challenges us to think about language as a system that:
A. mirrors our physical evolution as human beings.
B. prevents us from communicating through writing or speech.
C. involves a constant process of deferred meaning.
D. evolved exclusively as a function of our individual psyche.
Answer: C. involves a constant process of deferred meaning.
60. Lyotard’s dictum ‘I define postmodern as incredulity toward meta-narratives’ means:
A. individual stories are suspect.
B. the law is static.
C. universal values are meaningless.
D. literature reproduces repression
Answer: C. universal values are meaningless.
61. Author of The Postmodern Condition A Report on Knowledge
A. kant
B. michel foucault
C. jean-françois lyotard
D. jacques derrida
Answer: C. jean-françois lyotard
62. For Lyotard postmodernity as an age of
A. accumulation
B. fragmentation
C. legalizing
D. demolishing
Answer: B. fragmentation
63. The Postmodern Condition A Report on Knowledge Lyotard dealing with
A. metaphysics
B. values
C. cognition
D. knowledge and power
Answer: D. knowledge and power
64. Lyotard famously defines the postmodern as
A. incredulity towards metanarratives
B. system of logic
C. system of metaphysics
D. system of idealism
Answer: A. incredulity towards metanarratives
65. Lyotard sees the subject/human as
A. one element among others
B. pure matter
C. centre of all think
D. master of knowledge
Answer: A. one element among others
66. Deconstruction is in terms of a critique of the
A. binary
B. actual
C. nomena
D. phenomena
Answer: A. binary
67. Deconstruction is
A. strategy for reading texts
B. understanding metaphysics
C. logical investigation
D. reductionism
Answer: A. strategy for reading texts
68. The opposition between speech and writing is a manifestation of the
A. cultural capital
B. logocentrism
C. deconstruction
D. difference
Answer: B. logocentrism
69. Derrida notes the tendency in western philosophy and semiotics to value the signifier as opposed
to the thing it signifies in
A. cultural capital
B. logocentrism
C. deconstruction
D. metaphysics of presence.
Answer: D. metaphysics of presence.
70. Postmodernism put forward the notion of
A. death of the subject
B. reclaiming the subject
C. domination of subject
D. power of the subject
Answer: A. death of the subject
71. Author of Elements of Semiology
A. ferdinand de saussure
B. jean-françois lyotard
C. jean jacques rousseau
D. roland barthes
Answer: D. roland barthes
72. As Baudrillard, there is only
A. real
B. nothingness
C. cultural
D. hyperreal
Answer: D. hyperreal
73. Hyperreal depicts
A. production
B. reproduction
C. distribution
D. meticulous reduplication
Answer: D. meticulous reduplication
74. Baudrillard is trying to end the philosophy of
A. theological
B. subjectivity
C. narrative
D. normative
Answer: B. subjectivity
75. According to Baudrillard the elimination of reality itself,
A. crime
B. perfect crime
C. method
D. practice
Answer: B. perfect crime
76. The term Hyperreality characterizes the inability of
A. knowledge
B. power
C. capability
D. consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy
Answer: D. consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy
77. A copy or image without reference to an original
A. simulacrum
B. perfect
C. ideal
D. illusive
Answer: A. simulacrum
78. What are the ideological State apparatuses
A. the army
B. the police
C. the courts
D. the family
Answer: D. the family
79. The State Apparatus
A. the religion
B. family
C. the courts
D. communications
Answer: C. the courts
80. The tendency in western civilization to privilege the linguistic signifier over the signified
A. deconstruction
B. logocentrism
C. materialism
D. rationalism
Answer: B. logocentrism
81. Author of Writing Degree Zero
A. roland barthes
B. michel foucault
C. husserl
D. jacques derrida
Answer: A. roland barthes
82. In ‘Rhetoric of the Image’ Barthes asserting
A. demythologizing reading of the image
B. breakdown
C. interference
D. regularisation
Answer: A. demythologizing reading of the image
83. The underlying syntactic structure of a sentence termed
A. deep structure
B. structure
C. form
D. matter
Answer: A. deep structure
84. Barth described ‘message without a code’ to
A. movies
B. documents
C. photograph’s
D. music
Answer: C. photograph’s
85. The structure open to observation and description termed
A. deep structure
B. structure
C. surface structure
D. matter
Answer: C. surface structure
86. The distinction between langue and parole was first made by
A. roland barthes
B. michel foucault
C. ferdinand de saussure
D. jacques derrida
Answer: C. ferdinand de saussure
87. The rules of sign system known as
A. concept
B. langue
C. form
D. parole
Answer: B. langue
88. The articulation of signs
A. concept
B. langue
C. form
D. parole
Answer: D. parole
89. Author of – Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays
A. louis althusser
B. michel foucault
C. ferdinand de saussure
D. jacques derrida
Answer: A. louis althusser
90. Author of Writing and Difference
A. louis althusser
B. michel foucault
C. ferdinand de saussure
D. jacques derrida
Answer: D. jacques derrida
91. author of The Illusions of Postmodernism
A. louis althusser
B. michel foucault
C. ferdinand de saussure
D. terry eagleton
Answer: D. terry eagleton
92. For Marx superstructure is
A. ideology
B. labour
C. infrastructure
D. revolutionary
Answer: A. ideology
93. “There is nothing outside the text” articulated by
A. ferdinand de saussure
B. jean-françois lyotard
C. jean jacques rousseau
D. jacques derrida
Answer: D. jacques derrida