Quiz: Landmarks of Scientific Socialism (Anti-Dühring, abridged)

10 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. 1. What criticism of Engels does Lewis make in his appendix?

   That he misread Darwin and applied the struggle for existence directly to human society That he wrote too little on economics and left that subject almost entirely to Marx That he never shed the old “forty-eight” spirit, the expectation of imminent revolution That he was too cautious, and expected revolution only after generations of slow struggle
2. 2. Which physical theory does Engels defend in the section on natural philosophy, citing the heat needed to melt ice?

   The caloric theory of heat The mechanical theory of heat The theory of phlogiston The ether theory
3. 3. How does Engels define life?

   The capacity of a body to move itself, independently of external mechanical forces The faculty of sensation, present in every organism that responds to its surroundings Mode of existence of albuminous bodies, constantly renewing their components The working of a vital force in matter, distinct from chemical and physical processes
4. 4. According to Engels, did Marx use the negation of the negation to prove that capitalism must end?

   No: he described a historical process and only then called it a negation of the negation Yes: it was his main proof, from which the expropriation then followed No: he rejected Hegel’s dialectic altogether and never used the phrase in Capital Yes: he took it ready-made from Hegel and fitted the economic facts to the formula
5. 5. How does Engels, following Hegel, define freedom?

   The absence of all state coercion Doing whatever one happens to want Independence from natural laws The recognition of necessity
6. 6. Which example of quantity turning into quality does Engels take from Napoleon?

   Artillery at Austerlitz: a hundred guns massed together did more than the same guns dispersed Infantry squares at Waterloo: a few hundred men in formation held off thousands of horsemen French cavalry against Mamelukes: a thousand Frenchmen beat fifteen hundred better riders The Grand Army in Russia: so large that its numbers became a burden rather than a strength
7. 7. Which recent scientific discovery does Lewis say “was in itself sufficient to revolutionise” existing theories?

   The electron X-rays Relativity Radium
8. 8. In what does Engels say the real unity of the universe consists?

   In God In its materiality In its mere existence In thought
9. 9. Which everyday example does Engels use for the negation of the negation?

   Water heated to boiling point, which suddenly turns from a liquid into steam A seed that is ground into flour, which is then baked into bread and eaten A grain of barley negated by the plant, which in turn yields many grains A tree that sheds its leaves each autumn and puts out new ones every spring
10. 10. Which discovery made clear the nature of capitalist exploitation, according to the Introduction?

    The discovery of surplus value Ricardo’s theory of value The theory of rent The law of supply and demand