Humanities CLEP Prep Practice Exam

What term best describes the period's focus on individualism, secularism, and self-reliance?

1. Rebirth

2. Romanticism

3. Enlightenment

4. Humanism

The correct answer is: Humanism

The term that best describes the period's focus on individualism, secularism, and self-reliance is humanism. This philosophy emphasizes the importance of human potential and the pursuit of knowledge and reason, placing less importance on supernatural beliefs and divine authority. While terms like rebirth, romanticism, and enlightenment may have elements of individualism, secularism, and self-reliance, they do not encompass all of these principles in the same way that humanism does. For example, rebirth refers more specifically to a revival of classical ideas and values, while romanticism was a movement that emphasized emotion and imagination over reason and individualism. Enlightenment was an intellectual movement focused on reason, science, and progress, but did not necessarily prioritize individualism and self-reliance as central values.