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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Fitness of Human Nature.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What event marks the end of the Enlightenment, in Wilson's account?
(a) The French Revolution.
(b) The death of de Sade.
(c) The American Revolution.
(d) The birth of Wordsworth.

2. How has the postmodern fragmentation of knowledge affected consilience, in Wilson's account??
(a) It has opened new fields.
(b) It has generated unprecedented discussions between disciplines.
(c) It has not been useful.
(d) It has created the conditions for unification.

3. What does natural selection provide for a species?
(a) More diverse genetic options.
(b) New genetic combinations.
(c) More mating possibilities.
(d) Fewer dominant individuals.

4. What is the relationship between politicians and intellectuals, in Wilson's account?
(a) They obfuscate each other's work.
(b) They misinterpret each other's work.
(c) They have a mutually supportive role.
(d) They are not related.

5. How do nerve cells in the brain connect?
(a) Through dendrites.
(b) Through synapses.
(c) Through neurons.
(d) Through axons.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Edmund Wilson credit human nature with altering?

2. What does status give a man power to do, in Edmund Wilson's account?

3. Where do the images of snakes in dreams likely come from, in Wilson's account?

4. Wilson says that passion and emotion are both linked to what?

5. Where did Wilson develop the idea of unified learning?

(see the answer key)

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