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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was it about armies that Wilson was struck by?
(a) How they were supported by an entire society.
(b) How they were close brotherhoods.
(c) How they were subsidized by communities or nations.
(d) How they were organized.

2. What philosophical assumption underlay the notion that evolution followed simple laws?
(a) Transcendentalism.
(b) Mysticism.
(c) Idealism.
(d) Materialism.

3. What does Wilson use the discussion of the unity of species to prepare for?
(a) A discussion of the unity of sciences.
(b) A discussion of the conscience and society.
(c) A discussion of the equality of genders.
(d) A discussion of the inevitability of progress.

4. How does consilience help us understand organisms?
(a) By seeing their evolution.
(b) By examining their organization.
(c) By reconstructing them from cells.
(d) By examining their environment.

5. What is Wilson ultimately interested in producing with consilience?
(a) Order.
(b) Opportunity.
(c) Freedom.
(d) Efficiency.

6. Why have scientific models of the brain failed to explain consciousness?
(a) Because scientists are limited in the experiments they can perform on human beings.
(b) Because living and reproducing do not require self-understanding.
(c) Because consciousness is always shifting and cannot be modeled.
(d) Because models of brain activity do not replicate the sense of 'being there' inside the brain.

7. How can science help us, in Wilson's account?
(a) Science can give us better stories to tell about psychological nature.
(b) Science can reveal the extent of human powerlessness.
(c) Science can expand the limits of what we can see.
(d) Science can show us how our impressions are created by our feelings.

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

9. What force did John Locke believe in, in Wilson's account?
(a) The nurturing force of the environment.
(b) The therapeutic force of society.
(c) The damaging force of society.
(d) The civilizing force of discipline.

10. How does Wilson describe the strength of the French Revolution?
(a) It appropriated church lands for the people.
(b) It led to the rise of Napoleon.
(c) It tried to improve educational opportunities.
(d) It concentrated wealth in a small group's hands.

11. According to complexity theory, what is the result of living on the edge of chaos?
(a) Escalation.
(b) Extinction.
(c) Experimentation.
(d) Evolution.

12. Where did Wilson develop the idea of unified learning?
(a) During his science studies.
(b) In his writings on religion.
(c) In his research on ants.
(d) During his childhood.

13. What did Laplace pioneer?
(a) The use of probability in physics.
(b) The notion of inalienable human rights.
(c) The use of statistics in politics.
(d) The use of telescopes in astronomy.

14. What benefit does Wilson say consilience has?
(a) It allows facts and theories to be tested.
(b) It translates science into humanities and vice versa.
(c) It provides a Rosetta Stone for the sciences.
(d) It describes the humanities in scientific terms.

15. What field does Wilson say philosophers and scientists should collaborate in?
(a) Conflict resolution.
(b) International relations.
(c) Biology and social sciences.
(d) Urban planning.

Short Answer Questions

1. What claims do philosophers make for the unification of knowledge?

2. What does Wilson say evidence from the natural sciences says about Enlightenment thinkers?

3. What two fields did Wilson connect in his theory of unified learning?

4. When did the Enlightenment end, in Wilson's account?

5. What field of questions does Wilson say remain unanswered?

(see the answer keys)

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