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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does the empiricist view ethical reasoning?
(a) As a series of struggles within the self.
(b) As a series of choices.
(c) As a series or rejections of childish language.
(d) As a series of innate contradictions.

2. Where does Edmund Wilson say consilience is beneficial?
(a) In history and technology.
(b) In biology and ethics.
(c) In all areas of learning.
(d) In humanities and natural sciences.

3. What does Edmund Wilson say wars are products of?
(a) Genes and culture.
(b) Technological imbalances.
(c) Resources and demand.
(d) Political failures.

4. What does Edmund Wilson credit human nature with altering?
(a) Epigenetic rules.
(b) The environment.
(c) Technological influences.
(d) Language.

5. Where do science and the arts both originate, according to Wilson?
(a) In religion.
(b) In the genes.
(c) In the imagination.
(d) In language.

6. Wilson defines culture in terms of what?
(a) Language.
(b) Religion.
(c) Genes.
(d) Environment.

7. How do nurturists see the evolution of culture?
(a) As a complex interplay of environment and language.
(b) As result of language.
(c) As a result of genetics.
(d) As a result of environment.

8. What explanation does Wilson offer for incest taboos?
(a) Incest relationships create genetic defects.
(b) Incest predisposes cultures to avoid war.
(c) Incest creates unrest in a culture.
(d) Incest undermines primogeniture.

9. How does postmodern influence portray existence?
(a) As interdependent.
(b) As individual.
(c) As chaotic.
(d) As communal.

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

11. What does Wilson offer as evidence of cross-cultural epi-genetic rules?
(a) Myths.
(b) Councils.
(c) Mating rituals.
(d) Regional cuisine.

12. Who does Wilson offer as evidence of thinkers affected by the concept of natural rights?
(a) Benjamin Franklin.
(b) Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
(c) Robespierre.
(d) Thomas Jefferson.

13. What did all Enlightenment thinkers have in common, according to Wilson?
(a) Scientific methods.
(b) Literary methods.
(c) A sense of historical purpose.
(d) Faith in God.

14. What does the concept of God do, in Edmund Wilson's account?
(a) Open the mind to what is beyond it.
(b) Ground the mind in its source.
(c) Clarify man's relationship with things whose origins are inexplicable.
(d) Unify the sciences and humanities.

15. What power does Wilson attribute to men who control large amounts of territory?
(a) The power to distribute genes widely.
(b) The power to create monopolies.
(c) The power to determine the local economy.
(d) The power to command people's labor.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Wilson describe the difference between gifted and less-gifted artists' brains?

2. How does Edmund Wilson define ethics?

3. How does Edmund Wilson describe the current era of economics?

4. What statistic shows the strength of the transcendental view, in Edmund Wilson's account?

5. What consequence does Wilson describe to technological advancement?

(see the answer keys)

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