View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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.

2. Why does Edmund Wilson say that human existence in the future will depend on ethics?
(a) Because people will only work together once they can frame the problems.
(b) Because empathy will prevent exploitation.
(c) Because the alternative to self-extinction is preserving the others around the self.
(d) Because evolution favors contract formation.

3. Which ocean is still experiencing increasing yields?
(a) Pacific Ocean.
(b) Southern Ocean.
(c) Atlantic Ocean.
(d) Indian Ocean.

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

5. What problem does Wilson attribute to failures in the social sciences?
(a) Failure to regulate industry.
(b) Failure to foresee the collapse of the welfare state.
(c) Failure to remedy the inequality between the classes.
(d) Failure to react to environmental disasters.

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

7. What is gene-culture evolution?
(a) Enrichment of the environment within which genes are altered.
(b) Development of individuals and races within evolving cultures.
(c) Changes in human culture that are driven by genetic changes.
(d) Evolution of the genes that change a species' culture.

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

9. How much will sea levels theoretically rise if the ice caps melt?
(a) 60 cm.
(b) 120 cm.
(c) 90 cm.
(d) 30 cm.

10. What were ethics constructed around, according to Wilson?
(a) The notion that the gods observe human actions.
(b) The notion that human beings can be perfected.
(c) The notion that human acts have consequences.
(d) The notion that justice is independent.

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

12. What do the arts need science for?
(a) To fulfill artistic prophecies.
(b) To demonstrate the truth of artistic visions.
(c) To test artistic theories.
(d) To stimulate interpretation.

13. What does Wilson call sociology?
(a) The study of complex societies.
(b) The study of society.
(c) The study of conflict between societies.
(d) The study of simple society.

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

15. What did economists do during the Marginalist Era in economics?
(a) They used statistics to model mass behaviors.
(b) They used science to analyze motives and trends in the mass.
(c) They examined social behaviors as individual activities.
(d) They described production as the result of supply and demand.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Wilson say about the complexity of the social sciences?

2. Which social science does Edmund Wilson say is best situated to bridge the gap between natural science and social science?

3. What are epigenetic rules?

4. What is the danger of volitional evolution, in Edmund Wilson's account?

5. What are effective ethical codes based on?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 579 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample