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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Transcendentalism justify war, in Edmund Wilson's account?
(a) Each side poses as protecting an individual's rights.
(b) Each side relies on unifying logic.
(c) Each side refers to nature for their authority to fight.
(d) Each side describes their cause as sacred.

2. What beneficial uses can incest have in cultures, in Durham's account?
(a) It tests the laws.
(b) It produces scapegoats and criminals.
(c) It produces heroes and giants.
(d) It provides evidence of aristocracy.

3. What will the combination of the arts and sciences ultimately create?
(a) The evolution of the brain.
(b) The genetic source of imagination.
(c) The revelation of the source of creativity.
(d) Transcendence.

4. What were the first artistic images of animals intended to evoke, according to Wilson?
(a) Myths.
(b) Gods.
(c) Spirits.
(d) Real events.

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

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

7. What is the danger of volitional evolution, in Edmund Wilson's account?
(a) People can become less human.
(b) Sea levels can rise.
(c) Pandemics can be created.
(d) Populations can be eradicated.

8. What is the problem with sociology, in Edmund Wilson's estimation?
(a) It avoids analysis.
(b) It is founded in statistics.
(c) It relies on untrustworthy models for its measurements.
(d) It is grounded in badly-understood genetic science.

9. What is the problem with anthropology, in Edmund Wilson's estimation?
(a) It is dominated by scientists who deny anthropology's genetic aspect.
(b) It is divided into two irreconcilable branches, neither of which resolve the question of diversity.
(c) It is run by social scientists who attribute everything to genetics.
(d) It is not funded well enough.

10. What are epigenetic rules?
(a) The process of selecting which genes are most desirable in an environment.
(b) The cultural effect on genetic expression.
(c) The language in which culture expresses itself.
(d) Influences that affect the expression of genes.

11. How does Wilson describe the difference between gifted and less-gifted artists' brains?
(a) Gifted artists use a larger are of their brains.
(b) Gifted artists have more connections between brain areas.
(c) Gifted artists have a larger language center.
(d) Less-gifted artists have smaller capacity for empathy.

12. How does Edmund Wilson define ethics?
(a) As a set of universal laws.
(b) As a code of principles.
(c) As a set of unspoken prohibitions.
(d) As a series of taboos.

13. What is kin selection?
(a) The survival strategy by which people care most deeply for their kin.
(b) The process by which people choose mates.
(c) The process by which parents decide which child to favor.
(d) The strategy by which a family gives itself the best chance of expanding.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What consequence does Wilson describe to technological advancement?

2. What causes a change in traits?

3. Where does postmodernism fail to accord with science, in Edmund Wilson's account?

4. What explanation does Wilson offer for incest taboos?

5. Where do tangible phenomena evolve, according to consilience?

(see the answer keys)

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