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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What interpret does Wilson give the myth of Icarus?
(a) It represents man's daring.
(b) It represents the value of learning over freedom.
(c) It represents man's tragic nature.
(d) It represents the benefit of age and wisdom.

2. What does Wilson say the standards that measure scientific knowledge should be based on?
(a) Mathematics.
(b) Hypotheses.
(c) Theories.
(d) Something real.

3. What did the idea of intellectual unity foster in the Enlightenment?
(a) European supremacy.
(b) Racial supremacy.
(c) Diplomacy.
(d) Human rights.

4. What subject would Wilson like to see more of in undergraduate education?
(a) Arts.
(b) Philosophy.
(c) Sciences.
(d) Humanities.

5. What are the nerve cells in the brain called?
(a) Protons.
(b) Neurons.
(c) Dendrites.
(d) Axons.

Short Answer Questions

1. What problem does Wilson identify in Freud's research on dreams?

2. What did Condorcet pioneer?

3. What is the only way to get a clear picture of the world, in Wilson's account?

4. When was Condorcet born?

5. What do the laws of physics transcend, in Wilson's account?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does consilience aim to resolve political problems?

2. What is the relationship between complexity theory and consilience?

3. How would you describe Francis Bacon's influence on Wilson's idea of consilience?

4. What is the modern understanding of how the brain works?

5. Why is consilience especially important in studying the mind?

6. How did Wilson arrive at his theory of consilience?

7. What ancient sources does Wilson trace consilience back to?

8. In what way does Wilson distinguish between evolutionary progress and consilience?

9. How would you describe John Locke's influence on Wilson's idea of consilience?

10. How does the modern theory of dreams explain something like the presence and significance of snakes in dreams, in Wilson's account?

(see the answer keys)

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