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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. Wilson says that biological classification is based on the "Origin of Species" and what?
(a) Military organization.
(b) Systematics.
(c) Dianetics.
(d) Systems theory.

2. What does Wilson say matters in science?
(a) Publications.
(b) Hypothesis.
(c) Final results.
(d) Paradigm shifts.

3. Who proposed the idea of unity of species that follow a few simple laws?
(a) Socrates.
(b) Plato.
(c) Solon.
(d) Thales of Miletus.

4. What would need to be true before we could establish the goals and progress of evolutionary processes, in Wilson's account?
(a) The human race would have to have been obliterated like the dinosaurs.
(b) We would need to know that evolution tended toward increase complexity.
(c) We would have to have tools that would let us predict how random acts would play out.
(d) We would have to know the future of our race.

5. What does Wilson distinguish between?
(a) Science and ethics.
(b) Science and pseudo-science.
(c) Science and religion.
(d) Religion and myth.

Short Answer Questions

1. Wilson says that passion and emotion are both linked to what?

2. How does Wilson characterize the relationship between consilience and the material world?

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

4. What subject would Wilson like to see more of in undergraduate education?

5. What kind of progress does Wilson see in the history of life on earth?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the relationship between chaos theory and consilience?

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

3. Why does Wilson cite Einstein as an example of someone who practiced consilience?

4. What consequence does Wilson hope consilience can have on public policy?

5. What is the modern understanding of dreams?

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

7. How would you describe Rene Descartes' influence on Wilson's idea of consilience?

8. What justification does Wilson provide for integrating philosophy with biology, social science and the humanities?

9. What is reductionism, and what makes it useful for science?

10. What does Wilson offer as an alternative to scientific knowledge and consilience?

(see the answer keys)

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