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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. When stating that "modern science differs from all previous traditions of knowledge in three major ways, Harari states one of the ways. He says that one quality of modern science is "its willingness to admit" (250) what?
(a) Mistakes.
(b) Agnosticism.
(c) Ignorance.
(d) Flaws.

2. Harari asserts that "an empire is defined solely by its" (190) what?
(a) Its form of government.
(b) Cultural diversity and flexible borders.
(c) Its territorial extent.
(d) The size of its population.

3. What term does Harari define as "a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order" (209)?
(a) Religion.
(b) Culture.
(c) Society.
(d) Cult.

4. Harari asserts that "Until the Scientific Revolution most human cultures did not believe in" (264) what?
(a) Reason.
(b) Religion.
(c) Progress.
(d) Logic.

5. What is hubris?
(a) An unreasonable and blasphemous show of confidence.
(b) Humor.
(c) Human ingenuity.
(d) A system of agricultural processes.

Short Answer Questions

1. When stating that "modern science differs from all previous traditions of knowledge in three major ways" (250), Harari states that one quality of modern science is its acquisition of what?

2. Since around what year have most humans lived in empires?

3. Part Three of Sapiens is entitled "The" what "of Humankind" (162)?

4. In what century did cannons emerge to become a decisive factor in battle?

5. At the time that Cortes invaded Mexico, what did its citizens call themselves?

Short Essay Questions

1. Analyze Harari's discussion of syncretism and its connection to both contradiction and success.

2. What distinction does Harari make between biological poverty and social poverty?

3. What is Harari's view of how the Cook expedition marked a turning point within European history?

4. What evidence does Harari provide for his assertion that "the practices of empire-builders were entangled with those of scientists"? (296)

5. What does Harari see as the significance of the First Millennium BC?

6. What does Harari say is the key to understanding a particular culture?

7. What evidence does Harari use to demonstrate the profound effect that empires and their belief systems have had on history, even among those cultures that consider themselves anti-imperialist?

8. What is the author's view of the existence of an authentic, pure, and untouched culture?

9. When Harari claims that "credit was not invented in modern Europe" (315), what does he say about its origin instead?

10. What flaw does Harari point out within the philosophies of Postmodernist thinkers?

(see the answer keys)

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