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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Agassiz wrote a letter to ________ stating that he had not found any real evidence of the Ice Age in South America.

2. _________ was able to integrate polygenism into the South by linking it to Christianity.

3. _________ founded the Metaphysical Club in 1872 in Cambridge.

4. Wright believed that ___________ is the difference between facts and values.

5. ____________ began with a drunken man hallucinating in a tavern. This religion later became affiliated with Mesmerism.

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did many people fear the idea of mathematical laws, such as the Law of Errors?

2. What were the two occupations between which William James kept having troubles making up his mind?

3. What was Webster's argument in terms of the legal battle between the two Darmouths which arose?

4. What happened with the job that Wright had with the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac?

5. What business did the Civil War destroy, though it did not interfere with the textile industry in New England?

6. What did James think about the relationship between science and society?

7. What happened during the Battle of the Wilderness, according to historical records?

8. Why did many of the Civil War soldiers felt their friends and family were dying during the war?

9. What did Agassiz want to prove about the fish that James caught while traveling in Brazil?

10. What did Quetlet use the method of least squares for when he was doing his own research?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In some cases of these great thinkers of the book, the relationship between the father and son influenced the discoveries and the ideas.

Part 1: Why do you think the father figure has so much influence over the son?

Part 2: Why do you think these great thinkers were at odds with their fathers in many cases?

Part 3: What might have happened had the fathers and sons gotten along better? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Pragmatism states that people are agents of their own destinies and was against systems but not individualistic.

Part 1: Do you believe that people are agents of their own destinies? Why or why not?

Part 2: Do you consider yourself a pragmatist? Why or why not?

Part 3: How does the study of pragmatism get God back into the human equation? Or doesn't it?

Essay Topic 3

Education is a strong character in this manuscript as well, helping to bring together the members of the Metaphysical Club.

Part 1: Why do you think education was so important to society during those times?

Part 2: Do you think education is more or less important today? Why?

Part 3: Why do you think so many great thinkers ended up at Harvard?

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