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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Ariadne's Thread.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Wilson's account, why did the French Revolution fail?
(a) Because of the excesses of tyrants and terrorists.
(b) Because of the intellectual opposition to the tyranny of the revolution.
(c) Because the efficiency of the military in the Reign of Terror allowed Napoleon's rise.
(d) Because of international fear of the spread of revolution.

2. What is consilience?
(a) An agreed approach to different subjects.
(b) A proposal for reorganizing departments of knowledge.
(c) A historical basis for unifying fields of study.
(d) An underlying pattern that tends toward unification.

3. What might be a consequence of the unification of knowledge, in Wilson's account?
(a) A better understanding of ourselves.
(b) A new sense of what divides mankind against itself.
(c) Streamlined education.
(d) New fields of exploration.

4. After considering all the different contexts for ants' communication, how does Wilson describe their form of communication?
(a) As socially conditioned.
(b) As instinctive teamwork.
(c) As released pheromones.
(d) As electrochemical resonance.

5. What did Enlightenment thinkers tried to link, in Wilson's account?
(a) Reason and religion.
(b) Man and animal.
(c) Humanity and philosophy.
(d) Science and humanities.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Wilson call the discrete pieces of evidence?

3. What did Laplace pioneer?

4. What accomplishment does Wilson say Einstein strove for in his work?

5. How can science help us, in Wilson's account?

(see the answer key)

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