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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 decision was effectively made in human evolution as the brain found its present size?
(a) Intelligence over strength.
(b) Excess over efficiency.
(c) Curiosity over security.
(d) Dreams over experiences.

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

3. What has research on the mind had to focus on?
(a) Behavior.
(b) The soul.
(c) The working brain.
(d) The spirit.

4. What did Descartes argue for, in Wilson's account?
(a) Universal peace.
(b) The unification knowledge.
(c) The separation of mind and matter.
(d) The integration of historical will and individual will.

5. Why does Wilson say that the concept of evolutionary progress is not easily defined?
(a) Because it is impossible to predict what conditions will be, and how they will require adaptation.
(b) Because evolution does not have a goal.
(c) Because the goal of evolution is clear to individuals but not to the race as a whole.
(d) Because the historical record is unclear, and because the present moment is still chaotic.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do the images of snakes in dreams likely come from, in Wilson's account?

2. What did Enlightenment thinkers tried to link, in Wilson's account?

3. What does Wilson use the discussion of the unity of species to prepare for?

4. After considering all the different contexts for ants' communication, how does Wilson describe their form of communication?

5. What is the relationship between politicians and intellectuals, in Wilson's account?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has postmodernism affected Wilson's consilience?

2. How does Wilson describe the mindset necessary to be a scientist?

3. How does Wilson use evolution as a parallel for consilience?

4. How is Wilson's theory a consequence of evolutionary theory?

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

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

7. How does Wilson offer the physical sciences as a metaphor for consilience?

8. How does science impact the arts, in E.O. Wilson's account?

9. What is the modern understanding of dreams?

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

(see the answer keys)

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