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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 are epigenetic rules?
(a) The process of selecting which genes are most desirable in an environment.
(b) The language in which culture expresses itself.
(c) Influences that affect the expression of genes.
(d) The cultural effect on genetic expression.

2. What do cultures use from the mind, in Wilson's account?
(a) Science.
(b) Humanities.
(c) Myths.
(d) Narratives.

3. What problem does Wilson attribute to failures in the social sciences?
(a) Failure to react to environmental disasters.
(b) Failure to remedy the inequality between the classes.
(c) Failure to regulate industry.
(d) Failure to foresee the collapse of the welfare state.

4. Where does Edmund Wilson say consilience is beneficial?
(a) In history and technology.
(b) In all areas of learning.
(c) In biology and ethics.
(d) In humanities and natural sciences.

5. How does Wilson describe the difference between gifted and less-gifted artists' brains?
(a) Less-gifted artists have smaller capacity for empathy.
(b) Gifted artists have a larger language center.
(c) Gifted artists use a larger are of their brains.
(d) Gifted artists have more connections between brain areas.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the problem with anthropology, in Edmund Wilson's estimation?

2. What does Edmund Wilson credit human nature with altering?

3. What did economists do during the Marginalist Era in economics?

4. What is the problem with sociology, in Edmund Wilson's estimation?

5. How much will sea levels theoretically rise if the ice caps melt?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does postmodern art resist consilience, in E.O. Wilson's account?

2. What ethical perspective does Wilson call the Transcendental view?

3. How do social factors influence genetic distribution?

4. How does Wilson describe the universality of art?

5. How do the senses function as epi-genetic rules?

6. What threats to contemporary culture does Wilson describe, and how is consilience useful in answering them?

7. What social problems does Wilson say are caused by failures in social sciences?

8. What role does the incest taboo have in genetic and cultural development?

9. What does Wilson say the liberal arts should address?

10. How do patterns in mental development connect genes to culture?

(see the answer keys)

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