• textbook --> 570 - 583.
• doc. reader --> pp. 31 - 34;  50 - 52.

1. Make a list of the major causes of the Scientific Revolution.
2. What was the old Ptolemaic conception of the universe?
3. What was the Copernican view of the universe?  How did it differ from Ptolemy's?  Why was it so controversial?
4. Identify the scientific theories of Brahe and Kepler.
5. How did Kepler's views challenge the theological assumptions of the Catholic Church?
6. With the use of a telescope constructed by himself from an earlier Dutch model, what did Galileo observe/discover in the heavens?
7. How did Galileo undermine Aristotle's ideas about motion?
8. Why was Galileo condemned by the Inquisition in 1633?  What was the outcome of this condemnation for Galileo?  for science in general?
9. How did Sir Isaac Newton build upon the work of his predecessors?
10. What do we mean by the Newtonian world-machine?  How did Newton arrive at this conception?
11. Why do you think that many historians of science consider Sir Isaac Newton's Law of Gravitation to be "the greatest achievement of the human mind"?
12. Evaluate the validity of the following statement:  The revolution accomplished from Copernicus to Newton was the great spiritual adjustment that modern civilization had to make.

                          ASSIGNMENT 2:

• textbook --> pp. 588 - 598.
• doc. reader --> pp. 42 - 44;  47 - 52.

1. What method of arriving at eternal truths did René Descartes take?  What assumptions did he make as he began his intellectual journey?
2. What dualism was inherent in Descartes' conception of reality?
3. [doc. on pg. 591 of your textbook]--> Compare Descartes' principles to Newton's rules of reasoning.  What are their limitations?
4. Why was Descartes considered the founder of "modern rationalism"?
5. What were Francis Bacon's views regarding the human pursuit of knowledge, the methods of science, and the purposes to which science should be applied?
6. How did his methodology differ from that of René Descartes?
7. Over which issues did science and religion clash during the First Scientific Revolution?
8. Briefly discuss the ideas expressed by Blaise Pascal and Benedict de Spinoza concerning the nature of God, the universe, and scientific methods.
9. How did governments begin to "tap science in the service of the state"?  Why did they do this in the 17c?
10. Why was it that most of the scientific thinkers came from Protestant countries?
11. What was the general spirit that was common to all of the personalities of the First Scientific Revolution?
12. List the long-term repercussions of the First Scientific Revolution for the West and for the rest of the world.

                         ASSIGNMENT 3:

• textbook --> pp. 584 - 586;  589.

1. Create a CHART that illustrates the medical theories of Galen, Paracelsus, Vesalius, and Harvey.
2. How did Harvey's ideas lay the groundwork for modern physiology?
3. What position did Mary Cavendish have in the world of the new science of the 17c?  Why was she typical of French and English women of the upper class at this time?
4. Why were 14% of all German astronomers women in the late 17c and early 18c?
5. What contributions were made to the world of science by Maria Sibylla Merian and Maria Winkelmann?
6. What were the primary arguments by men about a woman's role in science or in any profession during the Scientific Revolution?  Why was William Harvey typical of this male view?
7. What was Spinoza's argument for the "natural" inferiority of women to men [refer to the doc. on pg. 589 of your textbk.]?
8. How was male-dominated science asked to "prove" male social dominance over women?
9. How did male physicians eventually destroy the profession of female midwifery by the early 18c?  Why did they do this?