Deck 6: The Scientific View of the World

Question 1

In the seventeenth century, science became modern, which meant all of the following except:

A) science became recognized as one of the principal enterprises of European society.
B) scientific methods of inquiry were defined.
C) scientific knowledge was increasingly applied to practical inventions.
D) scientific advances did not take place through the work of geniuses such as Galileo and Newton.

Answer 1

scientific advances did not take place through the work of geniuses such as Galileo and Newton.

Question 2

The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century had repercussions far beyond the realm of pure science as:

A) it changed European ideas about religion, God, nature, and the human experience.
B) it demonstrated that the physical universe may lack order and harmony.
C) it laid a foundation for belief in absolutist institutions.
D) it reduced man to an insignificant role in the universe.

Answer 2

it changed European ideas about religion, God, nature, and the human experience.

Question 3

The great Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci was also a great scientific thinker, yet his work had no influence on the course of later scientific thought because:

A) he devoted himself almost exclusively to theory and never experimented.
B) the Roman Catholic Inquisition suppressed his findings.
C) his flashes of genius and insight were mixed with fantasy and unscientific theorizing.
D) he did not publish his scientific ideas.

Answer 3

he did not publish his scientific ideas.

Question 4

Witches were blamed for:

A) natural disasters.
B) deaths of children.
C) bad harvests.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 5

Influential writers Francis Bacon and René Descartes, both prophets of the new science, did all of the following except:

A) brand virtually all beliefs of preceding generations (outside religion) as worthless.
B) ridicule the tendency to put faith in ancient books on questions having to do with the workings of nature.
C) attack the earlier methods of seeking knowledge.
D) hold that the medieval (or Aristotelian) methods approached truth from the right direction.

Question 6

In the inductive method of inquiry, we proceed from the:

A) particular to the general.
B) abstract to the concrete.
C) theoretical to the empirical.
D) observable to the experiential.

Question 7

The key to understanding Francis Bacon's thoughts is his claims that:

A) one should use deductive thinking to prove metaphysical theories.
B) one should use inductive thinking to acquire knowledge and that knowledge should be useful.
C) to acquire real knowledge, one must start with certain definitions, and true knowledge must be carefully separated from useful knowledge.
D) mathematical knowledge, built upon both inductive and deductive reasoning, was essential to understand nature.

Question 8

Bacon's work provided the basis for the modern idea of progress because:

A) he was such a successful inventor.
B) he claimed that true knowledge was useful, thus bringing together knowledge and power.
C) he showed that, economically and politically, Europe had been advancing for the past 200 years.
D) he showed that scientifically, Europe had been advancing for the past 200 years.

Question 9

The greatest weakness in Bacon's thinking was his failure:

A) to understand the value of applied science.
B) to appreciate the scientific ideas of the scholastics.
C) to understand the role of mathematics.
D) to clarify his difficult and abstruse language and thought.

Question 10

One effect of Descartes' general philosophy was to create belief in a vast world of nature that could be reduced to:

A) an unpredictable but ultimately benevolent universe.
B) a useful set of empirical laws.
C) a set of observations.
D) a mathematical form.

Question 11

Cartesian dualism held that there were two fundamental realities, _____.

A) God and man
B) thinking substance and extended substance
C) animal and human
D) the earth and the rest of the universe

Question 12

The most influential scientific revolution of the seventeenth century took place in:

A) anatomy and physiology.
B) physics and astronomy.
C) botany.
D) bacteriology.

Question 13

The Ptolemaic view of the universe, accepted by most Europeans prior to the seventeenth century, was premised upon all of the following beliefs except that:

A) the earth was flat.
B) the stars and planets were not far from the earth.
C) the stars and planets were made of pure light or a bright, ethereal substance.
D) a series of crystalline, transparent spheres encompassed the earth.

Question 14

Which of the following statements is true of the Copernican theory of the universe?

A) It holds the sun to be the center of the solar system and of the whole universe.
B) It holds that the cosmos is made up of a series of balls within balls, each having the same center.
C) It holds that the spheres encompassing the earth in series of closer or more distant geometric circles are all transparent.
D) It holds that the celestial bodies are of different material and quality from the earth.

Question 15

Which of the following is a discovery made by Johannes Kepler?

A) Moving bodies move uniformly in a straight line unless deflected by a definite force.
B) Jupiter has satellites, moons moving around it like the moon around the earth.
C) The orbits of the planets are ellipses.
D) The orbits of the planets about the sun are perfect circles.

Question 16

Which of the following helped Sir Isaac Newton bring his calculations related to the law of universal gravitation to fruition?

A) Experiments with circular motion made by the Dutch Huyghens on the pendulum
B) The new measurement of the size of the universe made by a Frenchman
C) The invention of the microscope
D) Experiments that showed that planets had circular orbits

Question 17

Newton's law of universal gravitation relied upon his invention of:

A) algebra.
B) coordinate geometry.
C) calculus.
D) ballistics.

Question 18

The founding of the Royal Society of London and the Academy of Sciences in France in the 1660s:

A) took place at the initiative of the great universities such as Oxford and the Sorbonne.
B) showed the increasing specialization of scientific knowledge.
C) helped institutionalize the pursuit of natural knowledge.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 19

Which of the following events took place during Sir Isaac Newton's time when the pursuit of natural knowledge became institutionalized?

A) Most scientists began to apply their scientific ideas to religion and society.
B) The old philosophy of natural law was weakened by the scientific discoveries at the time.
C) Scientific societies held meetings and published articles on radiology.
D) Scientific periodicals began to be published.

Question 20

In the context of the Scientific Revolution, which of the following led to the greatest spiritual readjustment that human beings were required to make?

A) The new astronomy and physics
B) The thought that humans were the center of creation
C) The discovery that the cosmos was ranked in an ascending order of purity
D) The shift away from the philosophy of natural law

Question 21

Which of the following is a true statement about the Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

A) They were the first people to know the whole globe.
B) They were the first people to encourage old cultures beyond the oceans.
C) They were the first people to assimilate the cultures of indigenous societies of Africa.
D) They were the first people to engage in peaceful trading around most of the world.

Question 22

A strong current of skepticism developed in late seventeenth-century Europe, whose adherents asserted that:

A) one should believe in nothing.
B) all beliefs are relative, varying in time, place, and culture.
C) the only certain knowledge was to be found in science.
D) only a pessimistic outlook was realistic.

Question 23

In his Historical and Critical Dictionary, Pierre Bayle, one of the greatest spokesmen for skepticism, came to all of the following conclusions except:

A) what is called truth is often mere opinion.
B) most people are amazingly gullible.
C) many things firmly believed in are actually ridiculous.
D) it is essential to hold firmly to one's own views.

Question 24

In the context of the late seventeenth century, probably the main force in putting an end to the delusionary charges of witchcraft was _____.

A) the growing disregard of people toward witchcraft
B) the growing influence of Protestantism
C) the new emphasis on empirical evidence
D) the new focus on anecdotal evidence

Question 25

There was much skepticism about history in the seventeenth century. All of the following added to that skepticism except:

A) it was not a form of true knowledge because it was not mathematical.
B) it was useless knowledge because Adam, the perfect man, neither had nor needed history.
C) it was based on too many facts rather than on broad and useful generalizations.
D) it lacked proof, and, in many cases, what passed for history was a mass of fables.

Question 26

Biblical criticism, as pioneered in 1678 by a French priest, did all of the following except:

A) cast doubt on the occurrence of miracles.
B) conclude that the text of the Old Testament rested on medieval manuscripts full of errors and corruptions.
C) assert that Moses could not possibly have written the books attributed to him.
D) show the literal truth of all statements in the Bible.

Question 27

The most profoundly disturbing of all thinkers in the seventeenth century was Baruch Spinoza, who did all of the following except:

A) reject the humanistic thought of his day.
B) reject all revelation and reveal religion.
C) hold that few if any governments were just.
D) hold that God had no existence apart from the world.

Question 28

In his Letter on Toleration, famous English thinker John Locke advocated an established church and toleration of:

A) Jews.
B) Roman Catholics.
C) atheists.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 29

The philosophy of natural law contends that:

A) there exists a universal law that distinguishes right from wrong.
B) right is universal and natural.
C) right exists outside and above all people.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 30

According to seventeenth-century thinkers, the discovery of a valid natural law came:

A) through careful observation of the common customs of all nations.
B) through the study of international law.
C) through the use of one's reasoning power.
D) through the observation of nature.

Question 31

Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf, founders of the field of international law, argued that sovereign states were:

A) bound by positive law.
B) bound by custom and the Ten Commandments.
C) subordinate to natural reason and justice.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 32

In domestic affairs, the philosophy of natural law was used to justify:

A) both constitutional and absolutist governments.
B) government as an end in itself.
C) only constitutional governments.
D) only absolutist governments.

Question 33

Thomas Hobbes, the leading secular exponent of absolutism, argued that absolutism:

A) originated in a free and rational agreement between the monarchy and the people.
B) was necessary to produce civil peace and the rule of law.
C) was necessary to prevent chaos and anarchy.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 34

In the context of philosophy, which of the following is true of the similarities between the ideas of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes of good government?

A) They both shared the idea that good government should be provided by divine Providence.
B) They both shared the idea that good government is an expedient of human purpose.
C) They both shared the idea that good government should be inherited by a national tradition.
D) They both shared the idea that good government should be favorable to an absolute power.

Question 35

Explain and contrast the method of deductive reasoning widely practiced in the Middle Ages with the inductive approach to the study of knowledge championed by Bacon and others.

Question 36

Discuss the contributions of Bacon and Descartes to modern thought. Did their thinking contain any important weaknesses or gaps?

Question 37

Describe the traditional view of the cosmos based on the thinking of Aristotle and Ptolemy. How did the seventeenth-century scientific revolution change the traditional view?

Question 38

Describe the evolution of astronomical thought from Copernicus to Newton. What was Newton's great achievement of synthesis?

Question 39

What influence did the new interest in science and evidence have on the study of history? What new branches of historical investigation were created or perfected in the seventeenth century?

Question 40

Discuss the major features of John Locke's scientific and political thought. How did his scientific notions influence his political conceptions?

Question 41

Discuss the implications of the seventeenth-century scientific revolution for European society. Why did it help form the basis for the concepts of progress and optimism?

Question 42

In what ways did the new methodologies of observation and experimentation expand knowledge of the human body?

Question 43

What were some practical applications of the new scientific knowledge that contributed to European ascendancy, both militarily and economically?

Question 44

What was the Newtonian system?

Question 45

What was the importance of the English law of evidence?

Question 46

Why was the establishment of a common system of dating a significant development in the seventeenth century?

Question 47

What were the main assumptions of natural law philosophy?