Chapter 14: Quiz A – Flashcards

A period of time during the sixteenth and seventeenth-century when many thinkers rejected doctrines of the past dealing with the natural world in favor of new scientific ideas.

(1473-1543) He was a Polish priest and astronomer who had a high reputation but unoriginal and orthodox ideas. He published "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" on the year of his death. He defied church teachings of the location of the Earth to help the papacy reform the calender and correctly calculate the date for Easter. He adopted many elements of the Ptolemaic model, but transferred them to a heliocentric model. His version of the universe retained epicycles and was no more accurate than Ptolemy's, but the epicycles in his model were smaller. The retrograde motion of the planets were explained as an optical illusion, as seen from Earth, which was moving itself. He believed the farther the planets were from the Sun, the longer it took to revolve around it.

An ancient Greek astronomer, living in Egypt, who proposed a way of calculating the movements of the planets on the assumption that they, along with the sun and the stars, were embedded in clear spheres that revolved around the Earth. His beliefs prevailed for nearly fifteen hundred years, until the modern model of the solar system, with the sun at the center, was developed from the ideas of Copernicus.

The earth was the center of the universe because of its heaviness. Above the earth lay a series of concentric spheres, probably fluid in character, one of which contained the moon, another the sun, and still others the planets and the stars. Outer regions of these spheres contained God and the angels. The stars and other heavenly bodies had to be enclosed in the spheres so they could move. The state of rest was presumed to be natural.

Greek philosopher and teacher of Alexander the Great from most of the 4th century BC. Disagreed with Plato's theory, promoted a moderate democracy, order, and acceptance of roles. Also, taught geocentrism (earth is center of universe) and defined the four elements

The sun was the center of the universe, and the model adopted many elements of the Ptolemaic model. The epicycles were smaller, and the retrograde motion of the planets was a result of an optical illusion that arose because people were observing them from earth, which was itself moving. The farther planets were from the sun, the longer they took to revolve around it.

(1546-1601) A Danish astronomer who spent most of his life advocating an earth-centered system. He suggested that Mercury and Venus revolved around the sun, but the moon, the sun, and other planets revolved around the earth. He made more extensive naked-eye observations of the planets than anyone else had ever done.

(1571-1630) A German astronomer who assisted Brahe and took possession of his data after his death. He believed in the heliocentric model like Copernicus. He was influenced by Renaissance Neoplatonism, which held the sun in special honor. He discovered that in order to keep the sun at the center of things, he must abandon the epicycles. He created the first astronomical model that portrayed motion with orbits that were elliptical, not circular. He published his findings in "The New Astronomy" in 1609. He used Copernicus's sun-centered universe and Brahe's empirical data to solve the problem of planetary motion. He defined a new problem: no theory available could explain why the orbits were elliptical or why planetary motion was orbital at all.

The discovery by Johannes Kepler that planetary motion or orbits were elliptical, not circular.

(1564-1642) An Italian mathematician and natural philosopher who first turned a telescope on the heavens. He saw stars where none had been known to exist, mountains on the moon, spots moving across the sun, and moons orbiting Jupiter. He left the University of Padua for Florence, where he became the philosopher and mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was a Medici, and a high-profile advocate of Copernicanism. He argued that nature displayed mathematical regularity. His telescopes proved the sun is the center of the solar system and that the planets/moon move. He was persecuted for supporting Copernicus's ideas.

(1642-1727) An Englishman who discovered the laws of gravitation, and publishes them in the "Principia Mathematica." He reasoned that the planets and all other physical objects in the universe moved through mutual attraction, better known as gravity. He explained why the planets moved in an orderly, rather than chaotic, manner. He demonstrated his findings mathematically and did not try to explain the nature of gravity itself. He was a strong believer in empiricism. His discoveries included differential calculus, theory of universal gravitation, calculation of earth's density, and colors are composed of a mixture of primary colors.

A book written by Sir Isaac Newton in 1687. It was filled with contributions to many areas of science, and included the three well-known laws of motion.

The new philosophy arising from the proponents of the new science. Nature is conceived as machinery, and it removes much of the mystery of the world and the previous assumption of the presence of divine purpose in nature. God is a divine mechanic who had arranged the world as a machine that would thereafter function automatically.

(1561-1626) An Englishman who was a lawyer, a high royal official, and the author of histories, moral essays, and philosophical discourses. He was regarded as the father of empiricism and of experimentation in science. He attacked the Scholastic belief that most truth had already been discovered, as well as the need for authority in intellectual life. He was one of the first major European writers to champion innovation and change.

The view that knowledge comes from experience via the senses, and science flourishes through observation and experiment.

(1596-1650) A gifted mathematician who invented analytic geometry. His most important contribution was to develop a scientific method that relied more on deduction than empirical observation and induction. He published Discourse on Method in 1637 in which he said he would doubt everything except those propositions about which he could have clear and distinct ideas. He also rejected scholastic philosophy and education and advocated thought founded on a mathematical model. God guaranteed the correctness of clear and distinct ideas.He is associated with the quote "I think, therefore I am." His method of questioning was built upon a strict, orderly logical reasoning.

Reasoning from general principle to arrive at specific facts

Rene Descartes

Whereby scientists draw generalizations derived from and test hypotheses against empirical observations.

Truth thought of as already discovered, and only required explanation. It reveres authority in intellectual life.

(1588-1679) He was the most original political philosopher who supported the new scientific movement. He published Leviathan in 1651 influenced by the English Civil War, aiming to provide rigorous philosophical justification for a strong political authority. He portrayed human beings and society in a thoroughly materialistic and mechanical way. Their motivations are egoistical, intended to increase pleasure and minimize pain. Humans exist only to meet the needs of common life, not for high spiritual ends or a larger moral purpose. Only a contract between ruler and the ruled could enable human beings to meet those needs by limiting the free exercise of self-interest. Human beings want power in their natural state, and aren't naturally sociable. Because words are insufficient to guarantee this agreement, force must be used. Rulers should be absolute and unlimited in their power. However, monarchs disagreed about his willingness to assign sovereign authority; republicans would not accept monarchy; and christian writers criticized his refusal to acknowledge god and church as the ultimate power.

Hobbes's written works of political philosophy before the English Civil War in which he published in 1651 due to the turmoil of that struggle. It maintained that sovereignty is ultimately derived from the people, who transfer it to the monarchy by implicit contract.

(1632-1704) He wrote Two Treatises on Government as justification of Glorious Revolution and end of absolutism in England. He differed with Hobbes in that he regarded humans beings as creatures of reason and basic goodwill in their natural state rather than full of uncontrolled passion and selfishness. He believed that every man has rights to life, liberty, and property. To protect these rights, people enter social contract to create government with limited powers. If a government did not protect these rights or exceeded its authority, he believed the people have the right to revolt. His "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" stated that a person's mind at birth is like a blank tablet whose content would be determined by sense experience. He rejected original sin.

He rejected arguments for absolute government that based political authority on the patriarchal model of fathers ruling over a family. After the publication of this treatise, no major political philosopher again appealed to the patriarchal model.

Locke presents an extended argument for government that must be both responsible for and responsive to the concerns of government. Natural human state is portrayed as one of perfect freedom and equality in which all enjoyed the rights of life, liberty and property.

Which of the following does NOT characterize the nature of the Scientific Revolution? a. It occurred several places in Europe at the same time. b. It was not revolutionary in the normal sense of the word. c. It was a complex movement involving many persons. d. Its proponents were hostile to established Christianity e. Its proponents believed that the study of nature would shed light on the nature of the divine.

Which of the following figures played a key role in the popularization of the Copernican system? a. Newton b. Bacon c. Locke d. Kepler e. Galileo

In Thomas Hobbes's view, man was a. a person neither good nor evil b. a self-centered beast c. essentially God-fearing d. perfect at birth, but devolved over time e. not the creator of human society

Most proponents of the new science sought to explain the natural world through a. the lens of Christian revelation b. mechanical metaphors c. metaphysical concepts d. religious analogies e. Aristotelian logic

Galileo believed that all aspects of nature could be described in terms of: a. virtues and vices. b. divine harmonies. c. celestial ratios. d. logical hierarchies. e. mathematical relationships.

Francis Bacon believed that: a. the study of nature began with the articulation of general principles. b. knowledge of nature should be used to improve the human condition. c. knowledge of nature was primarily useful for what it told us about the divine. d. the best era of human history lay in antiquity e. humans could learn very little from sense information

John Locke was a defender of: a. equal rights for woman b. absolute monarchy c. religious toleration d. the idea that governments were based on the model of fathers ruling families e. the universality of Catholicism

In the fifteenth century, the standard explanation of the arrangement of the heavens combined the work of Ptolemy and: a. Plato b. Aristotle c. Gregory the Great d. Roger Bacon e. Plutarch

Tycho Brahe's major contribution to science was his: a. discovery of the planet Mercury b. proof of the Copernican system c. compilation of a large amount of astronomical data d. discovery of the moons of Jupiter e. support of Galileo

Bacon, Descartes, and Newton all sought to explain the universe in ________ terms.

Descartes divide existing things into two categories, mind and: a. body b. God c. metaphor d. modality e. mindlessness

Newton was a great opponent of: a. Galileo's mathematical bias b. Baconism empiricism c. Galileo's ideas about inertia d. the rationalism of Descartes e. organized religion

The accomplishments that most captured the public imagination during the Scientific Revolution occurred in the area of: a. chemistry b. astronomy c. biology d. medicine e. natural history

Empiricism is the belief that: a. experience, especially of the senses, is the best source of knowledge b. all truth exists in the mind c. truth, as such, does not exist d. rational reflection on idealized forms is the best source of knowledge e. reason can reveal all natural truths

Supporters of rational deduction believe that when studying nature, one should: a. rely only on sense information. b. ignore all sense information c. reason from the specific to the general d. embrace all accepted truths e. reason from the general to the specific

In Hobbes's view, obedience to the sovereign was: a. conditional b. conditional if the sovereign was a legislature c. absolute d. absolute, but only if the sovereign was a monarch e. absolute, but only if the sovereign was a legislature