Deck 14: A New World of Reason and Reform: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, 1600-1800

Question 1

The Scientific Revolution

A) Began in China and spread to Europe
B) Was based on Scholastic philosophy
C) Resulted in a major change in how people viewed the universe and the role of humans within it
D) Was hostile to the Enlightenment

Answer 1

Resulted in a major change in how people viewed the universe and the role of humans within it

Question 2

The traditional view of the universe

A) Was based on Greek science and philosophical thought
B) Was the result of the spread of ignorance stemming from the fall of the Roman Empire
C) Was the result of the spread of Chinese views of the universe in Europe
D) Was based on Persian science and philosophical thought

Answer 2

Was based on Greek science and philosophical thought

Question 3

The traditional view of the universe was undermined by

A) The Hermetic doctrine that all matter from plants to the sun contained the divine spirit
B) The upsetting of traditional understanding of geography by the process of exploration
C) The printing press which permitted more ideas to be published and to be spread more rapidly
D) All of these options are correct

Answer 3

All of these options are correct

Question 4

The religious attitude of most early scientists was

A) That they were investigating a universe created by God
B) A strong skepticism caused by their scientific observations
C) A revived paganism caused by their admiration for classical antiquity
D) A growing interest in oriental philosophy

Question 5

Nicolas Copernicus is best known

A) As the first scientist to reject the Hermetic tradition and neo-Platonic philosophy
B) As the first person to use a telescope to observe the universe
C) As the first modern thinker to posit that the earth revolved around the sun
D) As the first person to publish a detailed treatise on how gravity operates

Question 6

Copernicus's astronomical views

A) Were ignored by contemporaries
B) Were rejected by Tycho Brahe, the greatest observational astronomer of the sixteenth century
C) Were quickly adopted by the Protestant Reformation
D) None of these choices are correct

Question 7

Tycho Brahe

A) Was a French peasant who became a great astronomer
B) Did not accept the Copernican system and also rejected the Aristotelian belief that the heavens were composed of crystalline spheres
C) Was the first astronomer to use a telescope
D) Was influential in the court of the Russia

Question 8

Johannes Kepler

A) Showed that science and religion were incompatible
B) Rejected the Copernican hypothesis on astronomical grounds
C) Made important astronomical observations with a telescope
D) Offered the first real proof of the Copernican hypothesis by discovering three laws of planetary motion

Question 9

Galileo Galilei

A) Denounced Copernicus's astronomical ideas
B) Achieved so much fame in science that he was elected pope
C) Was the assistant to Copernicus
D) Was the first astronomer to view the heavens with a telescope

Question 10

Galileo's greatest contributions include

A) His development of physical laws that overturned Aristotle's physics
B) His support of neo-Platonic philosophy
C) His proof of the effects of gravity
D) None of these options are correct

Question 11

The scientist who discovered the law of universal attraction was

A) Paracelsus
B) Copernicus
C) Newton
D) Einstein

Question 12

Newton made many important scientific discoveries, the most important of which was

A) The circulation of the blood
B) The discovery of the satellites of Jupiter
C) The discovery of how gravitation holds the universe together
D) The invention of the microscope

Question 13

The work of Paracelsus, Vesalius, Harvey and Boyle demonstrated

A) That the physics of Newton was incomplete and needed correction
B) That by no means was the intellectual world of Europe ready to accept the Scientific Revolution
C) That science was progressing not only in physics and astronomy but also in medicine, anatomy and chemistry
D) That the religious world had fully accepted the new science

Question 14

The importance of Francis Bacon and René Descartes in the Scientific Revolution stems from

A) Their work with Robert Boyle on the foundations of modern chemistry
B) Their ideas on observation, experimentation and mathematics, which helped establish the methodology of science
C) Their astronomical observations, which confirmed Newton's work
D) Their outspoken protest against the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo

Question 15

"I think, therefore I am" was said by

A) Bacon
B) Galileo
C) Newton
D) Descartes

Question 16

Scientific ideas were spread

A) By private societies of scientists only
B) By royal and princely societies only
C) By a combination of private and royal societies
D) Without any attempt to organize scientific research and dissemination

Question 17

By the end of the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth Centuries,

A) New technology developed by scientists had transformed European ways of life
B) Science claimed precedence over religion in explaining the material world
C) Scientific progress virtually ended, not to be resumed until the middle of the nineteenth century
D) Science was reconciled with religion

Question 18

During the Enlightenment

A) There was considerably less interest in science than in the preceding century
B) Thinkers excluded women from all scientific and philosophical discussion
C) Writers consistently advocated violent revolution in the name of science
D) Science was popularized in numerous books written for general audiences

Question 19

Enlightenment thinkers admired the psychology of John Locke, who argued that

A) Humans were subconsciously influenced by the combined forces of the ego, superego and id
B) The human mind was blank at birth and thus schools and social institutions should mold the individual from childhood to adulthood
C) That the human mind was highly programmed from birth, virtually negating the idea of free will
D) That all humans were born with an innate moral sense and that it was unnecessary to teach morality

Question 20

The ideas of Pierre Bayle and David Hume demonstrated

A) That science and religion were clearly compatible
B) That the Enlightenment was moving in a skeptical direction, challenging scriptural authority and religious beliefs
C) That not all Enlightenment thinkers believed in religious toleration
D) That the best Enlightenment thinkers did not frequent the salons

Question 21

Which of the following was not characteristic of the Enlightenment?

A) A firm conviction that human reason should determine the understanding of the world and the rules of social life
B) That it had a great amount of influence on European and American elites
C) The popularization of science
D) That it was dominated by Italian and Spanish thinkers

Question 22

The travel writings of Montesquieu and Voltaire, together with history writing that emphasized the idea of progress, showed which aspect of the Enlightenment?

A) A broadening criticism of authority and tradition
B) The spread of Newtonian science
C) The adoption of John Locke's psychology of knowledge
D) All of these options are correct

Question 23

According to the text, the philosophes were best represented by

A) Voltaire
B) Paracelsus
C) Descartes
D) Franklin

Question 24

By publishing his Treatise on Tolerance, Voltaire showed an affinity with the ideas of

A) Paracelsus
B) Descartes
C) Bayle
D) Copernicus

Question 25

Which of the following is not an idea discussed by Voltaire in his writings?

A) The naiveté of people who believed that "this is the best of all possible worlds"
B) Complete social egalitarianism
C) Skepticism about religious doctrine
D) Upholding of religious toleration

Question 26

Which of the following is not true about the Encyclopedia?

A) Its editors were Voltaire and Emile du Châtalet
B) It places a great deal of emphasis on science
C) It survived a bout with government censorship
D) It included a large number of illustrations

Question 27

Thomas Paine's statement "I believe in one God...I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church..." is an example of Enlightenment

A) Atheism
B) Deism
C) Agnosticism
D) Nominalism

Question 28

Which of the following ideas is not found in John Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government?

A) Natural rights include life, liberty and property
B) The people have a right to overthrow a government that violates their natural rights
C) The powers of government are strictly limited
D) Monarchy is the only proper form of government

Question 29

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract is still controversial because

A) It denounced all religion, even deism, as superstition
B) Its concept of the general will can be used to support both participatory democracy and an authoritarian regime
C) It tried to justify abortion
D) It advocated strict separation of the sexes

Question 30

Which of the following thinkers is not properly connected to the book or idea that made him famous?

A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Spirit of the Laws
B) François Quesnay, Physiocracy and Laissez-Faire
C) Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
D) Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments

Question 31

Vindication of the Rights of Women was written by

A) Mary Astell
B) Emile du Châtelet
C) Mary Wollstonecraft
D) Christina of Sweden

Question 32

Which of the following is not true about women in the Enlightenment?

A) Emile du Châtelet was an important aide to Voltaire
B) Mary Astell and Mary Wollstonecraft both emphasized female education
C) Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the editors of the Encyclopedia all argued that women . should play an active political role
D) Julie de Lespinasse and Marie-Thérèse de Geoffrin held important gatherings for Enlightenment intellectuals

Question 33

Which statement sums up well the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment?

A) Led astray by Hermetic doctrine, the men of the Scientific Revolution produced a seriously inaccurate view of society that was publicized by the Enlightenment
B) All the original intellectual work was done during the Scientific Revolution; the ideas of the Enlightenment were merely derivative
C) By deliberately trying to undermine religious belief in the name of scientific progress, early scientists paved the way for Enlightenment religious toleration
D) By challenging the accepted scientific wisdom, the early scientists paved the way for broader Enlightenment critiques of religion, government and society

Question 34

The traditional view of the earth and the universe was based on the ideas of the Greek thinkers Aristotle and Ptolemy.

Question 35

Neoplatonism and Hermetic doctrine helped shape Copernicus' heliocentric views.

Question 36

Tycho Brahe was one of the earliest supporters of the Copernican system.

Question 37

Kepler demonstrated only two of the three basic laws of planetary motion.

Question 38

Galileo's Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World was condemned by the censors but approved by the church.

Question 39

Newton's universe was infinite and had no center.

Question 40

Paracelsus rejected Hermeticism and astrology.

Question 41

Robert Boyle believed that all matter was composed of indestructible atoms.

Question 42

Descartes proposed a dualistic philosophy of mind and matter.

Question 43

Princes and rulers in the seventeenth century paid no attention to the new scientific developments.

Question 44

The Enlightenment failed to translate the complex scientific ideas of Kepler, Galileo and Newton into language understandable by non-scientists.

Question 45

John Locke believed that the human mind at birth was filled with a large number of innate ideas.

Question 46

Pierre Bayle believed that all religious dogma that conflicted with natural human understanding had to be rejected.

Question 47

David Hume believed that neither our own existence nor the existence of God can be known for certain.

Question 48

The French philosophes wrote more plays, novels and history than formal philosophy.

Question 49

The Encyclopedia had no trouble with government censors.

Question 50

Montesquieu opposed the division of governmental powers into the triad of executive, legislative and judicial.

Question 51

Rousseau declared that in a state of nature, the lives of people were nasty, brutish and short.

Question 52

Rousseau's ideas have been used to support both participatory democracy and authoritarian political systems.

Question 53

The Physiocrats were French economic thinkers who believed that economic prosperity rested on greater governmental control over agriculture and manufacturing.

Question 54

In spite of their views on individualism and education, many Enlightenment writers and thinkers seemed to believe that women should stay at home.

Question 55

One of the most important contributions of women to the Enlightenment was to serve as hostesses for the salons.

Question 56

Two of the most important non-scientific philosophies that contributed to the rise of modern science were Neoplatonism and the ________.

Question 57

The first systematic treatise arguing for a heliocentric system was written by ________.

Question 58

The most important astronomer of the late sixteenth century, though not a believer in the Copernican system, was ________.

Question 59

________ discovered that the orbits of planets were ellipses, not circles.

Question 60

The first astronomer to view the heavens through a telescope was ________.

Question 61

Newton is most famous for his discovery of the law of universal attraction or ________.

Question 62

A Fleming living in Italy, ________ wrote the first comprehensive textbook on anatomy.

Question 63

Some of the foundations of modern chemistry were laid by the seventeenth century Irish scientist________.

Question 64

The French philosopher who wrote, "I think, therefore I am," was ________.

Question 65

Important royal societies and academies for the advancement of science were created in England and______.

Question 66

The English philosopher who argued that the mind was a blank slate at birth was ________.

Question 67

A French Protestant who argued in favor of religious toleration was ________.

Question 68

The Scottish philosopher who carried skeptical arguments further than Locke and Bayle was________.

Question 69

In a widely read book, Voltaire praised the religiously tolerant society of ________.

Question 70

The term ________ is used to describe French intellectuals of the 18th century.

Question 71

A multi-volume work that emphasized both scientific and Enlightenment ideas was the ________.

Question 72

________ best describes the religious beliefs of Thomas Paine.

Question 73

The most important concept developed in Rousseau's Social Contract was the ________.

Question 74

The economic doctrine known as ________ was developed by the Physiocrats.

Question 75

Why should so many problems have developed between science and religion when so many of the early scientists were quite orthodox in their religious beliefs?

Question 76

If, as the text states, common sense apparently supported the geocentric view, why should this belief have been challenged? List two important reasons.

Question 77

Discuss the major contributions made by Kepler and Galileo in proving the Copernican hypothesis.

Question 78

Discuss the ideas of Bacon and Descartes. They seem to be presenting two different approaches to knowledge. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Question 79

What were the most important contributions of Voltaire and Rousseau to the Enlightenment?

Question 80

Describe the Encyclopedia. Show its purpose, some of its contents and explain why it was so controversial.