205. The Scientific Revolution 
A. a) implied rapid changes involving large numbers of people 
B. b) did not involve more than a hundred human beings 
C. c) progressed steadily from one correct thought to another 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: B 
206. The Scientific Revolution 
A. a) reappropriated old knowledge and supported new discoveries 
B. b) established new social institutions to support scientific enterprise 
C. c) was supported by the Catholic Church 
D. d) both A and B 
Answer: D 
207. Geocentrism was 
A. a) advocated by Copernicus 
B. b) a theory of Ptolemy drawing on Aristotle 
C. c) rejected by the Church 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: B 
208. The pursuit of natural philosophy during the Scientific Revolution was 
A. a) largely an informal one 
B. b) quickly formalized in the universities 
C. c) rejected by the English monarchy 
D. d) embraced by the Church 
Answer: A 
209. Copernicus' theory is explained in his treatise entitled 
A. a) On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres 
B. b) On the Motion of Mars 
C. c) Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World 
D. d) none of the above 
Answer: A 
210. The mathematician, Galileo, 
A. a) popularized the Copernican system 
B. b) rejected the Copernican system 
C. c) defended the Church's view of the heavens 
D. d) both B and C 
Answer: A 
211. An epicycle is 
A. a) an original orbit 
B. b) a measurement of time 
C. c) on orbit upon an orbit 
D. d) the second section of an orbit 
Answer: C 
212. An advantage of the Copernican system was that it 
A. a) fit more easily into the established university curriculum 
B. b) explained planetary movement with more mathematical consistency and elegance 
C. c) fit closely with Aristotelian physics 
D. d) both B and C 
Answer: B 
213. Copernicus' new system 
A. a) accepted most parts of Ptolemaic theory 
B. b) predicted more accurately than Ptolemy the location of planets 
C. c) replaced Ptolemaic thought within five years 
D. d) employed new evidence for prediction of epicycles 
Answer: A 
214. Tycho Brahe 
A. a) opposed the Copernican theory 
B. b) publicized the Copernican theory 
C. c) compiled accurate tables of astronomical observation 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
215. Johannes Kepler 
A. a) opposed the Copernican theory 
B. b) suggested that the orbits of the planets were elliptical 
C. c) was a Neoplatonist who drew pro-Copernican conclusions from Brahe's observations 
D. d) both B and C 
Answer: D 
216. Galileo proved that 
A. a) the earth orbits the sun 
B. b) the Ptolemaic system was completely inadequate 
C. c) Brahe was correct in his ideas 
D. d) none of the above 
Answer: D 
217. The pro-Copernican findings of Galileo resulted in 
A. a) fame and popularity for Galileo 
B. b) Galileo's condemnation by the Roman Catholic Church 
C. c) the invention of the telescope 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: B 
218. Which thinker championed deductive reasoning as the way to comprehend the world? 
A. a) Descartes 
B. b) Bacon 
C. c) Galileo 
D. d) Newton 
Answer: A 
219. Descartes believed that 
A. a) human reason could comprehend the world 
B. b) God did not exist 
C. c) mathematical laws were flawed, only philosophical laws were valid 
D. d) both A and B 
Answer: A 
220. Why was the existence of God such an important deduction for Descartes? 
A. a) because proof of God necessarily proved the existence of all else 
B. b) because God was the guarantor of the correctness of clear and distinct ideas 
C. c) because the existence of God had not yet been proved satisfactorily 
D. d) because he could then prove his own existence 
Answer: B 
221. Francis Bacon 
A. a) has been regarded as the father of empiricism and of experimentation in science 
B. b) championed the desirability of innovation and change 
C. c) believed that human knowledge should produce useful results 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
222. For Bacon, the goal of science was 
A. a) self-knowledge 
B. b) the realization of absolute truths 
C. c) human improvement 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: C 
223. The major scientific question which Newton solved was 
A. a) how and why blood circulates 
B. b) how genes are transmitted 
C. c) how the planets moved in an orderly fashion 
D. d) why people died from particular diseases 
Answer: C 
224. Newton's great work was called 
A. a) Gravitas 
B. b) Gravity and Planetary Motion 
C. c) Principia Mathematica 
D. d) Physical Properties of the Universe 
Answer: C 
225. According to the theory of universal gravitation, 
A. a) every physical object in the universe moves through mutual attraction 
B. b) all heavenly bodies had to be enclosed in crystalline spheres in order to move 
C. c) everything that exists is in God and cannot be conceived apart from him 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: A 
226. Which best characterizes Newton's attitude toward religion? 
A. a) religion must be rejected because it enshrines error 
B. b) all worldly concerns must be denied in order to receive salvation 
C. c) science and religious faith are compatible and mutually supporting 
D. d) reason urges man to wager that God exists 
Answer: C 
227. Who among the following rejected the new science as threatening to traditional values? 
A. a) Hobbes and Locke 
B. b) Pascal and Bunyan 
C. c) Cervantes and Milton 
D. d) Montaigne and Rabelais 
Answer: B 
228. The Scientific Revolution 
A. a) rejected the tenets of Western Scholastic heritage 
B. b) promoted a mechanistic view of nature 
C. c) transformed physical nature from a symbolic to a practical realm 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
229. One of the most fundamental features of the expansion of science was the idea that 
A. a) most relevant knowledge had been discovered during the Middle Ages 
B. b) genuinely new knowledge about nature and humankind could be discovered 
C. c) new knowledge was finite and could not be continuously created 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: B 
230. Many advanced thinkers of the 17th century 
A. a) held prestigious chairs in universities 
B. b) were financially supported by monarchies 
C. c) criticized the universities 
D. d) rejected membership in scientific societies 
Answer: D 
231. Members of scientific societies 
A. a) worked exclusively in the realm of theory 
B. b) sought a practical application of their scientific ideas 
C. c) generally urged religious toleration 
D. d) both B and C 
Answer: D 
232. Women during the Scientific Revolution 
A. a) were generally excluded from most formal intellectual life in universities 
B. b) did not exercise much influence over natural philosophers at princely courts 
C. c) were admitted to scientific societies 
D. d) both A and B 
Answer: B 
233. Margaret Cavendish 
A. a) regularly attended meetings of the Royal Society of London 
B. b) brought Rene Descartes to the royal court of Sweden 
C. c) quarreled with the ideas of Hobbes and Descartes and published her own scientific works 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: A 
234. Maria Winkelmann 
A. a) discovered a comet 
B. b) published a book on astronomy 
C. c) was forced to abandon her astronomical inquiry by the Berlin Academy 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
235. In the 18th century, women were 
A. a) accepted in scientific societies 
B. b) still generally excluded from the formal intellectual life of Europe 
C. c) appointed to university positions 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: B 
236. Which of the following paintings by Dutch artist, Jan Vermeer, testify to the free flow of ideas in the Netherlands during the 17th century? 
A. a) The Sage 
B. b) The Geographer 
C. c) The Astronomers 
D. d) both B and C 
Answer: A 
237. Blaise Pascal aspired to write a work which 
A. a) rejected Jesuit dogmatism 
B. b) supported the ideas of Bacon with stricter evidence 
C. c) rejected the religious skeptics (atheists and deists) 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: D 
238. Blaise Pascal was convinced of 
A. a) the correctness of the Copernican theory 
B. b) humankind's utter corruption and the weakness of reason to resolve human problems 
C. c) the importance of the new science for the improvement of mankind 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: B 
239. Pascal was heavily influenced by the 
A. a) Huguenots 
B. b) Deists 
C. c) Jansenists 
D. d) Anabaptists 
Answer: C 
240. Which of the following was written by Galileo? 
A. a) Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems 
B. b) Principia Mathematica 
C. c) On Toleration 
D. d) Description of a New World 
Answer: A 
241. Why did the witch hunts end in the 17th century? 
A. a) the emergence of a more scientific worldview 
B. b) the Reformation put the Devil in a more manageable perspective 
C. c) philosophical literature suggested that human beings have a significant control over their own lives 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
242. Which of the following philosophers wrote Pensees?
 
A. a) Pascal 
B. b) Spinoza 
C. c) Hobbes 
D. d) Locke 
Answer: A 
243. How did the church clergy contribute to witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries? 
A. a) the practice of magic by the clergy 
B. b) the exorcism of demons by the clergy 
C. c) the transformation of the Holy Sacrament into the actual body of Christ 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: B 
244. Which best characterizes the state of nature according to Thomas Hobbes? 
A. a) a state of divine grace 
B. b) a state of perfect freedom and equality 
C. c) a state of rational and measured existence 
D. d) a state that was nasty, brutish and short 
Answer: D 
245. Hobbes advocated a commonwealth 
A. a) tightly ruled by law and order, by an absolute monarch 
B. b) liberally ruled by a Parliament which is responsive to the desires of the people 
C. c) ruled by a benevolent despot whose concern for the needs of his people was a determinant in their decision to retain him 
D. d) ruled by Puritans 
Answer: A 
246. The philosophy of John Locke gave inspiration to the 
A. a) Puritan republic 
B. b) monarchy of Charles II 
C. c) American and French revolutions 
D. d) monarchy of James II 
Answer: C 
247. John Locke believed that 
A. a) human knowledge was grounded in the experiences of the senses and in the reflection of the mind on those experiences 
B. b) there were no innate ideas 
C. c) rulers were absolute in their power 
D. d) both A and B 
Answer: D 
248. "Cunning folk" were 
A. a) people who helped others cope with adversity 
B. b) storytellers who maintained the historical life of the village 
C. c) actively persecuted by the church 
D. d) both A and B  
Answer: A 
249. Why were elderly women, spinsters or widows most often the object of witchcraft accusations? 
A. a) they were vulnerable in society 
B. b) they were victims of misogyny  
C. c) they sometimes laid claim to magical powers 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D