Describe the Ptolemaic model of the universe. What conditions facilitated the challenges made to this model in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

What were the most important implications of Galileo's work? Why did the Catholic Church feel threatened by his activities?

According to Francis Bacon, what precepts should scholars follow in their investigations of nature? What did he believe could be gained by the study of the natural world?

According to Descartes, what was the relationship between mind and body, between thought and matter? For Descartes, what were the implications of this relationship?

What role did social and political institutions play in the growth of the new science? What did rulers hope to gain from their patronage of scientific activity?

Compare and contrast the ideas of Locke and Hobbes. What assumptions did each make about the basic characteristics of human nature?