Assignment

Select one of the prompts below and write your initial response to it. Your response needs to be at least 2 solid paragraphs and offer detail and analysis.

1. The progress of logic and knowledge of the physical world during the Scientific Revolution was constantly at odds with the oppositional force of religion and mysticism. How were average Europeans, and the scientists themselves, affected by the dilemma created by these forces?

2. What were the conditions necessary to advance astronomical knowledge from Copernicus to Kepler to Newton? How did they develop during the seventeenth century?

3. One of our themes this semester is that before several transformations, people looked to the past in order to make sense of their universe; people lived in a world with little change; people were not particularly optimistic. All of this changed, however, over the course of several centuries. In the readings so far this semester, where do you see people beginning to look to other sources than an authority from the past; beginning to experience and expect more and more change in their lives; and beginning to expect the future to be better than the present? This question will appear again in Week 8.

4. Drawing on the readings, describe a day in the life of one of the following 16th-19th century people. You may use your historical imagination to prepare your post, but make sure you use the readings to provide evidence for the details you include in your account. You may cite from credible outside sources in addition to the required readings.

o Ruler

o Church Authority - Protestant or Catholic - This can include a monk or nun, for anyone in the Church was seen as an authority by many in society.

o Intellectual - Scientist, Philosopher, Scholar, Writer, Musician, etc.

o Merchant

o Peasant / Farmer (The transition occurs in this period for most.).