Announcements -> Some sample questions asked on previous finals
  1. Explain why Galen's procedure was an early manifestation of the scientific method?

  2. If someone was in the market place in the Greek city state screaming that the earth was moving, what arguments could you make to counter that notion?

  3. Why does the Greek notion of Air, Earth, Fire and Water constitute a "new" way of understanding the world/universe

  4. Explain how the role of geometry might have influenced Aristotle's crystalline sphere Universe and how such a Universe was consistent with the cultural values of the time

  5. Two Greek philosophers, Democritus and Epicurus postulated a much different view of the Universe than that of Plato/Aristotle. What was the basic idea suggested by these philosophers?

  6. Explain why the observed retrograde motion of Mars is a problem in the Aristotelian cosmology and what did Ptolemy construct to resolve this problem.

  7. Who was Bruno and what did he write about in such a way that eventually caused him to be burned at the stake?

  8. How does Descarte's mechanical philosophy fit in with the notion of the Clockwork Universe?

  9. We have argued that science succeeds in an atmosphere of public discussion. What kinds of evidence indicate that in the 17th century the level of popular knowledge about science was relatively high?

  10. What was Tycho's experiment to prove that the Earth orbited the Sun. Why was he unable to prove this assertion from his data?

  11. What facets of our modern day cosmological model were first described and documented by Nicholas of Cusa?

  12. Provide a possible explanation for why Galileo was unable to discover Kepler's laws from his observations of the orbital motion of the moons around Jupiter.

  13. What observations did Galileo perform that helped him adopt the Copernicun Model for the Solar System?

  14. What is the essential difference between rationalism and empiricism as a means of acquiring knowledge

  15. Explain why Newton would not be surprised that space was later discovered to be curved by mass.

  16. What were the major contributions to the science of astronomy that were made by William Herschel?

  17. How did Lyell's idea of gradualism influence the thinking of Charles Darwin?

  18. Darwin and Lemarck account for the formation and evolution of species in different ways. Explain the difference between these two viewpoints and how each of these two theories have been used to defend a political order

  19. Explain how the role of asteroid impacts on the evolution of biological systems on the Earth essentially shows that Darwinian evolution doesn't work on long time scales.

  20. What evidence is there for "universality" in physics and what are some relevant observations that were done to establish it?

  21. Suggest a reason why the Ptolemaic model of the Solar System was apparently accepted, without question, for 1500 years

  22. Compare and contrast what Aristotle and Galileo thought the cause of motion was for falling bodies.

  23. Explain how social darwinism arose as a means of mapping scientific fact onto cultural behavior.