The word count includes footnotes but does not include bibliography. Please answer ONE of the following questions. Please note that to answer these questions you will need to read extensively around the topic in question. Take into account the scientific ideas, and do further research on the people involved, the objects they used, and the social/cultural contexts. 1. To what extent did ideas about nature become more or less anthropocentric between the 16th and 17th centuries? 2. Why were the ideas of ancient thinkers such as Aristotle and Epicurus important to natural philosophers of the 16th and 17th centuries? 3. To what extent did Copernican astronomy mark a departure from the astronomy taught and practised in medieval universities? 4. Was the conflict between Galileo and the Catholic church a conflict between science and religion? 5. To what extent did cabinets of curiosities and other collections lead to changes in the theory and/or practice of the sciences? 6. To what extent did the “mechanical” philosophers of the 17th century depart from ancient ideas about the workings of nature? 7. Was René Descartes an atheist? 8. Should we regard the forms of experimental science that emerged in England during the second half the 17th century as solutions to a political problem? Please DON’T use word spinners or rewriters since the last essay I was given I could tell used these tools and I would like it to be written from scratch please having consulted all the relevant primary and secondary sources. Thank you. If you have any questions about anything please feel free to ask. Use MHRA referencing style for the essay. Needs an introduction, main body, and a conclusion. Any specialist pieces of terminology that need to be clarified please feel free to do so (e.g. the term “atheist” in an early modern context doesn’t mean the exact same thing as what it means nowadays, etc.).
