Primary Sources: Read each primary source carefully, break it down into parts to understand its meaning. Some of these quotes may appear on the first exam.
1) The entire fabric of human reason, which we employ in the investigation of nature, is badly put together and it is built up and like some magnificent structure without any foundation… [we must] try the whole thing anew, and commence a total reconstruction of the sciences.
2) I believe the intention of Holy Writ was to persuade men of the truths necessary for salvation such as neither science nor any other means could render credible, but only the voice of the Holy Spirit… Surely if the intention of the sacred scribes had been to teach the people astronomy, they would not have passed over the subject so completely.
3) At length, by using greater and daily diligence and investigation, making frequent inspection of many and various animals, and collating numerous observations, I thought that I had attained to the truth, that I should extricate myself and escape from this labyrinth, and that I had discovered what I so much desired, both the motion and the use of the heart and arteries. From that time I have not hesitated to expose my views upon these subjects, not only in private to my friends, but also in public, in my anatomical lectures, after the manner of the Academy of old. . .
4) [The holy scriptures] when treating common things (concerning which it is not their purpose to instruct humanity), speak with humans in the human manner, in order to be understood by them. They make use of what is generally acknowledged, in order to weave in other things more lofty and divine. No wonder, then, if scripture also speaks in accordance with human perception when the truth of things is at odds with the senses, whether or not humans are aware of this.
5) But I observed that, while I was thus resolved to feign that everything was false, I who thought must of necessity be somewhat; and remarking this truth—I think, therefore I am—was so firm and so assured that all the most extravagant suppositions of the sceptics were unable to shake it, I judged that I could unhesitatingly accept it as the first principle of the philosophy I was seeking. I could feign that there was no world, I could not feign that I did not exist. And I judged that I might take it as a general rule that the things which we conceive very clearly and very distinctly are all true, and that the only difficulty lies in the way of discerning which those things are that we conceive distinctly.
6) As far as the opinion of Copernicus is concerned, I really hold it to be certain, not only on account of the appearance of Venus, the sunspots, and the Medicean stars, but for other reasons, as well as for many more that I have found and that seem to me decisive.
7) Barbarians are no more a wonder to us, than we are to them; nor with any more reason, as every one would confess if after having traveled over those remote examples, men could settle themselves to reflect upon, and rightly to confer them with their own. Human reason is a tincture almost equally infused into all our opinions and manners, of what form soever they are; infinite in matter, infinite in diversity. . .The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom. . . whence it comes to pass, that whatever is off the hinges of custom, is believed to be also off the hinges of reason . . .
8) The Sun, then, being the origin of light and the source of motion, when God willed that at Joshua's command the whole system of the world should rest and remain in the same state for many hours, it sufficed to make the Sun stand still. When it stopped, all other revolutions ceased; the Earth, Moon and Sun remained in the same pattern as before, as did all the planets; nor in all that time did day decline towards night, for day was miraculously prolonged. And in this manner, by the stopping of the Sun, without in the least disturbing the other features or configurations of the stars, the day could be lengthened on Earth—and this agrees exactly with the literal sense of the sacred text.
9) The wisdom we have principally derived from the Greeks is but like the boyhood of knowledge, for it has the characteristic property of boys; it can talk, but it cannot generate… for it is fruitful of controversies, but barren of works.
10) It is not surprising that the particles of salt have a sharp and penetrating taste, which differs a great deal from that of fresh water: for because they cannot be bent by the fine material that surrounds them, they must always enter rigidly into the pores of the tongue, and thereby penetrate far enough into it to sting; whereas those which compose fresh water, because they are easily bent, merely flow over the surface of the tongue, and can hardly be tasted at all.
Match the correct primary source quotations above with the descriptions and writers below.
A) The excerpt calls for a completely new approach & method in figuring out nature, noting that the old approach is badly flawed. [Francis Bacon, New Organon (1620)]
B) The author is attempting to counter the skeptics by establishing at least one thing that is certain— doubting requires a doubter. [René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637)]
C) This author argues that when customs differ greatly from our own, that all humans have reasons for supporting and justifying their behaviors & beliefs. Our ideas and customs are reasonable to us, just as others are reasonable to them. [Michel de Montaigne, Of custom (1575)]
D) The excerpt says that knowledge needs to go beyond that of the Greeks. It implies that ancient Greek knowledge cannot generate useful, practical knowledge. [Francis Bacon, New Organon (1620)]
E) This argues that the sun’s rotation allows for a literal interpretation of the passage from the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. The sun stopped rotating on its axis, which the author speculates caused the entire system to stop. [Galileo Galilei, Letter to Grand Duchess Christina (1615)]
F) The author explains why sea salt tastes like it does by appealing to shapes of particles in terms of his version of the mechanical philosophy. [René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637)]
G) The excerpt affirms belief in the physical truth of heliocentrism based upon telescopic observations. [Galileo Galilei, letter to Giovanni Battista Baliani (12 March, 1614)]
H) The author explains what is called the accommodationist approach to interpreting certain biblical passages, which means that all of the bible should not be read literally. [Johannes Kepler, Astronomia nova (1609)]
I) The quote says that the bible is not about astronomy, but a book for teaching about salvation. Otherwise the authors of the bible would have included astronomy. [Galileo Galilei, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615), not published until 1636]
J) The excerpt emphasizes the difficulties of discovering the truth about the heart and arteries via observations and investigation. [William Harvey, De motu cordis (1628)]