René Descartes' Rationalism: the immense human ability to exercise one's  reason - "Cogito ergo sum". The three types of ideas: innate, adventitious and facticious (of the imagination).  

The development of rationalism in Europe: Leibniz's optimistic world vision; Spinosa's mechanistic view of the universe.

John Locke's empiricism: the importance of sensory relationship in the act of knowledge. The denial of innate ideas and the notion of human intellect as a "tabula rasa" where data from experiences (contact with surrounding world) will be gradually recorded and only afterwards organised by reason in primary and secondary ideas. 

David Hume's and George Berkeley's contributions to empiricism.

The use of vernacular languages and plain style in scientific texts aiming at their wider dissemination and better clarification.

Th emergence of scientific societies all over Europe and their role on the advancement of scientific knowledge. Ex: Accademia dei Lincei; Royal Society of London, l' Académie des Sciences in France - their structure and goals.

The New Science: antecedents with Galileo's discoveries and methods. The contribution of Isaac Newton in the field of physics.

The importance of observation, experiment and mathematical calculus in the interpretation of Nature's phenomena.

Francis Bacon's contribution on the dissemination of the experimental method and the proposal of new university's curricula with a strong emphasis on the new sciences and their application. 

Reference to his essay New Learning and his utopia, New Atlantis. His optimistic views on the relationship between political power and scientific institutions.

The test will consist of two questions equally graded.

Students will be asked to explain and/or comment on the enunciation of said questions.