1) The final exam will be based primarily on the material from the second half of the course, with the caveat that judgments about change over time will require a general sense of the material we covered in the first half of the term. Since we missed the lecture on medicine, I won't be asking specific questions about that material, though you might want to incorporate it into an essay question.
2) You are responsible for everything we've talked about in class. Read through your class notes and make sure you understand them! If I've ever taken the trouble to put something on the board, you can be sure you must need to know it! If I've given you a handout/ map/timeline/diagram etc. you need to know that material as well.
3) You are responsible for knowing a reasonable amount of detail about all of the primary sources (for example, Marsilio, Honorius, Stephen of Bourbon, Galileo, Francis Bacon, Newton, Voltaire). You should be familiar with the authors of those texts, the nature of the texts, and be able to use the material to discuss various themes related to class. (What is a "reasonable amount of detail"? You should be able to present Newton's thought and perspective in the Principia and Optics with the kind of understanding we derived in class through our paraphrases. Though I wouldn't expect you to be able to replicate Bacon's precise critique of Aristotle in the "Aphorisms", I would expect you to know the general fault Bacon found with Aristotle and how that fits into the larger discussion in the text.)
4) You are responsible for the secondary scholarship we've read. You should be familiar with Yates' thesis on hermeticism, for example (Renaissance Magus and the Rosicrucian precursor of the Baconian scientist sound familiar?), or Shapin's position on the scientific revolution and changing perceptions of nature and you should be prepared to engage with their theories and perspectives.
•Trace changing conceptions of nature over time (including distinctions between Aristotelian, neoplatonic, and mechanistic views of nature).
•Trace changes in cosmology over time, including God's place in the cosmos.
•Trace transformation of learned culture (including institutions) and how that affects what is studied and discussed, how things are studied and discussed, and what things are no longer studied or discussed.
•Distinguish between learned and popular religious/magical/scientific beliefs and practices and how (if) they change over time.
The structure will be very similar to the midterm, except that instead of one large essay question there will be a number of smaller, more focused essay questions.
I. There will be 8 identification questions (in two sections) worth 5 points each (40 points total). One of the two sections will ask you to identify individual personalities. You will have some choice here (four out of five in one section, and another four out of five in the other section).
II. There will be a matching section similar to the one on the midterm, worth 15 points total.
III. There will be several focused essay questions worth 45 points total.