Toward a New Worldview

1. Toward a New Worldview 1540-1715 Chapter 18

2. Chapter Overview • Scientist and Intellectual transform people’s understanding of their universe and their place in it. • They ask questions & create methods for answering • Scientific revolution • Replaced medieval reliance on authorities • Experimentation • Observation • Mathematical analysis • Enlightenment • Light of reason to society • Social science • Economics • Psychology • Political science • Characteristics • Reason & rationalism • Belief in human progress – materially & intellectually • Profound secularism • Deep commitment to limited gov & human liberty

3. Key Concepts • Scientific Revolution 1540 • Overturned Aristotelian physics & Ptolemaic • Copernicus advocated the heliocentric theory of the solar system- proved by Galileo & Kepler • Governments estab science societies • Newton discovered the universal law of gravitation • Enlightenment Philosophies • Centered in France • Fostered by conversations held at salons – well-to-do women • Used reason to examine their own societies • Discovered the scientific laws of human life • Opposed censorship, religious/political persecution & autocratic gov • individual rights & intellectual freedom were crucial for advancement • Reforms • Banning of torture • Reduction in the number of capital crimes • Religious toleration • Reduction of mercantilist restrictions • Burdens of serfdom

4. Scientific Thought - 1500 • Scientific thought in the early 1500s was based on ancient and medieval ideas. • European notions about the universe were based on Aristotelian principles. • A chief feature of this view was the belief in a motionless, static earth at the center of the universe. • Ten crystal spheres moved around the earth.

5. The Scientific Revolution16th century • Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) • heliocentric view (refutes the Medieval geocentric view): earth revolves around the sun • By the early 16th century, the Catholic Church viewed Copernicus‘ theory as heretical • Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) – Built best observatory in Europe and compiled a mass of scientific data from observations of the heavens • Data used later by Kepler, Galileo and others • Johann Kepler (1571-1630) – 3 laws of planetary motion: orbits are elliptical

6. Copernican System This illustration of the Copernican System from the published text of Copernicus's treatise On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543) shows the earth and the planets revolving around the sun. Copernicus challenged traditional astronomy and its earth-centered universe. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

7. The Copernican Hypothesis • Copernicus overturned the medieval view of the universe. • He proposed that the earth revolved around the sun and that the sun was the center of the universe. • This heliocentric view was a departure from the medieval view endorsed by both Catholic and Protestant churchmen.

8. Medicine: • Scientists began challenging Greco-Roman medical authority (esp. Galen-2nd c. AD) • Andreas Vesalius (1514-64) • The Structure of the Human Body (1543): renewed and modernized study of anatomy • William Harvey (1578-1657): • On the Movement of the Heart and Blood (1628)-- blood circulation • Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723): • developed powerful microscopes • First to see and write about bacteria, yeast plants, living organisms in a drop of water and the circulation of blood corpuscles in capillaries.

9. Scientific Revolution17th century • Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) – used the telescope to prove Copernicus‘s heliocentric theory • Forced by the Roman Inquisition to retract his support of the Copernican theory • Also developed laws of motion • Scientific Method • Bacon‘s inductive method, coupled with Descartes deductive reason formed the backbone of the modern scientific method. • Francis Bacon (1561-1626) • • empiricism: first-hand study of scientific subjects • • inductive method: scientific conclusion is reached after much observation

10. Galileo This 1624 engraved portrait by Ottavio Mario Leoni (1578-1630) of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) shows the Italian scientist in full vigor at age 60, before he was hounded by the Roman Inquisition. (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)

11. Galileo's moon paintings When Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) published the results of his telescopic observations of the moon, he added these paintings to illustrate the marvels he'd seen. (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence/Art Resource, NY)

12. Scientific Method • Bacon‘s inductive method, coupled with Descartes deductive reason formed the backbone of the modern scientific method. • Francis Bacon (1561-1626) • empiricism: first-hand study of scientific subjects • inductive method: scientific conclusion is reached after much observation

13. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) • deductive method: conclusion is reached by logic • v ―I think, therefore I am‖ (cognito ergo sum) • Believed science must: • start with clear and incontrovertible facts • subdivide each problem into as many parts as necessary, using a step-by-step logical sequence • Cartesian dualism: divided all existence into the spiritual and the material • The spiritual can only be examined through deductive reasoning (logic) • The material is subject to the experimental method • Developed analytical geometry • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1747): Principia – law of universal gravitation • Incorporated the astronomy of Copernicus and Kepler with the physics of Galileo into an overarching theory explaining order and design to the universe. • This view came to be the foundation of the Enlightenment view of God: deism

14. Newton’s Synthesis • Newton synthesized the integral parts into a whole. • Newton integrated the astronomy of Copernicus and Kepler with the physics of Galileo. • He formulated a set of mathematical principles to explain motion. • At the core of Newton’s theory was the universal law of gravitation.

15. Madame du Chatelet Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet (1706-1749) was an intellectually gifted women from the high aristocracy with a passion for science. She was fascinated by the new world system of Isaac Newton. She helped to spread Newton's ideas in France by translating his Principia and by influencing Voltaire, her companion for fifteen years until her death. (Giraudon/Art Resource, NY)

16. Causes of the Scientific Revolution • Medieval universities had provided the framework for the new view. • The Renaissance stimulated science by rediscovering ancient mathematics. • Better ways of obtaining knowledge about the world, including improved tools such as telescopes and sextants, improved the scientific method. • Bacon advocated empirical, experimental research. • Descartes emphasized deductive reasoning and was the first to graph equations.

17. Some Consequences of the Scientific Revolution • The Scientific Revolution helped create the international scientific community. • It resulted in the development of the scientific method. • The Scientific Revolution had few economic and social consequences for the masses until the eighteenth century. • leads to • Enlightenment • Clash with religion • Agricultural Revolution • Improvement in exploration • Decline in witch hunts

18. Memory Device for Scientific Revolution: • C ops Copernicus • B ring Brahe • K ids Kepler • G reat Galileo • B ig Bacon • D onuts Descartes • N ow Newton