The Scientific Revolution

1. The Scientific Revolution

2. Start of the Scientific Revolution • Copernicus in 1543, same time as pre-modern religious wars are breaking out. • By 1687, the Enlightenment begins- a cultural movement that largely rejected religion. • People who are very advanced in one area of thought may be very archaic in other areas.

3. Before the Scientific Revolution • Medieval traditions, and seeds of what was to come. • Pre-modern ways of thought co-existed with what we call modern for long periods.

4. Scientific Thought • Science tries to explain the world without reference to gods. • Sees the world as an object, or series of objects, and tries to explain how they move and interact.   • Science separate from technology, ( way of manipulating the world)  • Scientific thinking was first extensively developed by the Ancient Greeks. • Ancient Greek thought dominated Europe until the Scientific revolution. • Greeks tried to explain how and why things moved. • They believed everything happened for a reason, and it had to be an explanation for any motion at all. • Overturning this idea that was Isaac Newton's greatest triumph.

5. The Impact of Aristotle • Aristotle (384-322 BCE) • Great thinker in ancient Greece, set ways of thinking for thousands of years. • Remained supreme in logic until the 19th century. • Rediscovered in Europe in 13th century and he greatly affected scientific thought. • Also influenced political science, literary criticism, biology, pure philosophy.

6. Aristotelian Theories +the Scientific Revolution • Motion • Rest is natural. • Motion only by continuous contact with mover. • Needed angels to explain motion of the heavenly bodies. • Heaven and Earth • The heavens are different stuff from Earth - light, airy and perfect. • Matter • Earth, Air, Fire, Water, The idea comes from from Empedocles (d.c. 433BC) • Aristotle and the Church • His ideas fitted in with some religious theories. • Due to great influence of Thomas Aquinas (1225-74)

7. The study of Aristotle. • Aristotle had an inquiring mind, and had looked at what we now call science. • William Ockham. • Ockham's Razor- an idea that cut away the surplus of much speculative thought • "Do not multiply entities more than necessary". • Make your explanations as simple as will fit the facts. • Influenced Copernicus' reasons for making the Sun the center of the Universe • The tendency in science always to look for the most simple explanation. • The University of Padua was to prove a particularly important center for modern thought. • It was under the control of Venice, a relatively free thinking city.

8. Ptolemaic System • Ptolemy, 90-168AD (Claudius Ptolemaeus) • Greek astronomer based in Alexandria, Egypt. • AstronomyPtolemy's Almagest was basis of pre-modern astronomy. • Based his system on Aristotle's theories. - Ptolemy was 400 years later • Aristotle needed the Earth to be center of Universe. • Ptolemy explains everything else by cycles and epicycles - 80 in all. The whole universe revolves around the Earth. • Heavenly Spheres -The idea of crystalline spheres was ancient (Anaximenes), but the idea of each planet and start being fixed on a crystal sphere grew more popular in the Middle Ages. • Planets.- In his system it was not quite clear what the planets and stars were. The system was quite small. • No idea that the Sun was star and the Earth a planet. • Perfection - Emphasis on perfection in both Aristotle and Ptolemy; the emphasis on the perfect sphere, and perfect motion in circles .

9. Magical Thought • Magical thought • World as filled and governed by spirits.  • Goal then is to control or influence the world through such spirits.  Science was not clearly separate from magic. • Renaissance - along with logic and the art of the past, the large amounts of magical and symbolic thought of the past was retrieved.

10. Examples of Magical Thought • Alchemy • Converting iron to gold or to find some elixir of life. • Based on Greek science. • Chemistry did not advance for a long time, possibly because of an obsession with alchemy, • Astrology • Events in the heavens effect events on Earth and was pre-Aristotelian • Aristotle's idea of contiguous motion gave a scientific rationale to it. • The idea of a Chain of Being is important here. • Fit into a Christian world view by saying that the stars affected the lower nature of people, while the higher parts still had free will. • Witchcraft • Witch craze in 16th and 17th century Europe. • Old women were killed in the hundreds, especially in Scotland. • People at the time really believed that these women had magic powers. • For many, demons were in the air all around them.

11. Origins of the Scientific Revolution • Scientific Revolution was the prelude to the wider movement we call the Enlightenment. • Why a "Revolution"? Completely altered old ways of thinking.

12. Causes of Scientific Revolution Trade and Expansion of Trade • Navigational problems of sea voyages generated scientific research. • Overseas specimens aroused peoples interest in different worlds. Medieval Universities • Not all stuffy and unadventurous. • Without the study of ancient texts it would have taken much longer to get off the ground. • Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy and later Democritus were essential. • Modern Science started from the breaking old models of the world.

13. The Renaissance • Brought a heightened interest in mathematics as part of influence of Plato. • The importance of the notion of Order goes back to the Iliad. • Idea of perfection in the heavens implies simplicity - an important notion in science. • The most mathematical sciences, astronomy and physics, that were most strongly effected by the Scientific revolution. Renaissance Humanism • Belief that there are no limits to human accomplishment (Pico de Mirandola). • Precursor of modern ways of thinking. Reformation • Reformation divided Europe. • Science could go on in other countries when Catholic Hierarchy opposed it.

14. Notes on Scientific Revolution Individuals • Hopefully you know your individual fairly well. • Use the notes that you take in the Sci-Philo Fair for this section. • If every person was covered you should have the following people: • Nicholas Copernicus • Tycho Brahe • Johannes Kepler • Galileo Galilei • Isaac Newton • Francis Bacon • Rene Decartes • Thomas Hobbes • John Locke • Margaret Cavendish • Use the text from 455-466 to enhance your notes, you can also use the following slides, from Copernicus to Locke to also add to them. You will be responsible for knowing ALL the major individuals in this chapter.

15. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) • Scientific Revolution starts with him. • Polish priest • Studied in Renaissance Italy at the University of Padua - Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine and Theology made up the curriculum. • De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium On the Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies 1543 • Idea of a heliocentric [sun-centered] universe was a breakthrough, • Did not explain motion that Aristotle's' view of the world did. This had been the reason Ptolemy rejected it.

16. Theory was based on very conservative mathematics and not on much observation. • Simpler to explain heavenly motion if the Sun was at the center- Copernicus offered it as a hypothesis. • Reduced the number of spheres from 80 to 34. • Still loyal to Ptolemy's system in many ways. • Copernicus was obsessed with perfect circular motion. (Platonic obsession with perfection) • Important was Copernicus' mental breakthrough. • He was wrong but was the stimulus for future scientists to come up with something better.

17. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) • Danish Royal Astrologer. • Set new standards in observation without a telescope. • Disbelieved Copernicus because his observations showed that planets did not move in perfect circles. • In 1572-73 a new star appeared (the Crab Nebula?) and in 1577 a new comet. • Ruined crystal spheres idea. Neither event worked with the idea of perfect unchangeable heavens • Junked the idea of perfect circular motion, and the idea of fixed spheres in the heavens.

18. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) • Student of mathematics and astronomy and a student of Brahe. • Put Brahe's observations into order. • Tested hypothesis after hypothesis until he came up with an answer that worked. Came up with the idea that planets move in ellipses. • His Three Laws of Planetary Motion corrected Copernicus • Started trend of scientists discovering laws. • Planets move in ellipses - of which Sun is one focus. • One law: An equal area of the plane is covered in equal time by planet revolving around the Sun. (or the period of revolution around the sun is proportional to distance from the Sun.) • Kepler had no explanation of why this was the case. In fact he was involved in number mysticism and explained it as part of the mystery of numbers.

19. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) • Italian. Studied at Padua, which was a hotbed of scientific discussion, on both the cause of motion and the scientific method. • Mathematician, and was also keen on Archimedes • Astronomy • He used a telescope for better observation c. 1609-Did not invent it • Confirmed the heliocentric system. • Found surprises, like seeing the Moon with scars on, seeing sun spots. This was in a supposedly perfect heaven. • Difference between Earth and the heavens was disappearing. • Tied in astronomy to motion on Earth, which had also been the great achievement of Aristotle's system. • Motion on Earth • Did experiments about motion on Earth. Argued on the basis of tying two objects together and asking if they would fall more quickly

20. 1638 - Discourse on Two New Sciences • At first passed Church Censors. • Imagined Motion without the constraints of the real world, a “though experiment” – radical method • Based theories on observation, but went beyond to the truth- recognized the constraints on simple observation. • Notion of inertia - a body continues to move unless it is stopped - vital. Not fully developed by Galileo. • Thought motion was naturally in a circular direction, rather than a straight line. • Still had the old medieval idea of impetus • Did not offer a convincing explanation of heavenly motion. • Attacked the whole Aristotelian system- saw the need for an entirely new view.

21. Conflict with the Church • In 1600, Giordano Bruno had been burnt for suggesting a plurality of worlds, and other heresies- • Increased fear about Copernicus' ideas just before Galileo became active. • Galileo argued for separation of theology and science on the grounds that God endowed us with reason. Opposition to Galileo • 1616 - hearings by Inquisition. • 1632 Dialogue on Two World Systems • 1633 - Galileo was banned by the Church and put under house arrest. Decree from Holy Office, which is not always infallible, says that it is heresy to believe the Sun is at the center of the Universe. Galileo recanted to save his neck. • Was Galileo Totally Right?  -Problems in his use of scriptures. This was especially true for Bellarmine. Galileo was persistent - he raised the ire of the curia. Some supported him, including Pope Urban VIII.

22. Opposition in Catholic Countries to Science? • Italy and Spain • There was more freedom in France (Gallicanism), England and Holland (value of divisions in Europe.) • The University of Padua was under Venice • Most anti-clerical state in Europe • Copernicus, Galileo,Vassalius and William Harvey studied there. • Protestants had been as hostile to Copernicus as Catholics, • Less state control in Protestant countries • Protestantism became more liberal than it was at first.

23. The Problem of Method in Science • With the growth of practical knowledge, there was consideration of scientific method. Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes were especially important..

24. Francis Bacon (1561-1625) • English Lord Chancellor. • Had an enthusiasm for the application of science; • Science = power - Promoted the modern idea of progress • 1620 Novum Organum (New Tools) • The Inductive Method; make a lot of observations and then generalize rules of nature. This leads to scientific observation as a method. • Problem with Induction- THERE IS NO LOGICAL REASON TO GO ARGUE FROM ANY AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE TO A GENERAL LAW.

25. Problem of Induction • Science is not logical, at least in its observational mode, but this does not mean it is false. • Bacon and Mathematics • Never understood the importance of mathematics, which is deductive since it proceeds from theorems to axioms without empirical observation. • Although experimentation became the standard of science, the breakthroughs in the Scientific revolution in astronomy and mechanics were mental

26. Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650) • Mathematician and philosopher • Showed any algebraic formula could be plotted on a graph- linked algebra, with Geometry, • Important in the future methods of science. • Stressed Mathematics was a general science, applicable to all other sciences which were concerned with order and measurement. • Advanced the notion of DEDUCTION to get some certain knowledge (such as that you know you yourself exist and work from there). System was GOOD • Stressed Mathematics in science, • BAD • Allowed little room for testing ideas in the real world. • Descartes was not totally against observation, but his emphasis was different from Bacon.

27. Isaac Newton (1642-1727) • Professor at Cambridge, • He was born the day Galileo died.

28. Principia Mathematica, 1687 (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) • Brought together Galileo's discoveries about motion on Earth, and Kepler's discoveries about motion in the heavens. • Combined the Baconian stress on generating laws by inductive arguing from experience and Descartes' stress on deducing new ideas from things known well- To do this he invented calculus. • Provided an explanation for heavenly motion that was tied to observed properties of motion on Earth. (Galileo + Kepler) • Generalized laws from these observations, but based laws based on mathematics. • Newton had read Descartes and in fact attacked him, but uses his mathematical approach.

29. A Better Synthesis than Aristotle • Accounted for motion throughout the Universe. • Had to attack Descartes view on a plenum of matter, with vortices moving the planets. • Explanation was based on idea of Inertial Movement and Gravity. - With inertia, you no longer had to explain motion, you only had to explain change. • All bodies moved as if every particle attracted every other particle with a force proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. • NEWTON'S GENIUS WAS TO IMAGINE MOTION OUTSIDE THE REAL WORLD OF IMPEDIMENTS TO MOTION, AND A WORLD OF VERY MANY PARTICLES, AND TO IMAGINE A UNIVERSE WITH ONLY TWO PARTICLES, BUT BASED THAT IMAGINATION ON OBSERVATION

30. 1672 Jean Picard, a Frenchman observed Mars from Paris and Cayenne, and worked out its altitude. Helped Newton in his calculations. • Newton could not explain why gravity existed. • Newton still had room for God; and he was very pious . • The Three Laws of Motion • 1. A body moves in a straight line unless impeded. (Inertia). • 2. Every action has equal and opposite reaction. • 3. Every body attracts every other body with a force proportional to the distance between. • Motion is normal, and does not need explaining. • Force can be conveyed without physical touching. (Theory still unclear) • Inertia drives out the angels and views the Universe a a large piece of clockwork.

31. Newton also worked on Optics - Opticks - 1704 • Newton was not, of course, "right". Einstein and Quantum Mechanics in the last century have shown that, but his model was better than anything done before.

32. Society- Natural Rights

33. Thomas Hobbes 1588-1662 • An Atheist - 2nd son of a vicar. • He was opposed to the English Revolution and had gone into exile in 1640. • Leviathan 1651, is his masterpiece. Based on the New Science and observation. • Thought his new subject of study was equal with the work of his friends Harvey and Galileo. • Concerned with the natural state of affairs. • His political science was based on reason - this was to be future of this science.

34. Hobbesian View of Men • "The life of man is nasty brutish and short". • Need for a state to control, although the aim is the welfare of all. • Absolute power for a leader is needed. • His theoretical basis was absolute materialism. Hobbes thought that matter was all that existed: men where just part of conflict in nature. • The whole Universe including politics is mechanical. = NATURAL LAW element. • Wanted a tightly ordered commonwealth, not a Tyranny, ruled by law and order. • Shows in detail what powers he thinks a state must have in order to do its job.

35. John Locke 1632-1704 • Two Treatises on Government 1690 • Written before the Glorious Revolution of 1688, but is often seen as justifying it. • Letter on Toleration 1689Locke is less original than Hobbes but more influential. • Opposed Hobbes • Influenced by Science, Newton, plus medieval ideas opposing absolute power and supporting Natural Law.

36. Philosophical Basis of Locke's Views Locke's view of man: • Man is rational, born equal (one of implications of a tabula rasa at birth). • Motivation of people is pleasure and avoidance of pain. • Government should try to mold behavior with pleasure and pain: it should manipulate the environment, and use education to make better people.

37. Locke- Theory of Government • Man's NATURAL state was of harmony with each other and equality. • Without a government there are "inconveniences": no law or judges. • People make a contract with government to protect their rights. • THIS WAS A RATIONAL NOT A THEOLOGICAL reason for government. • The people have a natural(= Divine) right to oppose governments that do not keep the contract

38. Locke- Natural Rights and Civil Rights • Man is born equal means he has rights: • Government exists to protect these rights. • All should be equal before the law. • Locke's theory was that there were NATURAL RIGHTS - to "life, liberty and property" • People SHOULD have these rights to be fully human. • Natural Law is deduced, there was no empirical basis for it. Locke has a rationalist not an empiricist approach to this aspect of his thought. Slavery • Did not oppose slavery. Connected to racism, - a slave is not fully able to realize his/her humanity, he may have thought that black slaves did not require it in the same way as bourgeois Englishmen.

39. Other Sciences than Physics and Astronomy • Other sciences were less on the cutting edge. • Less mathematical, but do exhibit a can-do attitude. • Chemistry did not show advances until a century later. • New Instrumentation did advance • Clocks • Galileo and Telescope • Leeuwenheok - microscope

40. Medicine • Little practical progress until late 1700s, • Steady development in knowledge that eventually overthrew the demonic view of illness. • The rational views of Greek medicine helped here • Influence of Galen (2nd Cent. AD). • Vesalius • doctor at Padua. • In 1543 he published a textbook on anatomy - 16th Century Anatomical Drawing • Surgeon in 1593 • William Harvey • studied at Padua. • 1628 - On the Movement of the Heart and the Blood • Explained notion of continual circulation of the blood. • Malpighi (Italian) • 1661 discovered Capillaries

41. Practical Effects of the Scientific Revolution • Few practical effects on technology. • The Industrial Revolution did not at first depend on this new scientific view of the world. • New mathematics and science did effect navigation, map making and artillery. • World Domination • Better ways of using weapons and better ways of knowing where they were. • Guns could be fire more accurately using Newton’s laws • Science has innumerable practical ramifications: new guns, bigger armies, more taxes, social discontent.

42. A New attitude to past was probably more important • With Newton modern civilization did something the ancients had not been able to do. It explained motion and the heavens. • Sense of skepticism about beliefs held on old authority. • The Powers of Reason • New confidence in the powers of reason, • A move away from faith, even if it was not rejected. • Natural Law • Seeing a NATURAL LAW at work in Universe was confirmed in the new Newtonian world view. • Can-do approach • The idea of progress had a part in the Industrial Revolution.

43. New Scientific Institutions • Universities tended to be very conservative in their teaching • Medical schools more modern • Innovations based in new groups of learning • 1657- Academy of Experiments in Florence • 1660- Royal Society of London • 1666- French Academy of Science • Groups tended to be a mix of social and occupational classes • Met to debate, share and discuss new ideas, separated natural philosophy from religion and politics • Applied their ideas in any field where possible

44. Women and Science • Women had been excluded from universities • Had some influence as royal patrons • Some women had some scientific influence • Noblewomen • Margaret Cavendish • Women married to Artisans • Maria Winkelmann - astronomy

45. Witchcraft • First major witch-hunt occurred in Switzerland in 1427 • Calvinist center- most radical of reformist areas • Thousands of people executed for witchcraft • First important book- the Malleus maleficarum (Hammer of Sorceresses), Germany 1486 • Persecution of witches reached its height between 1580 and 1660 • Most victims were women, usually widows, midwives, and herbalists

46. Baroque Art • See definition in Art Index • Became associated with the Catholic church • Used by the Absolute monarchs like Louis XIV to illustrate their power