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The Scientific Revolution And The Enlightenment

The Scientific Revolution And The Enlightenment. Mr. Giesler Global Studies. New Ideas About The Universe. The Universe of  Aristotle and Ptolemy Throughout the Middle Ages, European scholars believed that the Earth was the center of the universe.

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The Scientific Revolution And The Enlightenment

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  1. The Scientific Revolution And The Enlightenment Mr. Giesler Global Studies

  2. New Ideas About The Universe • The Universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy • Throughout the Middle Ages, European scholars believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. • 1500s, European scientists began to challenge this thinking • Scientist began to question the old ideas of the world.

  3. TTYN: Identify as many ‘old’ ideas which scientists began to question • Scientific Revolution: A New Way of Thinking! • Copernicus challenges Aristotle and Ptolemy (leave off the ‘p’) • Using math, suggested the universe was heliocentric, or sun-centered

  4. Galileo Has Copernicus’s Back "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science."  • Early 1600s, Italian astronomer • Caused an uproar within the Church • On Trial; threatened with death • Forced to rescind …. not empirically proven

  5. Gravity • English scholar, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-17272) • Used mathematics to prove the existence of a force that kept planets in their orbit around the sun…the same force that made objects fall towards Earth • Theorized that nature follows uniform laws

  6. New Ways Of Thinking • New Approach to Investigation • Perform experiments to test hypothesis • Scientific Method • Identify problem • Form hypothesis • Record results • Analyze results, form conclusion • Scientific Method Scholars • Francis Bacon, experimentation to gain scientific knowledge • Rene Descartes, reason key • Believed everything should be doubted until proved by reason • Relied on math, logic • Ideas of both continue to influence modern scientific methods Observation Experimentation

  7. Human Reasoning "I think, therefore I am"  • Rene Descartes • “Father of Modern Philosophy”  • His fundamental break with Scholastic philosophy was twofold. • First, thought that the Scholastics’ method was prone to doubt given their reliance on sensation as the source for all knowledge. • Second, he wanted to replace their final causal model of scientific explanation with the more modern, mechanistic model. • Reason over Tradition • Descartes method required: • Accepting as "truth" only clear, distinct ideas that could not be doubted • Breaking a problem down into parts • Deducing one conclusion from another, and • Conducting a systematic synthesis of all things. Descartes based his entire philosophical approach to science on this deductive method of reasoning. 

  8. The Impact of Bacon and Descartes • Each of these pioneers advocated the complete overthrow of all the methods and most of the results of the authorities that came before them. • They each demanded a new standard of precision, since there were so many examples of sloppy reasoning and observation that littered the path of the science of the past. • A commitment to doubt in general and a concern about the "deceptions of the senses“. • Believed in the reduction of problems to their smallest constituent parts as a general principle. • Their ideas and the ideas of other thinkers during the Scientific Revolution paved the way for other changes that would occur in Europe in the 1700s If a man shall begin in certainties, he shall end in doubts;but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.“ – Francis Bacon

  9. The School of Athens, 1511 Raphael

  10. 1: Zeno of Citium 2: Epicurus 3: unknown 4: Boethius or Anaximander or Empedocles? 5: Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades orAlexander the Great? 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon? 9: unknown  or the Fornarina as a personification of Love  or (Francesco Maria della Rovere?) 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? 11: Parmenides? 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato (Leonardo da Vinci) 15: Aristotle 16: Diogenes 17: Plotinus (Donatello?) 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante?) 19: Zoroaster 20: Ptolemy? R: Apelles (Raphael) 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino, or Timoteo Viti)

  11. Now The Why? • Causes of the Scientific Revolution • Medieval Intellectual Life and Medieval Universities • The Italian Renaissance • Renewed emphasis on mathematics • Renaissance system of patronage • Navigational problems of long sea voyages • Better scientific instruments

  12. Consequences of the Scientific Revolution • Rise of the “Scientific Community” • Royal Society of London (1662) • Academy of Royal Sciences (1666) • Scholars could engage in discourse about theories and ideas, this expanding knowledge • The modern scientific method • A universe ordered according to natural laws • The GREATEST impact was on how people thought and believed • TTYN: Answer the following questions in short-answer format • What are the causes and consequences of the Scientific Revolution • Who is impacted by the Scientific Revolution? How are people/groups impacted?

  13. Natural Laws TTYN: Can you describe what natural laws are? Laws that govern human beings • Scholars thought they could solve the problems of society • By way of the Scientific Revolution, this new way of thinking lead to the Enlightenment • TTYN: What does it mean to be an enlightened thinker? • The Age of Enlightenment • 1700s, the period in which people rejected traditional ideas and supported a belief in human reason • Logical thought can lead to truth is called Rationalism • New ways of viewing authority

  14. So, What Was It? • Progressive, Rationalistic, Humanistic worldview • Emerged out of the Scientific Revolution and culminated in the French Revolution • Spokesmen = Rising Middle Class • Paris = Center of Enlightenment • Optimism about mankind’s abilities • Distrust of Tradition and Revealed Religion • Scientific method could be applied to society as well • Society can get better as risks are taken • Man is naturally good • Good life is on earth

  15. The Old Regime TTYN: Describe the ‘Old’ Regime? Who were they? What was the problem? • Built on tradition • World of hierarchy, privilege and inequality • Allied with the Church • Challenged by the reform impulse of supporters of the Enlightenment

  16. The Big Four TTYN:Can you identify these guys? Locke de Montesquieu Rousseau Voltaire

  17. What Were The Enlighten Thinkers Up To • The Idea of Progress • The anti-religious implications of the Enlightenment • The relativity of truth and morality • John Locke’s New Psychology • Essay Concerning Human • Understanding (1690) • -- “Tabula Rasa” The human mind at birth is a complete, but receptive, blank slate (scraped tablet or tabula rasa ) upon which experience imprints knowledge. “Tabula Rasa” - Concerns itself with determining the limits of human understanding in respect to God, the self, natural kinds and artifacts, as well as a variety of different kinds of ideas. It thus tells us in some detail what one can legitimately claim to know and what one cannot. 

  18. The Philosophes • France – The host of most (not all) of the Enlightened Thinkers. • TTYN:Why France? • 18th century French intellectuals • Interest in addressing a broad audience • Committed to reform • Celebrated the scientific revolution • The “Mystique of Newton” • Science applied to society • All the same, the concepts of religious freedom for all, equality before the law and the supremacy of human reason were proclaimed loudly and clearly by the heroes of the movement. In France they were called the philosophes.

  19. The Philosophes • Embraced scientific progress and geographical discoveries, and were dismayed at the corruption, superstition, hypocrisy and injustice condoned if not fostered, by the church and the state. • Believed that ignorance was evil and they blamed this evil on the religious and political leaders, leaders who claimed to be the special agents of God's revelation in order keep the common people shackled in ignorance.  • Divine Right • Philosophes believed that human progress would only come through intellectual and spiritual enlightenment—not blind obedience to authority. • Enlightened humanity could bring an end to poverty, injustice, racism, and all the other ills of society.

  20. The Philosophes TTYN: You’re a peasant or farmer in France during the early 18th century and while sipping your coffee coolatta at the local Starbucks and you listen on conversation between two philosophes – what is likely going through your mind and what might be your initial impulse? Authority Reacts • The Problem of Censorship • The attempt of the Old Regime to control new thinking • Publishers and writers hounded by censors • Over 1000 booksellers and authors imprisoned in the Bastille in the early 1700’s • Battling censorship

  21. Diderot’s Encyclopedia TTYN: Before there was the internet, where would you go for information on a particular subject? • Ultimate strength of the philosophes lay in their numbers, dedication and organization • Written between 1751-1772 • Attempted to illustrate all human knowledge • Emphasis on practical science • The encyclopedia was not just a massive compilation of what was known at the time about all things scientific and philosophical. It was also an expression of the radical and controversial ideas espoused by the philosophes. • Many of its articles reflected the impious attitudes of its contributors like Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau, for example. As such it served as a manifesto for a new way of looking at the world.

  22. Back to The Big Four • Locke's Political Philosophy , which he expounds on in his Two Treatises of Government  focuses on five central topics • The state of nature • Natural law • Property • Consent and toleration goes into these topics in more depth than is possible in a general account and provides much useful information on the debates about them. • Much of Locke's work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism.

  23. Back to The Big Four • Much of Locke's work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. • This opposition is both on the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. • For the individual, Locke wants each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition.  • Locke’s ultimate goal was aimed at refuting the patriarchal version of the Divine Right of Kings doctrine…that people are not naturally free and all legitimate gov’t is absolute!

  24. Voltaire • Role of the Church - The Roman Catholic Church which in France had become the only official state-sanctioned religion • Voltaire argued that people should be permitted to worship as they pleased or not at all. • Jean CalasCase • Hated hated the Catholic Church • Believed that God had created everything but then let it evolve on its own • A Treatise on Tolerance that focused entirely on the Jean Calas case • Small Group Activity • Refer to Notes Packet • A Treatise on Tolerance

  25. Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Rousseau in favor of direct democracy….totally against a monarchy (in any fashion) • TTYN: Describe both a monarchy and direct democracy • Believed that under any other type of gov’t, people are forced to give up liberty • The Social Contract - "All men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains.“ • Had an impact on the French Revolution, it also had a profound influence on the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1776 by the new United States of America. • A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts - argues that the progression of the sciences and arts has caused the corruption of virtue and morality. • The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality citizens making policy and law decisions in person, without going through representatives and legislatures A monarchy is a form of government in which total sovereignty is invested in one person

  26. Baron de Montesquieu • Interested in Politics not so much science • Spirit of the Laws. • Inspired by the British political system • Advocated a separation of powers amongst the various branches of government. • The English constitution had divided state powers into three independent branches of government: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. • Believed this would create a system of Checks and Balances. • TTYN: How does Montesquieu’s political philosophy relate to your life? Checks and Balances. Separation of Powers

  27. Quotable Quotes “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” -Voltaire All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.Voltaire “All mankind…being all equal and independent no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty” - Locke “Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.” -Montesquieu "All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason." - Immanuel Kant “Curiosity is the lust of the mind.” Hobbs

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