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Class 19: Church and Science

Class 19: Church and Science. Ann T. Orlando 13 March 2006. Introduction. History Review Scientific Revolution and early Enlightenment Real question: how do we ‘know’ and what is relation to belief in God In my opinion, Enlightenment answer is one of either presumption or despair

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Class 19: Church and Science

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  1. Class 19: Church and Science Ann T. Orlando 13 March 2006

  2. Introduction • History Review • Scientific Revolution and early Enlightenment • Real question: how do we ‘know’ and what is relation to belief in God • In my opinion, • Enlightenment answer is one of either presumption or despair • We still living in the Age of the Enlightenment

  3. Political Developments in Europe 17th C • Spain: World Power in 16th C; decline in 17th C • England: Tudors, Puritan Revolution, Restoration with broader democracy • France: Strong Kings • Germany: Separate Duchies, HRE • Italy: Separate states • Impact of Reformation • Different models of Church in Politics • Thirty Year’s War; intellectual disillusionment with religion

  4. Development of a new secular philosophy: Enlightenment • Science (as we now define it) is the (only) basis for knowledge; • Human reason based on observation and reasoning by induction can figure it (anything, everything) out; • Always making progress • Devalue history, tradition • Toleration as the basis for political-religious relationship; • Separation of Church and State • Individual rights, not duty, as basis for political systems and society; • Social contract not natural law as basis of legal system • Offers an alternative to established religions as a basis for society

  5. The Revival of Hellenistic Philosophy • Humanist legacy from Renaissance • New philosophical and political theories ‘reached back’ to the ‘golden era’ of Rome and Hellenistic philosophy: Stoicism, Epicureanism • Scientific theories developed around both cause and effect, as well as atomic motion

  6. Summary of Stoicism • God controlled every aspect of life • There was no free will, only Divine Providence • There was life of soul after death, with rewards and punishments • Law was the most important human endeavor • Divine cause (eternal reason, Logos) and effect ruled the universe; there is a chain of cause and effects at work • We know through participation in Logos • Participation in civic life and duty to position in life was most important • Natural law is very important • Family duties more important than friendship • Virtue, not pleasure, is basis for ethics

  7. Summary of Epicureanism • That the gods were irrelevant to human life; they lived in a state of happy tranquility • In the complete free will of the individual • That there was only annihilation after death • That science and technology were the most important human endeavors • We know only through our senses • World was made of randomly moving atoms • That participation in the civic life was not important • There was no such thing as a natural law • That women could be members of an Epicurean school • Friendship was more important than family • That the attainment of stable pleasures by the individual was the basis of ethics

  8. 17th C Philosophy: Empiricists • Empiricists: Knowledge is from senses • Francis Bacon (1561-1626) • The modern idea of technological “progress” (in the sense of a steady, cumulative, historical advance in applied scientific knowledge) began with Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning • Champions inductive logic based upon extensive observation; proceed from particular to general • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) • Atheist and materialist: does not accept natural law • Impressed by current scientific advances • Very pessimistic about human nature: social contract with threats of punishments only way to control behavior • John Locke (1632-1704)

  9. The Enlightenment Emphasis on Science • Before Enlightenment ‘science’ meant any well defined area of knowledge • During the Enlightenment it comes to mean investigation of nature by our senses through inductive reasoning and then applying mathematical models to describe observations • Key Enlightenment Scientists • Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) • Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) • Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) • William Harvey (1578-1657) • Robert Boyle (1627-1691) • Christian Huygens (1629-1695) • Antoine von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) • Isaac Newton (1642-1727) • Royal Society of London established 1660 • And don’t forget voyages of discovery

  10. Catholicism and Science • Galileo (1564-1642) controversy • Church silences Galileo because of his theory that earth revolved around sun • But the Jesuits also supported Kepler against Protestant attackers • Part of Robert Bellarmine’s argument against Galileo was that his circular orbits were not consistent with observations; epicycles explained astronomical observations better than circular orbits • Real question: Where is knowledge to be found? • Church rejects the argument that only science has access to truth; rejects attempts to relativize (trivialize) revelation • In 17th C Church is in good company: Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle

  11. The Giant of the Scientific Age: Isaac Newton • The most famous man in Europe in his own day and thereafter until Einstein • Founder of calculus (along with Leibniz) • Fundamental discoveries in optics, mechanics, gravitation • Very deeply religious; focuses on Biblical exegesis, not physics, at end of his life • Alexander Pope: “Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night; God said let Newton be and all was light”

  12. Religion and Science: Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle • Newton • At the end of his Opticks, he tries to distance himself from Epicurean ethics. He was concerned that a corpuscular theory of light could be interpreted as support for Epicurean philosophy • Newton’s favorite verse was Acts 17:28; he knew it was Stoic poetry; he tried to use this to explain how gravity could work across ‘empty’ space • Boyle • Called fundamental units in gases corpuscles rather than atoms because he did not want his theory used to support Epicurean philosophy • Left an endowment for Christian lectures to be given in London opposing Epicureanism

  13. Key Difference Between 17thC and 18th C Enlightenment Figures • 17th C Enlightenment Figures • Scientists and Philosophers • Devout Christians • 18th C Enlightenment Figures • Political philosophers and activists • Deists or atheists • Why rise of Deism, why not just atheism? • Religion needed to enforce morality among ignorant masses • To rescue science; there is order in the world and we can know what it is; that is Intelligent Design

  14. Despair of knowing • Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) • Huguenot • His Historical and Critical Dictionary was single most popular work in 18th C • David Hume (1711-1776) Dialog Concerning Natural Religion • Published after his death • Attacks both religion and science (i.e., attacks deism) • Severe attack against Intelligent Design • Skepticism is the only acceptable intellectual stance • Voltaire, Lisbon Earthquake Poem • Voltaire starts as a deist, becomes an atheist and a skeptic • Deeply connected with skepticism was problem of evil and theodicy (a term invented by Leibniz in opposition to Bayle)

  15. Natural selection (chance) in Biology • Charles Darwin (1809-1882) • Voyage of Beagle 1831-1836; Darwin is the ship-board naturalist (flora, fauna, geology samples) • Origin of Species 1859; reading selection from end of work • Evolution as described by Darwin is in direct opposition to • Platonic Great Chain of Being • Literal interpretation of Genesis • Mathematics as the precise description of what is happening in nature

  16. Assignments 1. Bokenkotter, Chapter 22 2. Robert Bellarmine Letter on Galileo available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1615bellarmine-letter.html 3. Isaac Newton. Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. in Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. p 38-39. 4. Voltaire Lisbon Earthquake. In Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. p 77-82. 5. Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of Roman Empire. in Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. p 201-208. 6. Charles Darwin. Origin of Species. At http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/darwin.html 7. Mark Kalthoff, “A Different Voice from the Eve of Origin, Reconsidering John Henry Newman on Christianity, Science, and Intelligent Design”. PSCF 53 (March 2001) available at http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2001/PSCF3-01Kalthoff.html 8. Immanuel Kant. What is Enlightenment? In Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. (Skim) pp 54-58.

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