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III. The Mechanical Philosophy

III. The Mechanical Philosophy. Rene Descartes (1596-1650). 1. Cogito ergo sum. existence of the world is real but not necessarily as our senses perceive”. 2. Cartesian (mind/body) Dualism. all of reality consists of two things:. Spirit (mind). act of thinking (mind).

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III. The Mechanical Philosophy

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  1. III. The Mechanical Philosophy Rene Descartes (1596-1650) 1. Cogito ergo sum • existence of the world is real but not necessarily as our senses perceive” 2. Cartesian (mind/body) Dualism • all of reality consists of two • things: • Spirit (mind) • act of thinking (mind) • no properties except itself • Material (body) • no psychic characters • properties: weight, dimension, etc • interaction

  2. III. The Mechanical Philosophy 3. Descartes’ mechanical philosophy • basic proposition: world is a machine composed of inert • bodies indifferent to thinking beings • all phenomena in nature created by matter in motion • God is the initial cause • objects in motion or at rest stay in that state • motion can be transferred but never destroyed • all motion is in a straight line

  3. III. The Mechanical Philosophy 4. The Cartesian Universe • Universe filled with aether and particles in motion • one particle displaces another and threatens to create a void • another particle rushes in resulting in a vortex

  4. III. The Mechanical Philosophy 5. Cartesian coordinates • thinking about flies 6. Impact of the mechanical philosophy • defined framework of all scientific work in 17th century

  5. III. The Mechanical Philosophy B. William Harvey (1578 – 1657) 1. Physician to Kings 2. Circulation of blood • before Harvey • blood made in liver • carried in veins to tissues • used up in the process • arteries carry vital spirit (pneuma) • from lungs • modern understanding • arteries and veins: heart to arteries to arterioles to • capillaries to tissues to venules to veins to heart

  6. III. The Mechanical Philosophy 2. Circulation of blood • two hearts in one • right side pumps deoxygenated blood • to lungs via pulmonary artery • hemoglobin picks up oxygen in lungs • via capillaries • oxygenated blood back to left side via pulmonary vein • oxygenated blood pumped through aorta to body 3. De MotuCordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (1628) • still much support for Galen’s physiology • to counter, Harvey experimented/ observed • determined how much blood being pumped • blows away idea that blood made in liver • still believes in vital spirits (mixes with blood)

  7. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) “Nature and Nature’s Laws lay hid in Night: God said, Let Newton be! and All was Light” Alexander Pope A. Accomplishments 1. One of the great synthesizers “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” 2. Classical (Newtonian) physics (everyday, ordinary) 3. Mathematized science 4. Brought science to the forefront of society

  8. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) B. Life 1. Childhood 2. Early years 3. Conversation with Edmund Halley (1656-1742) 4. Calculus controversy 5. Newton’s personality 6. Director of the Mint 7. Death

  9. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) C. The Principia (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)) 1. Placed science on a mathematical basis 2. Made physics a separate discipline 3. 3 books • Book One • 3 Laws of Motion 1. Absent outside forces, a body moving in a straight line stays in a straight line and a body at rest stays at rest

  10. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) 2. Force = mass X acceleration 3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. • also in book one: development of the calculus

  11. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) • Book One • Law of Universal Gravitation • made distinction between mass and weight

  12. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) • Book Two • foundation of modern fluid dynamics • demolished Cartesian universe

  13. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) • Book Three • application of Law of Universal Gravitation to solar system • path of comets • Halley’s prediction • All based on God’s intelligent design • God the clock maker

  14. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) D. Opticks (1704) 1. The nature of light 2. Prism experiment 3. Invention of the reflecting telescope • chromatic • aberration

  15. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) E. Reactions to Newton 1. Positive • Age of Reason (the Enlightenment) 18th Century 1. Progress • knowledge of Nature • overcoming ignorance • social improvement 2. Deism 3. Tolerance for all religions • Poetry James Thomson, “The Seasons” Newton, pure Intelligence, whom God To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works From laws sublimely simple.

  16. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) • Art • Joseph Wright, “Rainbow” • Politics • John Locke (1632 – 1704)

  17. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) • Economics • Adam Smith (1723 – 1790) • Wealth of Nations (1776) • Science

  18. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) 2. Negative reactions • Romanticism movement (second half of 18th Century) • William Blake (1757 – 1827) “Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.” • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) What kind of God would push only from outside,letting the cosmos circle round his finger?He likes to drive the world from inside,harbours the world in Himself, Himself in the world,so all that lives and weaves and is in Himnever wants for his power or his spirit. • David Hume (1711 -1776) • limits to the role of reason • mechanical philosophy leads to error

  19. IV. Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) F. Other works 1. Religion • God is the ultimate creator of the Laws of Nature • Arianism • denied the Trinity • Christ was divine, but inferior to God • Newton: architects of early Church had distorted • origins of Christianity 2. Alchemy

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