SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION, ENLIGHTENMENT, FRENCH

REVOLUTION16TH-18TH CENTURY. New ideas challenge the established order.

NEW IDEAS

• CHANGING WORLD VIEW DUE TO MORE PRECISE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD

• Clockwise from top left: Kepler, Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, Descartes, and Ptolemy

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE. A METHOD OF INQUIRY IN WHICH RESULTS CAN BE VERIFIED THRU REPEATABLE EXPERIMENTS

• TESTABLE QUESTION • PROCEDURE• EXPERIMENT &

OBSERVATION • CONCLUSION

SCIENCE & THE CHURCH

• ARISTOTLE’S SCIENCE FIT CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES . CHALLENGES TO ACCEPTED THEORIES = CHALLENGES TO CHURCH DOCTRINE , I.E. HERESY.

Galileo on trial for heresy.

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS1473-1543

• POLISH CLERGYMAN & ASTRONOMER. CHALLENGED PTOLEMY & ARISTOTLE GEOCENTRIC THEORY., REVIVED ARISTARCHUS HELIOCENTRIC THEORY,

• PUBLISHED THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES IN 1543, THE YEAR HE DIED.

HELIOCENTRIC THEORY

EARTH REVOLVES

AROUND THE SUN.

COPERNICUS

FURTHER INVESTIGATION.

• Observations by Brahe & Kepler proved three laws of planetary motion:– Planets orbits are

elliptical.– Planets don’t orbit at

same speed– Plant’s orbital cycle

related to distance from sun.

GALILEO GALILEI1564-1642

• FLORENTINE MATHEMATICIAN. ELABORATED THE MODERN EXPERIMENTAL METHOD, I.E. CONDUCTED CONTROLLED, REPEATABLE EXPERIMENTS– THEORY OF UNIFORM

ACCELERATION– LAW OF INERTIA– BY TELESCOPIC

OBSERVATION PROVED HELIOCENTRIC THEORY

1633, TRIED FOR HERESY BY THE CHURCH

SIR ISAAC NEWTON1642-1727

• ENGLISH SCIENTIST & PHYSICIST.

• 1687 PUBLISHED PRINCIPIA . ONE UNIFIED THEORY TO EXPLAIN THE SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE.

• LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION = EVERY BODY IN UNIVERSE ATTRACTS EVERY OTHER BODY IN A PRECISE MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIP BASED ON MASS & DISTANCE.

CAUSES OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

• UNIVERSITIES: VALUABLE LONG-TERM CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENTIFIC & INTELLECTUAL LIFE.

• RENAISSANCE: RECOVERY OF CLASSIC GREEK MATH WORKS.

• NAVIGATIONAL PROBLEMS: EXPLORATION LED TO DEMAND FOR TOOLS & SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH TO SOLVE NAVIGATION PROBLEMS.

• SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS: EXPLORATION & FOCUS ON RESEARCH REQUIRED NEW INSTRUMENTS TO MEASURE & OBSERVE – TELESCOPE, BAROMETER PENDULUM CLOCK, MICROSCOPE.

CONSEQUENCES OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

• INT’L SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY AROSE: LEARNING, SHARING COMPETING.

• SCIENTIFIC METHOD =CRITICAL, CHALLENGED TRADITIONS, SACRED TEXTS, ANCIENT AUTHORITIES.

• INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION, NO IMMEDIATE ECONOMIC EFFECT

ENLIGHTENMENT-FOUNDATIONAL IDEAS

• REASON NOT FAITH. METHODS OF NATURAL SCIENCE COULD LEAD TO UNDERSTANDING ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE.

• SOCIAL SCIENCES = SCIENTIFIC METHOD COULD BE USED TO EXPLAIN LAWS OF SOCIETY

• PROGRESS. HUMANS COULD CREATE BETTER SOCIETIES & PEOPLE.

• SECULARISM – FOCUS ON WORLDLY EXPLANATIONS.

• CONFLICT SCIENCE VS. RELIGION: QUESTIONED BELIEF THAT A STRONG STATE REQUIRED UNITY OF RELIGIOUS FAITH. RESULTS= RELIGIOUS WARS, ONGOING CONFLICT.

• EXPOSURE TO FOREIGN CULTURES LED PEOPLE TO LOOK AT TRUTH & MORALITY IN RELATIVE TERMS.

JOHN LOCKE, 1632-1704SECOND TREATISE ON GOVERNMENT

• GOVERNMENT EXISTS TO – MAINTAIN ORDER,

PROTECT ]PROPERTY,

– DEFEND AGAINST FOREIGN ENEMIES

– PROTECT NATURAL RIGHTS OF PEOPLE

ADAM SMITH,WEALTH OF NATIONS (1776)

• LAISSEZ-FAIRE ECONOMICS. GOV’T SHOULD NOT INTERFERE WITH THE ECONOMY.

• STATE=PASSIVE POLICEMAN• FREE ENTERPRISE. EACH PERSON SHOULD

BE FREE TO PURSUE INDIVIDUAL SELF-INTEREST.

• INDIVIDUALS GUIDED BY “INVISIBLE HAND”, I.E. LAW OF SUPPLY & DEMAND

RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)

• FRENCH PHILOSOPHER, MATHEMATICIAN.

“JE PENSE, DONC JE SUIS” = I THINK THEREFORE I AM.

• DOUBT EVERYTHING

PHILOSOPHES: French intellectuals

• WEALTHY ELITES WHO DISCUSSED NEW IDEAS. OFTEN CRITICAL OF CHURCH & STATE.

• MONTESQUIEU (1689-1755) = FRENCH POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER. SPIRIT OF LAWS (1748) INFLUENCED BY ENGLAND. PROMOTE LIBERTY, PREVENT TYRANNY = SEPARATION OF POWERS.

• VOLTAIRE (FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET) 1694-1778. WRITER, POLITICAL SATIRIST. “I DISAPPROVE OF WHAT YOU SAY BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.”

• DENIS DIDEROT (1713-84) & JEAN D’ALEMBERG (1717-83) = EDITED ENCYCLOPEDIA ‘TO CHANGE THE GENERAL WAY OF THINKING”, PUBLISHED 1772, 28 VOL. SUMMED UP NEW WORLD VIEW.

LATE ENLIGHTENMENT

• MORE RADICAL IDEAS, OFTEN DOGMATIC. ATHEISM, DETERMINISM (MAN HAS NO FREE WILL). LESS FAITH IN POWER OF REASON.

• JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778) SWISS PHILOSOPHES. INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM. ATTACKED RATIONALISM & “CIVILIZATION” WHICH “DESTROYED THE INDIVIDUAL”. POLITICAL THEORY SOCIAL CONTRACT (1762). GENERAL WILL REFLECTS COMMON INTERESTS OF ALL. POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY – PEOPLE NOT RULERS HOLD SOVERIGN POWER.