Scientific Revolution Scientific Revolution and Enlightenmentand Enlightenment

c. Late 16th century – 18th century

The Anatomy of the World: John Donne“New philosophy calls all in doubtThe element of fire is quite put out;

The sun is lost, and th’ earth, and no mans witCan well direct him where to looke for it.

And freely men confesse that this world’s spent,When the planets, and the new firmamentThey seek so many new; then see that this

Is crumbled out againe to his Atomies‘Tis all in peeces, all coherence gone;

All just supply, and all Relation.”

Joseph Wright of Derby's 1768 An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

This is not a painting chronicling a major scientific discovery. (As the UK's National Gallery notes on its website, by 1768 air pumps were a pretty common toy among  gentlemen-scientists. By 1768 they were even commonly used in the showy experiments performed by both showmen and university professors as a way of entertaining onlookers and of encouraging their interest in science.)

The gentleman-scientist in the center of the painting has set up an 'air pump,' which was essentially a vacuum-creating machine which sucked much of the oxygen out of the glass bowl in the top-center of the painting. [Detail at right.] The drama of the painting -- and of science itself! -- is clear: Will the bird make it? Will man use science for good or for... something else?

Scientific Discoveries brought about a fundamental change in the way

European viewed the world!

Serious implications in such areas as»Religion»Political thought

What occurred that led people to question what was previously

readily accepted?

1. Discovery of the New World2. Printing Press 3. Rivalry among Nation-States pushed

technological advancement4. Reformation5. Renaissance Humanism

Prior Views: Plato• Seeker of ‘Truth’• Dualism: Form and Matter• ‘Allegory of the Cave’ (aka ‘Simile

of the Cave’)

• Neoplatonism…

Prior Views: Aristotle• Early ‘scientist’ – relied on Empiricism• 5 Elements of the Earth• Prime Mover

• Late Middle Ages reject him as ‘souless’

• Ptolemy (Ptolemaic system)–Earth stationary and everything revolves

around it (Geocentric Cosmology)–Heavenly objects have fixed orbits–Epicycles (planetary orbits within an

orbit) explained unusual motion of other planets in relation with the motion of the stars

• Copernicus will challenge him!

Prior Views: Ptolemy

Prior Views: Galen

• Empiricist• Dissection of primates• Leading authority in medicine for

about 1400 years!

-Vesalius will Challenge him!

Synthesis of Prior Views• Synthesis of Christian and scientific views

– Author of such synthesis was Thomas Aquinas– Combined Christian belief with Aristotalian

science• Four elements

– Alchemy (change elemental mix and get purer metals)

– Medicine (4 Humours = blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile: must be in harmony of illness occurs)

Early Modern Scientists• Copernicus (1473 – 1543)“In the center sits the sun enthroned”–Mathematical hypothesis–Mild in tone – did not want to offend –Dedicated to Pope Paul III–Planets revolve around sun in circular

orbits

• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)Argued with Teacher about Copernicus’

circular motion theory–Planets move in elipses

• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)“E pur si muove”Copernican theory is “foolish and

absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical.”

–Designed and built 1st telescope–Seeing things up close, he challenged

Aristotle’s 4 elements theory

• Galilei cont.

–Interested in motion and laid the groundwork for Newton and law of inertia•Objects moving tend to keep moving•This showed Earth as being in perpetual motion

•Heavier objects do not fall any faster than lighter objects

• Galilei cont.

–Wrote book comparing old science with new•Old science represented by clown•Pope thought Galilei was poking fun of him

•Galilei accused of heresy and placed under house arrest for rest of his life

• Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)Very religious man… wondered why

people listened more to his sciences than theology

–Published Principia (1687)• Was translated by a woman

–Law of Gravity and Inertia–Father of differential calculus

Scientific Societies Created to share• Italy = Naples, Rome, Florence• Royal Observatory in Greenwich (1675)

–Royal Society built it • French Academic des Sciences (1666)• Berlin Academy of Sciences (1700)

–Built by Frederick I Brandenburg/Prussia• St Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1725)

–Built by Peter the Great

Impact of Science on Impact of Science on PhilosophyPhilosophy

• Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

–Created Experimental Philosophy–Invented the Scientific Method

• Rene Descartes (1596-1650)“Cogito ergo sum”–Advocated Deductive Thought

• Move from the general to specific–Was a mathematician and Philosopher–Published Discourse on Method (1637)

• Reduced nature to 2 elements: Mind and Matter

• Mind = soul and spirit• Matter = infinite number of particles

Rembrant Anatomy

Lesson1632

Vemeer

Woman

Weighing

Gold1657

Rubens Country Fair 1635

VelázquezVelázquez Spinners1599-1660