The Enlightenment

HIST 10042/11/13

Scientific Revolution

• Classic Greco-Roman writings and Bible most trusted guides to the natural world.• Aristotelian Physics: earth, water, air, and fire• Pythagorian Geometry: celestial objects were perfect spheres

“God as Geometer” Bible Moralisee, mid-13th century France

Scientific Revolution

• 16th century: observation and mathematical calculation leads to new understanding of physical world.

• Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)– Polish monk and mathematician– Proposes simple solution to problems of celestial movement– Heliocentric universe– Church supported research? (Gregorian Calendar)

Different conceptions of the universe

After Copernicus• Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) and

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)– Elliptical orbits, celestial bodies are not moving in perfect spheres

• Galileo Galilei(1564-1642)– 1610: The moon is not a

perfect sphere, but has mountains and valleys like the earth– All celestial bodies are heavy

and changeable

What’s all the fuss about?

Galileo, Astronomy, and Heresy• Starry Messenger (1610)• Promotes Heliocentrism• Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (1615)• Theological arguments in favor of scientific observation.• Draws attention of Inquisition.

Galileo, Astronomy, and Heresy

• Travels to Rome to argue in favor of Heliocentrism

• 1616 – Copernican ideas are outlawed.• 1633 – Galileo convicted of heresy.• Remainder of life under house arrest.

Expansion of Scientific Revolution• Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo lead the way in

scientific method based on observation and experimentation• 1662: Royal Society chartered in London to promote

knowledge of the natural world.• Isaac Newton (1642-1727): mathematical laws govern all physical objects (both heavens and earth)

Science and Economics

• Economic Botany - increase the productivity of existing land and bring new land under cultivation using scientific method

• Gentleman Farmers – wealthy farmers able to invest in new methods

• Kew Gardens (1759) – experimental botany facility

Science and Empire

• Joseph Banks and Captain Cook• “reclaim” land from “barbarous” people to make it more productive• “problem of longitude” – use scientific method to calculate precise longitude• African Association – exploration and colonization

Great Trigonometrical Survey and George Everest, Not Chomolungma

Lewis and Clark

From Science to Philosophy• “Nature and Nature’s laws

lay hidden in night; God said, ‘Let Newton be’

and all was light” - Alexander Pope (1688-1774)

• How does the Scientific Revolution lead to the Enlightenment?• How does the Protestant Reformation also lead to the Enlightenment?

First volume of the journal of the Royal Society of London

Reason

• “All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to understanding, and ends with reason.” – Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)• Deductive Reasoning• “I think, therefore I am.” – René Descartes (1596-1650)

Reason

• Inductive Reasoning• “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.” – Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Scientific Experimentation and Theory

• Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)• Experimentation and induction• Explain the universe through mathematical formulae • “Demonstrate the frame of the system of the world”

The Enlightenment

• Not a coherent movement…• More focused on what they opposed than what they promoted…• Belief that an “enlightened” society would function with the mechanical orderliness of the natural world

The Enlightenment and Science• Application of scientific method to all aspects of human

society: agricultural methods, law, religion, social hierarchies, economics, politics, social organization.

• “It would be very peculiar that all nature, all the planets, should obey eternal

laws” but a human being, “in contempt of these laws, could act as he pleased solely according to his caprice.”

- Voltaire (1694-1778)

The Enlightenment and Religion

• Opposition to religious establishments.• Response to intolerance associated with struggles

between Catholics and Protestants• Response to church opposition to Scientific

Revolution• Response to popular superstition (witch burnings)– “No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for.”

- Voltaire

• Pushes intellectuals in a secular direction

Deism• Belief that no single tradition or text of revelation was needed

to believe in God• A universe based on reason and a respect for nature• “It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.”

- Voltaire

Voltaire, A Treatise on Toleration (1763)

• Voltaire (1694-1778)• French writer Francoise-Marie Arouet• Civil liberties: freedom of religion and free trade• What is Voltaire arguing against here?• What does this text tell us about the Enlightenment conception of the world?