The Place of Science in Western CultureLectures in the cultural history of science

Geert Somsen, History Department,Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

before we start:

nature of the lecture series: Thematic, historical place science in culture

This lecture:

General Introduction The Rise of Modern Science

Introduction

the association of science to modernity

the association of science to the West

Introduction

Herbert Butterfield (1900-1979)on the rise of modern science: “it outshines everything since the rise of Christianity and reduces the Renaissance and Reformation to the rank of mere episodes (...) [It is] the real origin both of the modern world and of the modern mentality”

Introduction

George Sarton (1884-1956): “The history of science is the only history which can illustrate the progress of mankind. In fact, progress has no definite and unquestionable meaning in other fields than the field of science.”

Introduction

the association of science to modernity

the association of science to the West

Introduction

Butterfield again:

“The scientific revolution we must regard (…) as a creative product of the West – depending on a complicated set of conditions which existed only in western Europe.”

Introduction

Geoffrey Barraclough (1908-1984), general historian, trying to explain European world dominance in modern times:

“[A]ll the things which made Europe the focal point of historical events (…) – its science, its technology, its industrial strength – sprang in the end from the Scientific Revolution.”

“The great change in outlook, the great change in intellectual climate, the change which ushers in the modern world, comes not with the Renaissance or the Reformation but with the Scientific Revolution (…) when the scientific spirit, which was the mark of Europe in modern times, really took shape.”

Introduction

What still varies are:Evaluations (positive and negative)Associations, meanings of modernity

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

stages of society:

1. theological2. metaphysical3. scientific

Thomas Campbell, ‘To the Rainbow’ (1820):

When Science from Creation’s faceEnchantment’s veil withdraws,

What lovely visions yield their placeTo cold material laws!

Max Weber (1864-1920)

Zygmunt Bauman (born 1925)

the holocaust as a possibility of modernity

John Desmond Bernal (1901-1971)

“science is communism”

Karl Raimund Popper (1902-1994)

Science and the Open Society

Michael Polanyi (1891-1976)

Science as conservative

Henry Kissinger (born 1923)“[The West] is deeply committed to the notion that the real world is external to the observer, that knowledge consists of recording and classifying data – the more accurately the better.”“Cultures which escaped the early impact of Newtonian thinking have retained the essentially pre-Newtonian view that the real world is almost completely internal to the observer. (…) [E]mpirical reality has a much different significance for many of the new countries than for the West because in a certain sense they never went through the process of discovering it.”

Barack Obama (born 1923)

The Rise of Modern Science

The Rise of Modern Science

1. idea Scientific Revolution2. aspects SR:

a) mathematizationb) empiricism (observation and

experiment)

core of classical story SR:

developments in astronomy and mechanics from geocentric to heliocentric world

picture from qualitative to mechanical explanation all together in Newton’s gravitational

theory

mathematization main aspect of Scientific Revolution:

introduction of mathematics in the ways in which the world is understood

Alexandre Koyré: mathematization of nature, mathematization of science

but maths was not new—see ancient and medieval geometry and astronomy (accurate too)

what changed was ontology mathematicsGalileo: “The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics.”

mathematization

not everybody agreed: Boyle, Buffon hard to combine with empiricism:

in terms of observation: mathematical reality is reality behind observable phenomena (Platonic notion)

in terms of authority: mathematics is privileged domain experts, not easily susceptible to public scrutiny

mathematization

why mathematization? seems self-explanatory: mathematics is

more accurate but is this so?

Koyré: Aristotelean physics is closer to experience than modern phycics

accuracy was not what convinced people new ontology related to who speaks for

nature

mathematization in universities: hierarchy natural

philosopers / mathematicians at noble courts: new relations

possible —e.g. Tycho Brahe in Denmark

—e.g. Galileo at Medici court: “mathematician-philosopher”

new science develops outside of universities, at (court) academies

mathematization

empiricism Aristotelian philosophy was empirical,

but new empiricism more radically so Francis Bacon: collect many observations

do not trust authority do not rely on texts

new scientific institutions based on Baconian ideals (Royal Society, Académie des Sciences, Encyclopédie)

empiricism

empiricism seems even more self-explanatory: “seeing is believing”

refusers (Cremonini) seem mad new science was empirical yet in what way needs to be qualified

empiricism fundamental objections: senses deceive,

experiments deform, instruments can play tricks

practical problem: believing only what one sees?

empiricism knowledge not just based on one’s own

observation importance witnesses and witness

assessment: who is reliable source? example 1: Galileo’s telescope witnesses example 2: Boyle’s reports from captains

and divers rejection authority was specifically

targetted against scholasticism

empiricism

authority now: in research in education in court in news reporting

Barry Barnes: necessity and danger

empiricism

rejection texts was equally qualified: ancient and renaissance texts

example: natural history (Buffon, Darwin)

empiricism

empiricism

texts today: in science in humanities