THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND ENLIGHTENMENT

Key Ideas:Reason

Predictable

Lawslead to

progress

Logical Thinking Spreads From

Science & Natural Law

to Society &

Politics

THE RENAISSANCE EMPHASIS ON THE VALUE OF SECULARISM & HUMANISM AND REFORMATION SPIRIT OF INDIVIDUALS CHALLENGING AUTHORITY ENCOURAGES MANY TO EXPLORE THE NATURAL WORLD LEADING TO…

The “Scientific Revolution” Between about 1500 and 1700, scientists, or “natural philosophers” as they were called, developed a new

worldview that became the basis of modern scientific study. Planetary motion, the composition and movement of matter on earth, the biological systems of plants and animals all were the focus of study during this period. Scientists began to envision a complex universe which could best be understood through experimentation and

mathematics. These curious investigators of nature organized into the scientific disciplines (physics,

chemistry, biology, etc.) we know today during this period known by historians as the “scientific revolution”.

Watch first 9 Minutes of: Nova - Galileo's Battle for the Heavens (PBS Documentary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnEH9rbrIkkBullet point: Relationship between church and science

Assignment #6: Scientific Revolution

Instructions: Label a sheet of paper Assignment #6: “Scientific Revolution Documents”. Carefully read the 6 document on the following slides. For each document, take notes on the following:

1) Who is the author of the document?2) What is the author basically saying in your OWN words?

Document 1Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish priest and astronomer, dedication to Pope Paul III in the introduction of Copernicus’ book, On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres, 1543. The learned and unlearned alike may see that I shrink from no man’s criticism. It is to your Holiness rather than to anyone else that I have chosen to dedicate these studies of mine. In this remote corner of the Earth in which I live, you are regarded as the most eminent by virtue of the dignity of your Office, and because of your love of letters and science. You, by your influence and judgment, can readily hold the slanderers from biting. Mathematics are for mathematicians, and they, if I be not wholly deceived, will hold that my labors contribute even to the well-being of the Church. 

Document 2John Calvin, French Protestant philosopher and writer, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses, 1554. Moses wrote in a popular style things which, without instruction, all ordinary persons endowed with common sense, are able to understand; but astronomers investigate with great labor whatever the wisdom of the human mind can comprehend. This study should not be prohibited, nor this science condemned, because some frantic and ignorant persons boldly reject whatever is unknown to them. For astronomy is not only pleasant, but also very useful: it cannot be denied that this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God.

Document 3Giovanni Ciampoli, Italian monk, letter to Galileo, 1615. Your opinion of the phenomena of light and shade on the clear and spotted surfaces of the Moon assumes some analogy between the Earth and the Moon. Someone adds to this and says you assume that the Moon is inhabited by humans. Then another starts discussing how they could be descended from Adam or how they could have gotten out of Noah’s ark, and many other extravagant ideas that you never even dreamed of. It is indispensable, therefore, to remove the possibility of malignant rumors by repeatedly showing your willingness to defer to the authority of those who have jurisdiction over the human intellect in matters of the interpretation of Scripture.

Document 4Francis Bacon, English natural philosopher, The Establishment of Scientific Thinking, 1620. Men have sought to make a world from their own conception and to draw from their own minds all the material which they employed, but if, instead of doing so, they had consulted experience and observation, they would have the facts and not opinions to reason about, and might have ultimately arrived at the knowledge of the laws which govern the material world… The great and powerful reason why the sciences have yet made little progress [is it] not possible to run a race when the goal itself has not been rightly chosen by [the church]. The true and lawful goal of the sciences is this: that human life be endowed with new discoveries and powers. Yet, the unknown is fearsome to those in power.

Document 5The Papal Inquisition’s condemnation of Galileo, 1633 We say, pronounce, sentence, and declare that you the said Galileo, by reason of the matters discussed in trial, and by your confession as you rendered, are in the judgment of this Holy Office vehemently suspected of heresy, namely, of having believed and held the doctrine-which is false and contrary to the sacred and divine Scriptures--that the Sun is the center of the world and does not move from east to west and that the Earth moves and is not the center of the world… Furthermore, your opinion has been declared and defined to be contrary to the Holy Scripture; and that consequently you have incurred all the censures and penalties imposed and stated in the sacred laws of the Church, for [breaking] this sacred law...  From which we are content that you be absolved, provided that, first, with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, you renounce, curse, and detest before us the aforesaid errors and heresies and every other error and heresy contrary to the Catholic Roman Church in the form to be prescribed by us for you. 

Document 6Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher in his book, Leviathan, 1668. The doctrine of what is right and wrong is perpetually disputed both by the pen and by the sword, but geometry is not. Why? Because in geometry few men care what the truth may be, since it affects no one’s ambition, profit, or lust. But if Euclid’s (Greek mathematician) proposition that the three angles of a triangle are equal to the two angles of a square, conflicted with the interests of those who rule, I know it would be suppressed.

Assignment #6 - Scientific Revolution Documents Analysis

After taking notes on all documents, copy the question below and write a short paragraph

answering it:

Using examples from some documents, explain some challenges that scientific minded people

faced during the 16th & 17th Century.

FROM SCIENCE TO PHILOSOPHY…

The Scientific Revolution and discovery of natural laws prompted many who were not scientists, but were philosophers and writers, to wonder if they could apply the same ideas of questioning and searching for natural laws to SOCIETY and GOVERNMENT.

The ENLIGHTENMENT was a new intellectual movement that stressed REASON and QUESTIONING and the power of INDIVIDUALS to make conclusions for themselves about society and politics.

TIME FOR A SELF QUIZ: ARE YOU AN ENLIGHTENMENT THINKER?

Are you secretly a 1780s person stuck in 2015?

Take this quick quiz to find out!

Assignment #7: Number your paper 1-13 and write

Agree or

Disagree As you read the following statements.

1. I believe that truth can only be discovered through reason logical thinking – for example, the scientific method. Nothing should be accepted on faith alone.

2. I believe that human nature is generally good and people are reasonable.

3. Society and people are constantly improving and moving in a good direction.

4. It is important that people are granted individual rights that the government needs to protect.

5. I enjoy having intellectual conversations with other people about the nature of life and society.

6. I would prefer to have these conversations in a comfortable living room with lots of snacks.

7. I believe that people are a clean slate when they are born and that their experiences and education make them what they are.

8. If the government doesn’t protect your rights, you have the right to overthrow it.

9. The best kind of government is one where there are separate government bodies, like a congress and president, where each branch can “check” the other.

10. Society is actually bad: people are born free with potential, but society chains them down.

11. The best type of government is one that does what most of the people want all of the time.

12. Rights for prisoners are important: torture should not be allowed and the death penalty abolished.

13. Education, for both men and women, is one of the most important things for human beings.

HOW TO SCORE YOUR QUIZIf you answered I AGREE with questions 1 - 5 you are in line with one of the most outspoken writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment: Voltaire, a writer who influenced other Enlightenment thinkers and leaders across Europe and beyond.

#6 REFERS TO THE “SALONS” WHERE ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS WOULD GATHER AND SHARE WORK

Unlike Socrates, who faced persecution and death as a philosopher, Enlightenment thinkers were hosted by wealthy nobles in their fancy living rooms. However, many thinkers faced opposition from their governments.

If you answered I AGREE to #6 and #7, then you agree with John Locke – optimist of the Enlightenment who thought that people were a blank slate when they were born and that education could make society good.

He also had ideas about government that we use in our constitution today.

If you answered I AGREE to #8 you got your ideas from Baron de Montesquieu who believed in the separation of powers, like our government today.

If you answered I AGREE to #9 and #10 then you identify with Jean Jacques Rousseau – pessimist of the Enlightenment. He believed society chains people down and limits their freedom.

He did think, optimistically, the best society is one that responds to the “general will” – what most people want.

If you AGREE with #11, you agree with Cesare Beccaria who tried to limit the widespread torture that was acceptable as punishment for crimes in the 1700s.

#12: ALL Enlightenment thinkers agreed in the need for education, but some were against education for women. Mary Wollstonecraft argued that the need to be educated was important for men and women equally.

Intellectual Revolutionaries - Enlightenment Political Philosophers

John Locke Baron de Montesquieu Voltaire

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Mary Wollstonecraft

Main idea: The ideas of these Enlightenment (aka “The Age of Reason”) political philosophers challenged traditional powers during the 17th & 18th Centuries.

Directions: - Watch Enlightenment Intro Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7q5oT-X_PI

- Carefully read political philosophers Quotes on the handout I’ve given you and fill in the Enlightenment thinkers chart with a partner.