Title: The Scientific Revolution was founded on the idea of acquiring knowledge through skepticism, experim
1Chapter 14
- The Scientific Revolution was founded on the idea
of acquiring knowledge through skepticism,
experimentation, and reasoning based on observed
facts.
2Questioning Truth and Authority
- The Old View
- The Earth-Centered Universe
- The earth rested at the center of an unchanging
universe. - Undermining the Old View
- Hermetic Doctrine
- All matter contained the divine spirit, which
humans ought to seek to understand. - It held that the sun was the most important
agency for transmission of the divine spirit, and
occupied the center of the universe.
3Questioning Truth and Authority
- Exploration
- Geographic exploration during the Renaissance
upset traditional assumptions - Overseas voyages stimulated demand for new
instruments, precise measurements for navigation,
and encouraged research, especially in astronomy
and mathematics. - The Printing Press
- The printing press enabled even out-of-favor
scholars to publish their findings, which spread
new ideas and discoveries.
4Chapter 14
- European scientists uncovered new information
about the world around them and different ways of
looking at the universe, and embarked on a search
for knowledge without limits.
5Developing a modern Scientific View
- Astronomy and Physics From Copernicus to Newton
- Nicolaus Copernicus
- A polish clergyman he crossed the Alps to study
in an Italian university. - He sought a simpler mathematical formulation to
explain how the universe operated. - He believed that at the center is the sun,
circled by the earth and other planets. - Tycho Brahe
- He persuaded the king of Denmark to build for him
the most advanced astronomy laboratory in Europe.
6Developing a modern Scientific View
- Tycho Brahe (cont.)
- He recorded thousands of unusually accurate,
detailed observations abouth the planets and
stars over a period of 20 years all without a
telescope. - Johannes Kepler
- Believed in an underlying mathematical harmony of
mystical significance to the physical universe. - He founded the three laws of planetary motion.
- Galileo Galilei
- He formulated the principle of inertia, showing
that bodies, once set into motion, will tend to
stay in motion.
7Developing a modern Scientific View
- Isaac Newton
- He developed calculus and investigated the nature
of light. - Newtons Principia
- He formulated and mathematically described three
laws of motion inertia, acceleration, and
action/reaction. - The law of universal attraction, or gravitation
8Developing a modern Scientific View
- The Revolution Spreads Medicine, Anatomy, and
Chemistry - Paracelsus
- A teacher and wandering practitioner, he treated
patients, experimented with chemicals, recorded
his observations, and developed new theories. - He encouraged research and experimentation to
find natural remedies for bodily disorders. - Andreas Vesalius
- Wrote the first comprehensive textbook on the
structure of the human body. - He dissected cadavers and became the personal
physician to Emperor Charles V.
9Developing a modern Scientific View
- William Harvey
- He dissected hundreds of animals, and discovered
that the human heart worked like a pump, with
valves that allowed blood to circulate through
the body. - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
- The chief pioneer in the use of the microscope
- Robert Boyle
- He argued that all matter was composed of
indestructible atoms that behaved in predictable
ways. - The Methodology of Science Emerges
10Developing a modern Scientific View
- Francis Bacon
- He believed that science would benefit commerce
and industry and improve the human condition by
giving people unprecedented power over their
environment. - Rene Descartes
- In 1637, he published his philosophy and
scientific methodology in the Discourse on
Method. - He questioned all forms of authority
- I think, therefore I am
11Chapter 14
- Scientists relied upon interaction with
colleagues and the support of patrons to build
upon and spread the ideas the ideas of the
Scientific Revolution.
12Supporting and Spreading Science
- Courts and Salons
- The Rise of Royal Societies
- Religion and the New Science
- The New Worldview
- The Copernican-Newtonian Paradigm
- The earth, along with the planets, moved around
the sun in an infinite universe of other similar
bodies. - The natural order consisted of matter in motion,
acting according to mathematically expressible
laws. - Scientific truths came from observing, measuring,
experimenting, and making reasoned conclusions
through the use of sophisticated mathematics.
13Chapter 14
- As Europeans applied these scientific ideas about
the acquisition of knowledge to other
disciplines, a new way of thinking that
emphasized reason emerged and characterized the
cultural movement known as the Enlightenment.
14Laying the Foundations for the Enlightenment
- Science Popularized
- Teaching Science
- In 1761, scientific ideas were being taught to
children of the middle and upper classes. - Glorifying Newton Reason and Nature
- Enlightenment thinkers saw this brilliant
Englishman as the great synthesizer of the
scientific revolution - The Psychology of John Locke
- Applied scientific thinking to human psychology
- Pictured the human brain at birth as a blank
sheet of paper that sensory perception and reason
filled as a person aged.
15Laying the Foundations for the Enlightenment
- Skepticism and Religion
- Pierre Bayle
- The leading proponent of skepticism in the late
seventeenth century - David Hume
- He insisted that nothing could be known for sure.
- Reality consisted only of human perceptions
16Laying the Foundations for the Enlightenment
- Broadening Criticism of Authority and Tradition
- Travel Writings of Montesquieu and Voltaire
- Used comparisons of place and time to criticize
authority and tradition during the early decades
of the eighteenth century - History and Progress
- The tools of science and reason enabled people to
surpass their historical predecessors. - History became a story of human progress, and
people living in the eighteenth century stood on
the brink of unprecedented historical
achievements.
17Chapter 14
- Using nature as a guide for thought and society,
Enlightenment thinkers came into conflict with
established ideas, religions, and institutions,
and suggested avenues of reform.
18The Enlightenment in Full Stride
- The Philosophes
- Voltaire
- Imprisoned in the Bastille for writing verses
that criticized the crown - Emilie du Chatelet
- Voltaire lived openly with Chatelet and her
husband. - Chatelet helped Voltaire gain a better
understanding of the sciences and their
significance. - The Encyclopedia
- Battling the Church
19The Enlightenment in Full Stride
- Deism
- An impersonal, infinite Divine Being created the
universe but did not interfere with the world of
human affairs - Reforming Society
- Political Thought Montesquieu and Rousseau
- Montesquieu argued that political institutions
should conform to the climate, customs, beliefs,
and economy of a particular country. - Rousseau argued that people in the primitive
state of noble savagery were free, equal, and
relatively happy. - Economic Ideas The Physiocrats and Adam Smith
- Economics had its own set of natural laws
supply and demand
20The Enlightenment in Full Stride
- Criminology, Penology, and Slavery
- Beccaria thought criminal law should strive to
deter crime and rehabilitate criminals rather
than merely punish wrongdoers - Abbe Guillaume Raynal argued practices of
European and American colonists were irrational
and inhumane - Education
- Many Enlightenment thinkers based their ideas on
the psychological ideas of John Locke, which
emphasized the power of education to mold the
child into the adult. - The Woman Question
- Questioned the inequality of mens and womens
roles
21The Enlightenment in Full Stride
- The Culture and Spread of the Enlightenment
- Salon Meetings
- Meetings were hosted by wealth Parisian patrons,
usually women of the aristocracy or upper-middle
class - They gathered regularly to read, listen to, and
debate the ideas of the Enlightenment - Bookstores
- Bookstores became hotbeds of Enlightenment ideas