The Scientific Revolution
Early 16th Century science was based
on Aristotle.
Motionless earth fixed in the
center of the universe
Surrounded by celestial spheres
The Great Chain of Being

Francis Bacon
 The Scientific Method – A new way to do
science
 Inductive-
Bacon and Descartes'
(Bacon = inductive,
Descartes = deductive)
 Bacon – Formalizes the empirical method
 Descartes' – proves correspondence
between geometry and algebra.. Creates
analytic geometry.
– Dualism – Mind and matter or the physical and
the spiritual
William Harvey
 Medicine – Circular flow of blood from the
heart
Microscope

The Telescope

Copernicus
 1473-1543
 Clergyman
 The universe revolved around a fixed sun
 Did not publish works until the year of his
death
Change of World View
 The immense size of the universe
 The earthly world was similar to the heavens…
earth is just another planet
 Where was the kingdom of heaven?
 Did not Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not
the earth
 1616 The Catholic Church declares Copernican
theory as false
Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo
 Brahe collected data
 Kepler’s 3laws of planetary motions
– Elliptical
– Did not move at a uniform speed
– The time it takes to orbit is directly related to the distance
from the sun
Galileo 1564 - 1642
 Experimental method
 Law of inertia
 Changed a telescope from Holland and pointed it
toward the heavens
 Observed that the moon, is in many ways, like the
surface of the earth. Western civilization turns the
corner
Making sense of the universe
Nature and nature's light
were hidden by night/ Then
God said "Let Newton be!"
and then there was light" –
Alexander Pope
Newton “” 1647-1727
 Law of Universal Gravitation – attraction to
other bodies… precise and mathematical
The Solar System
Causes of the Scientific
Revolution
 The Medieval Universities – Application of
scientific reasoning - and math from the
crusades
 The Renaissance – Humanism search of
knowledge through antiquity improves math
 The need for navigation tools - longitude
Science and the Church
 Were Protestants more open to science?
– Where there was a strong central religious
authority religious dogma ruled
• Italy
• Holland
• England
Consequences of the Scientific
Revolution
 Gave rise to international scientific
communities.
 New way of obtaining more knowledge
– More critical
– Refused to base its conclusions on established
sources
But… little evidence that it was due to economic
factors. It was first and foremost an intellectual
movement
However – revolutions are
coming
 Science and industrial arts exalted
 Religion and morality are questioned
 Knowledge was important because it made
possible social, economic and political
PROGRESS.
Causes for uncertainty
 Scholars were cautious – as institutions
could condemn
 Previous wars of religion – Thirty Years
War. A strong state demanded religious
conformity
 Skepticism – Bayle – nothing could ever be
known beyond doubt
Skepticism- as the world shrinks
 Europeans cut their beards and grew their
hair long.
 Turks shaved their heads and grew their
beards long.
 John Locke – rejects Descarte – with his
tabula rasa
 Locke’s Essay Concerning Human
Understanding as the equal to Newton’s
Principia
The Enlightenment
 Natural science should be used understand
all aspects of life… rationalism
 Scientific method could be used to discover
laws about human society… The birth of
the social sciences.
 Progress… Human being could create better
societies
The French Philosophes
 Were they philosophers?
 More like early sociologists
 Why France
– French was the language of the educated
– “Scientists” were not as suppressed as other parts of the
world
What were their concerns
Determined to reach the all of Europe’s educated
elite… The Public…not “the blind and noisy multitude”
– Careful not to directly attack powerful institutions they
wrote plays, books and satires that were not distributed
widely or had had double meanings
Reformers More than
Revolutionaries
 Montesquieu – separation of powers
 Francois Marie Arouet – Voltaire – satire
and religious toleration but never social or
economic equality.
 Diderot - encyclopedia
 Madame du Chatelet
 Deists
The Later Enlightenment-1770
 D’Holbach – Humans are machines – free will is a
myth – B.F. Skinner “Beyond Freedom and
Dignity … positive and negative reinforcement
(Late 60’s USA)
 David Hume(1711-1776) The human mind is
simply a bundle of impressions
 Rousseau – The noble savage… Institutions that
were created for progress actually corrupt
More Rousseau…
 “The Social Contract”
– The General Will – reflects the common
interest of the people
– Popular Sovereignty
– More on the general will… dictators and
democrats have used this to usurp power
Urban Culture and Public
Opinion
 Books sales explode
 Less religious and more books on the arts and
sciences (1780)
 Smuggled books evaded censorship
 EUROPE WAS BECOMING MORE SECULAR
–
–
–
–
Scandals
Pornography
Women using sex to conquer weak men
Germany permitted freedom of the press
The Salons – Free From
Censorship
 Women brought important men to discuss
the latest literature, science and philosophy
 Elite women exercised influence in the arts
– Rococo
– Greater education for women
– Madam Geoffrin
The Enlightenment and
Absolutism
 Benevolent absolutism was the best
opportunity to improve society.
 The people are children that need parental
guidance
Prussia, Russia, and Austria
 Prussia
– Frederick II (The Great) (r.1740-1786)
• Daddy was the “solider king”
• Sonny tries to run away with his best friend and
Daddy cuts his friend’s head off
• But… in 1740 he inherits the throne and invades
Silesia
• The War of Austrian Succession
The War of Austrian Succession
 1740-1748 Prussia adds 6 mil to its
population
 Austria would not let Silesia go peacefully
– Maria Theresa allied herself with France and
Russia in the Seven Years War (In America it
was called the French Indian War (1756-1763)
Frederick The Great Holds on
But Gives in
 Peter III 1762 calls off the attack
 The Seven Years War tempers his policies
– Religious and academic toleration
– Improved schools
– Improved agriculture and industry
– “Only the first servant of the state”
– Did not free his own serfs
– Kept the right to expel the Jews whenever he
wanted
Catherine the Great of Russia
(r.1762-1796)
 German
 Peter the Great abolished hereditary
succession
 Catherine has Peter III killed for
withdrawing from the Seven Years War
Catherine had drunk deeply at the
enlightenment well
 Three main goals
– Bring sophisticated western culture to Russia
• Bring in western architecture
• Corresponds with Voltaire
– Domestic reform
• Pugachev’s revolt 1773
• Peasants are dangerous
• 1775- nobles have absolute control of their serfs
Goals… continued
 Territorial Expansion
– Successful
• Crimea
• Caucasus
• Poland , divided among Austria, Russia, and Prussia
– Kept Russian noble happy
Austrian Habsburgs
 Maria Theresa
– Limited power of the papacy
– Strengthened central bureaucracy
– Improve the life of agricultural workers
Habsburgs…Continued
 Joseph II…Coregent to 1780 and ruled to
1790
– Controlled the Catholic Church more closely
– Religious toleration for Protestants and Jews
– Abolishes serfdom from 1781-1789 (led to
turmoil from the nobles… cancelled in 1791)
Absolutism is France
 King was still the best source of reform
 Louis XIV dies 1715. Nobles under the
Duke of Orleans make a comeback
 Restored the high courts of France – the
Parlements… They maintained the right to
evaluate decrees before they became law
 What once were middle-class judges were
now well entrenched in the aristocracy
The Parlement of Paris
 5% tax on everyone (because of the War of
Austrian Succession) was dropped.
 Seven Years War 1756-1763 King tries to impose
emergency taxes
 Parlement of Paris rejects the tax “ to limit the
king’s power and protect liberty.”
 No taxes without the consent of The Parlement of
Paris
Mapeou
Louis XV Reacts
 Mapeou establishes a new more docile Parlement
 The king of his royal aura
– Pornography
– Scandal mongering
– The commoners of Paris were beginning to stir
– Royal power was strong enough to ride over the
opposition but the king dies in 1774
– Louis XVI “What I should like most is to be loved.”
Overall influence of the
Enlightenment
 France unlike the its eastern neighbors saw
a decline in absolutism
 The Enlightened Monarchs
– They did spread cultural values of the
Enlightenment… especially Frederick and
Catherine
• Secular
• Education and interest in the arts
• Reforms that would strengthen the state and
compete militarily…
Absolutists continued
 Put state building reforms in a broader
perspective
 How humane laws could make the
population more productive
– Tolerating religious minorities
– Simplifying legal codes and promoting
practical education