The Scientific Revolution
NOT: new, rapid, collective
DID: blend old and new theories, slowly with no more than a few hundred
people who relied on artisans and craftsmen and established new social
institutions to promote scientific discoveries
The Quest to Explain How and Why Planets Move with
REASON + RATIONAL SCIENCE v. FAITH
DESIGNED TO BETTER MANKING
All affected by:
1. The Protestant Reformation
2. The Discovery of the New World
Scientific Revolution
Knowledge of the physical world based on experimental observation and sophisticated
mathematics
A shift from medieval thought that explained the physical world through
religious superstitions and the political structure of divine kings to
modern thought based on secular and scientific explanation and the
political possibility that people could govern themselves. This would
affect the economic and social structure as well as the world moved
toward capitalism and away from mercantilism
CAUSES:
1.
Medieval Universities with professors and a large student body created a
society focused on learning
2.
Renaissance humanism unveiled old Greek and Roman mathematics that could
be studied and improved. Mathematicians vowed to solve controversies with
proof. Patrons that supported the arts now turned to science
3.
Nation states funded exploration and trade under mercantilist goals. This
presented navigational issues that were studies at Gresham College and the
results were new instruments
4.
Better instruments gave scientists better ways to collect knowledge. This led to
empirical research that fostered inductive and deductive reasoning
ARISTOTELIAN
WORLD VIEW
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Geocentric - earth was the center
Surrounded by 10 crystalline spheres
(sun, moon, 5 planets, and stars)
5 elements - heavy went down, light
went up = his explanation of gravity
Beyond the spheres was God & angels
who moved spheres
Natural state of an object was at
rest, if object moved the speed was
constant
Universe was finite
Based on Ptolemy - earth moved in
perfect circle in epicycles (80)
Epicycles = planets moved around
small circle and center of circle
moved around larger circle
Problem:
Planets appeared to move in a
noncircular pattern and
backwards - epicycles - 2nd rev.
tangent to the primary orbit
Copernicus’ Challenge
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On the Revolution of Heavenly
Spheres
Published the year he died - criticized
by Protestants
Heliocentric - sun was the center of
the universe
Earth moved around a fixed sun in a
circle and turned on its axis once
daily
Retained epicycles but lesser
Explained motion of planets as
optical illusion viewed from a moving
earth
Order of planets = distance from sun
& planets were far apart
Took one year for earth to move
around sun - Universe was infinite
Put the stars at rest, nightly motion
result of earth’s rotation - no
crystalline spheres
1572 Exploding star
1577 New Comet
Were Spheres Impenetrable?
PROBLEMS:
Why did objects fall on earth?
Appeared to deny senses
Tycho Brahe - One Wacky Guy
 Looked at all the data to reach
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the right conclusion
Patron of Danish King who built
his conservatory in Hven
Watched stars and planets for
20 years
Witnessed eclipse of sun
Discovered supernova Cassiopeia
Saw a comet pass through
epicycle which shattered
Aristotle’s concept
Theory
Metallic nose, pet moose
and a strange death
Stella Nova
Mercury and Venus revolved
around the sun, sun and other
planets revolved around earth
Johannes Kepler
Brahe’s assistant - used
math to prove his concepts
Three Laws of Planetary Motion
1. Planets movement are
elliptical
2.
Relationship between size
of orbit and length of time
planet takes to orbit the
sun
Whereas Copernicus speculated
Kepler proved with Math - a
sun-centered universe
Problem:
 No answer for gravity
3.
New Astronomy
Planets do not move at a
uniform speed, those closer
to sun move faster
Galileo Galilei
Did not speculate
conducted controlled
experiments
With telescope,
saw mountains on moon, proving the moon
was not perfect
 Spots on sun
 4 moons around Jupiter (could not be
embedded in spheres)
 Named Saturn’s moons for Medicis
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Conducted experiments acceleration
Light objects fall at same speed as heavy
object - undermined Aristotle  Balls falling straight down reach ground at
same time as balls pushed vertically
 Balls falling down in incline travel at the
same speed regardless of rate of incline
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(Laws of Inertia & Acceleration)
 Natural state of an object is in motion
Starry Messenger
unless acted upon by an outside force
so angels were not moving spheres or
planets would go faster
Dialogue on the Two Chief SystemsGot into trouble with the Church
of the World
Newton
“If I have seen further than others, it is
by standing on the shoulders of Giants”
Finally the answer how
planets move and why
they stay in place
GRAVITY
 Every object in the
universe is affected by
every other object by
gravity
 For every action there is
an opposite and equal
reaction
Principia Mathematica locked himself in his room for 18
months and discovered calculus
New Language
was mechanics
and mathematics
Francis Bacon
 Attacked scholastic beliefs that
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Novum Organum
He and Newton agreed
all truth had already been
discovered and only required
explanation
Championed innovation and
change
Science had a practical purpose
- human improvement
Examine evidence of senses empirical knowledge
Apply inductive reasoning to
empirical observation =
scientific method
Pursuit of knowledge would
increase power of governments
and monarchies
Looked to make knowledge useful
Rene Descartes
 Invented analytical geometry -
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Discourse on Methods
Cartesian plane
Favored Deductive rather than
inductive reasoning
Doubt everything, accept only
what can be proven
“I think therefore I am”
Deduced existence of God as
the guarantor of correct and
clear ideas
Divided world into two realms:
Thinking and Space (mind &
body)
Reason should only be applied
to material realm
Thomas Hobbes
Defender of Absolutism
Humans:
Are egotistical and only interested in
increasing pleasure and decreasing pain
 believe they have a natural right to
everything. This equality leads to
competition and a state of war causing
anxiety and fear of death and destruction
 Escape this fate by entering into a contract
to establish a commonwealth with an
absolute ruling body
 Set aside personal rights for golden rule and
absolute authority enforces this with absolute
and unlimited power
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Authority can be a King or Legislative Body
Leviathan
John Locke
First Treatise of Government
 Rejected absolute rule modeled after father leading
a family. (Who said this?)
Second Treatise of Government
Humans
 are capable of reason and goodwill that can dwell in
peace
 Experience competition and conflict that requires
political authority to sort out the problem
 Enter into a contract with government to secure
their rights to life, liberty, and property
Government
 has limited authority because authority is derived
from the people. If government fails to protect these
rights, people have right to replace the government
Letter Concerning Toleration
 Each person must work out his own salvation and has
right to choose own religion. Government should
not impose religious uniformity, but accept many.
Essay Concerning Human Understanding
 At birth, mind is a blank slate, (tabula rosa) life’s
experiences write on that slate therefore, human
condition can be improved by changing the
environment
New Institutions for New Knowledge
Universities
 Gave scientists basis of knowledge, provided physical and
financial support but were slow to accept change
Institutes of Sharing - Royal Academies
 Allowed information to be gathered, shared, and debated
1. Royal Academy of London
2. Academy of Experience in Florence
3. French Academy of Science
4. Berlin Academy of Science
Local Societies and Academies
 Met regularly to hear papers and conduct experiments
 Credible because observed by socially respectable
 Published information and organized libraries
 Separated science from religious and political conflicts
Women in the World of the
Scientific Revolution
Women were excluded because:
 European institutions excluded women
 Monasteries and churches were institutions
associated with male clerics
 Women were not admitted to universities
 Women did exert influence over princely courts
but did not determine patronage
 Women who did participate in the Scientific
Revolution did so through husbands or male
family members and were either of the noble
class or artisan class
 All because guys are male chauvinists p…
Women of Noble Heritage
Margaret Cavendish
 Dutchess of Newcastle gave
her entrance into circle of
scientists
 Understood new science and
quarreled with Descartes and
Hobbes
 Only woman to be invited to
a meeting of London Royal
Academy
 Wrote Description of a New
World, called Blazing Worlds
Description of a New World Blazing Worlds
Maria Cunitz
Women from
Artisan Class
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Published Urania Propitia - solutions to
Kepler’s problems but book attributed to
husband
Elisabeth Hevelius
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Managed observatory in Danzig with
husband using Sextant
Maria Winkelmann
 Discovered comet and published
official calendar but twice denied
admission to Berlin Academy of
Science
Emilie du Chatelet
 Mistress of Voltaire
 Aided him with popularization of
Newton’s works
 Knew more math than Voltaire
Bernard de Fontenelle
In his book, Conversations on the
Plurality of the Worlds, he made difficult
scientific concepts easy to understand.
This is achieved through a conversation
with an aristocratic woman and her friend
discussing astronomy…”There came on
the scene one Copernicus who made
short work of all those various circles, all
those solid skies, which ancients had
pictured…he took the earth and spun it
very far away from the center of the
universe, where it had been installed…”
Skeptical about absolute truth an critical
of claims of organized religion.
Progressive and anti-religious thinker
Science
Religion
Deism
 Theories and discoveries did not agree with Bible
 Who would decide the conflict between church
and new science, church or new philosophers?
 New science offered materialistic universe, not a
spiritual one, AND, new philosophers thought
their efforts reconciled faith and science
Background info:
The Case of
Galileo
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Catholics were caught between a
rock and a hard place; could not
turn the interpretation of the Bible
over to a layman nor could they
deviate from literal translation
Letter to the Grand Duchess
Christina, Galileo claimed that Bible
should be interpreted to
accommodate science and this
smacked of Protestant criticism
1616, the Catholic church censored
On the Revolution of Heavenly
Bodies
Pope Urban VIII allowed Galileo to
discuss the Copernican system in his
book and that was the problem
Book defended physical truth and
made any one who supported the old
world view look dim-witted
Galileo was condemned for
disregarding the 1616 ban and
placed under house arrest for 9
years.
Blaise Pascal:
Reason & Faith
 Sought to disprove dogmatism
(Jesuits) & skepticism
(atheists or deists)
 Sided with Jansenists
 Religion was not the domain
of reason or science
1. A loving God exists but
humans are corrupt and not
worthy of Him
2. Reason should drive a
person to God and his divine
grace.
 Better to believe God exists
and throw yourself on His
mercy, than to not do this and
go to “hell
Andreas Vesalius
The Structure of the
Human Body
The Study of Human Anatomy had for
centuries depended on Galen. His
account of medical anatomy was
based on monkeys as human
dissection was not permitted in his
time, but it was unsurpassed until the
printed description and illustrations of
human dissections by Andreas
Vesalius in 1543. Galen identified
venous (dark red) and arterial
(brighter and thinner) blood, each with
distinct and separate functions.
Venous blood was thought to
originate in the liver and arterial blood
in the heart; the blood flowed from
those organs to all parts of the body
where it was consumed.
Galen's account of the activities of the
heart, arteries and veins endured until
William Harvey established that the
blood circulates with the heart acting
as a pump in 1628.
William Harvey
An Anatomical Study of the
Motion of the Heart and of the
Blood in Animals
Harvey was fascinated by the way blood
flowed through the human body. Most
people of the day believed that food was
converted into blood by the liver, then
was consumed as fuel by the body.
Harvey knew this was untrue through his
firsthand observations of human and
animal dissections. In 1628 Harvey
published An Anatomical Study of the
Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in
Animals which explained how blood was
pumped from the heart throughout the
body, then returned to the heart and recirculated. These views were very
controversial and lost Harvey many
patients, but it became the basis for all
modern research on the heart and blood
vessels. A second ground-breaking book
published by Harvey in 1651, Essays on
the Generation of Animals, is considered
the basis for modern embryology.
Robert Boyle
Father of Modern Chemistry
•Boyle’s Law - the volume of gas under
compression is inversely proportional to the
to the amount of pressure.
The Spring and Weight of the Air
The Sceptical Chymist
First to make the distinction
between a chemical element and
a compound and to clearly define
the nature of a chemical reaction
Philosophy Responds to Changing Science
Characteristics of the Enlightenment
Broad intellectual and cultural movement with different and
sometimes conflicting ideas. Disillusioned with
scholastics
1. Science can be used to examine and understand all
aspects of life [reason]
2. Use the scientific method to also discover human society
as well as nature
3. With the right method to discover laws of human
existence, humans can create a better society [progress]
We can move beyond antiquity
Science and mathematics was the new language. Laws were explained in
mechanical ways as was creation. Catholic church came under more attack
and Deism was born
Philosophes writers and critics who
wanted reform.
Newton
and
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Locke
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Apply laws of nature and common sense
Empirical support
experiences (tabula rosa)
to major institutions (government,
economy, religion) and social life
Favored English politics, government, economy
(agriculture, inventions)
Most were found in coffee houses,
salons, nobles courts, or with powerful
monarchs
While criticizing the same institutions in France
Print Culture
Common desire to reform society and
government for the sake of human liberty
Use of books, journals, newspapers,
magazines and pamphlets flourished.
Most got their beliefs across through the
print culture.
Public and private libraries grew, became
more widely read in middle classes
Supported the growth of transportation
and trade
Human society could and needed to be
improved.
Encyclopedia
Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Albert
100 authors on religions government,
philosophy, written in code
Practical help with manufacturing, canal
building, ship construction, agriculture
Denis Diderot
First twenty-eight volumes were published
between 1751 and 1722 with five
additional volumes in 1776 - 1777.
He developed a great fear that knowledge
would continue to be destroyed by the
Christians, who had a one-thousand
year’s history of destroying libraries,
burning books, ripping paintings,
smashing marbles, and torturing anyone
who voiced an unorthodox thought. To
prevent it from happening many articles
were written in code. He wrote almost a
thousand of its articles, over a 20 year
period. The rest were submitted by the
scholars of the world including our own
Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and
Benjamin Rush.
Through Madam Geofrin, Catherine the
Great of Russia financed several volumes
of the encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
Marie Therese Geoffrin
Married a wealthy husband so she had the money to
organize salons to spread enlightenment ideas and
connect philosophes to patrons
Enlightenment and
Religion
Voltaire
Voltaire
Francois-Marie Arouet
Candide - satire on religion and war while offering
optimism about human nature
Religion - Deist - believes in God who created the
universe and set it in motion in accordance with
natural laws - a Giant Watchmaker - who does not
interfere with people’s daily lives and did not respond
to prayer. Believe in life after death and that God
would reward or punish people according to their
conduct.
“Crush the Infamous thing”
Sent to prison for offending French noble, lived in
England and admired their tolerance of religion and
politics - Letters on the English.
Defended Jean Calas, a Huguenot merchant who
was executed of murdering his son to prevent his
conversion to Catholicism. Verdict was reversed. Treatise on Tolerance
“I disagree with what you say but will defend to the
death your right to say it.”
Politically - favored Enlightened Despots - absolute
ruler who promoted reform. Wrote to Fred and Cat
Baruch Spinoza
Theologico-Political
•Hoped human reason would revise
traditional thought
•Ethics – closely identified God and
nature
•criticized because it left little room for
divine revelation and accountability of
human beings after death
•Theologico-Political Treatise described
origins of religion in natural terms bible provided divine legislation but
not theological knowledge, (Biblical
stories) .Humans should use their own
reason for this
•Viewed as a Jew who had separated
himself from traditional Jewish religion
to enter mainstream society – made it
possible for some to advocate toleration
of Jews
Moses Mendelsohn
Jewish Socrates
Entry of Jews into modern
European life - Jerusalem
On Ecclesiastical Power of
Judasim religious toleration &
maintaining distinct Jewish
communities
Religious tolerance does not
threaten governments so
governments should be neutral
and allow Jews civil jobs and
rights while living in separate
Jewish communities
Jerusalem
On Ecclesiastical Power of Judasim
Tolerance could be achieved and
also keeping traditional religious
practices. Tolerance of Jews and
by Jews
Enlightenment and Society
Cesare Beccaria
Essay on Crimes and Punishments
Brought law and justice into line with
the rational laws of nature. Barbarous
punishments failed to deter crime, the
certainty of punishment was far more
effective. Justice should be swift and
that punishment should focus on the
rehabilitation of the criminal.
The crime should fit the punishment.
This philosophy was adopted by the
three enlightened despots
Economics
Francois Quesnay
Physiocrat and
biologist who was
surgeon to Louis
XV and Madame de
Pompadour.
Rejected
mercantilism that
measured wealth
by sold and silver,
he insisted the land
was the only source
of wealth. Instead
of regulating trade,
trade should be
free - no tariffs, just
one tax, an income
tax based on land
Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations
A nation’s wealth was based
on production of farmers,
artisans, and factory
workers.
Three laws:
1.
Self-interest - people
should be free to pursue
their own economic selfinterest and this would
promote prosperity
2.
Competition would force
the individual to produce
the best good at the
lowest price
3.
Supply and demand
would naturally regulate
prices.
Government
Montesquieu
Did not believe there was one single ideal
political system, different systems were correct
for different people and he experimented with
several based on the British political system.
The Spirit of the Laws
Separation of powers between the executive,
judicial, and legislative branches of
government. This division with checks and
balances would place limits on the power of the
executive and protect the rights of the
individual. He did not believe all people were
equal and felt the aristocracy should lead.
But he was an advocate for women’s rights
The Spirit of the Laws
The Persian Letters critical view of European
civilization and manners. The letters that three
Persians (people from what is now Iran)
traveling in Europe. The message is that
society lasts only on the basis of virtue and
justice, which is rooted in the need of human
cooperation and acceptance.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Noble Savage - Man was born free
but everywhere he is in chains.
People living in a state of nature had
once been virtuous, free, equal and
happy. They were corrupted by
civilization therefore they need a natural
education, free of corruption and the
artificiality of society. Ideas of education
- Emile - learn from direct experience
and not books
Social Contract
And Separate spheres
Social Contract
Even though government restricted
freedom, it is necessary. Proposed a
social contract where members of
society agree to be ruled by their general
will. All members form the general will
that is executed by a small group.
Believed general will of the people was
always right and an act of obedience
was an act of freedom. Helped promote
democratic ideology
Mary Wollstonecraft
Born into an English middle-class family,
her father beat her mother and lost his
fortune. Determined to be independent in
a society that expected her to become an
obedient wife, she earned a living as a
governess and teacher. She was
angered by Edmund Burke’s defense of
the French monarchy, she wrote A
Vindication of the Rights of Man then
developed her masterpiece, A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman…demanding that
the Rights of women be respected and
calling for justice of one-half of the human
race. She advocated rigorous
coeducation to make women better wives
and mothers, good citizens and also
economically independent persons. Men
would benefit from women’s rights
because “the two sexes mutually corrupt
and improve each other.”
Enlightened Despots
Joseph II Austria
Goal: Modernize government to increase his authority over
Hapsburg lands, the church and nobles.
1.
To control Hungary, refused the crown of St. Stephen,
recognized local Hungarian governments and sent in
his own officials, demanded all speak German. Had to
repeal all these when Magyars resisted
2.
Joseph and the Church Granted religious tolerance to
Christians and removed some restrictions on the
Jews. Abolished hundreds of monasteries and
convents and confiscated much of the church’s land
because he said their use of the land was
unproductive. Took church revenues in state treasury
and made clergy employees of the state. All
communication from Rome had to go through him.
Bishops had to swear obedience to him.
3.
Abolished internal tariffs and encourage road building,
toured farms and manufacturing districts, created
national courts with power over nobles.
4.
Freed the serfs and granted them right to marry,
abolished the robot and replaced it with a tax with only
a part of it going to the landowners, state kept the rest.
All landowners had to pay a tax.
1780 - 1790
Divided Poland b/w PAR
Frederick the Great
Friend of Voltaire his reform was designed to
increase the power of the monarchy
1740 - 1786
Created bureaus of commerce and industry, excise
and tools, mines and forestry.
With French experts he reorganized tax system for
the state got more money from direct taxes on
individuals. Codified 9 arranged in a systematic
order) all law and abolished the use of torture.
Encouraged expanding trade into newly acquired
Silesia, tariffs were imposed to protect new
Prussian industries, internal tariffs were reduced,
the Bank of Berlin extended credit for economic
development and new canals were built.
Introduced new crops specifically the potato and
turnip.
Allowed Catholics to live in Lutheran areas and
respected Catholic rights in Silesia
Divided Poland between PAR
Catherine the Great
Corresponded with Voltaire and bought part of
Diderot’s encyclopedia
Created a Legislative Commission with 500
members of all classes except serfs to propose
reforms in the legal system. Accomplished little
and was dismissed
Reduced internal barriers to trade, increased
exports of flax, furs, grain and naval stores
1773 - 1775 Pugachev revolt forced Catherine to
reorganize local government into 50 provinces and
put nobles in control of the new provinces.
Owed her support to nobles so in 1785 she issued
the Charter of Nobility that recognized the rights
and privileges of the nobles, including exempting
them from taxes and military service and gave
them total control of their estates and serfs…
Thanks a lot Pugachev.
And then there’s that
horse story…..
War with Ottomans got Russia land on the Black
and Aegean Seas - warm water ports.
Partitioned Poland with Prussia and Austria