The Rise of Science
Plato’s unseen forms influence the view
that religion has the perfect
understanding of the world
Science challenged this accepted view
Foundations of tension between the
religious world-view and scientific
world-view
Copernicus 1473–1543
Polish Catholic Priest
De Revolutionibus Orbium
Mathematical calculations
Heliocentric view of the universe
What about the centrality of the earth?
Humanity has no cosmic significance!?
Stars are further away from the earth than
the sun
Ptolemy’s cosmology must be wrong!
Tycho Brahe 1546–1601
Provided alternative model of the
universe to Copernicus
Produced accurate measurements of
the planets and stars
Demonstrated that comets move across
the orbit of the planets, not in a straight
line in the sphere below the moon
Johannes Kepler 1571–1630
Student of Brahe
Discovered three laws of planetary motion
There was a time difference in his
observation of the planets and what he
calculated it should be
Concluded that the orbit of the planets was
not circular but elliptical
Break with Aristotelian view that the planets
move in circles
Matches astronomers observations of the
universe
Galileo 1564–1642
First systematic observation of the
world via a telescope
The forces of nature work in
mathematical ways
Heliocentric view of the universe
Message from the Stars published 1610
First real brush with religious view of
the universe
Galileo continued
Asserted Copernicus’ view of the universe as
the right one
Put on trial and forced to recant
Why?
Seemed to suggest that because the working
of the universe was natural then there was no
need for a Prime Mover/First Cause
The Inquisition condemned the Copernican
view of the universe
Galileo continued
He was not anti-religion
God had provided two different but
complementary ways of looking at the
world
Scripture and science
Francis Bacon 1561–1626
Rejected Aristotle’s idea of Final Causes
Induction was the key
Coming to a conclusion based on
systematic analysis of events that have
been observed
Should move from habitual ways of
thinking
No allegiance to one school of thought
Isaac Newton 1642–1727
Devised system of physical laws explaining
planetary motion
The world moves and changes according to
fixed laws
World appears as a mechanism
Provided an alternative explanation for
movement to accepted models
God is no longer necessary to explain the
continuing existence of the world –
mathematics can do this