Slide 1
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Newton (1642 - 1727)
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Slide 2
___________________________________
___________________________________
F = G m1m2
r2
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Slide 3
___________________________________
Consequences of Newtonian Physics
The Rational Universe
___________________________________
___________________________________
The Mechanical Universe
Causality
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Slide 4
___________________________________
The Rational Universe
- The success of Newton in explaining and predicting all types of physical
motion and structure in the universe from a few simple laws radically
changed scientific thought -- the universe was not an unrelated collection of
activities, it was a rational system
___________________________________
___________________________________
- This idea was perhaps the beginning of reductionism
- Thinkers in many disciplines adopted this approach:
- the social sciences were born based on the search for the laws of
human behavior
- everything was looked at as a science to which Newton’s style of
reasoning could be applied
- Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations), attempt to define the laws
of economics
- Auguste Comte -- sociology
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Slide 5
___________________________________
The Rational Universe
- the French and American Revolutions were dedicated to the idea that people
have certain natural rights
- democracies were established based on deductive arguments that lead
logically from natural rights to the structure of government
- the Declaration of Independence has the same axiomatic structure as
Newton’s Principia
- Thomas Jefferson considered himself a scientist and established governmental
support of the sciences
- Franklin wrote “On Liberty and Necessity; Man in a Newtonian Universe”
- This was the “Age of Reason” and Newton was referred to as the “Bearer of Light
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Slide 6
___________________________________
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another and to assume among the
powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Slide 7
___________________________________
The Mechanical Universe
- Newton’s laws indicated that the motions and interactions of all material bodies
in the universe obey a few relatively simple rules
- if you know the positions and momenta of objects at a given instant in time you
can predict the results of their interactions at other times
- the universe is an elaborate clockwork
- Newtonian concepts of matter, space and time are implicit in his approach
- many philosophers used Newton’s work as evidence of predestination
- irregularities in planetary orbits lead to the discovery of the outer planets using
Newton’s Laws of Universal Gravitation
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
Slide 8
___________________________________
Causality
- the idea of cause and effect
- scientific method as a combination of inductive and deductive reasoning
- objective universe, therefore science and philosophy go their separate ways
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________