History 311
THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Part II
Matter and Form
Potentiality and Actuality
Actuality is the fulfillment of the end
of the potentiality
Five Elements
Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Aether
Plato and Aristotle
Fire – Hot & Dry
Earth – Cold & Dry
Air – Hot & Wet
Water – Cold & Wet
Aether – Divine Substance
Teleological View of
World
As
Great Chain of
Being
MAN
Nature
Essentially
Qualitative
GOD
Ptolemy
16th Century Illustration
of Ptolemy (2nd century)
Using Quadrant to
Measure Angle Of Star
Altitude
Uranius, Muse of
Astronomy, in
Background
Sub-Lunary Sphere
Zodiacal Man
Parts of the Body
Over Which the
Specific Signs Have
Particular Powers

Humoral Theory
– Influence of Galen and
Arabs

Basic Humors
– Blood (hot) , Phlegm
(cold), Yellow Bile
(dry), Black Bile (wet)

Material Substances
– Earth, Air, Fire, Water
Theory of Temperament
Pessimistic
Wet, Black Bile
Choleric
Dry, Yellow Bile
Sanguine,
Hot, Dry Blood
Plegmatic,
Cold, Wet phlegm
System of Epicycles
Epicycle with Higher Complexity
Heliocentric Worldview
Copernicus
1473-1543
Plurality of Worlds
Infinite Universe
Rotation of the Earth
Infinite Universe of
Four Elements
Giordano Bruno
1548-1600
Burned at Stake in
1600
Uraniborg Observatory in Denmark
Tycho Brahe
1546-1601
Supernova of 1572
Great Comet of 1577
Brahe’s Notebook on Comet
Tychonian System of Planetary Motion
Astronomer and Astrologer
Emphasis on Mathematics
Accepts Heliocentric View
Elliptical Obits
Laws of Planetary Motion
Rejects Copernican View of
Perfect Orbits
Johannes Kepler
1571-1630
Kepler’s Three Mathematical Laws of Planetary Motion
The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at one of the
foci. Thus, Kepler rejected the ancient Aristotelean,
Ptolemaic,and Copernican belief in circular motion.
A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas
during equal intervals of time as the planet travels along its
orbit. This means that the planet travels faster while close to
the sun and slows down when it is farther from the sun. With
his law, Kepler destroyed the Aristotelean astronomical theory
that planets have uniform velocity.
The squares of the orbital periods of planets are directly
proportional to the cubes of the semi-major axes (the "halflength" of the ellipse) of their orbits. This means not only that
larger orbits have longer periods, but also that the speed of a
planet in a larger orbit is lower than in a smaller orbit.
Gilbert’s terrella
Work on Magnets
William Gilbert
1544-1603
Starry Messenger , 1610
Dialogue Concerning the
Two Chief World Systems,
1632
Galileo
Galilei
1564 - 1642
Galileo’s Sketch of the
Phases of the Moon
1857 Painting by Christiano Banti of Galileo Before the Roman Inquisition
Actual Trial in 1633