ScientificRevolutionScientificRevolution Age of Genius

ScientificScientificRevolutionRevolutionScientificScientificRevolutionRevolution

Age of GeniusAge of GeniusAge of GeniusAge of Genius

Reasons for the ChangeReasons for the ChangeReasons for the ChangeReasons for the Change• Foremost change in world view – travel - Chinese

calendars disprove the flood• Modern science - experimental observations and

mathematics• Had always been subordinate to theology• Astrology and physics led the way• Traditional views were based on:

a) Aristotelian mechanicsb) Ptolemaic astronomy

Traditional IdeasTraditional Ideas• Common sense proved Aristotle correct - earth stood at the center

of the universe

• Aristotle’s ideas were accepted for 2,000 years because 1) he offered common sense explanations, 2) pacified religion - “Great chain of being”

• Inanimate objects - lowest level - liquidsvegetable class - life and existencedumb animals - feeling and lifeman - intelligence and soulspiritual world - angels

• All terrestrial matter had 4 elementsa) fireb) waterc) earthd) air

• In humans there were 4 humors:a) melancholyb) phlegmc) bloodd) choler

• They passed through the veins from the liver to the heart - good life needed harmony

CopernicusCopernicus• Polish clergyman• Astronomer based his

research on Ptolemy• Heliocentric theory -

On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres (1543)

• Where was God?• Calvin “it cannot be moved”• Luther called him a fool• Catholic reaction was milder, 1616 denounced

his theories

Copernician Theory

1. The universe was staggering2. The stars are at rest3. Earth was just another planet

• Son of a Danish nobleman

• Agreed with Copernicus

• Studied the stars for 20 years

• But believed the sun was the center of the universe and earth remained stationary

BraheBrahe

• German

• Mathematician

• Had been Brahe’s assistant

• 3 laws of motion

KeplerKepler

GalileoGalileo

• Italian• Mathematician• Conducted experiments to prove what

would actually happen.• Designed a telescope to see the universe• Formulated the law of inertia - objects

are in continual motion• Also worked with gravity

• Worked for the Medici’s of Tuscany • Pope Urban VIII allowed him to write on worldly

system but he could not judge which one actually existed

• Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World (1632)• In 1633 at 68 he was tried for heresy by the Inquisition• Facing death he recanted, but

his books circulated throughout Europe

• Religion v’s Science

Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton• English genius, intensely religious

• Mathematician

• Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)

• Principia was the synthesis of the revolution

• * The law of gravity

• Universe one system

Newton’s LawsNewton’s Laws• 1) a body remains at rest or motion unless

acted upon by another source• 2) changes in motion are proportional to the

energy exerted upon the object• 3) to every action there is an equal and

opposite reaction• “If I have seen further [than others] it is by

standing on the shoulders of giants”

Francis BaconFrancis Bacon

• English politician, attorney, and writer

• Attacked the reverence to ancient thinkers

• Developed the theory of empiricism(study as much as possible, compare and analyze before making speculations)

• Empirical knowledge would make nations rich and powerful

• 1620 wrote Novum Organum (new method of acquiring knowledge

• Generalizations can only be made by inductive reasoning

• Inductive reasoning - move from the particular to the general

René DescartesRené Descartes• Promoted deductive reasoning• Reason out a general law and then apply it

broadly to all cases • Reduced all matter to spiritual and physical -

Cartesian Dualism• Doubted all that could be doubted – excepted

his own existence• “cogito ergo sum”• Also developed analytical geometry

Causes of the RevolutionCauses of the Revolution• Medieval philosophy separated from religion

• Universities established departments of astronomy, mathematics, and physics

• Renaissance thinkers recovered many of the classical thinkers

• Patronage

• Better instruments

• Reason

• Royal Society of London created in 1662 by Charles II

• French Royal Academy of Science in 1666 by Colbert for Louis XIV

• Absolute monarchs used science to gain economic and military advantages

• Protestant countries gained a huge advantage• Church power greatly reduced – never to be

as powerful