The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment

A new way of thinking!

Background• Abandoned reliance on age old

authority (in particular, Aristotle during the Middle Ages).

• New emphasis on direct observation of nature and experimentation (Influence of the Renaissance?).

• New ideas developed in the fields of astronomy, medicine, chemistry and physics.

Scientific Method

• observation• form tentative

conclusions• further observations to

test conclusions• formulate a final

conclusion based on observations.

Scientists and Thinkers of the Age

Newton

Kepler Galileo

Copernicus Brahe

Bacon Descartes

Geocentric v. Heliocentric Theories

• The geocentric theory advanced by the Greek scientist, Ptolemy, was the accepted view. It stated that the sun revolved around the earth.

• This had also been the theory taught by Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher.

• It was also the theory that was taught and accepted by the Church.

Ptolemy’s Geocentric Theory

Copernicus, a Polish monk, was the first to challenge this notion in

the early 1500’s.

His observations of the heavens, and of the positions of the planets at different

times, caused him to discount the theories of Aristotle and Ptolemy, and to go against the teachings of the church.

He advanced the heliocentric theory – that the earth and the other planets all revolved around the sun.

Copernicus’ Theory

Johannes Kepler then attempted to prove Copernicus’ theory mathematically.

What he learned from his observations was another revolution in scientific theory about the universe.

He found that the planets did not orbit the sun in a perfect circle

They followed an elliptical path

Kepler’s Theory of Planetary Motion

Galileo

• Galileo proved this with his telescope in the 1630’s and he was excommunicated for his writings.

Galileo was the first to observe sunspots

It is believed that his direct observations of the sun through his telescope caused him to become blind in later life.

He was also the first person to see that the moon was covered with craters. Before that people thought it was a completely smooth sphere.

Sir Isaac Newton

He was able to formulate the laws of motion and support Galileo’s findings.

He also developed the theory of gravitation and the laws of gravity

The story goes that Newton was sitting under a tree reading a book … and an apple fell on his head. His theory of gravity was the result.

He also discovered and demonstrated how sunlight is really made up of an

entire spectrum of colors.

Acceptance of New Ideas

• SLOW process

• loads of opposition to new ideas; some directly challenged church doctrine (ex. Galileo’s heliocentric model)

• By the 1700’s,greater acceptance of the sciences

Influence of the Scientific Revolution

John Locke & The Laws of Nature

• Englishman who wrote in the late 1600’s* that man was entitled to “life, liberty and property.”

• *Why might Locke write this with respect to the events in England during this time?

Age of Enlightenment

Characteristics of the Enlightenment

• Rational ideas and logical reasoning.

• Natural laws governed the universe.

• God had created the world and made rules for all living things. People, then, had to live according to natural laws.

Diderot’s Encyclopedia

• Published between 1751-1780, the 35 volumes focused on a wide variety of topics (slavery, war…)

• Diderot was imprisoned for a time.

What was discussed!(much credit goes to Locke)

• Voltaire (1734)– helped to bring ideas

from England to France

– supported religious tolerance.

• Montesquieu (1748)– wrote about the

separation of branches positive & necessary.

Other Philosophers

• Rousseau (1762) wrote that people– are born good but need

a government created and supported by the people

– was somewhat skeptical of reason

Impact of Science and Enlightenment

• By the late 1700’s both North America & France were settings for major political and social revolutions

Enlightened Despotism(Government whereby the ruler ruled using the principles of the

Enlightenment)