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Scientific Revolution

Origins:
Antiquity: Arist. -- physics, Ptolemy - astron, Galen - medicine
most dramatic advances in these fields
must account 4 new observations
i.e. Arist. & arrow, Ptol & movement some planets, Galen & dissections
“Magic”
alchemy: matter trans ----> other matter
Paracelsus: metals medicinal, i.e. mercury & syphilis
astrology: predictions based on planets
**World could be understood
Supp by NeoPlatonism, other mystical ideas: i.e. Jewish cabala
+ new attention 2 Pythagoras univ = magical arrang #s
New interest in new & simple solutions
---> capabilities to discard old, seek new
---> intellectual revolution
Other Influences
1) technological invention: i.e. telescope, vacuum pump, therm., barom., microsc
encouraged scientific approach pioneered by Bacon
* in order nature reveal secrets, it had to be made to do things it did
not want to do normally --- “twist the lion’s tail”
2) interest in experiments anatomists
1542: Anatomy & Astronomy
Vesalius: Structure of the Human Body

Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish

Ptolemy: crystalline spheres revolved around earth: geocentric


- all circular, irreg expl by epicycles (sm revolv spheres att to larg)
Copernicus said: “too complex”
So...set out to provide simpler picture:
sun @ center orderly, harmonious univ. - heliocentric
(in reality not simpler)
On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres
Problem: demonstration
ideas ---> Gregorian calendar: 1582

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) Danish (gold & silver nose!)


built observatory
data: plotted moon & planets ---> uneasy compromise Ptol/Copern
planets around sun...planets and sun and earth and moon?????
prob because did not want 2 supp. Copern theory

Johnnes Kepler (1571-1630) German

mathematician, astrologer, advocate magic theories


believed Copern....studied Brahe
3 Laws of Planetary Motion
1) orbits = ellipses
2) planets not move @ uniform speed in orbits
Sci Rev Notes 1
3) regularity movement based on dist to sun (--> idea of univ gravitation)
*ideas used by Newton 50 yrs later....

Galileo (1564-1642) Italian (math prof age 25)

planetary motion & motion on earth


observation + math + physics
methods of investigation ---> simil modern scientist
from observations --> abstraction(imagin sit not creatable in exper)
& arrive @ principle inertia
inertia: obj continues in motion 4ever unless stopped by external force
But did do experiments!
acceleration experiment: uniform force prod unif. acceleration
Applied experimental methos to Astronomy
w/telescope: Jupiter had moons, earth’s moon had mountains
ther4 not embedded in crystalline spheres!
No more immutable, unblemished heavens!
Earth physics could be used to explain heavenly physics: earth simply prt of unif univ

**Trad. & theological worldview now crumbling & a new approach of critical, scientific
method had arrived!
i.e. why say univ revolved around earth when all celestial motion expl by
rotation/revolution of single planet?
Conflict w/Church
allowed to write about diff poss wld sys as long as didn’t presume to judge which
actually existed.
Dialogue on the Two Great World Systems 1632
openly lampooned trad. views Arist/Ptol
written 4 wide audience (dialogue & in Italian)
1635 tried by Inquisition 4 heresy
forced to recant “errors and heresies”
legend says Galileo muttered....”but they do move”
trial became symbol of inevitable conflict relig belief & scientific knowledge

**Legacy:
By 1630’s: no self respecting astronomer could deny validity of Copern
Man had progressed from bewilderment ---> level of certainty re: physical world

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) English

imp contrib --> math, physics, astron, optics


physics + astron = single sys expl all motion
united experimental w/theoretical-mathematical
dev calculus (parallel dev by Leibnitz)
estab basic laws of mod physics
Research motivated by participation in Royal Society of London
whereas Copern in isolation
Principia (1687) Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
seeking to refute Descartes app to science
(Descartes: pwr of mind/pure reason in investig. nature)
Newton felt mere hypoth, constructions of logic & words, NOT tools of scientist
Sci Rev Notes 2
“Hypotheses non fingo” ( I do not posit hypoth)
everything proved by experiment/mathematics
Motion: 3 Laws
1) absence of force - motion in a straight line
2) rate of change of motion due to forces acting upon: i.e. friction
3) action & reaction are equal & opposite
df concepts: mass, inertia & force in relation 2 velocity&accel as we know today
Laws extended to entire universe:
bal btwn gravity of earth’s pull & forward motion of moon
= elliptical orbit, neither gravity or inertia prevail
Integrated astron of Copern as corrected by Kepler...w/physics of Galileo & predecessors
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Legacy Newton:

Newton’s descrip of uniformity/systematic impersonal forces


---> view of univ as vast machine
all motion result of precise, unvarying, demonstrable forces
ther4....not far to belief in God as great watchmaker:
only intervenes when something wrong, needs repair
Alexander Pope: “Nature and Nature’s law lay hid in night;
God said, ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light.”
General impression for many yrs to come....Newton had done it all

New Epistemology

A new theory of how to obtain & verify knowledge


stressed experience, reason & doubt
reject’d unsubstantiated authority
new discoveries = independent value
not rely on trad considerations (i.e common sense) or theology to interfere
hypoth --> observations --> generalizations(valid unless contrad. by experim) -->
experimentation
measurement = key to strict observations (data)
NOT subjective
ther4 lang of science came to be mathematics
Yet...rarely reached conclusions in exact format described
experiments & hypoth can occur in mind

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French

voice of protest mid 17th C


vs. in partic. materialism of Descartes
probability theorem, conic sect. ---> integral calculus
barometric pressure, calculating machine....
contact w/ Jansenism (not popular):
salvation entirely God’s
unswerving faith = only path
1654 Nov - myst. exper. = devote life to salvation
Pensées: published post mortem (“Reflections”)
deeply religious
Sci Rev Notes 3
anxieties of scientist: feared growing influence of science
“The heart has its reasons that reason cannot know.”
warning vs. replacing trad understanding of humanity & destiny
w/conclusions of scientists
separation of spiritual/material = fatal - would destroy import/primacy of the spiritual

Science Instituionalized

coop, share info....Rome = 1st sci society 1603, then France, England
Royal Society: 1640’s Eng: Civil War: trad natural philos
replaced at university - Invisible College: new faculty meetings
Robert Boyle: chemist, founder RS 1662
goals: openly Baconian, gather all knowledge re: nature, esp if useful
orig goal imposs ---> clearing house 4 research
1665 Philosophical Transactions: 1st prof. science journal
imitators: 1666 Louis XIV: Fr. Acad Sciences
1700 Naples, Berlin
membership: limited, coveted
glamour 4 scientific studies, grtly admired
By 1660’s science secure in royal patronage: model 4 all thought

Wider Appeal Science

Descartes: apply science to philos


Bacon: put scientific ideas @ service social thought
Sci ideas reached all levels
even aristocrats played @ science
gen pop fascinated ( i.e. Holland: public anatomy sessions well attended)
Reverence 4 science not based on understanding it
rather fame of spectacular discoveries
offerings of new/convincing solutions
***A promise of certainty and order vs. conflict and doubt

Like the science topic and history? Read the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.

Sci Rev Notes 4

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