Scientific Revolution: Background and Transition

Background to the Scientific Revolution

• Developments in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance contributed to it
• The Scientific Revolution questioned beliefs about the external world
• This revolution challenged conceptions derived from ancient Greeks and Romans, grounded in Christian thought
• Breakdown of Christian unity post-Reformation made Europeans more open to challenging authority
• The Scientific Revolution shifted the view of the universe
• Became the major force towards a more secular, rational, and materialistic perspective

Conflict and Transition

• Transition to the new worldview was not easy
• Galileo Galilei, an advocate, faced opposition from the Catholic Church
• Galileo's statement: The sun is motionless, the earth rotates
• The Church held a different view based on biblical passages
• In 1633, Galileo was tried by the Inquisition, found guilty of heresy and forced to recant
• Galileo's writings still spread despite attempts to silence him
• The Scientific Revolution gradually overturned authority over centuries
• Key factor in setting Western civilization on a modern path

Factors Contributing to the Revolution

• Medieval scholastic philosophers advanced mathematical and physical thinking
• They were limited by theological framework and reliance on ancient authorities
• Renaissance humanists increased access to new works which contradicted unquestioned authorities
• Renaissance artists' focus on imitating nature led to close observation
• Artistic skills improved the study of natural phenomena
• Technical problems in fields like ship tonnage calculation spurred scientific activity
• Instruments like the telescope and printing press aided scientific discoveries and spread ideas

Renaissance Magic

• Renaissance magic was a preserve of the intellectual elite
• Hermetic magic became fused with alchemical thought
• The world was seen as a living embodiment of divinity
• Humans could use magic to understand and dominate nature
• Scholars debate if Hermeticism made the Scientific Revolution possible
• Great names associated with cosmology revolution had interest in Hermetic ideas and alchemy

A Revolution in Astronomy

• Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton contributed to a new vision of the universe
• Their advancements contrasted with the Ptolemaic conception

Ptolemaic Conception Views

• Views built on ideas from Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Christian theology
• In this geocentric conception, the universe was a series of concentric spheres with the earth at the center
• Earth composed of material substance was imperfect
• Spheres around Earth were crystalline
• The earth moved in circular orbits
• Heavenly bodies were pure orbs of light
• Number of spheres were believed to be around ten
• Beyond which was the Empyrean Heaven as the location of God and saved souls
• Christianized Ptolemaic universe had a boundary, with God at one end and humans at the center

Copernicus's Heliocentric Concept

• Nicolaus Copernicus published "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres"
• Not an accomplished observational astronomer
• He felt that Ptolemy's system was too complex
• Argued that the universe consisted of eight spheres with the sun motionless at the center
• Planets revolved around the sun
• The moon revolved around the Earth
• Daily rotation explained by the Earth turning on its axis

Kepler's Laws on Planetary Motion

• Johannes Kepler took the next step to support the Copernican system
• Kepler was an avid astrologer
• Book in 1596 expressed that the universe was constructed on geometry
• Derived laws of planetary motion that confirmed the heliocentric theory
• Planets orbits around the sun were elliptical
• Eliminated the idea of uniform circular motion
• Frees up the thinking that planets may revolve around the sun

Galileo's Discoveries

• Galileo Galilei made observations using a telescope
• The telescope helped discover mountains and craters on the moon
• Discovered four moons revolving around Jupiter and the phases of Venus
• The universe had another demolition in a traditional cosmology
• This is because the universe seemed to be composed of material

Galileo and the Church

• Church condemned Copernicanism
• Ordered Galileo to go against the thesis
• The doctrine that the sun was the center of the world was false
• Galileo's revelations stunned peers and influenced new pictures of the universe
• Church attacked due to threatening the idea of universe and Scripture
• Heavens are not spiritual but a world of matter, therefore, humans are no longer at the center
• During economic decline, it undermined scientific work in Italy
• Science leader passed to the northern countries
• Galileo's discoveries and Kepler's laws undermined the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian world system
• However there was problems in the universe, Newton comes into play

Isaac Newton's Discoveries

• Isaac Newton wrote "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," also known as the Principia
• Spelled out mathematical proofs
• Laws of motion explain all motion in the universe
• Law of gravitation mathematically proves an object attracts to every other object
• Integral argument was gravity of the universe
• Synthesized a new cosmology
• Created a new large machine operated in space and motion
• Later generations dropped spiritual assumptions
• Newton's work dominated the modern worldview

Medicine & Chemistry Advancements

• Galen's writings in anatomy, physiology, and disease dominated the late Middle Ages
• Vesalius hands-on approach to teaching anatomy enabled him to rectify errors
• He correct Galen's incorrect assertation that blood vessels originated from the liver came from the heart
• However, still clung to Galen's erroneous assertions
• William Harvey demonstrated that the heart starts circulation of the blood in the body
• Demolishing ancient Greeks
• Showed blood passaged from arteries to veins
• Harvey's theory laid the foundation for modern physiology
• Robert Boyle an early scientist conducted experiments on properties
• Efforts led to Boyle's law on gas volume with pressure
• Rejected medieval belief of same components and instead atoms called little particles of all shapes
• Antoine Lavoisier invented system for chemical elements used today

Women in Modern Science

• Women roles severely restricted by traditional roles as daughter, wife, and mother
• New opportunities emerged to read and study classical texts
• Some drawn to humanism, others to the scientific revolution
• Margaret Cavendish was able to participate in scientific debates due to aristocratic background and attacked rationalist approaches
• German women were involved in observational science, especially astronomy
• Maria Winkelmann educated and assisted by her husband, an astronomer, made original contributions
• Denied position in Berlin Academy and encountered prejudice

Debates on the Nature of Women

• Nature and value of women had been the subject of an ongoing debate
• Male opinions portrayed women as base, prone to vice, and sexually insatiable needing mens control
• Some argued for women's rational minds and education, rejecting male authority
• Contradicts to make science as a means of support or stereotyping
• New anatomy used to reaffirm traditional inferiority, proven as being meant to birth and males as having superior minds
• Jean de La Bruyère viewed educated women as useless

Descartes, Rationalism and Human Kind

• Fundamentally new ideas in the universe contained the 16th and 17th centuries
• Descartes began with doubt and the confusion of the 17th century
• Ended with the dominated Western thought to the 20th century
• Settled aside what learned and stated that to be beyond his own doubtt
• Descartes used the mind and rejected all reason to what the mind was false
• Added an additional premise separate or mind vs matter
• Stating they are different
• absolute duality to using human thoughts that humans can understand the material reason
• Matter is pure mechanism that is governed by law because it was greated by a geometrician
• Conclusions on how human being had great implications

Spread of Scientific Knowledge

• Scientific learning and investigation increased dramatically
• Universities established new departments
• Royal and princely patronage of individual scientists
• Scientific method and societies to spread ideas
• Englishman attempted to put forth new method of making impact
• Francis Bacon lawyer and chancellor, rejected Copernicus and Kepter
• Bacon called for contemporaries commence a total reconstruction on sciences
• Believed the framework on humans were bad
• Bacon urged scientist to procedure from the particular the general. Carefully organized experiments
• Proposed a different approach to scientific methods by deduction based on math and axioms
• A mathematician proposed that humans start with themseleves like geometry to deduce
• Used deduction and math
• Synthesizes new scientific methodology

Scientific Societies

• First appeared in Italy
• Those in England and France were significant
• English Royal Society evolved out of informal gatherings in London and Oxford
• Formally charted in 1642 and remained in Paris until 1666
• Created abundant state support
• English society little government encouragement
• The practical values where both were emphasized
• English created committers
• French collected tools in the interest of science

Science and Society Influence

• Importance is usually stated for modern western civilization
• New ways to exploit resources
• Some scientists made efforts to show how it could direct and apply to industrial needs
• Galileo for example consciously sought an alliance
• At the same time, for both wealth and reasons
• Princes were providing patronage for practical reasons for the military
• gunpowder given importance and ballistics
• Louis ensured that scientists are under his control

Science and Religion

• Mark the new era with the inquisitorial holy office and marked a split between them
• Trys to draw lines over science and religion
• Churches feel religion comes over scientific
• The Bible is needed to speech to the need to adapt
• The church used one scientific theory
• Tries to determine nature vs religious Pascal sought after science and people working together
• Humans are often failed even when reason are not