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The Baroque Age II

Revolutions in Scientific and Political Thought

1600-1715

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The Emergence of Modern Thought

Scientific Revolution in astronomy/physics; “New Science” based on mathematics

“Scientific” Literature: Redefines purpose of human life/place in cosmos

Crisis of European Conscience: Mathematics, not divine will, guides universe

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The Context of Modern Thought

Reliance on ancient authoritiesAristotle

Ptolemy

Galen

Belief in degeneration of universeLoss of “Golden Age”/Eden made man and his intellect less capable than ancients

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The Context of Modern Thought

Great thinkers still “moving in the mind of God”

Kepler was fascinated by angelic presences in universe

Galileo saw himself as trying to understand the workings of the Divine Mind

Newton left 1.5 million words on religious matters, notably the prophecies of Daniel

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Theories of the Universe Before the Scientific Revolution

Geocentrism

Theory of “impetus”

Scientific Revolution established heliocentrism

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Geocentrism

Aristotelian cosmology, which place the earth at the center of the universe, commanded European thought for 2,000 years. While updated by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD and by various Muslim intellectuals, the basic framework was simply updated to reflect new planetary sightings. The church was attracted to this theory because its emphasis on change and decay in the sublunar world validated the doctrine of original sin.

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Impetus TheoryThe top illustration reflects the general opinion of projectile motion before Galileo. The theory was based on Aristotle's views of motion and held that a shot object (a cannon ball, for example) followed a straight line until it "lost its impetus," at which point it fell abruptly to the ground. Later, Galileo realized that projectiles actually follow a curved path, as this following illustration shows. Galileo said that projectile motion could be understood by analyzing the horizontal and vertical components separately. The fact the impetus theory was wrong is less important that the break in represented with Aristotelian thought.

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Heliocentrism

Move to sun-centered universe was not an overnight discovery/development

Results from combination of “magical” and practical modes of thought:

Empiricism

Neo-Platonism (harmony through numbers/ simplicity)

Technology (telescope/microscope)

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Nicolas CopernicusRevolutions of the Heavenly Bodies (1543) revived the theories of the Greek philosopher Aristarchus. The issue driving Copernicus to his theory was not mathematical, or even strictly observational; instead, it centered on the simplicity of explanation. Although he dedicated his book to Pope Paul III, the Church recognized the threat this theory posed to the place of man in the divine order and condemned the theory – a position the Roman Catholic Church clung to until 1822. Acceptance by the scientific community was not quick, either.

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Nicolas Copernicus

This diagram from 1576, shows the Copernican system well, with one exception. Copernicus believed that the universe was finite, while Thomas Digges here suggests that it is infinite, as shown by the stars lying outside the orbit of the fixed stars.

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Tycho BraheThe great Danish astronomer adopted a modified Copernicism based on his observations of planetary motion He proposed a system in which the Sun orbited the Earth while the other planets orbited the Sun. His system provided a safe position for astronomers who were dissatisfied with older models but were reluctant to accept the Earth's motion. It gained a considerable following after 1616 when Rome decided officially that the heliocentric model was contrary to both philosophy and Scripture, to be discussed only as a computational convenience. His system also offered a major innovation: He eliminated the idea of transparent rotating crystalline spheres to carry the planets in their orbits.

Johnnes KeplerAn assistant to Brahe, Kepler inherited Tycho’s detailed data at his death. He used this data to validate the heliocentric theory of the universe and to formulate his three laws of planetary motion:

(1) The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at a focus;

(2) A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time; and

(3) The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit. The constant of proportionality is the same for all planets.

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The Impact of Heliocentrism

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Change in man’s place in universe

Sense of “thrown-ness”/chance about universe (why here and not there?)

What is “really real” not available directly to senses…everything is open to question

Leads to Descartes…and modern, dualistic view of self

Note that in almost every branch of knowledge, thinkers are concerned with questions of motion/change and underlying stability/reality

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Galileo Galilei

A patient and brilliant experimenter, Galileo demonstrated that the size of the universe was much larger than that computed on Ptolemaic principles, that heavenly bodies were not perfectly formed, and that not all celestial bodies revolve around a common center. He also put the lie to the impetus model of the universe and developed the first expression of inertia. He ran afoul of the Inquisition in 1633, recanted, and died a broken man.

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Isaac Newton

Newton’s model of the universe – notably his law of universal gravitation as the force that held planets in their orbits -- decisively overturned the Ptolemaic picture of the universe. He refused, however, to speculate on why gravity operated, prompting some to call his a “mind without metaphysics.” He became, however, the world’s new Aristotle. As Alexander Pope put it:

Nature and Nature’s Laws lay hid by night;

God said, “Let Newton be!” and All was Light.

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Slice of Life:Innocent or Guilty? A Seventeenth-Century

Witch Trial

Suzanne Gaudry, Trial Court Records, June 1652

Suzanne Gaudry, an illiterate old woman, was accused of witchcraft. Questioned by the local court at Rieux, France, she confessed to some charges but later recanted. Because confession was necessary for conviction, she was subjected to torture, and once again confessed. She was then condemned and sentenced to be tied to a gallows, strangled to death, and to have her body burned.

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Medicine and Chemistry

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Andreas Vesalius

Vesalius, at the University of Padua, overcame not just the Church’s prohibition against dissection, but also the influence of Aristotle and Galen in both coming to a deeper understanding of human anatomy and in discovering the anatomical mechanism by which blood circulates through the body.

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William Harvey

Harvey, and Englishman also at the University of Padua, used mathematical calculation to prove that that a constant quantity of blood consistently circulated through the body, and correctly identified the role of the heart, lungs arteries, and veins in the process. He did not understand capillaries, however; their discovery had to wait for Marcello Malpighi, who identified these vessels with the aid of a microscope.

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Robert Boyle

Boyle, an English physicist, laid the groundwork for modern chemistry, though his emphasis on experiment and inductive reasoning. His study of the behavior of gasses led him to formulate Boyle’s Law, which states that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas. While his work has its roots in alchemy, he is generally considered the father of modern chemistry, and the first scientist to reject alchemy’s assumptions and methodology and favor of careful, mathematical analysis of reactions occurring in nature.

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Technology

Telescope

Microscope

Chronology

Weight-driven clock

Coil-spring clock

Pendulum clock

Calculus (Newton/Leibniz)

Technology is part of science from the outset

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Philosophy: Francis Bacon

Bacon’s works established an inductive methodology for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method or, simply, the scientific method. In the context of his time such methods were associated with the occult trends of hermeticism and alchemy. Nevertheless, his demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology.

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Philosophy: Rene Descartes

Descartes’ most important gifts to Western philosophy were (1) skepticism and (2) a dualistic method of knowledge distinguishing between the material world and the human soul or mind. Descartes would have been shocked to see how his beliefs led to atheism (radical doubt) and the death of the soul.

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Philosophy: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz

Arriving tw generations after N=Descartes, Lebnitz was the co-creator, with Newton, of the calculus and a diligent student of Christian theology. He moved philosophy from an inert notion of matter to one of an energetic universe…and moved from the body as inert matter to a “spiritualized” mass. In the process, he forces us to realize that the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing” is the one that counts, and that the implications of our answer are enormous

Philosophy: Blaise Pascal

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Pascal could be viewed as he first Christian existentialist. A Jansenist, Pascal went beyond Descartes’ skepticism to a position of universal unknowability, but recognized different levels of truth. He is known for (1) his wager on the existence of God and (2) his belief in the ability of the emotions to point to truths: “The heart has reasons that the reason does not know.”

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The Revolution in Political Philosophy

Political philosophy reflected political, economic, social, scientific, and religious changes

30 Years’ War, Wars of Louis XIV, English Civil War all drove reconsideration of sovereignty and government

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Natural Law and Divine Right:Grotius and Bossuet

Hugo Grotius drew on idea of Natural Law as expounded by Stoics: universal, eternal, unchanging law that is understandable by reason

Bishop Bossuet defended divine right of kings

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Absolutism and Liberalism:Hobbes and Locke

Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan) argued that absolutism, awarded through social contract, is a reasonable response to human drives: fear of death and urge for power

John Locke responded with Two Treatises of Government, which refuted the divine right of kings and laid out principles of government “by the people”

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European Exploration and Expansion

Permanent settlements in North and South America

Portugal and Spain

England, France, Netherlands

New trade routes to Far EastEnglish East India Company

Dutch East India Company

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Encounter:The Sinews of Trade

In 1616 Sir Thomas Roe, King James I’s ambassador, paid homage, with gifts, to Jahangir, or the Great Mogul, at his court in Agra, India. Roe, through his strong personality, patience, and palace intrigues, managed to gain a trade outlet, or “factory,” for the English trading business venture the East India Company at Surat on India’s west coast. This seemingly insignificant encounter linked together one of the richest and most powerful empires in the world and a small island kingdom whose futures would be intertwined until the mid-twentieth century.

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Responses to the Revolution in Thought

The Spread of IdeasScientific societiesConversations on the Plurality of WorldsHistorical and Critical Dictionary

Impact on the ArtsOrder and wholeness beneath wild profusionFeeling of infinite space in Baroque artAnalytical reasoning skills held in high esteem

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The Legacy of the Revolutions in Scientific and Political Thought

Scientific method

Skepticism

Political theoriesAuthoritarian tradition

Liberal tradition

Colonizing efforts: Slavery