Dutch Style

• Very different- influenced by Protestantism (specifically Calvinism) Quiet works expressed personal issues- like faith. No royal court, chief patrons were merchants (lots of portraits)

• Rembrandt Van Rijn: quintessential Dutch painter- used light/dark, detail and humanity in his portraits (including his own)

• Intention was to be dignified- not overwhelm.

• This was the golden age of Holland- and the art reflects their love of commerce and toleration for secular issues.

• Jan Vermeer: Domestic interior scenes

Literature

• Very much of its time- reflects the problems/issues of Europe between 1550-1648. Valued knowledge and education over brute strength of the warrior.

• There had been a big jump in literacy- more people had access to more information than ever before.

Michel de Montaigne• French noble- but he disapproved of noble mindset of war/sport over intellect..• Humanist- wanted to know himself, believed he had to

do that to live well.• Developed Essay as a writing style-expressing his

thoughts/ideas. A Skeptic: expressed doubts that total knowledge can ever be obtained.

• A break with the writers of the past- anticipated the thoughts of the enlightenment

Miguel de Cervantes• Spanish- very upset by what was going on in Spain

(Inquisition, forced expulsions/conversions) • Don Quixote- a satire that ridiculed the noble mindset

and showed gap between ideals and reality. Don Quixote himself sees only the ideal- doesn’t recognize the real world, Sancho sees only reality- doesn’t recognize ideal. Careful to avoid politics- but commented on cruelty and hypocrisy of humanity

William Shakespeare

• Elizabethan age was a golden age of British literature- esp. for drama (1st time since classical age where it has been a major art form)

• Shakespeare’s plays reflected the concerns of his age- the nature of power, the crisis of authority, and the rise of nationalism

• 3 major “types” of plays– Dramas like: Romeo and

Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth or King Lear

– Comedies like: The Tempest, A Midsummer Knight’s Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, or The Taming of the Shrew

– Histories like: Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Richard III, or Henry V

Scientific Revolution

• Growing humanistic/secular interest in world made people want to understand the world.

• Took knowledge and theories from classical age to new levels with direct observations. Believed in power of human reason, reinforced changes in world view from Renaissance and Reformation

Medieval View of the World• Science had been

governed by religion- science=theology.

• Aristotle (really smart- but often wrong) was the main expert- not allowed to dispute ideas which had been accepted by the church – like the earth is the center of the universe

Causes of the Scientific Revolution

• Medieval universities included “Natural philosophy” (science, math, astrology, physics) as a branch of study. So many rediscovered classical ideas were around- anxious to add on

• Navigational issues led to new needs and discoveries (esp. in astrology)

• Creating a new world view which will profoundly impact the world view of the 17th/18th century.

Astronomy

• 1st “modern” science- 1st to question and prove beliefs considered “infallible” wrong.

• Develop idea of working from empirical evidence- borrowed start from Muslims (Nasir-al-Din)

Nicholas Copernicus• 1473-1543• Polish monk commissioned by pope to revise the Julian

Calendar (based on work of Ptolemy) which said earth was the center of the universe. But Copernicus’s calculations showed the earth was moving.

• Wrote “On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres” which described his findings, but didn’t publish until dying, and didn’t LIKE that his work questioned doctrine. Freaked people out- even Luther and Calvin condemned

Tycho Brahe

• 1546-1601 Built a massive observatory and collected tons of data on universe. Cornerstone of knowledge for years- data backed Copernicus. Irony was that he began collecting data because he didn’t like idea of heliocentric theory

• Used the Copernican model to develop comprehensive more comprehensive theories about the solar system and universe overall

Geocentric vs. Heliocentric

• Geocentric: theory of Aristotle and Ptolemy (330 bc, 200 ad) – the earth is the center of the universe. Accepted by church- therefore infallible fact. (which was logical to a point- you can watch the sun move…and if God made the world, and gave it his son…..)

• Heliocentric: theory of Copernicus. The Sun and stars don’t move- planets move. Therefore the sun is the center of the universe. (don’t quite get whole universe thing yet) Freaky for people to think of themselves as one piece of an infinite- aren’t we special?

Johannes Kepler

• Discovered that planets move in ellipses. Published as a young man, got in plenty of hot water

• First protestant scientist. Proved Copernicus mathematically, developed 3 laws of planetary motion. (ellipses not constant speed, closer to sun the faster you go)

Galileo

• 1564-1642• Invented telescope for

astronomy in 1609. Confirmed Copernicus- and wrote for general audience- not just scientists- made idea widespread (wrote in Italian)

• Forced to recant- his book “the Starry Messenger” put on Index of Forbidden books

• Used newly developed scientific method to verify his work.

• Also studied gravity and laws of inertia (object in motion….)

Chemistry, Biology and Science

• Have defined elements or atoms yet- so that limits them, but still there are significant discoveries made.

• Gunpowder an important practical improvement (how to store more safely etc…)

Andreas Vesalius• Book “Structure of the

Human Body” (1543) renewed and modernized the study of anatomy. Found errors in Galen’s (ancient Greek) knowledge and corrected. Didn’t throw out old info- just improved

Anton Van Leuwenhoek

• 1632-1723• Father of microscopy-

developed 1st microscopes. 1st to see and write about bacteria, and see circulation in the capillaries

William Harvey

• 1578-1657• “on the movement of the heart and blood”

– first to suggest circulation and heart/lungs role in it.

Bacon and Descartes

• Both philosophical in approach- asking questions, and questioning “assumed” knowledge

Deductive v. Inductive

• Deductive: starts with an accepted truth and moved forward from there using assumptions/facts. Used by Greeks and Scholasticism. But science asked- what if base assumption is wrong?

• Inductive: does not start with assumption of truth- but finds truth after long process of experimentation. Modern Scientific Method

Francis Bacon

• 1561-1626.• Not actually a scientist- Lord

Chancellor of Eng. , but was interested in HOW to acquire knowledge. Wanted to start from scratch, abandon all preconceived ideas, look at world through new eyes.

• Inductive reasoning= empirical method.

• Didn’t get math…

• Confident that humans can understand the world, and when we understand we will be able to control it

Rene Descartes

• 1596-1650• Question old methods- doubt

everything- “systematic doubt” (I think therefore I am)

• Separation of mind and matter- Cartesian Dualism- they are 2 different things- detach and analyze. More deduction, with math serving as the starting truth.

• Criticized saying he encouraged atheism

• “Discourse on Method”- man should depend on logic alone. Start with clear (math facts), subdivide problem into as many parts as necessary until you can solve them

Science and Religion• Universities were still most commonly run by RC

church. Condemnation of Galileo etc… gave perception of church as “anti- science”- but it was really Reformation, if someone questions church doctrine they must be squashed before they cause problems. • And it did seem against common sense- the earth is

moving…..?• Scientists thought of themselves as studying God’s

creation, did not question God’s existence. Science/religion won’t really clash until Darwin

Scientific Societies

• By 1650 there were “clubs” being founded for groups of scientists to share/discuss ideas.

• England particularly strong in this area. Royal Society of London founded for improvement of natural knowledge 1660.

• Nationalism kept countries wanting to be on the cutting edge of knowledge

Consequences of the Scientific Revolution

• Improvements to technology• Spirit of experimentation that helped lead to

agricultural and Industrial Revolutions• Reduces witch hunts and superstition• Church reaction moves centers of science into

protestant territories (helps them grow more advanced and powerful)

• Leads the way for the Enlightenment