The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment

Toward a New Worldview

THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

Questioning old knowledge & assumptions

Rejection of religious authority and demystification of the universe

Gradual rise of science & reason

Scientists of this era differed from predecessors in combining mathematics and experiments

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASTRONOMY & PHYSICS

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS (1473-1543)Polish monkObserved patterns of star and planet movementCalled into question the literal truth of the ScripturesCopernicus waited until he was near death to publish his findings

JOHANNES KEPLER, (1571-1630):

Proved mathematically many of Copernicus’ theories

Developed idea of elliptical planetary movement

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASTRONOMY & PHYSICS

GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642) Italian scientist

Improved the telescope

Made observations that proved the Copernican theory of the universe

Described motion of bodies on earth

1633 -- Church forced Galileo to recant; placed under house arrest.

ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)

mathematician and physicist, one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time.

Universal Gravitation: combined laws of planetary & earth motion

new developments in optics and chemistry

developed calculus

work had numerous practical applications

THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

DISCOVERIES IN OTHER SCIENCES

Botany: new medical applications

Anatomy: better understand of how human body worked

Microscope invented

THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)

Inductive reasoning: working from particular to general conclusions

Developed scientific method

RENÉ DESCARTES (1596-1650)

Geometry: any algebraic formula could be plotted as curve in space

Deductive Reasoning: predicting particular results from general principles

Cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”)

Significance of the Scientific Revolution

Contributions of these scientists made the universe comprehensible for the first time

The individual became much more important; collective authority was not the source of wisdom…individual intellect was

Began long adversarial relationship between science and religion

The Revolution laid the foundation for the Enlightenment of the 18th century…

The EnlightenmentIntellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries…a product of the Scientific RevolutionKey principles of the Enlightenment:

Belief in human reasonBelief in the scientific methodProgress

Enlightenment ideals often came into conflict with religionBlossomed in 18th century France

Enlightenment Philosophers

POLITICAL THOUGHT

THOMAS HOBBES (1588-1679)

Negative view of human nature

Strong ruler necessary to control conflicting desires

Hobbe’s Leviathan

JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

Regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers

Believed that human nature is characterized by reason and tolerance.

His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau and the American revolutionaries

Many of his ideas are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights

Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

French social commentator and political thinker

explained how governments might be preserved from corruption through a separation of powers (different bodies exercised legislative, executive, and judicial power)

argued that all government bodies should be bound by the rule of law

theories of separation of powers and of checks and balances had an enormous impact on other political theorists and on the framers of the constitution of the United States

Voltaire, 1694 - 1778

one of France's greatest writers and philosophers

Imprisoned in the Bastille for writing a scathing satire of the French government

Later lived in exile in England, where he became interested in the philosophy of John Locke and ideas of mathematician and scientist, Sir Isaac Newton.

Wrote about importance of personal liberties, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion