LECTURE 15 SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Flashcards
What was the epitome of the scientific revolution?
Galileo’s trial 1633
What was the Scientific Revolution?
A coherent series of episodes belonging to the same great event.]
It was an abrupt, revolutionary break that was pioneered by ’great men’ who were ‘ahead of their time’
There was no single revolution.
What did these Great Men do?
Resisted conservative forces, especially the church.
What was ‘science’ before the 19thc?
Science was simply knowledge that was properly funded
‘Scientia’ is Latin for knowledge.
When were scientists considered a reality?
There were no ‘scientists’ until 19thc
There was just knowledge ‘Scientia’ of nature –natural philosophy which was well established before 16th c
What were ideas on the cosmos?
It was a system of thought.
Cosmos – closed, finite and hierarchical and divided into terrestrial/celestials.
These two parts of the cosmos obeyed different physical laws.
The celestial realm was perfect and unchanging, whereas the terrestrial was characterised
by change and decay
Everything in the terrestrial part of the cosmos could be described by four qualities which had a place in the cosmos.
Where did the wisdom of terrestrial/ celestial come from?
It was inherited by the ancient Greeks and so it warranted respect because it from Aristotle.
It also supported wider assumptions of the world.
The ‘great chain of being’ system stated every existing thing in the universe had its “place” in a divinely planned hierarchical order. It explained common-sense experiences such as rising of the sun or the falling of objects[teleology].
Were these ideas of terrestrial/celestial supported?
Yes, they were supported institutionally
Explain rediscoveries about nature in EU?
Europeans discover a new world.
The expansion of natural history.
What did Copernicus do? And Galileo? And Ficino?
Copernicus ‘rediscovery’ of heliocentricism. He sees himself as restoring lost ancient knowledge.
‘On the revolutions of the heavenly bodies’, 1543
Galileo subverted the traditional subservience of astronomy to natural philosophy.
The Occult tradition began to dwindle in the Renaissance.
Neoplatonism an alternative to Aristotelian natural philosophy. Reintroduced through Ficino’s translations.
Heiser - the introduction of Neoplatonism/ hermetic teachings into Roman Catholic doctrine was a form of ‘hermetic reformation’.
What work was by Francis Bacon?
‘The Great Instauration’
What were Bacon’s beliefs on the role of evidence?
He believed in the idea that by increasing knowledge through experiment man is capable also of extending his/herdominion over nature
A new world of knowledge
Believed in empiricism – collect numerous examples of how nature works then build a theory, empiricist evidence makes the theory.
The experimental method; nature on trials.
What were tensions of Bacon’s idea of Induction?
There were tensions between Baconian induction and Cartesian deduction over the role of experiments.
Were there any religious tensions?
Yes.
Aristotle/paracelsianism suggested matter was inert therefore God is distinct from his creations.
Recognized that nature isdistinctfrom the forces emanating directly fromGod.
