royal society Flashcards
when and who was the royal society formed by
the royal society was formed in 1660 by a group of natural philosophers including francis bacon and john locke
what was the impact that the royal society had on accepting francis bacons methods
the royal society wholeheartedly accepted francis bacons beliefs on empiricism meaning his work resonated with and had the ability to influence other thinkers.
describe the importance that the context of growing acceptance of rational beliefs had on the royal society
crucially, during this time period, science became a part of public consciousness and was greatly supported by charles II. therefore the society gave a boost to the increasing belief that humans could progress without divine assistance and religion.
explain how the royal society was important for publishing the work of key thinkers and how this enabled challenging ideas to reach the wider world
The Society helped publish the work of Isaac Newton and John Locke. It meant that there was an easier avenue for challenging ideas to get out into the wider world.
The Society established a reputation for genuinely pushing the boundaries of science.
limitations of the royal society: many of its members were interested in magical beliefs
despite the society’s focus on scientific experiments, some of its members were still interested in magical beliefs. furthermore, some if its members even tried to justify the existence of magic using empiricism. this suggests that the society commitment to the inductive method seemed to highlight some of its flaws.
The Society’s commitment to inductive reasoning seemed to highlight some of its flaws: summarise 3 of these.
It is too experimental.
ii. It never provides secure knowledge that is unchallengeable.
iii. Whenever the inductive method is used, an element of doubt can always exist when some observed facts cannot be explained.
CRITERIA for establishing how this factor will be judged against others
in order to assess the extent to which factors undermined witchcraft beliefs, they must be considered by the extent to which they gained attention, transformed ways of thinking and motivated scientific research
