THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Flashcards
Between when is the scientific revolution said to have occurred?
Nicolaus Copernicus “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium” 1543
Isaac Newton “Principia” 1687
Who invented the term ‘scientific revolution’?
Henry Butterfield
“The Origins of Modern Science 1300-1800” 1948
The scientific revolution was a puritan / protestant movement in Britain.
Give some quotes from Butterfield about the Scientific Revolution?
‘It ended not only in the eclipse of scholastic philosophy but in the destruction of Aristotelian physics’.
‘It outshines everything since the rise of Christianity and reduce the Renaissance and Reformation to the rank of mere episodes’.
‘We allowed the art historians and philologists to make us think that this thing which we called the modern world was the product of the Renaissance’.
What examples display Britain’s post-war emphasis on science?
Festival of Britain 1951
Dome of Discovery.
How has the Scientific Revolution been written about since the 1980s?
Cultural History of Science
Peter Dear “Revolutionising the Sciences” 2009
Focus on how knowledge is produced and disseminated
Shaped by New World discovery
Science not outside of culture
Who writes about Galileo?
Mario Biagioli “Galileo, courtier” 1993
No longer a genius, he is looking for an advantage as he wants to impress the Duke.
Describe the Aristotelian cosmos?
Aristotle 384 BC- 322 BC
At the centre of the universe is the earth.
Earth consists of fire, air, water and earth.
These elements can be placed into 2 pairs (hot/cold, wet/dry.
Around the earth there are planets and stars in concentric circles.
Under the moon is the sub-lunar sphere which holds corruption.
Above the moon is the unchanging celestial region in which God reigns.
What is natural philosophy?
Physics.
Systematic knowledge of all aspects of the the physicals world including livings things.
Believed to be God’s creation.
What is scholasticism?
Collecting and cataloging the wonders of God’s creation.
Explain why God created the world the way He did.
Deductive method.
What is syllogism?
Central technical device used at university during Middle Ages and early modern period.
Devised from Aristotelian logic.
Major premise, minor premise, conclusion.
All As are B, C is A, therefore C is B.
What is science in scholastic understanding?
Demonstrating a conclusion from premises that are accepted as true.
Conclusions are certain as long as deduced correctly from starting points which were themselves true.
What is experience in scholasticism?
Knowledge gained by someone who had perceived the same thing countless times so as to become familiar with it.
Interpretation of ancient writing.
Beyond sense perception to philosophical discussion.
