Week 4 - The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment Flashcards
the modern experience that characterizes future periods of the course, specifically the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, is defined by:
- the widespread development and spread of industrial machinery.
- the professionalization of engineering.
- the invention of the combustion-powered engine.
- the mastery of atomic energy (which begins during the Enlightenment).
- the development of a mass global and national communications and media systems.
Hallmarks of Scientific Revolution
- natural philosophy and Aristotelian logic challenged, resulting in new models of the universe and motion
- an ethos of cooperation and professionalism between scientists.
- new and more predictable methods of science and experimentation.
- new understandings of evidence and proof in experimentation.
- the emergence of ideas that science could improve the state economy.
- the emergence of scientific academies, professional organizations, and codes of conduct and ethics in these institutions.
- increased efforts to separate science and religion.
- the recognition of scientists as experts.
Identify the timeline of the Scientific Revolution and the key developments associated with this period, including new models of the universe and the shift to a heliocentric model of planetary motion.
- mid 1500s to 1700
- Nicolas Copernicus - went to school around 1500 to be a humanist, proposed heliocentricism in De Rev prior to death in 1543
- 1572 - Tycho Brahe spotted new star and comet in 1577 showing universe was not immutably perfect
- Johannes Kepler - law of planetary motion in early 17th century stated orbits were elliptical, not circular
- Galileo - invented thermometer, early telescope, 1st to observe moons of Jupiter and understand that the milky way was a collection of stars, telescope observed irregular spots on sun. Went to Rome in 1615 to teach Clergy about heliocentricism, but condemned in 1616. Published Dialogue in 1632 which described Ptolemaic system and Copernican system. Found guilty of heresy in 1636 and forced to recant
- these scientists used experimentation and mathematical calculation to confirm/refute hypotheses, and this scientific method was revolutionary
- William Harvey - English medical doctor who determined heart was a pump based on dissections
- Francis Bacon (1571-1626) - propogandized that people using old models of the universe were useless ancients, Bacon laid out new scientific method in “The Advancement of Learning” called inductive reasoning
- Rene Descartes (1569-1650) - reason was made for verification, thinking on your own was crucial - “I think therefore I am” - developed deductive reasoning
- Garcia de Oata - traveled to India to study aloe, cannabis, coconut,and ginger - 1563 published Converstations on the Simples, Drugs, and Medicinal Substances of India
- Royal Society of London - “republic of letters” communication
- by 1700, Europe had moved away from concepts proposed by Ptolemy and Aristotle
Identify and recognize the limits of the Scientific Revolution for average folks.
- majority of people in the world didn’t know Scientific Revolution was starting when De Rev appeared
- so called “battles” about scientific ideas took place in universities or suggested in books that most people could not read
Identify the conflict between religion and science in during the Scientific Revolution
As Ede & Cormack (2012) argue, the Scientific Revolution ended the Renaissance period. It marked a significant shift in thinking. While the Islamic and Italian Renaissance were marked by relative cooperation between natural philosophy and religion, the Scientific Revolution was a period of increased tension between religion and the rapidly evolving ideas of science during this period.
- positioned as a break in Europe between religious view of knowledge and secular one
- Catholic Church taught that Earth was centre of universe, any other understanding of the universe was thus a challenge to God’s eternal perfection
Identify why Ede & Cormack (2012) argue that the Scientific Revolution was ‘contested territory.’
- “different sciences undergo revolutions when scientists gather enough data that they can’t explain using their current paradigm, or unstated, world-organizing theory about how the universe works” - Thomas Kuhn
- can argue it started with Copernicus or Nicole Oresme (argued heliocentricism and scooped galileo on physics of falling object)
- Oreme’s works could have started a scientific revolution but were not very popularized/deemed important
- Aristarchus also proposed heliocentric model 100 years after Aristotle’s death
- Copernicus’ De Rev was not an open challenge to popular thoughts about geocentricism, and he was part of the church
- concept of scientific revolution comes from 20th century
- idea of different scientific revolutions happening at different times (I.e. India and Mesoamerica) more accurate
Ede and Cormack
- “We
argue that there was a transformation in the investigation of the natural world,
in which new ideas, methods, actors, aims, and ideologies vied with one another
for a newly secularized role in the developing nation-states. is, indeed, was a
scientific revolution.” p.129
- By the end of the seventeenth century many aspects of modern science had been
established. Philosophers of this period of scientific revolution had wrestled with
questions of epistemology at the beginning of the century and decided on a behav-
ioural model of truth-telling by the end. Some of these thinkers developed new
ideas, theories, and experimental discoveries, setting in place a series of research
programs for the coming century. ey had also introduced a new methodology
of science, which included the mathematization of nature and a new confidence
in, and reliance on, experimentation. New secular scientific institutions sprang
up; with them came an articulation of the utility of their knowledge to the state
and the economy. Finally, the domination of natural philosophical enquiry by
secular gentlemen from the leisured classes ensured a code of behaviour that was
gendered and class-based. ese ingredients led to a new scientific culture that
rapidly assumed a recognizably modern face. All these changes together constituted
a scientific revolution
Summarize and describe the role that women played in developments of science and technology in the Scientific Revolution.
Identify and recognize the ways in which women faced possibility and restriction during the Scientific Revolution
- The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw restrictions
on women’s sphere in science as in much else.
Such restriction came from a general change in attitude to a gendered nature
and from changing theories about women’s role in society and in reproduction. p.158
Identify and recognize the significance of Maria Merian and Maria Winkelmann during the Scientific Revolution
- We can trace this change in attitude toward women as natural philosophers
through the careers of two scientists: Maria Merian (–) and Maria
Winkelmann (–). eir careers demonstrate, on the one hand, the possi-
bility of women’s involvement in natural inquiry and, on the other, the restrictions to
their participation through the creation of the new institutions of scientic societies. - Maria Merian - became a renowned insect and plant illustrator, publishing
well-received and beautifully engraved books. In the city of Amsterdam spon-
sored her travels to Surinam, where she observed and recorded many new plants
and animals. On her return she created a bestselling book of these ndings, which
was published postumously - Maria Winkelmann was both the daughter and then wife of astronomers (she
married Gottfried Kirch in ) and worked with both her father and husband on
telescopic observations in Berlin. In Winkelmann independently discovered a
comet and published her ndings. Clearly, she was a full participant in her chosen
scientic eld, but after Kirch’s death in her status fell sharply. e Royal
Academy of Sciences in Berlin refused to allow her to continue in her husband’s
position as ocial astronomer to the Academy, eventually appointing her less
capable son instead. Even Leibniz’s support was insucient to help her maintain
her position; the Academy was unwilling to set a precedent by allowing a woman
to hold such an important job.
Identify Isaac Newton and recognize his central contribution to scientific ideas during the Scientific Revolution.
- 1642-1727
- studied alchemy - Philosopher’s stone
- compiled predecessor’s findings on mathematical laws for the functioning of the universe
- quantified major concepts of mass, inertia, force, velocity, acceleration, law of gravitation - 1687 Principia Methematica
Identify and recognize the central developments of the Enlightenment, including universal truth and progress.
Recognize the aspects of popularized of science during the Enlightenment, including the development of classification systems, new systems of measurement, scientific studies of earth, and scientific expeditions.
- began around the turn of the 18th century (1700s- onward) and stretched to the 19the century (approximately 1900s)
- Montesque (1689-1755) - Persian Letters - Uzbeks shocked by European societies
- Voltaire - distaste for aristocratic society got him sent to Bastille prison, Candide
- Jean Jaques Rousseau - education reforms, Emile - book that described a boy who grows up in the countryside, promoted middle class values (i.e. hard work, practicality, domesticity)
- David Hume (1711-1776) promoted reason above religion
- Deists - argued God existed but didn’t have influence on all aspects of existence
Identify the significance of Diderot’s Encyclopédie to the Enlightenment.
- new text that provided discussion on topics such as natural rights and status of women
- “All things must be examined, debated, investigated, without exception and without regard for one’s feelings”
- favoured social and political reforms
- contained technical drawings of machinery for mining, spur to inventiveness
Identify the significance and timeline of the observation of the Transit of Venus during the Enlightenment.
Identify and recognize the significance of salon culture to the Enlightenment.
- discussions of science become fashionable and a salon, or coffee shop, culture of scientific discussion becomes popular in urban areas
- wealthy women in Europe instituted enlightenment salon, regular get together to learn about the latest idea/book, meet philosophe
Identify and recognize the ways in which the Enlightenment applied ideas of truth and progress to issues of society and governance.
- As the American Revolution (1775 - 1783) and the French Revolution (1789 - 1799) each highlighted, efforts to revolt against structures of the past by questioning taken for granted truths took place all levels of human society, including the efforts to apply reasoned thinking and the scientific method to governance.
- Enlightenment thinkers worked to celebrate reason to create universal progress and discover fundamental universal truths, for example laws of motion, by applying a ‘clear light’ of reason to rid the world of superstition. Rational humanity was elevated as a central goal of the Enlightenment, including the pursuit of knowledge, freedom, and happiness.
