REVIEW SHEET - FIRST TEST



Disclaimer - these notes form only a part of the material for which you are responsible on tests and quizzes. I will augment the notes with additional information when I go over them in class. In addition, you MUST read the assigned material from the textbook as well as the required supplementary readings.

The Scientific Revolution (1500 to 1700)

origins

* can seen as part of the Renaissance - think of Da Vinci

* the Renaissance stimulated science

- by rediscovering ancient mathematics and supporting scientific investigations

- by challenging traditional sources of authority

* by 1300 philosophy was an established discipline at medieval universities (in addition to law, medicine and theology) and within those philosophy depts new professorships of mathematics, astronomy and physics (which they called natural philosophy) were being established

* major scientific figures either studied or taught at universities

* What did science mean to the scientific revolutionaries? One of the problems inherent in this question is that the revolutionaries rarely used the word science. Instead, they talked and wrote about natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature.

* geocentric model (Ptolemaic or Aristotelian system - motionless earth fixed at the center of the universe; around the earth moved ten crystal spheres, and beyond the spheres was heaven.)

* the navigational problems of sea voyages generated scientific research and new instruments

* thanks to the reformation, science could go on in other countries when Catholic hierarchy opposed it

scientists and discoveries

* Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Vesalius. Harvey, van Leeuwenhoek, Bacon, Descartes, Newton

* the Copernican hypothesis

- Copernicus, a Polish clergyman and astronomer, claimed that the earth revolved around the sun and that the sun was the center of the universe.

- this heliocentric theory was a departure from medieval thought and created doubts about traditional Christianity.

* from Brahe and Kepler

- Brahe set the stage for the modern study of astronomy by building an observatory and collecting data.

- his assistant, Kepler, formulated three laws of planetary motion that proved the precise relationships among planets in a sun centered universe.

* Galileo discovered the laws of motion using the experimental method--the cornerstone of modern science.

- he also applied the experimental method to astronomy, using the newly invented telescope.

- Galileo was tried by the Inquisition for heresy in 1633 and forced to recant his views.

* Newton's synthesis

- in his famous book, Principia (1687), Newton integrated the astronomy of Copernicus and Kepler with the physics of Galileo.

- he formulated a set of mathematical laws to explain motion and mechanics.

- the key feature in his synthesis was the law of universal gravitation.

- henceforth, the universe could be explained through mathematics.

popularization of science

* patronage (Cosimo II de Medici was a patron of Galileo, who unveiled his discoveries at the court of the Medici)

* herbariums and small observatories were added to country estates; the Medici attended star gazing parties hosted by Galileo

* allure of science - after first causing doubt by challenging ancient assumptions, science offered a promise of certainty that was not to be found anywhere else in an age of crisis

* Francis Bacon as propagandist - wrote New Atlantis in 1627 which portrayed science as the savior of the human race

* math books for merchants and businessmen date back to 1400s Italy

* accessible works on math and science were available by the 1500s for professions such as navigators and agriculturalists

* printing press increased availability of almanacs and cheap medical manuals and books of secrets

* one of the most popular genres in early modern science publishing, "books of secrets" began to be published in the mid-sixteenth century. These popular works contained hundreds of medical recipes, household hints, and technical recipes on metallurgy, alchemy, dyeing, and the making of perfume, oil, incense, and cosmetics. The books of secrets supplied a great deal of practical information to an emerging new middle-class readership, leading some historians to link them with the emerging secularist values of the early modern period.... the books of secrets popularized the emerging experimental method and attitudes to the lay public.

* the new developments of the Scientific Revolution affected political thought: if the universe could be understood by men, then so too could society and government (Hobbes)

* the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century encouraged new confidence in human abilities and was one of the key developments in the evolution of Western society.

scientific institutions

* why did govts supports science?

- needed highly trained people to contribute to exploration, infrastructure, military endeavors

- prestige/status

- monarch's use of the arts and sciences to promote national and personal interests

* royal societies and academies

- Royal Society founded in England (1662) to promote scientific research

- Royal Academy of Science, France (1666)

- scientific societies created a means by which scientists could communicate with each

other internationally; this helped forge an international scientific community

scientific method

* Descartes - stressed mathematics and deductive reasoning from self-evident principles

- "I think, therefore I am."

* Bacon advocated empirical, experimental research (inductive reasoning)

* The modern scientific method is based on a synthesis of Bacon’s inductive method and Descartes’ deductive method

* deductive ("top down") - moves from the general to the specific

* inductive ("bottom up") - moves from the specific to the general

* example -

Adam: "I've noticed previously that every time I kick a ball up, it comes back down, so I guess this next time when I kick it up, it will come back down, too."

Rick: "That's Newton's Law. Everything that goes up must come down. And so, if you kick the ball up, it must come down."

Adam is using inductive reasoning, arguing from observation, while Rick is using deductive reasoning, arguing from the law of gravity. Rick's argument is from the general (the law of gravity) to the specific (this kick); Adam's argument is from the specific (each individual instance in which he has observed balls being kicked up and coming back down) to the general (the prediction that a similar event will result in a similar outcome in the future)

all of the above material [16, pp.458-471]

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Essay questions

impact of scientific revolution on European thought and culture

* note to student - become conversant with specific scientists from the scientific revolution

* conflict with church (Galileo)

* end of geocentric model

* demonstrated fallibility of church doctrine

* Descartes and Newton established a new scientific practice that would generate knowledge not from established authorities but from careful experimentation, observation, and formulation of new mathematically descriptions of the natural world

* led to the Enlightenment.

* contributed to exploration

* spirit of experimentation contributed to agricultural rev of 1700s

* Catholic church hostile to science, so that protestant countries, esp England, became leaders of the sci rev

* universe as a self-regulating mechanism (Newton) - led to deism in Age of Enlightenment (deism more of a philosophy than a religion)

* empiricism as a model for inquiry

* confirmation of the power and value of reason]

* less superstition, end of witch trials

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