Post on 10-May-2015
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
1
The Scientific Revolution and the Philosophical Response
Chapter 14
Pages 452-466
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
2
Objectives
I. Important Influences of the Enlightenment
II. The Scientific Revolution
III. Philosophy responds to Science
IV. The Age of Reason
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
3
I. Important Influences
A. The Renaissance
B. The Reformation
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
4
A. The Renaissance
• Rediscovery of Classical knowledge
• Humanism:– Secular– Self awareness– Study of Liberal arts
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
5
B. The Reformation
• Ends the monopoly of the Catholic Church.
• Huge explosion of new interpretations of the Bible.
• Demonstrates a challenge to authority.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
6
II. Scientific Revolution
A. Copernicus
B. Kepler
C. Galileo
D. Sir Isaac Newton
E. Conflict with the church.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
7
A. Copernicus
• Before Copernicus the Ptolemaic or geocentric view of the Universe dominated.– Accepted by Aristotle and
Ptolemy– The Church taught that God put
us at the center of the Universe.• Copernicus challenged this
view and argued for the heliocentric or sun centered view.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
8
Ptolemaic
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
9
The Church Position
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
10
The Heliocentric Model
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
11
B. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
• Continued work of Tycho Brahe (1536-1601).
• Proposed 3 laws of planetary motion.– Planets revolve around sun in
elliptical orbit.– Planets move more rapidly as they
approach sun.– Time to complete orbit varies with
distance.
• Development process of Scientific method.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
12
C. Galileo (1564-1642)
• He built a telescope and studied the heavens.
• His findings proved the Copernican model correct.
• This became a challenge to the church authority.
• He will be forced to recant and under house arrest the rest of his life.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
13
D. Sir Isaac Newton
• Sir Isaac Newton• World has natural laws
– Laws of Gravity and motion that unified the heavens and the earth
• The world has natural laws to explain it.
• Humans also have laws that govern them.
• We, as humans, can use reason to discover these laws.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
14
III. Philosophy responds to Science
A. Nature as Mechanism
B. Influence of Francis Bacon
C. Rene Descartes
D. Thomas Hobbes
E. John Locke
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
15
A. Nature as Mechanism
• Science can be used to explain the world– “It is a machine of natural parts, not divine”
Kepler– God may be a designer, but not actively
involved• Europeans looked at the world to discover
knowledge and understand nature, not to understand the divine.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
16
B. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
• Father of empiricism– Learning through
experience and perception
• Advocated learning– Leave the past (antiquity)– Discover new knowledge
• Knowledge should be useful to humanity
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
17
C. Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
• Mathematician– Analytical geometry– Mathematical models
• Believed God have given men reason– Man can use reason
to understand the world
– The power of Science
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
18
D. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
• Man is self interested• State of nature is war• Hobbes Social Contract:
– People needed to surrender liberty in order to maintain order and security
– Strong central authority is needed
– Without government life would short, nasty and brutish
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
19
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
20
E. John Locke. (1632-1704)
• Essay Concerning Human Understanding”– Knowledge is gained from
experience.– Man is Good– Rejected concept of
original sin.• Humans could improve
society through reason.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
21
John Locke
" Men (are) by nature all free, equal and independent. No one can be put out of his estate ( liberty and property) without his own consent. The only way whereby anyone divests himself of his natural liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men, to join and unite into a community for there comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst the other."
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
22
John Locke
• State of nature is freedom– Rejected absolutism– Advocated idea of Social Contract, but with
reason and limited authority• Advocated religious tolerance amongst
Christians• Huge impact on American political thought
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
23
IV. The Age of Reason
A. The Values
B. Long term impact
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
24
A. Values
• Reason– Philosophes viewed reason as the absence of
intolerance and bigotry.– Through reason society could be improved and true
happiness be found.
• Nature– Their were laws of nature for all things.– People could use reason to discover these laws.– These natural laws could be used to explain
economics, politics as well as motion.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
25
A. Values
• Happiness– People who live in a perfect state of nature will be
happy.– Rejected idea of misery on Earth as a ticket to
heaven.– Believed happiness could be achieved on earth.
• Progress– Society can be improved.– Science can improve society.– Understanding of Natural laws could improve society.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
26
A. Values
• Liberty– Restrictions on trade, religion and speech
were seen as harmful.– Through reason people could be set free.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
27
B. The Long Term Impact
• Emphasis on the studying nature.– Belief that Science can explain all?
• Scientific findings challenged the Authority of the Church.– Science conflicted with the Bible.– How can the Bible be wrong?– Conflict still continues today.– Evolution versus Creationism.
• Also challenge authority of oppressive governments• The role of Technology
– Our dependence on it.– It has completely changes our lives.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
28
With the Enlightenment:
• The State becomes the common bond holding society together.
• The scientist and the university educated scholar become the source of knowledge.
• Natural Law and Reason, rather than revelation or the decrees of the Church become the source of moral authority.
• In the methods of science, European’s believed they had found the source of truth.
• The Enlightenment is an attempt to find the laws of human society in the same way that Newton had found the laws of nature.
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
29
What we know…
• How did the Scientific Revolution challenge the way people saw the world?
• How were nature and reason so important to the Scientific Revolution.
• How did the Scientific Revolution influence the thinking of Locke and Hobbes?
04/11/2023
10.2 The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on political Thought
30
Terms
• Scientific Revolution
• Copernicus• Kepler• Galileo• Newton• Mechanism• Empiricism
• Bacon • Descartes• Hobbes• Locke