Scientific Revolution Unit 8: Enlightened Europe

Can Science and Religion Coexist?

• How has science come into conflict with religion today? ▫ Choosing Sex of a child. ▫ Evolution ▫ Birth Control and Abortion ▫ Life Support ▫ Stem Cell Research

What does the Word Revolution mean? • Dramatic Change • Examples ▫ American Revolution ▫ Islamic Revolution ▫ Industrial Revolution ▫ Digital Revolution ▫ Green Revolution

Unit 8: Europe

Pre Scientific Revolution Thought Process: Before 1500’s

• Greek, Roman, and Bible philosophers rule the day ▫ Earth is the center of the

universe ▫ Everything revolves around

the Earth in a Perfectly circular orbit Aristotle (4th C, BC) -

Geocentric Theory ▫ Christianity : God

DELIBERATELY placed Earth at center of the universe

The Scientific Revolution • Mid-1500’s • What leads to change? ▫ Scientific Method ▫ Careful observation ▫ A willingness to question

accepted beliefs ▫ Exploration (Africa, Asia &

America) ▫ Renaissance Era Realism

▫ Study of the Natural World ▫ Printing Press

• And so begins --- THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION!

Heliocentric Theory • Nicolas Copernicus (1473 – 1543) ▫ Heliocentric model (1530) Sun is the center of the

universe !! ▫ Afraid to publish findings – it

contradicts the church’s views ▫ 1543 (shortly before dying)

publishes book ▫ Book is widely ignored by most -

---- EXCEPT other scientists

Heliocentric Theory • Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) ▫ (1601) mathematically concludes that the planets revolve

around the sun in an ELLIPTICAL (not circular) orbit!

Heliocentric Theory • Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) ▫ Produced book in 1632: “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” ------ Presented both Aristotle & Copernicus’ views Supported Copernicus !! Moon NOT made of crystal – made of rock with craters If the Church is wrong about the nature of the universe,

what else could it be wrong about? ▫ HERESY! (contradicting the teachings of the Church) Thrown in Jail by the Pope Under threat of torture he renounced his views (Catholic Church FINALLY officially

acknowledged he was right in 1992 !)

Scientific Method: A logical procedure for gathering and testing ideas • BEGINS WITH -- a problem/question arising from an

observation • Next -- a hypothesis (unproven assumption) is formed • Then -- hypothesis is tested in an experiment • Then -- results are analyzed and the data is interpreted • Finally -- a conclusion is reached

• The conclusion either confirms or disproves the

hypothesis

WE SHALL OVERCOME! • Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626) • scientist & artist ▫ Empiricism Don’t rely on previously accepted views Experiment!!

• Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) • mathematician ▫ Analytical Geometry (links algebra &

geometry) ▫ Relied on math & logic over

experimentation ▫ The only thing he knew for certain was that

he existed “I think therefore I Am!” (Cogito Ergo

Sum)

WE SHALL OVERCOME! • Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) • math & physics ▫ Natural Laws Same force ruled all

planets as well as all matter on Earth

Universal Gravitation Degree of attraction

depends on the mass of the objects + distance between them

• Invented calculus to provide mathematical proof for the force of gravity

WE SHALL OVERCOME! • Important inventions ▫ Zaharias Janssen- Microscope ▫ Gabriel Fahrenheit - Mercury

thermometer ▫ Anders Celsius – Another scale for

the thermometer

• Advances in Medicine ▫ Andreas Vesalius - dissected

human corpses & published findings

▫ Edward Jenner- World’s first vaccination for small pox

Pre-Enlightenment Governments: Before 1500’s • Absolutism: Monarch has total

power to rule because it was believed they were: ▫ A descendant of God ▫ Has power given from God

• THEREFORE -- Divine Right

Philosophers “use” the Scientific Revolution

• Philosophers question long held assumptions about gov’t

• This leads to challenging the status quo

• This leads to changes! • This era is called • THE ENLIGHTENMENT

---- or ---- THE AGE OF REASON

• Secular Outlook – relies on reason & intellect, NOT communication with God

Thomas Hobbes • English Mathematician (1588 – 1679) • Influential Events/People ▫ Galileo ▫ English Civil War (& its horrors)

• Views on Humanity ▫ Humans are naturally selfish & wicked ▫ Violently compete to survive

• Leviathan (sea monster) ▫ Philosophy on Gov’t ▫ Need a strong and powerful sovereign ▫ Otherwise “War … of every man against every man” ▫ Life is “solitary, nasty, poor, brutish, and short.”

• Humans NEED a “Social Contract”: ▫ Give up power to an absolute monarch who demanded obedience ▫ Gain law & order ▫ Safety from those around them.

John Locke (1632 – 1704)

• English Philosopher • Influential Person/Event ▫ Issac Newton ▫ Glorious Revolution (overthrow of King James II

• Humanity: Tabula Rasa ▫ The theory that at birth the human mind is a "blank slate"

without rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences.

John Locke • Published: Two Treatises of Government • The First Treatise attacks Patriarchalism ▫ The political theory that defended the concept of absolute power

for the monarchy, ie, an emphasizes on the "paternal" power of the king over the state and his subjects

• The Second Treatise outlined his ideas for a more civilized society based on ▫ Natural Rights Life, Liberty, Property Purpose of gov’t is to protect these

▫ Social Contract People and Gov’t If contract is violated --- then gov’t can be overthrown

Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) • Great American Enlightenment thinker ▫ Built on the ideas of others, as well as used his own, when he

wrote the Declaration of Independence When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Unit 8: Enlightened Europe

Enlightenment Spreads

• The Enlightenment reaches its height in mid-1700s France

• Social critics discussed politics & ideas ▫ Known as: Philosophes ▫ The Five Concepts of their beliefs: 1. REASON: truth can be discovered via logical thinking 2. NATURE: natural was good & reasonable 3. HAPPINESS: rejected medieval notion that joy was to be found in the hereafter …. urged people to seek it while on Earth 4. PROGRESS: stressed that society & humankind could improve 5. LIBERTY: called for the liberties that the English had won in their Glorious Revolution & Bill of Rights

Enlightenment Spreads • Philosophes ▫ Writers, published ideas on

government ▫ Books, plays, pamphlets

• Diderot ▫ Publishes the first

Encyclopedia ▫ Why is this important?

• Salons ▫ Large social gatherings ▫ Talked about society

Francois Marie Arouet (1694-1778) • Pen name = Voltaire • Possibly the most brilliant & influential of the

philosophes • Published 70+ books on politics, philosophy &

drama • Used Satire

• Irony, sarcasm, and wit to attack folly, vice, or stupidity

• Sent to jail twice / exiled to England • Fought against intolerance • “Letters on the English” – Compared England

to France • “I do not agree with a word you say but

I will defend to death your right to say it!”

The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) • Studied theories of political liberty • Spirit of the Law (1748) • Described ideal government ▫ Checks and balances Legislative Executive Judicial

▫ Influenced framers of U.S. constitution

Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778 • Committed to individual freedom • The Social Contract (1762) • Nature vs. Nurture ▫ People are born good ▫ Civilization corrupts people’s natural goodness

• Popular Sovereignty ▫ Laws and wise government must be created by

and subject to the will of the people --- a direct democracy

▫ Under this gov’t , people agree to give up some of their freedom in favor of the common good

HOBBES: social contract between a society & its gov’t ROUSSEAU: social contract is an agreement between free individuals to create a society & a gov’t

The Enlightenment and Women • Did Philosophers push women’s rights? ▫ No ▫ Tradition view of women ▫ Education: how to be good wife & mother ▫ Reading encouraged idleness / wickedness

• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 – 1797) ▫ A Vindication of Rights of Women (1792) ▫ Women NEED education to become

virtuous & useful ▫ Encouraged women to enter male

dominated fields medicine and politics ▫ "If all men are born free, how is it

that all women are born slaves?"

Legacy of the Enlightenment 1. Belief in progress Growth of scientific knowledge

2. A more secular outlook ▫ “God’s works” now explained by math & science

3. Importance of the individual

VIDEO: Enlightenment Philospophers