Download The Scientific Revolution

The Scientific Revolution
The Universe seen as a Mechanism
1543-1687
Mechanism
The re-discovery of Archimedes and his theories proposing that the natural
world operated on the basis of mechanical forces , like a great machine.
Aristotle
384-322 bc
• His views on
the cosmos
and physics
shaped
scientific
thought for a
thousand
years- turns
out he was
wrong!
From Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas
Aristole believed everything in motion had been
moved by another object that was itself in
motion- continuing a chain of movers.
By inference, this belief led back to some object or
being that began the motion - Aristotle’s
Unmoved Mover.
To Aquinas and the medieval Scholastics,
Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover was the God of
Christianity.
The Bible
Ptolemy
produced
The Almagest
(150 bc)
a handbook of
Greek astronomy
based on Aristotle:
The geocentric
theory
Galen a follower of
Aristotle was
the accepted
authority on
the human
body and its
ills - he too
was wrong!
From Galen’s medical text:
• As everyone knows, when food is digested it is
processed into chyle and turned into blood by
the liver. This blood then flows to the lungs
where it releases any impurities into the air.
Flowing from the lungs into the left ventricle of
the heart the blood then mixes with air and is
charged with animal spirit – where it changes
from dark purple to bright red. This charged
blood then passes through the arteries and
throughout the body...
Origins of the SciRev
• A revived interest in the natural world
• The re-discovery of ancient manuscripts
• Traditional authorities and theories were
being questioned
• The study of alchemy and astrology
• A general interest in technology – the
compass, gunpowder, optics and printing
Alchemy
astrology
Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473 – 1543)
• proposed the
heliocentric
theory in his
book “On the
Revolution of
Heavenly Orbs”
Johann Kepler
(1571 – 1630) –
Laws of planetary motion
• Planets move in
elliptical orbit
around the sun
• A planets’ velocity
varied according to
its distance from
the sun.
Galileo Galilei
(1564 – 1642)
• Using his telescope,
he concluded that
heavenly bodies
were not crystalline
or transparent
• Theory of Inertia –
things in motion stay
in motion unless
acted upon by
another force
Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727)
brought together all the previous
works in his masterpiece, The Principia and introduced the concept of gravity.
Sir Francis Bacon.
1591-1626
• Advanced
Empiricism (a.k.a.
inductive reasoning) in
his works:
Novum Organum, 1620
and
The Advancement of
Learning, 1623
• Rationalism
advocated by
Rene
Descartes
wrote The
Discourse on
the Method.
• “I think,
therefore I
am”
• These discoveries
helped the scientific
method develop. The
scientific method, a
new theory on how to
obtain and verify
knowledge, stressed
experience, reason,
and doubt and
rejected all
unsubstantiated
authority.
• Codified as a method by
Robert Boyle in 1661
Andreas Vesalius, The Structure of the Human Body, 1543
Anton von Leeuwenhoek- discovered bacteria,
also cell structure of tissue and blood
• 1628William
Harvey –
circulation of
the blood
1661 Robert Boyle- laws on gases
Positive effects of the Sci Rev
• Huge gains in knowledge - less
superstition and more scientific answers
…
• and freedom to deviate from established
theories, which opened the door for new,
further developments.
Negative effects of the Sci Rev
• loss of traditional faith,
• loss of faith in heaven, earth is no longer
regarded as the center (God’s pet project),
skepticism,
• loss of a belief in a personal/caring God.
• Overall, however, the SciRev was an era
of optimism that gave way to an Age of
Reason in the 18th century. People living
during the Sci Rev felt that they had
surpassed even the ancients and were at
the peak of human knowledge, and ideas
of progress dominated intellectual
discussions.
Any Questions?