the scientific revolution. life before scientific revolution after the scientific revolution world...
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The Scientific Revolution
Life Before Scientific Revolution
After the Scientific Revolution
World of the PeasantryOld World DemographicsEvents that had an impact
on Western Culture Slavery Consumerism Agricultural Innovation Urbanization Arts Religion
Great Chain of Being
Heliocentric Universe
CopernicusGalileoFrancis BaconRene DescartesIsaac Newton
Outline
The World of the Peasantry
Death is everywhere and unpredictable
Cyclical, Seasonal
Ever present spirit world
The world is big and slow
Demographics
1 out of 2 die before their 10th birthday
Average life expectancy = 36 years old
Infanticide rampant
Population of Europe around 100 million; Paris = London = Venice = Rome =
Cultural Changes
Slavery and RacismThe “Consumer Revolution”The “Agricultural Revolution”
4 new methods increase food supply
Cultural Changes
Urbanization and Social Structure Signs of class
The Arts
Religion
The Great Chain of Being
GodAngels (Heavenly Host)Man, Human BeingsAnimalsPlantsMetalsMud, etc.
Before the Scientific Revolution
Cosmology ordered in relationship to God and Man
The design of the universe was seen as sign of God’s perfection
Geocentric (Ptolemy)Humans in the middle of the cosmos
Origins
Scientific Revolution =break with the Middle ages Medieval art and scientific advancements Renaissance Humanism Voyages of Discovery
Heliocentrism
1512: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
1610: Galileo (1564-1642)
Nicolaus Copernicus
To Pope Paul III I can easily conceive, most Holy Father, that as soon as some people learn
that in this book which I have written concerning the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, I ascribe certain motions to the Earth, they will cry out at once that I and my theory should be rejected. For I am not so much in love with my conclusions as not to weigh what others will think about them, and although I know that the meditations of a philosopher are far removed from the judgment of the laity, because his endeavor is to seek out the truth in all things, so far as this is permitted by God to the human reason, I still believe that one must avoid theories altogether foreign to orthodoxy. Accordingly, when I consider in my own mind how absurd a performance it must seem to those who know that the judgment of many centuries has approved the view that the Earth remains fixed as center in the midst of the heavens, if I should on the contrary, assert that the Earth moves; I was for a long time at a loss to know whether I should publish the commentaries which I have written in proof of its motion, or whether it were not better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and of some others, who were accustomed to test the secrets of Philosophy not in writing but orally, and only to their relatives and friends, as the letter from Lysis to Hipparchus bears witness.
Dedication from The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies
Galileo The Crime of Galileo:
Indictment and Abjuration of 1633
Whereas you, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzio Galilei, of Florence, aged seventy years, were denounced in 1615, to this Holy Office, for holding as true a false doctrine taught by many, namely, that the sun is immovable in the center of the world, and that the earth moves, and also with a diurnal motion; also, for having pupils whom you instructed in the same opinions; also, for maintaining a correspondence on the same with some German mathematicians; also for publishing certain letters on the sun-spots, in which you developed the same doctrine as true; also, for answering the objections which were continually produced from the Holy Scriptures, by glozing the said Scriptures according to your own meaning; and whereas thereupon was produced the copy of a writing, in form of a letter professedly written by you to a person formerly your pupil, in which, following the hypothesis of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scriptures; therefore (this Holy Tribunal being desirous of providing against the disorder and mischief which were thence proceeding and increasing to the detriment of the Holy Faith) by the desire of his Holiness and the Most Emminent Lords, Cardinals of this supreme and universal Inquisition, the two propositions of the stability of the sun, and the motion of the earth, were qualified by the Theological Qualifiers as follows: The proposition that the sun is in the center of the world and immovable from its place is
absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures.
The proposition that the earth is not the center of the world, nor immovable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal action, is also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, at least erroneous in faith.
Galileo
Therefore . . . , invoking the most holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His Most Glorious Mother Mary, We pronounce this Our final sentence: We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo . . . have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures) that the sun is the center of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world; also, that an opinion can be held and supported as probable, after it has been declared and finally decreed contrary to the Holy Scripture, and, consequently, that you have incurred all the censures and penalties enjoined and promulgated in the sacred canons and other general and particular constituents against delinquents of this description. From which it is Our pleasure that you be absolved, provided that with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, in Our presence, you abjure, curse, and detest, the said error and heresies, and every other error and heresy contrary to the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome.
The Crime of Galileo: Indictment and Abjuration of 1633
Francis Bacon, 1561-1626
“knowledge is power”Lawyer, Member of
Parliamentauthority of ancients should
not constrain modern thinkers
Francis Bacon and Empiricism
Empiricism, or inductive investigation” (1620) First, Second, Repeat over time
Accumulate dataCarefully review and experimentDraw appropriate conclusions
René Descartes
Deductive reasoning, moving from one certainty to another “So long as we avoid accepting as
true what is not so, and always preserve the right order of deduction of one thing from another, there can be nothing too remote to be reached in the end, or too well hidden to be discovered”
Nature as a machine, mechanism
Isaac Newton’s (1642-1727) Grand Synthesis (The Scientific Method)
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)
He develops this law through observation and experimentation
The law is simple, universal, regular and eternal.
PHILOSOPHY AND POWER IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE
The Enlightenment
Europe ca. 1648
Absolutism
By the seventeenth century, Europe began to align along more “national” lines under the leadership of kings Weakening of Papal influence Decline of Holy Roman Empire
“National” monarchs began choosing religious sides Generally control Church overall centralize their power in law, administration and language contributed to popular unity in places like Spain, France,
Portugal and EnglandMonarchs began declaring absolute power over
their “national” realms successfully in France, less so in England
Louis XIV
The Sun King
Absolutism
French Absolutism Subordinate French society and culture to the
monarchy politics and economy of France under one
government/kingdom Louis XIV promoted
economic mercantilism a nation-wide tax program broad educational programs wars of expansion Subordinate French nobility to the Versailles court
The Social Order of the Old Regime: Static, Hierarchical and Fixed
In France, society is organized according to the power hierarchy The 3 Estates (~1500-1789)
Clergy (1-2%) Nobility (2-3%) Commoners (95%) – of which nearly 80% are
peasants
Elizabeth I
The Virgin Queen
English Constitutionalism
English Constitutionalism The successors to Elizabeth I lacked the
same absolutist tendencies, mainly because they faced a powerful and increasingly separated Parliament What is Parliament’s role in England in
the seventeenth century? What governs the relationship between
the monarch and Parliament?
Civil War
1642-1646: Increased distance of King from Parliament leads to armed conflict
Formation of the Puritan Republic Cromwell’s goals
Religion “Great Britain” mercantilism Lord Protector
1660, British monarchy restored 2 controversial kings lead Parliament to bring
monarchy under its control by 1688’s “Glorious Revolution”
English Bill of Rights, Examples
1. That the pretended power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament is illegal.
2. That the pretended power of dispensing with the laws, or the execution of law by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal.
4. That levying money for or to the use of the crown by pretense of prerogative, without grant of parliament, for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal.
5. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal.
The Impact of the Scientific Revolution
People question previous sources of authority Challenge to Great
Chain of Being Challenge to Church
authority Challenge to absolutism
Democratic impulse in allowing anyone to examine and challenge truth and develop knowledge
John Locke
The Science of Human Beings
Enlightenment thinkers wish to improve human social world
Reject the past for faulty foundations
Put scientific method to use in the study of human beings
Rousseau
What is the Enlightenment?
Reform for the improvement of mankind: Eliminate
Superstition Religious fanaticism Ignorance Injustice
How Some Enlightenment Thinkers Thought
Rene Descartes, “I think, therefore I am” -human existence is based on the certain ability to think and reason
John Locke’s tabula rasa or “blank slate” -that the human mind is born without the capacity for processing data and learns how to process through sensory experience
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “social contract” -when human beings agree (implicitly) to join in contract with each other in order to live with certain rights, often at the expense of others-governments usually maintain the security of those rights
Voltaire
Patrie
The Enlightened Despots and the Challenge to Traditional Forms of Power in the West
Enlightened Despotism
Enlightened despots aim to promote Enlightenment reform without giving up their absolutist powers
Frederick II
1712-1786Prussian KingModernization of
Prussia Makes it a strong
European state Partition of Poland, 1772
Religious ToleranceReforms Civil Code
Rulers should always remind themselves that they are men like the least of their subjects. The sovereign is the foremost judge, general, financier, and minister of his country, not merely for the sake of his prestige. Therefore, he should perform with care the duties connected with these offices. He is merely the principal servant of the State. Hence, he must act with honesty, wisdom, and complete disinterestedness in such a way that he can render an account of his stewardship to the citizens at any moment. Consequently, he is guilty if he wastes the money of the people, the taxes which they have paid, in luxury, pomp and debauchery. He who should improve the morals of the people, be the guardian of the law, and improve their education should not pervert them by his bad example.
Princes, sovereigns, and king have not been given supreme authority in order to live in luxurious self-indulgence and debauchery. They have not been elevated by their fellow-men to enable them to strut about and to insult with their pride the simple-mannered, the poor and the suffering. They have not been placed at the head of the State to keep around themselves a crowd of idle loafers whose uselessness drives them towards vice. The bad administration which may be found in monarchies springs from many different causes, but their principal cause lies in the character of the sovereign. A ruler addicted to women will become a tool of his mistresses and favourites, and these will abuse their power and commit wrongs of every kind, will protect vice, sell offices, and perpetrate every infamy....
The sovereign is the representative of his State. He and his people form a single body. Ruler and ruled can be happy only if they are firmly united. The sovereign stands to his people in the same relation in which the head stands to the body. He must use his eyes and his brain for the whole community, and act on its behalf to the common advantage. If we wish to elevate monarchical above republican government, the duty of sovereigns is clear. They must be active, hard-working, upright and honest, and concentrate all their strength upon filling their office worthily. That is my idea of the duties of sovereigns.
Catherine II
1729-1796The “Great”
Expansion of Russian Empire
Improvement of administration
Modernize and Westernize Education Legal reform
Enlightenment connections Voltaire
Catherine’s Civil Code
6. Russia is an European State. 7. This is clearly demonstrated by the following Observations: The Alterations
which Peter the Great undertook in Russia succeeded with the greater Ease, because the Manners, which prevailed at that Time, and had been introduced amongst us by a Mixture of different Nations, and the Conquest of foreign Territories, were quite unsuilable to the Climate. Peter the First, by introducing the Manners and Customs of Europe among the European People in his Dominions, found at that Time such Means as even he himself was not sanguine enough to expect....
9. The Sovereign is absolute; for there is no other Authority but that which centers in his single Person, that can act with a Vigour proportionate to the Extent of such a vast Dominion.
10. The Extent of the Dominion requires an absolute Power to be vested in that Person who rules over it. It is expedient so to be, that the quick Dispatch of Affairs, sent from distant Parts, might make ample Amends for the Delay occasioned by the great Distance of the Places.
11. Every other Form of Government whatsoever would not only have been prejudicial to Russia, but would even have proved its entire Ruin.
Catherine’s Civil Code
12. Another Reason is: That it is better to be subject to the Laws under one Master, than to be subservient to many.
13. What is the true End of Monarchy? Not to deprive People of their natural Liberty; but to correct their Actions, in order to attain the supreme Good.
14. The Form of Government, therefore, which best attains this End, and at the same Time sets less Bounds than others to natural Liberty, is that which coincides with the Views and Purposes of rational Creatures, and answers the End, upon which we ought to fix a steadfast Eye in the Regulations of civil Polity.
15. The Intention and the End of Monarchy, is the Glory of the Citizens, of the State, and of the Sovereign.
16. But, from this Glory, a Sense of Liberty arises in a People governed by a Monarch; which may produce in these States as much Energy in transacting the most important Affairs, and may contribute as much to the Happiness of the Subjects, as even Liberty itself....
33. The Laws ought to be so framed, as to secure the Safety of every Citizen as much as possible.
34. The Equality of the Citizens consists in this; that they should all be subject to the same Laws.
Catherine II and the Serfs
The Governing Senate. . . has deemed it necessary to make known that the landlords' serfs and peasants . . . owe their landlords proper submission and absolute obedience in all matters, according to the laws that have been enacted from time immemorial by the autocratic forefathers of Her Imperial Majesty and which have not been repealed, and which provide that all persons who dare to incite serfs and peasants to disobey their landlords shall be arrested and taken to the nearest government office, there to be punished forthwith as disturbers of the public tranquillity, according to the laws and without leniency. And should it so happen that even after the publication of the present decree of Her Imperial Majesty any serfs and peasants should cease to give the proper obedience to their landlords . . . and should make bold to submit unlawful petitions complaining of their landlords, and especially to petition Her Imperial Majesty personally, then both those who make the complaints and those who write up the petitions shall be punished by the knout and forthwith deported to Nerchinsk to penal servitude for life and shall be counted as part of the quota of recruits which their landlords must furnish to the army. And in order that people everywhere may know of the present decree, it shall be read in all the churches on Sundays and holy days for one month after it is received and therafter once every year during the great church festivals, lest anyone pretend ignorance.
Joseph II
1741-1790Holy Roman
Emperor Legal reform Education Medicine Religious tolerance Despot in foreign policy
The Ideals of Joseph II
I determined from the very commencement of my reign to adorn my diadem with the love of my people, to act in the administration of affairs according to just, impartial, and liberal principles; consequently, I granted toleration [in 1781], and removed the yoke which had oppressed the protestants for centuries.
Fanaticism shall in future be known in my states only by the contempt I have for it; nobody shall any longer be exposed to hardships on account of his creed; no man shall be compelled in future to profess the religion of the state if it be contrary to his persuasion....
Tolerance is an effect of that beneficent increase of knowledge which now enlightens Europe and which is owing to philosophy and the efforts of great men; it is a convincing proof of the improvement of the human mind, which has boldly reopened a road through the dominions of superstition . . . and which, fortunately for mankind, has now become the highway of monarchs.
Reform under the Despots
Systems of civil justice Frederick II Joseph II Catherine II
Religion The Jesuits Joseph II
Education Joseph II Prussia Catherine II
Agriculture Joseph II Leopold II physiocrats
The Enlightenment’s Impact Elsewhere
The Enlightenment influenced some monarchs to adopt reform. It also encouraged the public to demand change Public Opinion Political Reform
John Wilkes and the Wilkes Affair
Wilkes(1725-1797) a controversial figure in Great Britain Radical politician Rakish reputation
Hellfire Club
Publishes the North Britain Criticizes King in no. 45
John Wilkes and the Wilkes Affair
The Stuart line has ever been intoxicated with the slavish doctrines of the absolute, independent, unlimited power of the crown. Some of that line were so weakly advised, as to endeavour to reduce them into practice : but the English nation was too spirited to suffer the least encroachment on the ancient liberties of this kingdom. " The King of England is only the first " magistrate of this country ; but is invested by law " with the whole executive power. He is, however, " responsible to his people for the due execution of " the royal functions, in the choice of ministers, equally with the meanest of his subjects in his particular duty." The personal character of our present amiable sovereign makes us easy and happy that so great a power is lodged in such hands ; but the favourite has given too just cause for him to escape the general odium. The prerogative of the crown is to exert the constitutional powers entrusted to it in a way, not of blind favour and partiality, but of wisdom and judgment. This is the spirit of our constitution. The people too have their prerogative, and, I hope, the fine words of DRYDEN will be engraven on. our hearts,
Freedom is the English subject's Prerogative.
John Locke, Concerning Civil Government, 1693, second essay, Ch. 19
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776
Secondly: I answer, such revolutions happen not upon every little mismanagement in public affairs. Great mistakes in the ruling part, many wrong and inconvenient laws, and all the slips of human frailty will be borne by the people without mutiny or murmur. But if a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what they lie under, and see whither they are going, it is not to be wondered that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavor to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the end for which government was at first erected... of the Enlightenment
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
North American Revolution
Thomas Paine
The American Crisis, 1780-1783
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but "to bind us in all cases whatsoever," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.