Chapter 23The Scientific

Revolution and the New Learning

•The Scientific Revolution

Aristotle’s Universe

Deism• 1600-1750• Belief in God the Creator• God as a master mechanic• A “natural” religion based on

human reason rather than revelation. (Fiero 584)

Deism• An issue: whether God intervenes in the world • The classical view is that the universe was created

by a God who then makes no further intervention in its affairs (the clockmaker hypothesis). In this view, the reason God does not intervene in the world (via miracles) is not that God does not care, but rather that the best of all possible worlds has already been created and any intervention could not improve it.

• (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism)

Deism: Voltaire• Reflecting on the sky at night, he wrote:

“One would have to be blind not to be dazzled by this sight; one would have to be stupid not to recognize its author; one would have to be mad not to worship him.”

• “If God did not exist, He would have to be invented.” (Davies, Europe, 601)

Geocentric Theory

• Aristotle

• Claudius Ptolomy (85-165)

• The Bible

Heliocentric theory• Copernicus: proposed that the sun was at t

he center of the universe.• Kepler: His most significant achievements

came from the realization that the planets moved in elliptical, not circular, orbits. He was also convinced that celestial bodies influence terrestrial events. One result of this belief was his correct assessment of the moon's role in generating the tides.

• Galileo: proved Kepler’s theory with the help of telescopes.

哥白尼

Heliocentric theory• 義大利泛神論者 Giord

ano Bruno (1548 － 1600 ）發展了哥白尼的理論，並更大膽地提出宇宙無中心的觀點，認為上帝存在萬物之中，結果被宗教法庭燒死在羅馬繁花廣場上。

Heliocentric theory• 1609 年，義大利天文學家 Galileo Galilei

( 伽利略 ) 利用望遠鏡 (telescope) 窺探天空，發現有四顆衛星 (four principal moons) 環繞木星 (Jupiter) 公轉，証明地球不是唯一的中心。他在 1633 年被教廷當局處以終身監禁，並被迫撤回「異端和謬見」。遲至這個世紀，教皇若望保祿二世才平反了當年羅馬教廷對伽利略的異端罪名。

Sir Isaac Newton• 1642-1727

• 萬有引力定律 (Universal gravitation)

• 宇宙萬象成為「牛頓世界機械」 (Newtonian world-machine)

•The New Learning

The Philosophes 18th century

= men of letters

Scientific Methods• The empirical method

– Bacon and inductive reasoning

• The general forms of nature were derived by collecting and comparing observations and carrying out experiments.

– Descartes and the deductive reasoning

Bacon: Novum Organum• Idols of the Tribe: projection of our

understanding and behavior on and toward natural processes or other objects, e.g. our perception of time.

• Idols of the Cave: allowing one’s prior knowledge, circumstances and opinions to cloud one’s judgment, e.g. individual biases and prejudices

Bacon: Novum Organum• Idols of the Marketplace: e.g.

custom and agreement, sexism in language

• Idols of the Theatre: conceptual networks of philosophical schools, e.g. Plato’s explanation of “soul after death”

• What type of “idol” are they?A. Where I work everyone says that

“jealous” means the same thing as “envious.”

B. Heaven awaits all good Christians.

C. My personal feeling is that the earth is flat.

D. Marriage is inferior to bachelorhood, says Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises.

René Descartes– The subject is defined as the original

location of certainty:

“Cogito, ergo sum.” =

“I” think, therefore “I am.”

I doubt, therefore I am.

– The split of mind and body:

The senses are unreliable.

René Descartes

“Cogito, ergo sum.” →

“Nothing comes of nothing.” →

Something must have existed before the cogito.

“outside” the thought

“God exists”

René Descartes 1. I exist (Axiom)

2. I have in my mind the notion of a perfect being (Axiom, partly based on 1)3. An imperfect being, like myself, cannot think up the notion of a perfect being (Axiom)4. Therefore the notion of a perfect being must have originated from the perfect being himself (from 2 & 3)5. A perfect being would not be perfect if it did not exist (Axiom)6. Therefore a perfect being must exist (from 4 & 5)

• http://www.positiveatheism.org/faq/descartes.htm

John Locke• Essay Concerning

Human Understanding (1690)

• The human mind at birth is a tabula rasa (“blank slate”)

John Locke

• All knowledge originates from sense perception: “Nothing is in the understanding that was not first in the senses.”

• The goodness and perfectibility of humanity

• Education promises individual moral improvement and social progress.

Still LifeThe Silver Goblet, Jean-Baptiste Simêon Chardin, c. 1760Oil on canvas13 x 16 1/4"

(33 x 41 cm)Musée du Louvre, Paris

Water Glass and Jug, Jean-Baptiste Simêon Chardin, c. 1760Oil on canvas, 32,5 x 41 cmMuseum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh http://www26.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid

=4640349&extra=&page=3

• The Camera Lucida or Graphic Mirror is an optical device that allowed you to see what you wanted to paint or draw as if reflected onto your or paper. All you need to do is to trace the subject, no more struggling to get the perspective or someone's features accurate.

• http://www.pinholesolutions.co.uk/camera_kits.html

camera obscura• The term "camera obscura" comes from the Latin for

"room" (camera), and "obscura" (dark). It literally means "dark room".

• The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) is credited with the discovery of a particular phenomenon of light, which is that when penetrating a small aperture (opening) in a closed dark object the rays of light will cross and refocus at some point in space beyond the hole. On a flat surface these light rays produce an inverted image. The smaller the hole, the more focused the image.

http://www.cvc.sunysb.edu/334/images/Images.htm

camera obscura

• Initially rooms were built to display this phenomenon. Typically they were domed buildings with a small opening in the ceiling and a reflective table surface below it for viewing. Many of these buildings still exist today. But in the Renaissance this principle was applied to small portable boxes that artists would use to trace the contours of an image. Later on lenses were added to further focus the image.

http://www.cvc.sunysb.edu/334/images/Images.htm

http://www.uh.edu/engines/pinholeprinciple.jpg

http://deskpub2220.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/camera_obscura_box.jpg

The End