The Beginnings of Modern Science and Philosophy

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Chapter 4 The Beginnings of Modern Science and
Philosophy
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Renaissance Humanism
1450-1600

• Sought to free the human spirit from medieval
  tradition, scholasticism.

1304-1374

• His writings mark the beginning of the
  Renaissance.

Francesco Petrarch
1463-1494

• If properly understood, competing philosophies
  were essentially in agreement.

• Died before Inquisition and burning of his books.

Giovanni Pico

• Wrote The Praise of Folly.

1466-1536

• He was said to have laid the Reformerist egg
  and Luther hatched it..

• Traditional and reformist views, commends mother
  role and would give women education.

Desiderius Erasmus
The Age of Discovery

• Marco Polo China 1271
• Gutenberg ca. 1397
• Columbus 1492
• Luthers challenge 1517
• Magellans voyage 1519-1522

• In 1517 nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the
  door of the castle church at Wittenberg..

1483-1546

• Catholic response was to excommunicate him
  (1521) and make Aquinass version of Aristotles
  philosophy official church dogma.

Martin Luther
1533-1592

• Skeptic Questioned the possibility of
  indisputable knowledge

• Did not glorify rationalism, rejected science,
  its truth in flux.

Michel de Montaigne

• Led to Descartes, Bacon seeking a system beyond
  doubt.

1452-1519
Leonardo da Vinci
1469-1527

• Wrote The Prince.
• Cynical (?) political philosopher

Niccolo Machiavelli
1564-1616
William Shakespeare
1700
1600
1500
1400
1300
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The Cosmologists

• Scientific Revolution begun in 1543 with
  publication of Revolution of the Heavenly Orbs.
  Leahey

1473-1543
Nicolaus Copernicus

• Heliocentric cosmology.

• Justification cast the known facts into a
  simpler mathematical order.

1571-1630

• Astronomer and astrologer.

Johannes Kepler

• Planetary orbits are eliptical.

Ptolemy, 2nd c. AD Aristarchus of Samos (ca.
310-230 BC)

• Measured motions of falling bodies.

• Contributions to astronomy and cosmology.

1564-1642

• Secondary qualities

• Rejected pure observation for mathematical
  Platonic rationalism.

Galileo Galilei
1642-1727
Isaac Newton

• Father of moden physicsclassical mechanics,
  laws of motion.

• Deeply religious (deist), Dating the first
  Easter.

• Co-discoverer of calculus.

Other Early Scientific Thinkers
1561-1626

• Favored induction as opposed to Galileos
  deduction.

• Early proponent of what is later called
  positivism.
• Four sources of error the idols of the cave,
  of the tribe, of the marketplace, and of the
  theater.

Francis Bacon
1596-1650
Rene Descartes

• The method of doubt.

• Cogito ergo sum.

• Mechanism of the bodyghost in the machine.

1700
1600
1500
1400
1300
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1. Describe the four themes that characterized
Renaissance humanism and give an example of each.
(pp. 89-90) 2. Why is the Renaissance referred to
as a paradoxical period? (p. 93) 3. In what way
did Montaignes Skepticism stimulate the
philosophical systems developed by Bacon and
Descartes? (pp. 92-93) 4. Describe the Ptolemaic
astronomical system and explain why that system
was embraced by Christian theologians. (pp.
94-95) 5. On what basis did Copernicus argue that
his heliocentric theory should replace Ptolemys
geocentric theory? (pp. 95-96) 6. On what
philosophical conception of the universe was the
work of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo based?
Explain. (p. 97) 8. In what ways can the clash
between the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems be
likened to a Kuhnian scientific revolution? 9.
Discuss the implications for psychology of
Galileos distinction between primary and
secondary qualities. (p. 99) 10. What is deism?
(p. 101) 11. What was Newtons conception of
science? (pp. 101-102) 12. Summarize Bacons view
of science. (pp. 102-104) 13. Describe the idols
of the cave, marketplace, theater, and tribe. (p.
104)
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15. What was it that Descartes thought he could
be certain of? How did he use it in further
developing his philosophy? (pp. 106-107) 16. Why
did Descartes reach the conclusion that some
ideas are innate? Give examples of ideas that he
thought were innate. (p. 107) 17. Summarize
Descartess view of the mind-body relationship.
(pp. 109-110) 19. Why is it appropriate to refer
to Descartes as a phenomenologist? 20. How did
Descartes reach the conclusion that the mind is
nonmaterial and has an existence independent of
the body? (p. 107) 21. What were Descartess
contributions to psychology? 22. In general, what
attitude toward religion did individuals covered
in this chapter have? Rodney Stark(1978). The
Victory of Reason How Christianity Led to
Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. New
York Random House.
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End