From Magic to Science or The Ancients

1
From Magic to ScienceorThe Ancients The
Moderns

• The Scientific Revolution
• 16th and 17th Centuries

2
How do we explain change?

• Your car wont start what do you do?
• You get sick what do you do?

3
Medieval Cosmology

• Earth is fixed, unchanging, center of universe
• Heavens surround earth Moon and stars move in
  fixed patterns set by God
• Genesis describes creation
• Task for people explain change, I.E., Any
  deviation from normal

4
Sources of Medieval World View

• Bible
• Scholastic Theology (Aquinas)
• The Ancients
• Aristotle
• Church Fathers

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The Medieval Order or The Great Chain of Being

• God
• Pope and Kings
• Priests and Nobles
• Men
• Women
• Children
• Animals
• Plants
• Rocks

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Explaining Change Medieval Style

• Gods intervention deus ex machina
• Storms ruin crops you get sick God is angry
• Harvest is plentiful you have lots of children
  God is pleased

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Explaining ChangeMedieval Style

• Magic some occult force
• You dont have children you are bewitched
• Your house burns down someone put a curse on you
• You get sick your enemy is a witch

8
Scientific Revolution bringsa new way of
thinking about the world around usand our
relationship to the world.

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Structure of Scientific Revolution

• People start asking questions and make
  discoveries which raise problems for the existing
  world view.
• As more and more discoveries challenge the
  accepted cosmology, more people ask more
  questions.
• Finally, someone synthesizes all the pieces into
  a new world view.
• See Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific
  Revolutions.

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16th 17th Century Questioners

• Methodology
• Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
• Observe Experiment
• Develop Hypothesis
• Test More Observation Experiments
• William Harvey (1578-1657)
• Anatomical Studies demonstrate circulation of
  blood

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Challenges to the Old Cosmology

• Reliance on Observation Causes Trouble
• Galileo (Italian, 1564-1642)
• Observations confirmed heliocentric universe
• Arrested and ordered to recant
• Whats the problem?

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A New Philosophy

• Descartes (French, 1596-1650)
• Radical Doubt
• Cogito, ergo sumI think, therefore I am.
• Impact of this insight?

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New Understanding of Human Mind

• John Locke, English, 1632-1704
• Essay Concerning Human Understanding
• Human Mind is a tabula rasa at birth
• We learn by experience
• Impact of this concept?

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By 1690

• New Method Scientific Method
• Trust in Sense Knowledge
• Heliocentric Cosmology
• New Philosophy
• New Understanding of Human Body
• New Understanding of Human Mind

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Synthesis Isaac Newton

• English, 1642-1727
• Mathematician and Alchemist
• Principia
• Solved the problem of motion
• World is not static but constantly in motion!
• Describes gravity
• Impact?

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Newtons World

• A giant machine whose parts work together
• God the maker of the machine