17th
Century, Century of Genius
®
In the early
1500’s those who probed into the secrets of nature did so in the dark, isolated
from one another and from the general public, working often times by trial and
error, not all together clear on what they were trying to do.
®
By 1727 when Newton died scientific men were in continual touch with each
other and the scientific method had been defined.
Michel de Montaigne 1533-1592 “What do I
know”
® During
this time there had developed a great deal of skepticism, a constantly doubting
frame of mind, which held that no certain knowledge is possible for human
beings at all, that all beliefs are essentially only customs, that some people
believe one thing and others another and there is no sound way of choosing
between them.
Scientific View of the World
Prophets of a scientific
civilization:
Rene Descartes
and Sir Francis Bacon
Bacon and descartes
®
Both asked how it
was possible for human beings to know anything with certainty
®
Both branded all
beliefs of the preceding generations (outside of religion) as worthless
®
Both rejected the
methods of the scholastics
®
Both saw truth as
something that is we find at the end after a long process of experiment and
investigation
®
Both maintained
that there was a true and reliable method of knowledge
Sir Francis Bacon 1561-1626
®
Novum Organum
1620
®
Inductive
Reasoning
®
Empiricism
®
Not a pure
Scientist
®
Failed to grasp
importance of Math
Francis Bacon
®
1620 published Novum
Organum or new method of acquiring knowledge.
®
He insisted on
the use of the inductive method- where one discovers truth by moving from the
particular to the general, the concrete to the abstract
®
Look at the world
with fresh eyes, observe and study all things that are perceived by the senses.
Bacon, cont. Empiricism
® Bacon
became a leading philosopher of empiricism
® The
founding of knowledge on observation and experience
Bacons weakness
® Failure
to understand the role of mathematics in science.
® Math
often uses deductive reasoning-dealing with abstractions and proceeding from
axioms to theorems-was not an inductive or empirical method as demanded by
Bacon
Rene Descartes 1596-1650
®
Discourse on
Method 1637
®
Systematic Doubt
®
Cogito ergo sum
®
Cartesian dualism
®
Thinking
substance
®
Extended
substance
Rene Descartes
®
Considered the
inventor of coordinate geometry
®
Believed that the
vast world of nature could be reduced to mathematical form.
®
In his Discourse
on Method 1637 Descartes advanced the principle of systematic doubt
®
Cogito ergo sum “
I think therefore I am”
®
Cartesian Dualism
®
Two realities
Thinking substance (deductive) and Extended substance (Inductive)
Development
of Astronomy as Science
®
Aristotle 384-322
BC
®
Aristarchus of
Samos 200 BC
®
Ptolemy 150 AD
®
Copernicus
1473-1543
®
Tycho Brahe
1546-1601
®
Johannes Kepler
1571-1630
®
Galileo 1564-1642
®
Isaac Newton
1642-1727
Aristotle
®
Earth was seen as
imperfect and situated at the center of the Universe (Geocentric)
®
Composed of 4
elements earth, water, air, fire
Aristotle, cont.
® Planets
move in circular motion
® Aristotles
views were “Christianized” by the 13th century, it became the basis
for University on the subject.
Ptolemy- Geocentric
®
Earth; immovable
at the center of the universe
®
Order; earth,
moon, Mercury, venus, sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
®
Enclosed by
sphere of fixed stars
®
Planetary spheres
moved with the aid of God.
Ptolemaic system
Copernicus
®
Heliocentric
®
“On the
revolutions of Heavenly Orbs (Spheres)”
®
Book published at
the end of his life
®
Questioned
Ptolemaic system for its math
®
Heliocentric
easier to explain than geocentric
®
Accepted circular
orbits
Copernican System
Tycho Brahe -Danish
®
Provided most
accurate DATA with regard to planetary location
®
Had Johannes
Kepler as his apprentice
Johannes Kepler
®
Showed that
Copernicus, Ptolemy and Aristotle’s view of circular orbits did not match data
®
Discovered elliptical
orbit. No epicycles.
Kepler’s elliptical orbit
Galileo
®
Planets had been
thought of as orbs
®
Galileo’s
telescope
®
Moon was rough,
mountainous, not a luminous object
®
Jupiter had moons
(satellites)
Galileo
® Where
Kepler had found mathematical laws describing the movement of planets, Galileo
found laws describing the movement of bodies on earth.
® Leaning
Tower of Pisa
Isaac Newton
®
Synthesized
Kepler and Galileo
®
Universal law of
Gravitation
®
“Principia”
®
Developed
Calculus
Societal Impact
® Man
was no longer the center of creation
® The
old cosmos comfortably enclosed and ranked in ascending order of purity, gave
way to a cosmos that seemed to consist of an infinite emptiness.