Philosophical Foundations for the Scientific Revolution
<Origin & Impetus for the Scientific Revolution>
<Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)>
<Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)>
<Implications of Baconism and Cartesianism>
<Benedict Spinoza>
<Thomas Hobbes>
<John Locke (1632 - 1704)>
<Issac Newton (1642 - 1727)>
<Implications of Newton’s wrok>
-Source-
Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture (9th Edition) by Edward McNall Burns, Robert E. Lerner & Standish Meacham
- rooted in the history of Renaissance
- increased general prosperity (from the expansion of trade globally since the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration)
- widened intellectual horizons → challenged old Christian doctrines
- willingness to attack the fundamental assumptions about the Universe and the human mind
- There were several notable figures who eventually gave rise to the way of thinking of the Scientific Revolution (aka Scientific Method)
<Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)>
- insisted in doubting the accepted knowledge
- 2 notable works
- Novum Organum (A Treatise on the Method of Acquiring Knowledge) (1620)
- The Advancement of Learning (1623)
- Formulated the Inductive Method of thinking
- Features of Inductive Method by Francis Bacon
- Observation first → Accumulation of facts of surroundings → Discovery of new laws which govern them.
- Usefulness of an idea is determined by whether it is worth-discussing and if it can be applied practically
<Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)>
- Father of Rationalism
- Philosophy on the basis of a systematic questioning of received truths via Deductive Method (Rationalism)
- Deductive Method: Simple, self-evident truths or axioms leading to products of truths (e.g. just like how mathematical laws/principles lead to the next laws/principles/rules) → Man can deduce a sound body of universal knowledge
- Famous works & quotes
- Discourse on Method (1637)
- “I think, therefore I am.”
- also proposed Cartesian “dualism”
- The world is composed of mind (from God) and matter (which follows a general mechanistic pattern).
- Hence, gave rise to rationalism, mechanism (the concept of mechanical world) and dualism.
<Implications of Baconism and Cartesianism>
- Those now living [people] not only possessed the right but were charged with a duty to reassess the past and, when warranted, to reject its assumptions.
<Benedict Spinoza>
- developed a philosophy which incorporated rationalism and mechanism, but not the Cartesian dualism.
- proclaimed with sound evidence that the single substance in the universe is God. (Pantheism: the view that Universe (Nature) and God are identical)
- intended to express the scientific notions of the unity of nature and the continuity of cause and effect
- interested in ethical questions (e.g. Is greed good or bad for humanity?)
- claimed that: we gain true freedom (and serenity) by realising that we are not free (in the order of nature which is unalterably fixed). → similar to accepting one’s fate
- was an earnest apostle of tolerance, justice and rational living
- believed in religious liberty
<Thomas Hobbes>
- believed that geometry furnished the only proper method of discovering philosophical truth
- against Cartesian dualism and pantheism of Spinoza
- mentioned that the origin of all knowledge is in sense perception (we discover knowledge; God did not predetermine it for us)
- Nothing exists except matter
- Nothing is spiritual anywhere in the universe of which he man can conceive. → Basis of Materialism
<John Locke (1632 - 1704)>
- consolidated Hobbes’ idea of acquiring knowledge via sense perception
- All knowledge originates from sense perception → Through experience, we perceive/learn/gain new knowledge.
- This sense perception (sensation), together with reason, was indispensable in finding a usable body of general truth.
- Famous works
- Two Treatises of Civil Government
- Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
- More on Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- theory of “a tabula rasa” → Human mind at birth is a blank tablet which we fill in with knowledge we gain via sense perception and reason
- implies that human mind is not controlled and intervened by divine beings, but humans can sense and think autonomously
- hence, this freed men and women from the restraints of received beliefs
- also stated that the environment which Man can manipulate (e.g. education) affects the human perception of right and wrong, hence good environment made by humans will do good to humanity. → Locke’s optimism
<Issac Newton (1642 - 1727)>
- Notable works
- Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (aka Principia Mathematica) (1697)
- For the first time in the human history, a single, coherent mechanical theory/law for the understanding of the universe
- e.g. The Law of Gravity (Universal Gravitation) → allowed: measurements of tides, locating the ships and predictability of a cannon ball’s trajectory
- Optiks
- Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (aka Principia Mathematica) (1697)
<Implications of Newton’s wrok>
- It is the task of all thoughtful people to challenge the received opinions of the past, to think matters out for themselves anew.
- Nature is rational universal laws, not by mysterious divine intervention nor by caprice.
- The human race can discover those universal laws and put them to use to ensure the progress of the human race.
- Basically, Newton was the culmination and fruit of the previous intellectual contributions made by other philosophers like Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Nicolaus Corpernicus.
-Source-
Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture (9th Edition) by Edward McNall Burns, Robert E. Lerner & Standish Meacham