The Scientific Revolution From the Age of Faith to the Age of Reason

Thinkers of the seventeenth century vigorously rejected religious dogma and superstition and applied a new emphasis on empiricism and rationality to their thought; the emergence of modern science (the scientific method) created the foundation for a new approach to human experience and understanding science and religion conflicted but they were not mutually exclusive They abandoned the medieval assumption that human nature was inherently imperfect and therefore in need of divine direction. Instead, the emphasis was laid on the observation of Nature and deducing from it certain precepts which would make possible a new advance towards knowledge and perfection in human beings. This progression was achieved not through divine revelation but through human Reasoning.

Ren Descartes (cogito ergo sum I think therefore I exist)

Discourse on the Method - attempted to arrive at a fundamental set of principles that one can know as true without any doubt. To achieve this, he adopts skepticism = doubt. Cogito ergo sum - if I doubt, then something or someone must be doing the doubting, therefore the very fact that I doubt proves my existence (in other words, Descartes arrives at only a single principle: thought exists. Thought cannot be separated from me, therefore, I exist) - Reason reveals that man is unique beneath the heavens: he alone, under God, has a conscious mind, he alone can know himself and so understand the meaning of things. Everything else, the animal kingdom included is nothing but inert matter in motion governed by the laws of mathematics.

The Royal Society (nullius in verba take nobodys word for it) 1660 the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II; the Royal Society was founded in the same year by royal charter; its precursor was the Invisible College whose main objective was to acquire knowledge through experimental investigation; illustrious members: Robert Boyle (gas law the inversely proportion relationship

between pressure and volume), Robert Hooke (law of elasticity), Christopher Wren (architect of St. Pauls Cathedral in London) officially constituted at Gresham College in November 1660; emphasis on the application of science for the benefit of mankind, and crucially on the use of observation, measurement and experimentation. St. Paul Cathedral - built after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire (1666) - the faade was designed by Inigo Jones (the first to bring elements of Italian Renaissance to English architecture) Sir Francis Bacon (15611626) one of the leading figures in natural philosophy and in the field of scientific methodology in the period of transition from the Renaissance to the early modern era. a lawyer and member of Parliament (he did not embrace an academic career but a political one); knighted in 1603 faced with accusations of corruption he lost all his offices and his seat in Parliament, but retained his titles and his personal property. Bacon devoted the last five years of his life entirely to his philosophical work. Bacon's international fame and influence spread during his last years, when he was able to focus his energies exclusively on his philosophical work, and even more so after his death, when English scientists of the Boyle circle (Invisible College) took up his idea of a cooperative research institution in their plans and preparations for establishing the Royal Society. famous for his criticism of the method (organum) of Aristotle.

criticizes prejudices and false opinions, especially the system of speculation established by theologians, as an obstacle to the progress of science according to Bacon, earlier philosophers often started from unproven generalisations and deduced particulars; or else they made hasty generalisations from very few experiments Novum Organum (New Method): understanding of nature's laws should arise from sufficient experience = the inductive method (the basis of scientific thought) starting from sensible experience, carefully analyzing particulars and collecting thorough data, one may step up the ladder of the intellect and reach the truth.

Bacons Idols of the Mind An idol is an image (a deceptive image), in this case held in the mind, which receives veneration but is without substance in itself. Bacon did not regard idols as symbols, but rather as fallacies (falsities) and errors imprinted on the human mind, leading mans mind astray from the truth. Idols of the Tribe = deceptive beliefs (social / ethic / racial preconceptions) inherent in the mind of man and therefore belonging to the whole of the human race. Idols of the Cave = arise within the mind of the individual (the things we have read, the experiences we have had, and the qualities that make us individuals) = individual prejudices, preferences, dislikes i.e. the psychological make-up (Rom. structura psihologica) fixations; in this respect he anticipated modern psychology. Idols of the Market-Place = errors arising from the false significance bestowed upon words, and in this classification Bacon anticipated the modern science of semantics.

Idols of the Theatre = errors arising from previous dogmas and faulty laws, scientific axioms (nullius in verba) our minds are not blank tablets (tabula rasa) waiting to be inscribed i.e. there is no thinking in a vacuum; man is beset (Rom. a asalta, a coplesi) by what others thought before him, and therefore he is the appointed heir to all past dogmas and philosophies.

Bacons solution to the idols which subvert (Rom. a corupe, a strica) reason and falsify the truth: RATIONALISM New method: INDUCTION True knowledge is the knowledge of causes, it can be achieved through observation and experimentation pure knowledge untainted / unspoiled by preconceptions and false beliefs: the understanding must be completely cleared and freed of prejudices

Is it possible to purge the mind of all preconceptions so that we can observe the world with the innocent eye / mind of a child? The New Atlantis (1626) a scientific utopia Bacon portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge, expressing his aspirations and ideals for humankind.

 Bensalem a remote paradisiacal island: We of this island of Bensalem (for so they called it in their language) have this: that by means of our solitary situation, and of the laws of secrecy, which we have for our travellers, and our rare admission of strangers; we know well most part of the habitable world, and are ourselves unknown. Therefore because he that knoweth least is fittest to ask questions it is more reason, for the entertainment of the time, that ye ask me questions, than that I ask you. Salomons House = a (state-sponsored) scientific institution; looks like a modern university in both applied and pure sciences: The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things