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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are the major themes of this course?
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1. Practitioners (alchemists, instrument makers, astrologers, astronomers, botanists, curators, princes, physicians...)
2. Places (universities, courts, laboratories, libraries, observatories, gentleman's clubs, coffee houses, museums, botanical gardens...) 3. Materials/Things (e.g. glass - prisms, lenses, air pump) 4. The Medieval word and worldview (man at centre of universe, Ptolemaic world view, possibility of originality or discovery) 5. Renaissance, Reformation, Humanism (transmission and translation and rediscovery of ancient texts, Martin Luther, printing press, new lands 6. The Scientific Revolution (and whether there was one) |
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What was the problem with new discoveries?
Bonus: how was this got around by some authors? |
It wasn't clear whether discoveries were 'new' or whether the ancients possessed knowledge that had been lost - discovery versus rediscovery
BONUS: Authors often recast novel ideas as 'rediscoveries' of older texts - this became a well-cast trope |
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Summarise Hakewill vs Goodman
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Hakewill: The world is progressing towards new knowledge - the moderns know more than the ancients knew. General view of historical progress
Goodman: The world is declining from a previous state of ideal prior to The Fall - the ancients knew more than we did and we can at best hope to recover/rediscover this knowledge |
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What was Bacon's proposal regarding a new philosophy oriented to new discoveries?
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Bacon believed that the moderns know more than the ancients and that new institutions, and new criteria for evaluating discoveries were necessary
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Francis Bacon
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1561-1626
Practised law from 1580s, became secretary to Earl of Essex and was knighted by James I in 1603 Novum Organum 1620 New Atlantis & Sylva Sylvarum 1627 |
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Techne
Scientia |
Artificial production of effects
Natural knowledge |
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Bacon and technology
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Nature -> Art -> Machinery
Nature -> Imitation -> Domination Techne capable of producing universal truths and natural knowledge - challenges Aristotelian view |
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What is [the] Enlightenment?
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C18/late C17? Age of Reason? A process? Rationality overcoming religion and superstition? Political liberty and independence? A set of ideals that weren't necessarily followed through? Something that originated in France/England/Netherlands? A description of the rise in street-lighting, fireworks, electricity etc? When the public sphere began (Jurgen Habermas; coffee houses, salons, theatres)? Progressive, where modernity started? A time when no country was governed democratically? The disenchantment of the world (Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer)?
HARD TO DEFINE |
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Isaac Newton
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1642-1727
Principia 1687 - bridge gap between mathematics and philosophy Opticks 1704 How we think of him reflects the time. Arian heretic - didn't believe in Trinity. God is immanent - clockwork universe (Gottfried Leibniz disliked this). Religious critics e.g. William Hogarth, John Hutchinson David Brewster - suppressed Newton's interest in alchemy John Maynard Keynes - bought up Newton's alchemical manuscripts and in 1940s published view of Newton as last great alchemist |
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What was Newton's involvement in Globalisation?
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Newton collected data about tides to prove his 1/r theory. His data came from many different sources which were all part of the trade routes. However, these varied in reliability and it was difficult to calibrate different instruments. Thus he had to decide which measurements to believe
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Pierre Maupertis
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There was debate as to the true shape of the earth. In Paris, Cartesian physics believed earth was flattened at the equator, whereas Newtonian physics championed an earth flattened at the poles. Maupertis went on an expedition to the North Pole to vindicate Newton. He won the debate as much by persuasion as by data and absolute verification
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How did globalisation lead to standardisation?
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Maps needed to same scale and zero line - this was a political decision. France introduced the metre in terms of longitude, and insisted that zero went through Paris
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When did Industrialisation start?
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1760-1840
This is earlier than most people think. Industrialisation was a gradual change |
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What were the two attitudes towards Industrial scenes?
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Beautiful - scenes induced feelings of calm
Sublime - scenes inspired feelings of awe/terror, making one feel insignificant e.g. two competing views of Coalbrookdale - "romantic spot" with "bedlam fires" |
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Why did Britain start industrialising before the rest of Europe?
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- Britain had lots of inventors. Inventions increase the wealth of employers and make life easier for workers
- Britain had lots of natural resource e.g. coal, timber, iron, transport (rivers) - Cheap labour both at home (displaced agricultural labourers made redundant by the Enclosures Act who moved North) and abroad (slave trade; triangle Britain/Africa/America) - Social mobility. In England it was far easier to change social class e.g. through marriage (consider Wedgewood and Darwin) |
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Nicholas Copernicus
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1473-1543
Priest for most of his life. Studied astronomy and astrology. Proposed heliocentric model of the solar system |
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William Gilbert
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1544-1603
A physician who studied at Cambridge. Thought that magnetic declination and inclination could solve the problem of longitude. Thought Earth's magnetism moved the earth daily |
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Rene Descartes
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1596-1650
Mechanical philosophy. No possibility for empty space. |
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Galileo Galilei
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1564-1642
Tutor to Cosimo de Medici - named satellites of Jupiter after him - patronage. Placed under house arrest for advocating Copernican system |
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Academie Royale des Sciences
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Founded 1666 in Paris
Members were government-appointed and employed. Undertook research on useful projects. Observatory, botanical garden, essay competitions |
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Royal Society
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Founded 1660
Based upon Bacon's 'New Atlantis' Solomon House. Early members included Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton. Poorly patronised by crown in comparison with France - more of a gentleman's club |
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Tychi Brahe
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1546-1601
Danish Nobleman. Founded a large observatory at Hven (an island) Large-scale, systematic astronomical research |
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Andreas Libavius
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1555-1616
German physician and chemist. In contrast to Brahe's secretive island observatory, performed experiments in a town house - large open windows, access |
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What were some of the issues concerning bodies?
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Replicability of experiments; reliability of witnesses; tension between individual results and generalised claims
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