The Scientific Revolution (17th-18th Century)

IV. The Scientific Revolution (17th-18th Century) • The scientific revolution was the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy), and chemistry transformed societal views about nature. • The change to the medieval idea of science occurred for four reasons: collaboration, the derivation of new experimental methods, the ability to build on the legacy of existing scientific philosophy, and institutions that enabled academic publishing. • Under the scientific method, which was defined and applied in the 17th century, natural and artificial circumstances were abandoned and a research tradition of systematic experimentation was slowly accepted throughout the scientific community. • During the scientific revolution, changing perceptions about the role of the scientist in respect to nature, and the value of experimental or observed evidence, led to a scientific methodology in which empiricism played a large, but not absolute, role. • As the scientific revolution was not marked by any single change, many new ideas contributed. Some of them were revolutions in their own fields. • Science came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences, and associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of religion and traditional authority in favor of the development of free speech and thought. The change to the medieval idea of science occurred for four reasons: 1. Seventeenth century scientists and philosophers were able to collaborate with members of the mathematical and astronomical communities to effect advances in all fields. 2. Scientists realized the inadequacy of medieval experimental methods for their work and so felt the need to devise new methods (some of which we use today). 3. Academics had access to a legacy of European, Greek, and Middle Eastern scientific philosophy that they could use as a starting point (either by disproving or building on the theorems). 4. Institutions (for example, the British Royal Society) helped validate science as a field by providing an outlet for the publication of scientists’ work. A. New Methods • Under the scientific method that was defined and applied in the 17th century, natural and artificial circumstances were abandoned, and a research tradition of systematic experimentation was slowly accepted throughout the scientific community. • During the scientific revolution, changing perceptions about the role of the scientist in respect to nature, the value of evidence, experimental or observed, led towards a scientific methodology in which empiricism played a large, but not absolute, role. • The term British empiricism came into use to describe philosophical differences perceived between two of its founders—Francis Bacon, described as empiricist, and René Descartes, who was described as a rationalist. Bacon’s works established and popularized inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or sometimes simply the scientific method. • His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) • Francis Bacon was an English philosopher who wrote Advancement of Learning. • Bacon popularized the scientific method and used it with philosophy and knowledge. • Bacon argued that truth could not be known at the beginning of a question, but only at the end after a long process of investigation. • Urged scientists to experiment & draw conclusions. Not rely on medieval scholars. • Called empiricism Empiricism: A theory stating that knowledge comes only, or primarily, from sensory experience. It emphasizes evidence, especially the kind of evidence gathered through experimentation and by use of the scientific method.