6 Modernity6. ModernityI think therefore I amI think, therefore I am

René Decartes

?Reading furnishes the mind

only with material for? only with material for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we readthat makes what we read

ours.John Locke

Middle Ages : Modernity

Humanism and the RenaissanceIt i i t t b i di iIt is appropriate to begin discussion

of fourteenth century culture with P t h Hi lif d th b ttPetrarch. His life spanned the better part of the century and in that life we

th fli t b t thcan see the conflict between the medieval and early Renaissance

id l b i l d tideals being played out.Cunningham & Reich, p. 253Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374

The father of HumanismThe father of Humanism

Petrarch’s Sonnet 15Petrarch and his followers saw al e in all the literar classics of Petrarch s Sonnet 15

Backwards at every weary step and slowThese limbs I turn which with great pain I bear;

Then I take comfort from the fragrant air

value in all the literary classics of antiquity – and embraced these on their own terms, not as needing Christian modification, but as noble Then I take comfort from the fragrant air

That breathes from thee, and sighing onward go.

Remembering my short life and when I fare, I stay my feet for anguish and despair,

,and inspirational just as they stood in the radiance of classical civilisation…. The classical texts provided a new foundation for the And cast my tearful eyes on earth below.

At times amid the storm of misery This doubt assails me: how frail limbs and poor

Can severed from their spirit hope to live.

provided a new foundation for the appreciation of man; classical scholarship constituted the “humanities”.

Then answers Love: Hast thou no memoryHow I to lovers this great guerdon give,

Free from all human bondage to endure?John Addington Symonds, trans.

Tarnas, p. 209.

So great was his desire to write his thoughts and feelings and so difficult was it to find anyone in Europe to match his desire he found himself writing to Ciceroto find anyone in Europe to match his desire he found himself writing to Cicero, one of the only people he believed really shared his passion. (Cicero was the Roman Poet/Politician who died over 1200 years before Petrarch was born).

P Sadlon Petrarch http://petrarch petersadlon com/petrarch htmlP. Sadlon, Petrarch http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/petrarch.html

Modernity and Humanism At long last however I feel that I have come to someAt long last, however, I feel that I have come to some

understanding of why man is the most fortunate of living things and, consequently, deserving of all admiration.

Pico della Mirandola, The Oration on the Dignity of Man

1463-1494

In the Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486), Pico justifies the importance of the human quest for knowledge within a neo-Platonic framework. He writes that after God had created all

creatures, he conceived of the desire for another, sentient being who would appreciate all g pphis works, but there was no longer any room in the chain of being; all the possible slots

from angels to worms had been filled. So, God created man such that he had no specific slot in the chain. Instead, men were capable of learning from and imitating any existing

creature. When man philosophizes, he ascends the chain of being towards the angels, and communion with God. When he fails to exercise his intellect, he vegetates. Pico did not fail gto notice that this system made philosophers like himself among the most dignified human creatures. The idea that man could ascend the chain of being through the exercise of their

intellectual capacities was a profound endorsement of the dignity of human existence in this, earthly life. The root of this dignity lay in his assertion that only human beings could change themselves through their own free will, whereas all other changes in nature were

the result of some outside force acting on whatever it is that undergoes change. He observed from history that philosophies and institutions were always in change, making

man's capacity for self-transformation the only constant... Pico's philosophies had a profound influence on the arts, helping to elevate writers and painters from their medieval

role as mere artisans to the Renaissance ideal of the artist as genius. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Giovanni_Pico_della_Mirandola?oldid=687340

Ni M hi lliNico Machiavelli 1469-1527

Machiavelli’s The Prince exposes the world of politicsMachiavelli s The Prince exposes the world of politics as it is, rather than virtuously how it should be.

In The Art of War, "Machiavelli taught Europe the art of war -it had long been practiced, without being known.“ Voltaire

In the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli’s The Prince critically , yassessed the politics of the day, and laid the foundation for modern critical political thought. He refused to assume that government functioned as those in power said it did. Rather,government functioned as those in power said it did. Rather, he critically analyzed how it did function and laid the foundation for political thinking that exposes both, on the one hand, the real agendas of politicians and, on the other hand,hand, the real agendas of politicians and, on the other hand, the many contradictions and inconsistencies of the hard, cruel, world of the politics of his day.http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/briefHistoryCT.cfm

Modernity and the ScientificModernity and the Scientific Revolution

Gallieo1564-1642

Copernicus1473 1543

Kepler1571-16301564 16421473-1543 1571 1630

Modernity and the ScientificModernity and the Scientific Revolution

Galileo Galilei was a Tuscan physicist, astronomer,

th ti i d hil h

In his renowned work De Revolutionibus (1530)C i d hi

Joseph Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and

t l K l ' L fmathematician and philosopher. His achievements are too many to individually list, but included telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus discovery of the

Copernicus proposed his theory of how the earth rotated on its axis once daily and travelled around the sun once yearly; an accepted

astrologer. Kepler's Laws of planetary motion are three mathematical laws that describe the motion of planets in the Solar System He asserted thatphases of Venus, discovery of the

satellites of Jupiterand observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo championed Copernicanism and proposed

once yearly; an accepted notion today but a phenomenal proposal in the Western world at that time. He was the first astronomer

Solar System. He asserted that the earth moved, that the planetary orbits were elliptical and that planets’ speeds changed, challenging the

heliocentrism as proven fact. The Catholic church did not accept this view and believed it was contrary to the scripture’s

i

to propose a scientifically based heliocentric cosmology that which displaced the earth as the

t f th i

theories of astronomy and physics at the time. These calculations are used today to calculate orbits for artificial

t llit

GallieoCopernicus Kepler

meaning. centre of the universe. satellites.

p p

Modernity and the PrintModernity and the Print Revolution

The introduction of the moveable type printing open the door to modernity in Europe, allowing for mass production of publications.modernity in Europe, allowing for mass production of publications. “The spread of knowledge brought about through printing increasingly drove a wedge between the world of theologians and the views of both secular scholars and an emerging bourgeoisie with g g gvested commercial interests. Print also abetted a schism within the church itself, when religious leaders saw it as a way of expediting the reproduction and sale of papal indulgences. This along with other p p p g gchurch ‘indulgences’ led German theologian Martin Luther to nail to a Wittenberg church door 95 theses (1517) advocating reform. His grievances were soon printed and the church responded in kind; resulting in a full-scale war of words and, ultimately, the Protestant Reformation.”

New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, p. 401-2.

Modernity and the AcademyBeyond question, Descartes was the chief architect of the 17th century intellectual revolution which destabilised the traditional doctrines of medieval and Renaissance

h l ti i d l id d th hil hi l f d tischolasticism, and laid down the philosophical foundations for what we think of as the ‘modern’ scientific age.

Honderich, T. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, p.188

Rene Descartes often called the father of modern

In Rules For the Direction of the Mind, Descartes argued for the need for a special systematic disciplining of the mind to guide it in thinking He articulated and defended the need

philosophy 1596-1650Portrait by Franz Hals

“The reading of all good books is like a

to guide it in thinking. He articulated and defended the need in thinking for clarity and precision. He developed a method of critical thought based on the principle of systematic doubt. He emphasized the need to base thinking on well-thought good books is like a

conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.”

He emphasized the need to base thinking on well thought through foundational assumptions. Every part of thinking, he argued, should be questioned, doubted, and tested.

http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/briefHistoryCT.cfmpast centuries.

D l t f C iti l Th htDevelopment of Critical Thought“The critical thinking of these Renaissance and post-Renaissance

It is not enough to have a good

scholars opened the way for the emergence of science and for the development of democracy, human rights and freedom of thought.”

http://www.criticalthinking.org/

Francis Bacon: In The advancement of learning he argued the importance of studying the world empirically. He provided a foundation for modern science

have a good mind.

The main He provided a foundation for modern science emphasising the importance of the information gathering processes.

Decartes developed a method of critical thought based

thing is to use it well.

Decartes developed a method of critical thought based on the Principle of systematic doubt. Every part of thinking, should be questioned, doubted, and tested.

Si Th M i Ut i d l d d l f

Rene Descartes, Discourse on method,1637

Sir Thomas Moore in Utopia developed a model of new social order where he argued that established social systems were in need of radical analysis and critique.

Modernity and SocietyReading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking

that makes what we read oursthat makes what we read ours.John Locke (1632-1704)

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke (in 16th and 17th Century England) displayed the same confidence in the critical mind of the thinker that we find in Machiavelli. Neither accepted the traditional picture of things dominant in the thinking of their day. Neither accepted as necessarily rational that which was considered "normal" i th i lt B th l k d t th iti l i d t i t f l iin their culture. Both looked to the critical mind to open up new vistas of learning. Hobbes adopted a naturalistic view of the world in which everything was to be explained by evidence and reasoning. Locke defended a common sense analysis of everyday life and thought He laid the theoretical foundation for critical thinkingof everyday life and thought. He laid the theoretical foundation for critical thinking about basic human rights and the responsibilities of all governments to submit to the reasoned criticism of thoughtful citizens.

The Critical Thinking Comm nit http // criticalthinking org/abo tCT/briefHistor CT cfmThe Critical Thinking Community http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/briefHistoryCT.cfm

Newton and the laws of natureNewton’s Laws of Motion

Law of Inertia (Newton’s First Law) states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and that an object in uniform motion tends to stay in uniform motion unless acted upon by a net external force.

Newton's Second Law states that an applied force on an object equals the rate of change of its momentum with time.

Newton’s Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton’s Law of GravityNewton himself often told that story that he was inspired to formulate his theory ofNewton himself often told that story that he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree. It fell straight down — why was that, he asked? The real question was not whether gravity existed, but whether it extended so far from Earth that it could also be the force holding the moon to its orbit. Newton showed that if the force decreased as the inverse square of the distance, one q ,could indeed calculate the Moon's orbital period, and get good agreement. He suggested the same force was responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it "universal gravitation".

Isaac Newton’s First and Second laws of motion, in Latin, from the original 1687 edition of the Principia M th tiMathematica.

Summary - Modernity Humanism and the Renaissance – a rediscovery of

Classical traditions The Scientific Revolution : induction; deduction; The Scientific Revolution : induction; deduction;

hypotheses; observation; experience The Age of Empiricism

Modernity – The LegacyThe legacy of ‘Modernity’ is Revolution and Reason.

The Age of Enlightenment commonly referred to as the Age of Reason, or perhaps more aptly the Age of Diversity could flourish

during the 18th century arising out of the modern ideas brought forth during the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution.

Module 6 : Macro-skills

That is the end of the Module 6 Content: Modernity

Follow the links belowto commence the macro and micro skills training for this module

Form and Function The expository [link] The expository [link]

The annotated bibliography [link]

The literature review [link]

The research report [li k] The research report [link]

Research approaches Quantitative [link] Qualitative [li k] Qualitative [link] Theory-based [link]