UNIT 6: TOWARD A NEW WORLD-VIEW

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

List factors that led to the development of a newscientific ideas.

Explain how this new scientific worldviewdiffered from the medieval worldview.

Discuss how the new scientific thinking affectedsociety, religion, the economy, and politics.

Understand the connection between this newworldview and Enlightenment thinking aboutreligion, culture and political systems.

Understand the concept of EnlightenedAbsolutism and discuss specific examples.

THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

The scientific revolution of theseventeenth century was the majorcause of the change in worldviewand one of the key developments inthe evolution of Western society.

Scientific thought before 1500

European ideas about the universewere based on Aristotelian medievalideas.Central to this view was the belief in a motionless

earth fixed at the center of the universe.

Around the earth moved ten crystal spheres, andbeyond the spheres was heaven.

Aristotle's scheme suited Christianitybecause it positioned human beings atthe center of the universe andestablished a home for God.

Science in this period was primarily abranch of theology.

THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO

ARISTOTLE

The Copernican Hypothesis

Copernicus, a Polish clergymanand astronomer, claimed that theearth revolved around the sunand that the sun was the centerof the universe.

This Heliocentric Theory was adeparture from medieval thoughtand created doubts abouttraditional Christianity.

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS

From Brahe to GalileoBrahe set the stage for the modernstudy of astronomy by building anobservatory and collecting data.His assistant, Kepler, formulatedthree laws of planetary motion thatproved the precise relationshipsamong planets in a sun-centereduniverse.Galileo discovered the laws of motion(including the law of inertia) using theexperimental method--the cornerstoneof modern science. He also applied the experimental method to astronomy,

using the newly invented telescope. Galileo was tried by the Inquisition for heresy in 1633

and forced to recant his views presented in Dialogue onthe Two Chief Systems of the World.

THE EXPERIMENTAL (SCIENTIFIC)METHOD

GALILEO GALILEI

THANK GOODNESS IT’S OVER!

Isaac Newton's Synthesis

In his famous book, Principia(1687), Newton integrated theastronomy of Copernicus andKepler with the physics ofGalileo. He formulated a set of mathematical laws to explain

motion and mechanics.

The key feature in his synthesis was the law of universalgravitation.

Henceforth, the universe could beexplained through mathematics.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON

"If I have been able tosee further, it was onlybecause I stood on theshoulders of giants."

Causes of the ScientificRevolution

The Scientific Revolution was theproduct of individual genius--suchas Newton building on the works ofCopernicus and others.

Also, medieval universitiesprovided the framework for the newscience.

The Renaissance stimulated scienceby rediscovering ancientmathematics and supportingscientific investigations.

CAUSES OF THE SCIENTIFIC

REVOLUTION…CON’TThe navigational problems of sea voyages

generated scientific research and newinstruments.

Better ways of obtaining knowledge aboutthe world improved scientific methods.

After about 1630 (the Counter-Reformation),the Catholic church discouraged sciencewhile Protestantism tended to be "pro-science."

MARINER’S ASTROLABE

NEW SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS

Some Consequences of theScientific Revolution

A scientific community emerged whoseprimary goal was the expansion ofknowledge.

A modern scientific method arose thatwas both theoretical and experimentaland refused to base its conclusions ontradition and established sources.

Because the link between pure scienceand applied technology was weak, thescientific revolution had little effect ondaily life before the nineteenth century.

Scientific Thinking is UsefulElsewhere

Philosopher and politician Francis Baconadvocated empirical, experimentalresearch. This inductive method ofscientific thinking allowed forindividuals to draw conclusions basedupon observation.

Mathematician and philosopher ReneDescartes stressed mathematics in hisapproach to the scientific method ofthinking. The world would be dividedinto the physical and spiritual (CartesianDualism) and each observed based upona number of beginning theories.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT

The Enlightenment was an intellectualand cultural movement that tiedtogether certain key ideas and was thelink between the scientific revolutionand a new worldview; these ideas were:Natural science and reason can explain all aspects of

life through rational, critical, and scientific thought(Rationalism).

The scientific method can explain the laws of humansociety.

Progress--the creation of better societies and betterpeople--is possible.

The Emergence of theEnlightenment

Many writers made scientific thoughtunderstandable to a large nonscientificaudience. de Fontenelle stressed the idea of progress.He was also cynical about organized religion and

absolute religious truth.

Skeptics such as Bayle concluded thatnothing can be known beyond all doubtand stressed open-mindedness.

The growth of world travel led Europeansto look at truth and morality in relative,not absolute, terms.

In his Essay Concerning HumanUnderstanding, Locke insisted that allideas are derived from experience--thehuman mind at birth is like a blanktablet (tabula rasa).

The Philosophes and thePublic

The Philosophes broughtEnlightenment ideas to theignorant people and brought theEnlightenment to its highest stageof development in France.

The French language was the international language of theeducated classes of Europe, and France was Europe's wealthieststate.

Intellectual freedom was possible in France, in contrast toeastern Europe.

The Philosophes were committed to bringing new thinking to

the public, but not necessarily the masses.

In their plays, histories, novels, dictionaries, and encyclopedias,they used satire and double meanings to spread their messagesto the public.

MONTESQUIEU AND VOLTAIRE

Montesquieu's theory of the separationof powers was extremely influential.The parlements of Paris were anexample.Voltaire challenged traditional Catholictheology and exhibited a characteristicphilosophe belief in a distant God wholet human affairs take their own course. He opposed legal injustice and unequal treatment before

the law. He was influenced by his longtime companion, Madame

du Châtelet, who was a scientist but who wasdiscriminated against because of her sex.

He was skeptical of social and economic equality; hehated religious intolerance.

OTHER WRITERS CONTRIBUTEDDiderot and d'Alembert edited the

Encyclopedia, which examined all of humanknowledge and attempted to teach peoplehow to think critically and rationally.

The later Enlightenment writers built rigidand dogmatic systems. Paul D'Hobach argued that humans were completely

controlled by outside forces.

David Hume argued that the mind is nothing but abundle of impressions that originate in senseexperiences.

J. J. Rousseau attacked rationalism and civilization; heclaimed that children must develop naturally andspontaneously, and in The Social Contract argued that

the general will of the people is sacred and absolute.

Urban Culture and PublicOpinion

The cultural transformation brought on bythe Enlightenment was related to a growthin the market for books. Most of the new buyers of books came from the middle

classes, the clergy, and the aristocracy; a tenfold increasein books resulted.

Publishing in the fields of art and science grew the most;a majority of the new books came from publishers outsideof France, largely the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Underground literature (Illegal Book Trade) inpornography was of concern to the state because much ofit centered on aristocratic immorality.

All of this resulted in a new emphasis on individual andprivate reading (a "reading revolution"); some, like

Immanuel Kant, argued that freedom of the presswould bring an enlightened age.

THE SALON SOCIETY

Enlightenment ideas--includingnew ideas about women's rights--were spread in the salons ofupper-class women.The salons were often presided over by women.

Madame Geoffrin's salon was famous; she was theunofficial godmother of the Encyclopedia.

These salons seemed to have functioned as informal"schools" for women.

SALON DE MADAME

GEOFFRIN

THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND

ABSOLUTISM

Many Philosophes believed that"enlightened" reform would comeby way of "enlightened" monarchs.The Philosophes believed that a benevolent

absolutism offered the best chance for improvingsociety.

The rulers seemed to seek the Philosophes' advice.

The Philosophes distrusted the masses and believedthat change had to come from above.

ABSOLUTISM IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL OF THE NEW STYLE

MONARCHS WERE IN PRUSSIA, RUSSIA, AND AUSTRIA.

Frederick the Great of Prussia

Frederick II used the War of the AustrianSuccession (1740-1748) to expand Prussia into agreat power by seizing Silesia.

The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) saw anattempt by Maria Theresa, with the help ofFrance and Russia, to regain Silesia, but itfailed.

Frederick allowed religious freedom andpromoted education, legal reform, and economicgrowth but allowed the Junker nobility to keepthe middle-class from power in government. Frederick allowed the repression of Prussian Jews--who

were confined to overcrowded ghettos.

FREDERICK II (“THE GREAT”) OF PRUSSIA

Catherine the Great of Russia

Catherine II imported Westernculture to Russia, supported thePhilosophes, and began a programof domestic reform.The Pugachev uprising in 1773 ledher to reverse the trend towardreform of serfdom and give noblesabsolute control of their serfs.She engaged in a policy ofterritorial expansion and, withPrussia and Austria, carved upPoland.

CATHERINE THE GREAT OF

RUSSIA

The Austrian Habsburgs

Maria Theresa of Austria introducedreforms that limited church power,revised the tax system and thebureaucracy, and reduced the power ofthe lords over the serfs.

Her successor, Joseph II, was adedicated reformer who abolishedserfdom, taxed all equally, and grantedreligious freedom.

Because of opposition from both thenobles and the peasants, Joseph'sreforms were short-lived.

MARIA THERESA AND JOSEPH II

Absolutism in France

Some philosophes, such as Voltaire,believed that the monarchy was thebest system, while some of thearistocracy sought to limit theking's power.Favored by the duke of Orléans,who governed as a regent until1723, the French nobility regainedmuch of the power it had lost underLouis XIV. The Parlement of Paris won two decisive victories

against taxation. It then asserted that the king could not levy taxes

without its consent.

LOUIS XV

Under Louis XV the French ministerMaupeou began the restoration ofroyal absolutism by abolishing theParlement of Paris.

Louis XVI reinstated the oldParlement and the country driftedtoward renewed financial and politicalcrises.

LOUIS XV

The Overall Influence of theEnlightenment

In France, the rise of judicial andaristocratic opposition combined withliberalism put absolutism on thedefensive.

In eastern Europe, the results ofenlightened absolutism were modestand absolutism remained strong.

By combining state building with theculture and critical thinking of theEnlightenment, absolute monarchssucceeded in expanding the role of thestate in the life of society.

NEXT: UNIT 7…AGE OF REVOLUTIONS