14New Directions in Thought and Culture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

KEY TOPICS

  • The astronomical theories of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton and the emergence of the scientific worldview
  • Impact of the new science on philosophy
  • Social setting of early modern science
  • Women and the scientific revolution
  • Approaches to science and religion
  • Witchcraft and witch-hunts

CHAPTER NOTES

In the space provided below, construct your own outline of the chapter. Before you begin, refer to the “Key Topics” (section headings – above), introductory paragraph, chapter conclusion, and “Review Questions” to help you identify the major questions and issues covered in the chapter and the author’s main arguments and interpretations. This will aid you in deciding what to include in your outline notes.

  1. The Scientific Revolution
  1. Nicolaus Copernicus Rejects an Earth-Centered Universe
  2. Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler Make New Scientific Observations
  3. Galileo Galilei Argues for a Universe of Mathematical Laws
  4. Isaac Newton Discovers the Laws of Gravitation
  1. Philosophy Responds to Changing Science
  1. Nature as Mechanism
  2. Francis Bacon: The Empirical Method
  3. Rene Descartes: The Method of Rational Deduction
  4. Thomas Hobbes: Apologist for Absolute Government
  5. John Locke: Defender of Moderate Liberty and Toleration
  1. The New Institutions of Expanding Natural Knowledge
  2. Women in the World of the Scientific Revolution
  3. The New Science and Religious Faith
  1. The Case of Galileo
  2. Blaise Pascal: Reason and Faith
  3. The English Approach to Science and Religion
  1. Continuing Superstition
  1. Witch-Hunts and Panic
  2. Village Origins
  3. Influence of the Clergy
  4. Who Were the Witches?
  5. End of the Witch-Hunts
  1. Baroque Art
  2. In Perspective

Discussion Questions: Answer 4 of the following six questions

  1. What did Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton each contribute to the scientific revolution? Which do you think made the most important contributions and why? What did Francis Bacon contribute to the foundation of scientific thought?
  2. How would you define the term scientific revolution? In what ways was it truly revolutionary? Which is more enduring, a political revolution or an intellectual one?
  3. What were the differences between the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke? How did each view human nature? Would you rather live under a government designed by Hobbes or by Locke? Why?
  4. Why were women unable to participate fully in the new science? How did family relationships help some women become involved in the advance of natural philosophy?
  5. Why did the Catholic Church condemn Galileo? How did Pascal seek to reconcile faith and reason? How did English natural theology support economic expansion?
  6. How do you explain the phenomena of witchcraft and witch-hunts in an age of scientific enlightenment? Why did the witch panics occur in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries? How might the Reformation have contributed to them?