Lecture 4: Renaissance Science and Philosophy

Question 1

What were the four major themes of Renaissance humanism?

Answer 1

Individual potential, personal religion instead of the institutionalized, interest in the classic, negative attitude toward Aristotle

Question 2

Why did the humanists break the authority of the organized church and Aristotle’s philosophy?

Answer 2

To foster a scientific attitude free from dogma

Question 3

What did Kepler contribute to our understanding of the solar system?

Answer 3

The paths of planets are elliptical. Also did pioneer work in optics.

Question 4

What did Copernicus contribute to our understanding of the solar system?

Answer 4

Copernicus demonstrated that the earth was not the center of the solar system

Question 5

How did Galileo contribute to scientific progress?

Answer 5

Summarized experiments mathematically and emphasized the lawful nature of the universe

Question 6

How did Newton view the universe?

Answer 6

As a complex, lawful, knowable machine that God had created, set in motion, and then abandoned.

Question 7

What law has Newton discovered?

Answer 7

Extended the work of Galileo by showing that the motion of all objects in the universe could be explained by the law of gravitation.

Question 8

What was Luther’s reformation about?

Answer 8

The attempt of Luther and others to reform the Christian church by making it more Augustinian in character. This effort resulted in the division of western European Christianity into Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.

Question 9

What influence did Newton’s science have on psychology?

Answer 9

It led to the belief that science could answer all questions

Question 10

What did Francis Bacon emphasize in scientific investigations?

Answer 10

Inductive reasoning and problem-solving

Question 11

What did Descartes conclude about sensory information?

Answer 11

It can be trusted because God created it

Question 12

What concept did Descartes introduce in understanding the mind–body relationship?

Answer 12

Interactionism

Question 13

What is Descartes’s version of dualism called?

Answer 13

Interactionism

Question 14

What did Descartes believe about the innate ideas in the mind?

Answer 14

They were naturally present in the mind

Question 15

What did Descartes contribute to psychology?

Answer 15

Description of the reflex and stimulation of animal research

Question 16

How did the philosophers and scientists of the 16th and 17th centuries view religion?

Answer 16

As a source of dogma

Question 17

What motivated the methods of thinkers of the 16th and 17th centuries in their work?

Answer 17

Apparent errors in previously accepted dogma

Question 18

What characterized the transitional figures of the Renaissance period?

Answer 18

Antidogma

Question 19

What were the four sources of error described by Francis Bacon in scientific investigation?

Answer 19

Idols of the cave (biases resulting from personal experience), idols of the tribe (biases resulting from human nature), idols of the marketplace (biases due to the traditional meanings of word), idols of the theater (blind acceptance of authority or tradition)

Question 20

What role did Bacon envision for science in addressing human problems?

Answer 20

Science should aim at the solution of human problems

Question 21

What did Descartes call the innate ideas present in the mind?

Answer 21

A priori concepts

Question 22

What concept did Descartes introduce that became essential in psychology?

Answer 22

Reflex

Question 23

What did Marin Luther (1483–1546) believe in?

Answer 23

Was especially disturbed by corruption within the church and by the church’s emphasis on ritual. He believed that a major reason for the church’s downfall was its embracing of Aristotle’s philosophy, and he urged a return to the personal religion that Augustine had described. He accepted Augustine’s concept of predestination but denied human free will. His attack of the established church contributed to the Reformation, which divided Europe into warring camps.