Task 2

Question 1

Geocentric to Heliocentric Model of the Universe

- Geocentric model

Answer 1

• earth at centre of universe

Question 2

Geocentric to Heliocentric Model of the Universe

- Copernicus

Answer 2

• 1473-1543
• interested in alternative heliocentric model (Sun at centre of universe)
• publish in 1543 (afraid of Church)
• epicycles (smaller circles within big circles)

Question 3

Geocentric to Heliocentric Model of the Universe

- Galileo Galilei

Answer 3

• 1564-1642
• use of telescope to look at night sky and observed phenomena easier to explain with heliocentric model –> Upset Roman Catholic Church

Question 4

Factors contributing to the Scientific Revolution

- factors that precipitated scientific revolution

Answer 4

• growth of population, urbanization, emergence of considerable class of merchants
• crisis of religion -> two popes
  
  • reformation
• new inventions that made information more easily available
  
  • paper and printing
  • 14th century: invention of mechanical clock
  • compass, telescope, microscope
• existence of universities and patronage -> expansion of science
• enrichment from Greek and Arab civilizations
• idea that small issues could be solved without the need of an overall view that explained everything in the universe
• Zeitgeist

Question 5

Factors contributing to the Scientific Revolution

- scientific revolution could have died prematurely if

Answer 5

• major disaster or war would have happened
• religion had been able to suppress new thinking
• natural philosophers had not been able to organize themselves

Question 6

New method of the natural philosopher

- Francis Bacon

Answer 6

• 1561-1626
• method of natural philosopher
  
  • observation and inductive reasoning important
  • systematic observation important
  • experimental histories
• realization of natural philosophers that not all knowledge had been known in ancient times; much still remained to be discovered

Question 7

The term “Scientific Revolution”

Answer 7

• made history of science more attractive

- more continuity in human thought

Question 8

Worldviews

- Aristotelian Worldview

Answer 8

• from 300BC to 1600AD
• Aristotle:
  
  • geocentric model
  • sublunar regions: 4 elements (water, earth, fire, air)
  • superlunar region: 5th element (aether)
  • extensive views on everything (politics, ethics, …)
  • had good reasons for beliefs
• worldview:
  
  • interrelated, interlocking system of beliefs
  • like jigsaw puzzle
    
    • interconnected, coherent, and consistent whole
    • peripheral pieces: easy to change
    • core pieces: cannot be changed/replaced without dramatically altering beliefs to which it was connected

Question 9

Worldviews

- Newtonian Worldview

Answer 9

• early in 1600s
• new evidence (e.g. telescope) -> indicating Earth moved around sun
• new system -> moving earth
• foundation: work of Issac Newton (1642-1727) and contemporaries

Question 10

Worldviews

- Remarks

Answer 10

• evidence -> has always been some evidence for worldview at that time
• common sense -> believed what is learned, fits with worldview of time

Question 11

Article Dear

- Two Faces of Science

Answer 11

• before 19th century: “natural philosophy”
• end of 19th century: “science”
• science as form of engineering
• key figures change: Bacon; Newton

Question 12

Article Dear

- Instrumentality and History of Science

Answer 12

• scientific theories believed to be true because they work

- science: “umbrella” sense of natural philosophy and instrumentality

Question 13

Article Dear

- Natural Philosophy and Intelligibility

Answer 13

• 17th and 18th century: new view of natural philosophy (practical uses)
• Bacon; Newton
• 18h century: people became accustomed to idea of action at a distance

Question 14

Article Dear

- The Mechanical Universe —> the world as a machine

Answer 14

• 17th century: Scientific Revolution (metaphor of the world as a machine)
• not everything has an intention: e.g. clock
• mechanists: claimed not to understand how goal-directed behavior made any sense

Question 15

Article Hooykaas

- two major causes of rise of modern science

Answer 15

• new natural history and methodological epistemological changes connected with it
• transition from organismic to mechanistic view of world

Question 16

Article Hooykaas

- characteristics of modern science

Answer 16

• acknowledges no authorities except that of nature itself
• is experimental
• favors mechanistic world picture
• tries to describe/explain natural things and events in mathematical terms and to quantify qualities

Question 17

Article Hooykaas

• middle ages (13th century)
  
  • impetus theory

Answer 17

• theory: when a mover sets body in motion, he implants it into certain force (impetus) enabling a body to move in direction in which mover starts it

Question 18

Article Hooykaas

- emancipation of Brugher class

Answer 18

• recognition that lower classes than that of aristocracy were often closer to reality than scholars

Question 19

Article Hooykaas

- mechanism —> Copernicus

Answer 19

• mechanical methods/models led to mechanistic explanations of phenomena
• Organistin world view replaced by mechanistic world view

Question 20

Article Hooykaas

- Bacon

Answer 20

• thought that natural philosophy had been tainted either by logic, natural theology or mathematics