The Age of Reason and Enlightenment

1. The Age of Reason and Enlightenment

2. Rationalism • The belief that one can arrive at the truth by using one’s reason rather than relying on • authority of the past • religious faith • institutions

3. Rationalism began in Europe with the great rationalist philosophers and scientists. Some of whom were: • 1543--Nicolas Copernicus:Rethinks our place in the solar system • 1642-1727--Sir Isaac Newton:Discovers the laws of gravity • 1637--Rene Descartes:“I think therefore I am.” • 1632-1704 – John Locke: “the right to Life, Liberty and Property”

4. Scientific Revolution Challenges Old Ideas • During the Middle Ages, people and the Church thought that the Earth was the center of the universe • They thought that God purposely placed the Earth at the center of the universe • Nicolaus Copernicus changed this old view of the universe • He figured out that the Sun is the center of the universe (heliocentric), and that the earth and all other planets revolve around the sun

5. Hello, I am Copernicus. Why was my new idea a problem? If Copernicus is right – The Church must be wrong

6. Did anyone Believe Copernicus? My name is Galileo Galilei. I was fascinated by the planets, just like Copernicus. I developed a telescope, and saw that Copernicus was right! Why is this a problem ? • If the Church is proven wrong on this issue – people might question all Church Teaching – even the authority of the Church itself! • (It was panic thinking)

7. It is the year 1633 and the Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei faces a life or death dilemma! The Catholic court put him on trial because the idea that the earth revolves around the sun was dangerous to the Catholic Church! • He had to either deny his ideas, or be put to death! If he denied the ideas of Copernicus, the church would punish him, but not put him to death. • What do you think Galileo did? What would you do?

8. Galileo Lies! • Galileo said that he denies what Copernicus taught. In court, he stated: “With sincere heart, I detest the errors of Copernicus and every other error contrary to the holy church”. *** Was Galileo lying or telling the truth? • Galileo was not put to death, but he was never a free man again.

9. It’s interesting that … In 1992, Pope John Paul II officially acknowledged that Galileo was right about the earth revolving around the sun. The Pope concluded that church leaders were wrong to put Galileo on trial. The Pope also said that the church at the time was acting in good faith and was only working within the knowledge of their own time.

10. The Age of Reason emphasised: • reason over the imagination • the social over the personal • the common interest over the individual • Reason is the dominating characteristicboth of nature and human nature • nature is governed by fixed, unchanging laws

11. Age of Reason • Growth of rational science • Culture venerates rationality, consciousness • Represents educated (white, male) mind as • rational, scientific, critical, objective • Others (women, non-white) represented as • irrational, emotional, superstitious, corporeal • Dualism is a basis of much Western thought

12. It was the first widely-read, systematic attacks on concept of religion in the west Tension between faith & reason Some ridiculed religion & miracles Some saw religion as the root of all evil Impact of the Age of Reasonon the Church

13. Religion and the Rational Mind • DEISM“God makes it possible for all people at all times to discover natural laws through the God-given faculty of reason.” Benjamin Franklin

14. The deists • The largest movement among philosophes • Believed only those Christian doctrines which met the test of reason • Denied miracles, Resurrection, original sin, divine revelation (Bible)

15. The deists & God • God as “great clockmaker” • Non-participatory after the Creation • So no purpose to prayer! • Christ as a great moral teacher • But not the Son of God!

16. Influence on Social thought • The guiding principles: • Reason can find eternal laws governing human relationships. • Injustice is the result of our ignorance of these laws. • Utilitarianism • Jeremy Bentham (d. 1832) “The greatest good for the greatest number of people”

17. Rene Descartes “Stay-in-Bed Scholar” “Gentleman, Soldier, and Mathematician” Born on March 31, 1596 Died on February 11, 1650

18. Childhood • As a child was very weak and was always sick. • He had been picked on by bullies for it. • He was inspired to do math by his mother. • Little did he know he would be affected by not doing math as a child.

19. Accomplishments • He graduated from the University of Poitiers. • He changed math by discovering the X and Y axis. • He wrote the book SEEKING THE TRUTH IN THE SCIENCES. (1637) • Descartes did not revise geometry; he created it.

20. Rene Descartes I think, therefore, I am • Descartes was a scientist, mathematician and philosopher • He used a lot of logic in his findings • He doubted everything in life, unless it was proven by reason • The only thing he was sure of and that he felt he could prove, was his existence. • He came up with a quote:

21. Rene Descartes (Cartesian Dualism) • “I think therefore I am” • Body and mind are separate • body takes up space • mind occupies no space • Justifies other dualisms: • People vs. Nature • Culture vs. Nature • Mind vs. Body

22. Descartes • Venerates the rational mind • vs. bodily urges • Body and universe • become a machine • something to be mapped, explored, dissected by rational science

23. Isaac Newton Newton was another important scientist from the scientific revolution. I discovered the law of gravity! This law said that all motion was controlled by the same force.

24. Isaac Newton • 1642 to 1727; • Lived during the last European plagues, the Baroque period in music, and the beginning of the Age of Reason. • Thinkers who came after saw Newton’s Laws as a description of a MechanicalUniverse.

25. Newton’s First Law of Motion: • An object in motion in a straight line at a constant speed (or at rest) stays in motion in a straight line and constant speed unless acted upon by an external force. • Radical departure from previous ideas of Aristotle who believed objects moved because of their own natural tendencies

26. Newton’s Third Law • The Karma of Physics • For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. • The action/reaction pairs occur at a single point. (you feel something you push on with a force equal to your pushing.)

27. Isaac Newton • The great mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) discovered the law of gravitation and successfully explained the workings of the physical universe. • But to the romantic artist William Blake this was not enough: • Newton had left out God as well as theemotional andspiritual elementsfrom his theories. William Blake: Personification of Man Limited by Reason 1805

28. The popularisation of science • Newton’s Principia hard to understand • To understand scientific thought processes is to understand reason • Popularisers made science accessible

29. John Locke(1632-1704)

30. Biography • B. 1632, son of a small property-owner and lawyer • Oxford, 1652-67 • Studied church-state issues, chemistry and medicine, new mechanical philosophy • Involvement in politics through Lord Ashley, whom he treated for a liver abscess • Plotted to assassinate King Charles II and his Catholic brother, later James II • Exile in Holland, 1683-89 • 1689: 3 major works published

31. Major works and themes: A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) • Argues for religious toleration; • Except for atheists, “who deny the Being of a God” and thus cannot be trusted to keep their promises (e.g. in contracts). Context: - Religious wars and persecution in England (‘Test’ Acts) and on the Continent.

32. Innate Ideas • Philosophers such as Plato & Descartes, maintained that we are born with some of the ideas which we have. • For Plato, all of our ideas are innate, even though a certain amount of experience may be required to grasp them clearly. • According to this theory we have innate ideas of such things as God, freedom, immortality, substance, and of some moral truths, eg. that deliberately harming an innocent person is wrong. • Locke seriously disagreed with this.

33. Locke’s Basic “Theory of Knowledge” • Human being = tabula rasa (blank slate) • receives sense-impressions • some of these transformed by Mind into Ideas • Ideas represented in language by words • However, no Ideas are innate • Mind operates (through gradual learning process) without reference to any received authority (of Church, State or others)

34. Locke’s Ideas • Model of photographic-type images (“ideas”) left in the mind by sense-impressions: • primary qualities: inherent in objects themselves (size, shape, number) • secondary qualities: those we assign (color, taste, sound) to sense-impressions, e.g. vibration produces sound; however, the sound we hear is not the vibration itself, but its effect on our hearing apparatus.

35. Complex Ideas • Sense-data of primary qualities (PQs) and secondary qualities (SQs), produce ideas in the mind: • Ideas are mental results of sense-data • Sense-perceptions • Bodily sensations • Mental images • Thoughts and concepts

36. Some basic info about Charles Darwin The following, on Darwin, is gleaned from a presentation by David Pannell University of Western Australia

37. Lifeline • Born 1809 • Study (Edinburgh and Cambridge) 1825-1831 • Voyage of the Beagle 1831-36 • Retired to Down 1842 • The Origin of Species 1859 • Died 1882 Darwin’s home at Down, near London

38. Darwin’s achievements • Transformed biological science • Both style and content • Still the cornerstone of biology • Now the cutting edge of psychology • Transformed attitudes of humanity to our place in the universe

39. Not just an evolutionist • Not even a biologist to start with • Collected beetles for fun • Studied geology more seriously • Considered himself a geologist throughout the Beagle voyage and for some time after • Famous for working out how coral atolls are formed

40. Beagle voyage Coral reefs Volcanic islands Geology of South America Barnacles Species Man Emotions Climbing plants Domestication Cross and self fertilisation Orchids Worms Autobiography His books (not just on evolution)

41. Contribution to style of science • Pre-Darwin, science was done in homage to God • Was primarily descriptive • Deduction and theorising was disparaged as “speculation” • Darwin used detailed observation to explore much larger questions - helped change scientific methods

42. Natural selection • Developed theory in complete isolation • In face of violent opposition • With no knowledge of genetics • With no knowledge of DNA • With no observations of natural selection actually occurring

43. Not first to propose evolution • French tradition • Jean-Baptiste Lamark • Etienne Geoffroy St Hilaire • Erasmus Darwin (Grandfather) • Robert Grant (Mentor) • Was expounded in a popular book (“Vestiges”) 15 years before “Origin”

44. Darwin was mis-credited • Died famous for evolution (which was not his idea) • Natural selection not widely accepted, even among his supporters • Darwin remained convinced • Only 40-50 years later did scientists appreciate his foresight.

45. The Beagle Only 90 foot long, but carrying 74 people.

46. Joining the Beagle Voyage • Not paid for 5 years on Beagle. • Actually, he had to pay! • Was lucky to get on • replaced someone who was shot in a duel • his father opposed him going • Mainly asked because of his class, to keep Captain Fitzroy company • It was the making of him

47. Galapogos, 1835 • Portrayed as a “Eureka” experience. • Actually, was hugely homesick • Did not recognise significance until back in England, 1837. • Worked out theory much later. • First inkling of natural selection in 1838. • Turtles & finches were key evidence • On boat home, ate turtles, dumped shells • Thought finches different species; didn’t even label them properly

50. The Beagle in Sydney Harbour