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Science and The Death of Nature Western Culture and the Scientific Revolution

Science and The Death of Nature Western Culture and the Scientific Revolution. [The] new Philosophy calls all in doubt, The Element of fire is quite put out; The Sun is lost, and th'earth, and no man's wit Can well direct him where to look for it....

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Science and The Death of Nature Western Culture and the Scientific Revolution

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  1. Science and The Death of NatureWestern Culture and the Scientific Revolution [The] new Philosophy calls all in doubt, The Element of fire is quite put out; The Sun is lost, and th'earth, and no man's wit Can well direct him where to look for it.... 'Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone- John Donne(1572-1631)

  2. Salem Possessed February 1692, Samuel Parris’s daughterpossessed- Sarah Good Arrests did not calm fears - Court of Oyer and Terminer Trial of George Jacobs

  3. Which witch is which? Malleus Maleficarum 1486Folk knowledge; “magic” Carlo Ginzburg

  4. Satan’s Sisters - Tituba West Indian- Sarah Good homeless beggar- Sarah Osborne elderly; alone; poor church attendance- Martha Corey had illegitimate, mixed-race child; opinionated- Rebecca Nurse elderly; dispute with previous minister- Bridget Bishop #1 target 3 husbands; non-demure; worked in pubs

  5. The implications • Ooops!1697 – Day of Atonement 1711 – Restitution to survivors and heirs 2. Reason triumphant?- Church/state separation- Natural Philosophy (science)- Age of Enlightenment Nathaniel Hawthorne Last gasp of the medieval world?

  6. How does Nature “die”? The Scientific Worldview removes “will” or “purpose” from natural functions. Science as a method of discovery. Science as a source of cultural authority.

  7. I. Cosmologies

  8. A.Judeo-Christian Genesis

  9. B. Medieval • Ptolemaic System “Geocentrism”ca.160 CE Observation & reason“first cause”natural orderAristotle/Plato - all nature has purpose (telos)- seeks it’s “place”

  10. 2. Thomas Aquinas 1200s “the universal” Power of Authority

  11. 3. Aristotelianism challenged William of Ockham d. 1348 Faith not compatible with reason“Ockham’s Razor”

  12. C. The Copernican Revolution 1. Nicholas Copernicus 1543 On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres Heliocentrism

  13. Timing is everything • Renaissance realism Neo-Platonism • Print Revolution • 1450 - Gutenberg - movable type and ink • Power of Nation over Church • 1534 - Church of England • 1598 - Edict of Nantes (France) • 1689 - Act of Toleration (England)

  14. II.Scientiapotentiaest Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.- Francis Bacon(1561-1626) Knowledge vs. Wisdom

  15. The Grand Embassy1697-98 Peter Mikhailov

  16. A. The (New) Truth Is Out there • Galileo / Kepler- all realms unified by laws ; composed of the same stuff- math is the “language” of God

  17. B. Mechanistic World 1. Bacon- enrichment of humanity- induction: experiments first, generalities later- outside of church/university • Rene DescartesDiscourse on Method (1637)- nature as “machine” / God as Watchmaker- logical deduction: generalities first- “I think, therefore I am”reductionism

  18. 3. Isaac Newton (1642-1727)Principia Mathematica 1687– natural law- if not cause, then description and prediction- consistent with God“Check out my hair”

  19. III. The Machine in the Garden Are God and Nature then at strife,That Nature lends such evil dreams?- Alfred Lord Tennyson

  20. A. The Body Mechanical • Earth, Wind and Fire (and Water)- Galen (ca. 200 CE)- 4 humors Spleen Black Bile Gall Bladder Yellow Bile Liver Blood Lungs Phlegm Body/nature require balance

  21. 2. Andreas Vesalius- De humani corporis fabrica(1543)

  22. William Harvey- de Motu Cordis 1628 • Paracelsus- chemical “purges”

  23. B. Ecological Evolution 1. Holistic - peasant culture- “bound” to natural cycles

  24. 2. Imperial - Francis Bacon 1561-1626Carl Linnaeus1707-1778 Binomial nomenclature / taxonomy Establish dominion via organization “Nature’s Economy” reductionism

  25. 3. Commodification Theory- organisms transformed into goods or services- psychic / ethical connection broken

  26. C. 2nd Agricultural Revolution 1750 - 1920 • Scientific Farming - Jethro Tull T. Jefferson 2. Farm consolidation(enclosure)

  27. Impact The Enlightenment experience, reason, rationality Atlantic Revolutions Industrial Revolution Metallurgy, Chemicals, Steam Imperial conquest

  28. Science and the state A well conducted government must have an underlying concept so well integrated that it could be likened to a system of philosophy…All financial, political and military matters must flow towards one goal…the strengthening of the state and the furthering of its power.- Frederick II “The Great” d. 1786- Académie des Sciences 1666 - Royal Academy 1660Christopher Wren. d. 1723

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