1 / 16

Enlightenment, Science, and Church: A Historical Review

Explore the intersection of church, science, and the Enlightenment era, focusing on key figures, philosophies, and conflicts. Discover the impact of scientific revolution, Enlightenment philosophy, and the Church's response, including the Galileo controversy. Delve into Stoicism, Epicureanism, and 17th-century empiricists like Bacon, Hobbes, and Locke. Analyze the pivotal role of the church in a changing intellectual landscape and the emergence of scientific theories challenging traditional beliefs.

teo
Download Presentation

Enlightenment, Science, and Church: A Historical Review

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Class 19: Church and Science Ann T. Orlando 13 March 2006

  2. Introduction • History Review • Scientific Revolution and early Enlightenment • Real question: how do we ‘know’ and what is relation to belief in God • In my opinion, • Enlightenment answer is one of either presumption or despair • We still living in the Age of the Enlightenment

  3. Political Developments in Europe 17th C • Spain: World Power in 16th C; decline in 17th C • England: Tudors, Puritan Revolution, Restoration with broader democracy • France: Strong Kings • Germany: Separate Duchies, HRE • Italy: Separate states • Impact of Reformation • Different models of Church in Politics • Thirty Year’s War; intellectual disillusionment with religion

  4. Development of a new secular philosophy: Enlightenment • Science (as we now define it) is the (only) basis for knowledge; • Human reason based on observation and reasoning by induction can figure it (anything, everything) out; • Always making progress • Devalue history, tradition • Toleration as the basis for political-religious relationship; • Separation of Church and State • Individual rights, not duty, as basis for political systems and society; • Social contract not natural law as basis of legal system • Offers an alternative to established religions as a basis for society

  5. The Revival of Hellenistic Philosophy • Humanist legacy from Renaissance • New philosophical and political theories ‘reached back’ to the ‘golden era’ of Rome and Hellenistic philosophy: Stoicism, Epicureanism • Scientific theories developed around both cause and effect, as well as atomic motion

  6. Summary of Stoicism • God controlled every aspect of life • There was no free will, only Divine Providence • There was life of soul after death, with rewards and punishments • Law was the most important human endeavor • Divine cause (eternal reason, Logos) and effect ruled the universe; there is a chain of cause and effects at work • We know through participation in Logos • Participation in civic life and duty to position in life was most important • Natural law is very important • Family duties more important than friendship • Virtue, not pleasure, is basis for ethics

  7. Summary of Epicureanism • That the gods were irrelevant to human life; they lived in a state of happy tranquility • In the complete free will of the individual • That there was only annihilation after death • That science and technology were the most important human endeavors • We know only through our senses • World was made of randomly moving atoms • That participation in the civic life was not important • There was no such thing as a natural law • That women could be members of an Epicurean school • Friendship was more important than family • That the attainment of stable pleasures by the individual was the basis of ethics

  8. 17th C Philosophy: Empiricists • Empiricists: Knowledge is from senses • Francis Bacon (1561-1626) • The modern idea of technological “progress” (in the sense of a steady, cumulative, historical advance in applied scientific knowledge) began with Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning • Champions inductive logic based upon extensive observation; proceed from particular to general • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) • Atheist and materialist: does not accept natural law • Impressed by current scientific advances • Very pessimistic about human nature: social contract with threats of punishments only way to control behavior • John Locke (1632-1704)

  9. The Enlightenment Emphasis on Science • Before Enlightenment ‘science’ meant any well defined area of knowledge • During the Enlightenment it comes to mean investigation of nature by our senses through inductive reasoning and then applying mathematical models to describe observations • Key Enlightenment Scientists • Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) • Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) • Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) • William Harvey (1578-1657) • Robert Boyle (1627-1691) • Christian Huygens (1629-1695) • Antoine von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) • Isaac Newton (1642-1727) • Royal Society of London established 1660 • And don’t forget voyages of discovery

  10. Catholicism and Science • Galileo (1564-1642) controversy • Church silences Galileo because of his theory that earth revolved around sun • But the Jesuits also supported Kepler against Protestant attackers • Part of Robert Bellarmine’s argument against Galileo was that his circular orbits were not consistent with observations; epicycles explained astronomical observations better than circular orbits • Real question: Where is knowledge to be found? • Church rejects the argument that only science has access to truth; rejects attempts to relativize (trivialize) revelation • In 17th C Church is in good company: Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle

  11. The Giant of the Scientific Age: Isaac Newton • The most famous man in Europe in his own day and thereafter until Einstein • Founder of calculus (along with Leibniz) • Fundamental discoveries in optics, mechanics, gravitation • Very deeply religious; focuses on Biblical exegesis, not physics, at end of his life • Alexander Pope: “Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night; God said let Newton be and all was light”

  12. Religion and Science: Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle • Newton • At the end of his Opticks, he tries to distance himself from Epicurean ethics. He was concerned that a corpuscular theory of light could be interpreted as support for Epicurean philosophy • Newton’s favorite verse was Acts 17:28; he knew it was Stoic poetry; he tried to use this to explain how gravity could work across ‘empty’ space • Boyle • Called fundamental units in gases corpuscles rather than atoms because he did not want his theory used to support Epicurean philosophy • Left an endowment for Christian lectures to be given in London opposing Epicureanism

  13. Key Difference Between 17thC and 18th C Enlightenment Figures • 17th C Enlightenment Figures • Scientists and Philosophers • Devout Christians • 18th C Enlightenment Figures • Political philosophers and activists • Deists or atheists • Why rise of Deism, why not just atheism? • Religion needed to enforce morality among ignorant masses • To rescue science; there is order in the world and we can know what it is; that is Intelligent Design

  14. Despair of knowing • Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) • Huguenot • His Historical and Critical Dictionary was single most popular work in 18th C • David Hume (1711-1776) Dialog Concerning Natural Religion • Published after his death • Attacks both religion and science (i.e., attacks deism) • Severe attack against Intelligent Design • Skepticism is the only acceptable intellectual stance • Voltaire, Lisbon Earthquake Poem • Voltaire starts as a deist, becomes an atheist and a skeptic • Deeply connected with skepticism was problem of evil and theodicy (a term invented by Leibniz in opposition to Bayle)

  15. Natural selection (chance) in Biology • Charles Darwin (1809-1882) • Voyage of Beagle 1831-1836; Darwin is the ship-board naturalist (flora, fauna, geology samples) • Origin of Species 1859; reading selection from end of work • Evolution as described by Darwin is in direct opposition to • Platonic Great Chain of Being • Literal interpretation of Genesis • Mathematics as the precise description of what is happening in nature

  16. Assignments 1. Bokenkotter, Chapter 22 2. Robert Bellarmine Letter on Galileo available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1615bellarmine-letter.html 3. Isaac Newton. Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. in Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. p 38-39. 4. Voltaire Lisbon Earthquake. In Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. p 77-82. 5. Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of Roman Empire. in Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. p 201-208. 6. Charles Darwin. Origin of Species. At http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/darwin.html 7. Mark Kalthoff, “A Different Voice from the Eve of Origin, Reconsidering John Henry Newman on Christianity, Science, and Intelligent Design”. PSCF 53 (March 2001) available at http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2001/PSCF3-01Kalthoff.html 8. Immanuel Kant. What is Enlightenment? In Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003. (Skim) pp 54-58.

More Related