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 17 th C Spain: World Power in 16 th C; decline in 17 th 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. 17 th 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 17 th 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 17 th C and 18 th C Enlightenment Figures 17 th C Enlightenment Figures  Scientists and Philosophers  Devout Christians 18 th 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 18 th 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 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.htmlhttp://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.