1. Chapter 14: New Directions of Thought and Culture in the 16th and 17th Centuries

2. Leaders of the Scientific Revolutions
Nicolaus Copernicus
Tycho Brahe
Johannes Kepler
Galileo Galilei
Isaac Newton
Francis Bacon
Rene Descartes

3. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke
Hobbes ; Locke
Questions
What was Hobbes’/Locke’s view of human nature?
What was Hobbes’/Locke’s political philosophy?
Whose view of humanity and political philosophy is correct? Explain your answer.

4. Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
English Civil War
Human nature
Type of Government
Nature of Government:
Social Contract

5. Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
English Civil War
Selfish
Reasonable and Good
Human nature
Type of Government
Nature of Government:
Social Contract

6. Limited Government; Constitutional Government
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
English Civil War
Selfish
Reasonable and Good
Human nature
Limited Government; Constitutional Government
Strong Central Political Authority
Type of Government
Nature of Government:
Social Contract

7. Limited Government; Constitutional Government
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
English Civil War
Selfish
Reasonable and Good
Human nature
Limited Government; Constitutional Government
Strong Central Political Authority
Type of Government
Sort out Problems; Protect Natural Rights
Sacrifice Liberty for Security
Nature of Government:
Social Contract

8. Thomas Hobbes: Apologist for Absolute Government
embraced scientific movement
translated Thuclydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War – influenced his basic view of humanity
Leviathan
Aimed to provide a justification for strong central political authority; influenced by English Civil War
Portray humanity/society in a materialistic and mechanical way
Increase pleasure/ minimize pain; driven by physical sensation
Humans exist to meet daily needs not higher moral purpose
Only sovereign commonwealth could help humans meet needs by limiting free exercise of natural human pursuit of self–interest; social/political contract – give up liberty for security
Words/promises insufficient so state needs coercive force’ anarchy worse than tyranny
Opposition from Monarchs, Christian leaders/intellectuals

9. John Locke: Defender of Moderate Liberty and Toleration
Major source of criticism of absolutism and foundation for liberal political philosophy
First Treatise of Government – ended debate on patriarchal model of government
Second Treatise of Government – government must be responsible for and responsive to the concerns of the governed
Humans are creatures of reason and basic good will
The state of human nature – a condition of competition and modest conflict – requires a political authority to sort out problems not impose authority
Social contract is to ensure rights, liberty and property – limit authority of the government
Conflict occurs when government violates natural law – government fails to protect people’s natural rights; people have the right to rebel

10. Letter Concerning Toleration – allow people to make personal determination of how to reach salvation; no religious conformity forced by government; Catholic exception
Essay Concerning Human Understanding – early version of behaviorism; tabula rasa
Believed reason and revelation were compatible

11. The New Institutions of Expanding Natural Knowledge
Belief that genuinely new knowledge about nature and human kind could be discovered
don’t have to look back and recover a better understanding; advance learning
scholasticism/aristotelianism – wanted to preserve traditional outlooks; defend ancients versus moderns

12. establishment of “institutions of sharing”: Royal Society of London (1660); Academy of Experiments (Florence, 1657); French Academy of Science (1666); Berlin Academy of Science (1700)
authorities created through peer review and critiques
natural philosophy separated from religious and political conflict
driven by literate classes outside of elite classes; empire building encouraged scientific advancements
members presented science as an enterprise to aid the goals of government
eventually leads to the Enlightenment Period

13. Women in the Scientific Revolution
Generally excluded from the institutions of European intellectual life
Queen Christina of Sweden (r. 1623–1654): brought Descartes to Stockholm to design regulations for a new science academy
Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673)
Observations Upon Experimental Philosophy (1666)
Grounds of Natural Philosophy (1668)
Maria Winkelmann—accomplished German astronomer, excluded from Berlin Academy

14. New Science and Religion Three major issues:
Certain scientific theories and discoveries conflicted with Scripture.
Who resolves such disputes: religious authorities or natural philosophers?
New science’s apparent replacement of spiritually significant universe with purely material one.
Representative incident: Roman Catholic authorities condemn Galileo, 1633—under house arrest for last nine years of his life
Catholic Inquisition places Copernicus’s On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres on Index of Prohibited Books, 1616
Roman Catholic Church formally admits errors of biblical interpretation in Galileo’s case in 1992

15. Attempts to Reconcile Reason and Faith
Blaise Pascal; French mathematician
opposed both dogmatism and skepticism
erroneous belief in God is a safer bet than erroneous unbelief
Francis Bacon
two books of divine revelation: the Bible and nature
since both books share the same author, they must be compatible
Economics: technological and economic innovation seen as part of a divine plan—man is to understand world and then put it into productive rational use

16. Continuing Superstition
belief in magic and the occult persisted through the end of the 17th c.
witch-hunts: 70,000–100,000 put to death, 1400–1700; 80% women
village society: magic helped cope with natural disasters and disabilities
Christian clergy: practiced high magic (Eucharist, Penance, Confession, exorcism

17. Baroque Art
17th c. painting, sculpture, architecture
subjects depicted in naturalistic rather than idealized manner
Michelangelo Caravaggio (1573–1610)