unit 4 - Scientific, Philosophical, and Political Developments

Muslim Scientific advances

• scholars built on inherited Greek texts, which they preserved (lost to Europeans during regression)

  • Arabs and Persians developed algebra, algorithms, decimal point notation

  • Arab astronomers built observatories

  • Egyptian scholar Ibn al-Haytham proved light travels in straight lines

Madrasas

• Muslim colleges

• first institutions of higher learning

• devoted to Islamic theology and law

Why did modern science not develop in the Muslim world?

• Madrasas focused on theology and NOT natural sciences

• European universities centered around Greek natural science

Basis of development of modern science

• growth of trade + re-establishment of strong monarchies in the high middle ages → circulation of ideas + patronage of educational institutions

• European scholars used Greek texts recovered from Muslim lands as the basis of the university curriculum

• Renaissance interest in the past → rediscovery of important texts (Ptolemy’s Geography, encyclopedia on botany by Theophrastus)

• Christians fled from Constantinople, bringing Christian works

• Western European unis started studies of math, astronomy, and natural philosophy (low prestige at first, esp. math bc it was only used for practical problems like taxes)

Philosophy

• path to understanding the world

• based on ancient authority + their techniques of logical argumentation

Natural philosophy

• questions about the physical nature of the universe + how it functions

• mainly based on Aristotle’s ideas

• theologians like Thomas Aquinas reconciled his ideas with Christianity (religion coexisted w/ natural philosophy at this time)

Aristotle’s astronomy

• Earth was surrounded by 10 crystal spheres w/ moon, stars, etc. embedded

  • outside of spheres was heaven

  • spheres were made up of a perfect, incorruptible “quintessence” while the sublunar world (Earth) was made up of 4 imperfect, changeable elements (air, fire, water, earth)

  • did not explain (backwards) movement of stars and planets

Ptolemy’s Astronomy

• planets move in small circles (epicycles) that moved around a larger circle (deferant)

  • checked out mathematically (decently)

• drew a map of Earth divided into 360 degrees w/ latitude, but Americas were missing

Copernicus’s Astronomy

• in Church position in Prussia

• believed Ptolemy’s difficult rules were unlikely for a perfect creator

• liked Ancient Greek heliocentric theory

• didn’t publish his work On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres until the year he died bc scared

Impacts of Copernicus’s theory

• stars don’t move → no crystal spheres to move the stars

  • a comet also made ppl doubt the spheres

• universe is huge (since Earth moves but stars look stationary)

• If Earth is just another planet, where is heaven?

• varied religious reactions

  • some Protestants agreed but some thought it was against the Bible

  • Catholics → not Bible adherent → didn’t care

Tycho Brahe’s astronomy

• Danish astronomer who got an observatory by impressing the Danish king

  • sponsored by HRE Rudolph II after king died

• best observations of stars and planets w/ naked eye

  • marked down in tables

  • died fast + not good at math = couldn’t understand tables

• believed every planet revolved around the sun, and that system revolved around the earth-moon system

Johannes Kepler’s astronomy

• Brahe’s assistant

• reinterpreted Brahe’s charts to reject Ptolemy’s ideas + developed 3 laws of planetary motion

  • 1. orbits are elliptical

  • 2. when closer to the sun orbit = faster (explains backward movement)

  • time of orbit is proportional to distance from the sun

  • the Rudolphine Tables (w/ the tables)

• mathematically proved heliocentric model

  • first union of natural sciences and math

  • destroyed Aristotle + Ptolemy’s ideas

Galileo’s Astronomy

• disproved Aristotle’s ideas about motion

  • proved uniform force → uniform acceleration, an object in motion will continue if not acted upon by an external force

• built a telescope after hearing about its invention in Hollans

  • observed sky

  • The Sidereal Messenger - detailed observations on the milky way, moons of Jupiter, moon’s surface that further disproved crystal spheres

Newton’s synthesis

• united Copernicus’s astronomy, Kepler’s laws, and Galileo’s physics through math laws explaining motion + mechanics

• Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy or Principia Mathematica

• key point: law of universal gravitation - every body attracts every other body

Spain’s scientific expeditions

• King Philip II sent his physician Francisco Hernandez to research plants in colonies

  • asked local ppl abt medicine

  • monopoly on cinchona bark (malaria cure)

• crown’s insistence on secrecy → discoveries were not internationally helpful

Carl Linnaeus of Sweden

• recognized that many countries were doing scientific expeditions but there was no large-scale framework for the info

• sent students out and formed nomenclature + classification for living things based on results

fame of naturalists

• encyclopedias with drawings + personal accounts → very popular

astrology

• movement of heavenly bodies affects life on Earth

• used by doctors and astronomers

• Johannes Kepler worked as an astrologist

  • also thought motion of planets created music + wrote abt travel to the moon

magic

• used to understand hidden, or “occult”, connections that influenced distant objects

  • magnets

  • not antithetical to God

  • theory of universal gravitation was dismissed as such

alchemy

• metals can be turned into gold etc

Bacon’s method

• scientific method based on empirical observation

• inductive reasoning: direct observations unprejudiced by past scientific inquiry to create theories

• prestige as lord chancellor + of his work → adoption of his method in Britain

  • creation of Royal Society (weekly experiments + discussions)

• limited by refusal of math and theory

Descartes’ method

• improving scientific methods based on empirical observation

• discovered analytic geometry (link of geometry and algebra)

• conceptualized “corpuscles” made up the world + always in motion

  • depended on idea that they occupied all space (no vacuum)

  • vacuum was disproven but the mechanistic world stayed

• philosophy: everything (senses included) could be doubted but self-evident truth (“first principles”) + rational speculation leads to all truths

• too obsessed with rationalism and power of deduction

Cartesian dualism

all substances are “matter” - physical or “mind” - mental

• popular in France + Netherlands

Paracelsus

• Swiss physician and alchemist who pioneered use of chemicals 4 illness

Andreas Vesalius

• Wrote On the Structure of the Human Body (anatomy book)

William Harvey

• discovered circulation of blood

• found out the heart is a pump with muscles and valves

Robert Boyle

• formulated Boyle’s law on the pressure of gases

• disproved Descartes’ theory of no vacuum

Scientific Revolution and Medicine

• original theory based on ancient Greek Galen: body has 4 humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile) illness → imbalance

• disproven by Paracelsus and Vesalius

Religious Conflict w/ Scientific Revolution

• scientists celebrated God with work

• heliocentrism contradicted Genesis creation myth → Catholic church banned works of Copernicus + Galileo

  • Galileo tried again under Pope Urban VIII (more tolerant) but his Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World defended Copernicus + ridiculed Aristotle’s view

    • he recanted under threat of torture

Consequences of rise of modern science

1. international scientific community → ppl linked by interest journals, assns

   1. competition bc success depended on discoveries

2. gov.s sponsored research → research tied to state + gov. agenda

3. Craftsmen w/ strong interest built the instruments and did experiments

4. Women were researched in courts were now barred from societies

   1. exceptions: Italian unis accepted women, women made wax anatomical models + drew botany, attended salons, participated in experiments, wrote treatises

Causes of Early Enlightenment

• opposition to absolutism

• Protestant vs. Catholic conflict

• European contact w/ other cultures → doubt in classical sources

• application of Scientific Revolution ideas to society

Pierre Bayle

• part of the refugee Huguenots who fled to the tolerant Dutch Republic and decided only despots deny religious freedom

• Historical and Critical Dictionary - human beliefs are often mistaken → nothing is beyond doubt (skepticism)

Baruch Spinoza

• Dutch Jew who was excommunicated for deterministic universe theory

  • good + evil are relative, human action comes from outside circumstances

• inspired by Descartes’ rationalism and reasoning but believed in monism

Monism

• antithetical to Cartesian dualism

• mind = body, God = nature

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz

• monads - infinite # of substances that makes up matter

  • rejected Cartesian dualism + monism

• Theodicy → we live in the best world because it was made by a benevolent God

  • ridiculed by Voltaire in Candide

John Locke

• physician + Royal Society member

• Essay Concerning Human Understanding: humans are born w/ a tabula rasa (blank tablet) on which understandings and beliefs are impressed by experience

  • part of sensationalism

• Two Treatises of Government: sovereignty of Parliament against/over Crown

Sensationalism

all ideas and thoughts come from sensory impressions

Philosophes

• French intellectuals who sought to bring the light of reason to ignorant humans

• French bc:

  • French was international language

  • France was wealthy and well populated

  • unhappiness w/ monarchy → calls for reform

  • philosophes reached more ppl w/ Republic of Letters

• wrote novels, plays, histories, dictionaries, etc, w/satire and double meaning

Montesquieu

• Persian Letters - critique of France from the perspective of 2 Persian travelers

• The Spirit of Laws - fueled by his fear of absolutism turning into tyranny, identifies 3 types of gov (monarchy, republic, despotism) + promoted separation of powers

  • not a democrat (believed in monarchy and idiocy of the poor) but thought checks would prevent tyranny

  • inspo for US gov

François Marie Arouet (Voltaire)

• wealthy + in royal circles

• fled to England to avoid arrest 4 insulting noblemen

  • took a liking to English liberties

• longtime companionship w/ Madame du Chatelet - married science enthusiast limited by the Royal Academy’s rules

• promoted separation of power

  • not a revolutionary - believed humans couldn’t govern themselves + should hope for a good monarch + laws to protect them

• Deist + hated religious intolerance

Deism

noninterventionist God who made the earth (a clock) and now leaves it alone

Encyclopedia: Rational Dictionary of the Sciences, the Arts, and the Crafts

• edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert

• 72k articles by experts

• popular

• praised arts and science, criticized religion, injustice, intolerance, old institutions, and recognized foreign countries + Muslim contributions

Rousseau

• intellect brought him from Switzerland 2 Enlightenment

• warm spontaneous feeling + goodness of individual/child over cruel society + cold intellect

• The Social Contract: popular sovereignty over monarch

  • ppl have general will (common interest) that must sometimes be determined by the intelligent minority

  • influential post-French Revolution

Enlightenment outside of France

reconciliation of reason with religion

Catholic Enlightenment

• divine grace, not human will, brings progress

Scottish Enlightenment

• caused by Act of Union (peace w/ England) + first public schools

• centered in Edinburgh

• emphasized common sense + scientific reasoning

David Hume

• applied Newton’s methods to the “science of man”

• human mind was made up of impressions → reason couldn’t be applied to anything that can’t be observed w/ senses (ex. God)

• moral principles come from emotions/desires, not reason

• generally undermined the power of reason

Adam Smith

• inspired by David Hume

• human interactions, esp. in commerce, override human selfishness

• Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations criticizes mercantilist regs 4 limiting commerce

Sense and Sensibility

• popular question at the time

• sense - reason

• sensibility - emotional + physical reactions to stimuli

Immanuel Kant

• What is Enlightenment? - if intellectuals print their reasoning, Enlightenment follows

• still believed in punishment 4 impertinent criticism

kingdom of Naples

• entered period of intellectual flourishing post-Habsburg rule

Cesare Beccaria

• Jesuit-educated nobleman

• On Crimes for Punishment advocated 4 reform of penal system (no torture, capital punishment, or arbitrary prison) and an emphasis on preventing instead of punishing crime

Effect of global trade/expeditions on morality

Introduction to other cultures meant Europeans began to see truth and morality as relative

Opinion on China

• positive

  • Leibniz after talking to Jesuits believed China > Europe 4 ethics/political philosophy but China = Europe 4 science and tech

  • he was maybe inspired by Confucianism 4 monads?

  • Voltaire + others revered China as wise + learned w/ benevolent absolute monarchs

    • Confucianism - moral truths uncovered

• negative

  • Montesquieu and Diderot thought despotic land ruled by fear

Opinion on Muslim world

• positive

  • w/ Ottoman military threat receding, Islam was viewed as rational, compassionate, and tolerant

  • Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of English ambassador 2 Ottomans, wrote letters depicting Turks as civilized, sympathetic, and didn’t oppress women

• negative

  • Spinoza etc thought Islamic culture was superstitious and prone to despotism

• mostly used to critique Western values

Opinion on indigenous people in America/Pacific Islands

“natural men”: naturally good and uncorrupted by society

the original race theory

• all races came from one original race

  • non-white ppl had degenerated

  • Kant claimed in On the Different Races of Man that the race closest to the og race originated from white inhabitants of Northern Germany

• from comte de Buffon

• Of Natural Characters: Hume states that bc there’s no complex non-white society, white ppl are superior

• scientific backing 4 cultural superiority over Africa

  • justified slavery

challenges against “scientific racism”

• abbé Roynal’s History of the Two Indies attacked slavery + colonization

• Diderot used Tahitian villager pov to critique European racism

• Scot James Beattie pointed out that Europeans were once savage + many non Europeans achieved civilized society

• former slaves wrote abt their experiences + innate equality

The Question of a Woman’s Role

• widespread

• some ppl: treatment of women was an indicator of degree of civilization/decency

  • ex. in Persian Letters the oppression of the harem represents the state’s tyranny

  • Marquis de Condorcet - women’s rights should = men’s rights (unusual)

• most men reinforced male superiority + encouraged only small educational reforms

The rise of female writing

• rise of lit = women achieved great success in novels (less in nonfiction)

  • wrote abt women’s rights + Enlightenment ideas

  • ex. Mary Astell’s A Serious Proposal to the Ladies proposed a women’s college + idea that husbands should let women be free and live intellectual lives

    • still promoted traditional women’s role of wife/mother

Salons

• weekly meetings in wealthy households for intellectuals to discuss lit, science, and philosophy

• patronage opportunity at salons → invite could make an intellectuals career

• elites liked to patron 4 social prestige

Salonnieres

• hostesses of salons

• main way women engaged w/ Enlightenment

• ex. Madame de Deffand hosted Montesquieu, d’Alembert, Ben Franklin

• some ppl (ex. Rousseau) believed since men moved? in sex they were suited to the chaotic world of politics + women’s involvement in politics → corrupt society

  • part of movement that used women’s sexual organs/reproduction to prove their submissive role

Rococo

• soft, pastel

• popularized by women

  • ex. Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, who used the wealth at her disposal 2 commission art and buildings

Culture of open debate based on reason

1. production of books up, reading religious texts down

   1. individual read, not the father

   2. texts could be questioned

   3. libraries brought ppl books who couldn’t afford

2. coffeehouses, book clubs, Freemason meetings, salons, and newspapers encouraged discussion

Philosophes on common people

• too busy, dumb, and blinded by superstition/violence

• needed to be guided by the “truly enlightened”

• false since rising literacy and cheap pamphlets and libraries exposed common ppl 2 Enlightenment ideas

  • ex. Thomas Paine, son + apprentice of a corset-maker, whose Common Sense was fundamental in the American Revolution

Silesia to Prussia

• when Maria Theresa, daughter of HRE Charles VI, inherited the Habsburg territory, Frederick invaded the province of Silesia

  • defied Pragmatic Sanction (Prussians would leave the land alone)

  • she ceded almost all of Silesia during War of the Austrian succession

• Doubled population of Prussia + made it a major European power

Seven Years’ War

• Maria Theresa allied w/ France and Russia to conquer Prussia

• hard fight for Frederick (outnumbered)

• ended when Peter III came to power and called off attacks out of admiration 4 Frederick

Frederick’s work

• new goals bc he decided to stop expanding after 7YW

• religious + philosophical tolerance

• promoted learning, publishing, better schools

• used legal system and bureaucracy to simplify laws, abolish torture, and have impartial trial

• rebuilt agriculture + industry

• hardworking + modest → justified monarchy in terms of practical results, not divine rights

• condemned concept of serfdom (but kept his serfs and strengthened noble power)

Cameralism

• monarchy is the best form of government

• all elements of society should serve the state, and the state will in response improve society

• emphasized rationality/progress/utilitarianism (like the Enlightenment)

Catherine the Great’s rise to power

• German princess with maternal relation to Romanovs → married off to Peter III

  • didn’t love him, wanted power

• withdrawal from Seven Years’ War alienated army

  • Catherine, lover (Gregory Orlov), and his 3 army officer brothers murdered Peter

• Catherine becomes empress

  • huge supporter of the Enlightenment and absolute monarchy

Catherine the Great’s westernization of Russia

• imported Western architects, musicians, art, and patronized philosophes (Diderot - saved from bankruptcy, offered to publish his encyclopedia when it was banned in France, Voltaire - wrote letters)

• intellectual image + admiration from philosophes → good Western image 4 Russia

Catherine’s domestic reform

• started out trying to change the law code (restricting torture, allowing religious tolerance, improving gov + education)

  • philosophe approved

• Cossack rebellion made Catherine crack down

  • soldier Emilian Pugachev proclaimed himself tsar, banned serfdom/taxes/army service, and led ppl to kill many landlords + officials

  • quickly captured + executed

  • Catherine extended serfdom, gave nobles absolute power over serfs + freed them from taxes + state service

Catherine and Poland

• began to conquer the Caucasus

• Russian victories over Polish Ottomans threatened balance of Russian and Austrian power

  • Frederick proposed Prussia, Austria, and Russia split Poland

Maria Theresa

• old-fashioned absolutist

• worked to make Austria stronger + more efficient after War of Austrian succession

1. limited church/papal power, removed religious holidays, reduced monasteries

2. bureaucracy revamp - stronger, less provincial conflicts, taxed noble land

3. improved agriculture by reducing lords’ power over serfs

Joseph II

• Son of Maria Theresa

• nicknamed “revolutionary emperor” for his Enlightenment ideas

• abolished serfdom and made peasants pay rent in cash to landlors

  • nobility :/ bc no serfs

  • peasants :/ bc no money for rent

  • brother Leopold II had to cancel the reforms to soothe turmoil

Enlightened Absolutism

• old-fashioned state building + Enlightenment ideas = stronger role of state in society, efficient bureaucracy

• inhumane policies (serfdom) reflected limited enlightenment ideas, not limits in the states

Jewish condition during enlightenment

• lived in crowded ghettos

• legally banned from most professions

• could be ordered to leave at any time

  • permanent settlement only for Jews who served the state (banking → provided loans for armies, merchants)

Haskalah

• Jewish enlightenment led by Moses Mendelssohn

• Jewish freedom, civil rights, and loosening of rabbinic control/mingling w/ Christians (controversial)

• some countries loosened restrictions

  • Britain allowed naturalization of Jews (repealed bc of public outcry)

  • Joseph II integrated Jews (military service, higher education, trades, no clothing/emblems)

  • France rejected all restrictions (others followed suit slowly)

• most countries rejected emancipation

  • Frederick the Great

  • Catherine the Great forced Polish Jews to live in the Pale of Settlement