History of Scientific Thought Final

Skeptical crisis

A widespread early modern doubt about the reliability of traditional knowledge sources, motivating the search for new, secure foundations of knowledge.

René Descartes

French philosopher who sought certainty through methodical doubt and rational foundations for knowledge.

Discourse on the Method (1637)

Descartes’ work outlining his method of doubting all uncertain beliefs to rebuild knowledge on indubitable truths.

Architectural metaphor

Descartes’ comparison of knowledge to a building that must be rebuilt on firm foundations.

Pierre Gassendi

Philosopher who revived atomism and emphasized empirical observation, criticizing Cartesian rationalism.

Skeptical tradition

A philosophical lineage emphasizing doubt about the possibility of certain knowledge.

Johannes Stradanus

Artist whose engravings depicted new scientific practices like experimentation and discovery.

Michel de Montaigne

Renaissance essayist whose writings emphasized human fallibility and skepticism.

Francis Bacon

English philosopher who promoted experimental, empirical methods as the basis of knowledge.

Great Instauration (1620)

Bacon’s project to reform knowledge through systematic experimentation and inductive reasoning.

Sylva Sylvarum (1627)

A collection of experimental observations illustrating Bacon’s empirical approach.

New Atlantis (1627)

Bacon’s utopian vision of a society organized around scientific research.

Pillars of Hercules metaphor

Symbol for pushing beyond the limits of ancient knowledge into new realms of discovery.

Baconian natural history

Systematic cataloging of natural, preternatural, and artificial phenomena.

Natural phenomena (Bacon)

Ordinary processes of nature.

Preternatural phenomena

Rare or unusual natural events.

Artificial (experimental) phenomena

Phenomena produced through human intervention and experiment.

Scientific societies

Institutions dedicated to collective scientific inquiry and experimentation.

Salomon’s House

The ideal scientific institution in Bacon’s New Atlantis.

Principles of Philosophy (1644)

Descartes’ systematic presentation of his metaphysics and natural philosophy.

Subsensible parts (corpuscles)

Invisible particles whose motion and shape explain material properties.

Primary qualities

Objective properties like size, shape, and motion.

Secondary qualities

Subjective sensory experiences like color and taste.

Mechanical philosophy

The view that nature operates like a machine governed by laws of motion.

Clock metaphor (nature)

The idea that the universe functions like a clock once set in motion.

Divine omnipotence

God’s unlimited power, grounding natural laws in divine will.

Elizabeth of Bohemia

Correspondent of Descartes who challenged his mind–body dualism.

Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle

Writer who popularized scientific ideas for general audiences.

Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (1686)

A dialogue explaining astronomy and the possibility of multiple worlds.

Salons

Elite social gatherings where science and philosophy were discussed.

Opera metaphor

Fontenelle’s comparison of nature to an opera, valuing appearance over hidden mechanisms.

Royal Academy of Sciences (Paris)

State-sponsored French scientific institution coordinating research.

Royal Society of London

English scientific society promoting experimental science and open exchange.

Philosophical Transactions

The first major scientific journal publishing experimental results.

Isaac Newton

Scientist who formulated laws of motion, gravity, and optics.

System of the World

Newton’s popular exposition of his cosmology.

Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)

Newton’s mathematical formulation of motion and universal gravitation.

Opticks

Newton’s experimental work on light and color.

Color controversy

Debates over whether color is inherent in light or produced by matter.

Crucial experiment

An experiment designed to decisively test between competing theories.

Gravity

A universal force of attraction between all bodies.

Christiaan Huygens

Scientist who developed wave theories of light and critiqued Newtonian ideas.

Leibniz–Clarke debate

Debate over space, time, God, and physics between Newtonian and Leibnizian views.

Natural theology

Understanding God through observation of the natural world.

Clockmaker metaphor

The idea that God designed the universe like a perfect machine.

Divine omniscience

God’s complete knowledge of all things.

Galileo’s ship experiment

Thought experiment showing the relativity of motion in uniform systems.

Robert Boyle’s air-pump experiments

Experiments demonstrating properties of air and emphasizing reproducibility.

Experimentation

Controlled manipulation of nature to produce knowledge.

Reproducibility crisis

Concerns about whether experimental results can be reliably repeated.