12 - The Scientific Revolution (abridged)

Scientific Revolution

period of empirical advances associated with the development of wider theoretical generalizations; resulted in change in traditional beliefs of Middle Ages

inductive reasoning

a type of bottom-up logic in which generalizations are based on a large number of specific measurable observations

deductive reasoning

a type of top-down logic in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case; The sun rises every morning, therefore, the sun will rise on Tuesday morning.

Francis Bacon

(1561-1626) English philosopher, statesman, author, and scientist; formalized the empirical method gathering evidence through scientific experiments and analyzing it using inductive reasoning

Rene Descartes

(1596-1650) established importance of skeptical review of all received wisdom; argued that human reason could then develop laws that would explain the fundamental workings of nature; used deductive reasoning

John Locke

(1632-1704) English philosopher who argued that people could learn everything through senses and reason; also asserted that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed, not by divine right of kings, and people may revolt against governments that violate their natural rights to life, liberty, and property

tabula rasa

John Locke's concept of the human mind as a blank slate at birth shaped by experiences of sensory impressions that, aided by human reasoning, formulate ideas

Nicholas Copernicus

(1473-1543) Polish monk and astronomer; disproved Hellenistic belief that the earth was at the center of the universe; postulated heliocentric theory

Galileo Galilei

(1564-1642) Italian astronomer and mathematician who was the first to use a telescope to observe Venus' phases, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings, and sunspots; tried by the Catholic Inquisition for defending Copernicus' heliocentric theory

Isaac Newton

(1643-1727) English scientist; author of Principia; drew together astronomical and physical observations and wider theories into a neat framework of natural laws; defined forces of gravity; established principles of motion and described the motion of the universe as a mechanical clock moving like cogs and gears in a predictable fashion; invented calculus

Newtonian classical mechanics

accurately describes the behavior of most objects from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects such as planets, stars and galaxies

Andreas Vesalius

(1514-1564) French surgeon who published the first modern book of human anatomy based on his dissections of cadavers

William Harvey

(1578-1657) English physician who demonstrated the circular movement of blood in animals and the function of the heart as pump

Edward Jenner

(1749-1823) produce a vaccine for smallpox from a the weaker strain of cowpox; "father of immunology"

Emilie du Chatelet

(1706-1749) French noblewoman philosophe who wrote extensively about the mathematics and physics of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Isaac Newton

Enlightenment

intellectual movement centered in France during the 18th century; featured scientific advance, application of scientific methods to study of human society; belief that rational laws could describe social behavior