Scientific Revolution to Practical Science 1600-1800 (book)

Scientific Method Development

17th century Europe = thinkers divided into 2 camps

  1. Ancients

    1. Continued scholarly tradition of humanism

    2. Emphasized authority of classical scholars (Aristotle) as foundation which knowledge should be built

  2. Moderns

    1. Rejected infallibility of classical authority and Christian theology

      1. Contradicted Christian belief that people are tainted by sin and need salvation

      2. Believe God gave humans reason to apprehend his creation

    2. Human reason provided the key to knowledge

Rene Descartes

  1. Frenchman (1596-1650)

  2. Argued “axioms of true philosophy had to be firmly grounded in human reason”

  3. Rationality with mathematics and thought logic could produce truth.

  4. Emphasized systematic doubt as a key to knowledge

  5. I think, therefore I am

    1. Demonstrated reason at the core of existence

  6. Stressed human possibilities

Sir Francis Bacon

  1. Englishman (1561-1626)

  2. Doubt produces knowledge

  3. Inductive approach to science

  4. Stressed human possibilities

Isaac Newton

  1. Englishman (1642-1727)

  2. Followed Descartes’ lead

  3. Inventor of differential calculus

  4. Universal law of gravitation

God actively intervenes → God created the world perfectly and has no need to interfere.

Carl Linnaeus

  1. (1707-1778)

  2. Initially studies plants for medicinal properties

  3. Traveled across Sweden collecting plants

  4. Published System a Naturae in 1735 as a classification for all living things.

  5. Developed binomial nomenclature (genus/order/class) \

Joseph Banks

  1. Drive for improvement

  2. Among wealthy gentleman farmers

  3. Draining marshes, crop rotations, crossbreeding livestock

  4. Many poorer, rural families lost their property to to gentleman farmers able to buy land and new technology to make farms more efficient

  5. Received complaints from displaced farmers

  6. Globalized practical application of science through economic botany

British Empire

  1. Governers established botanical gardens to achieve improvement

  2. Justified the dominance of British elite at home or abroad

  3. Advocates argued that those pushed aside would benefit from scientifically rational agriculture.