The Death of Nature: the Scientific Revolution
Making the world rational
Last gasp of the medieval mind
I. Pre-scientific worldview
A. Medieval cosmology
1. natural/supernatural combinedmonotheistic/animistic
B. Aristotelianism
1. Thomas Aquinas = blend Christianity and
rationalism (1200s)
II. Early Science
A. the Universe
1. Copernican Revolution - 1543
On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres
Copernicus and his solar system
2. Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
- universe not “perfect”
- challenges Aristotelian logic
3. Isaac Newton = natural laws
- 3 Laws of Thermodynamics
* objects at rest… * redirection proportional to force * equal & opposite reaction
- Principia Mathematica, 1692
B. The human body
1. Chemical theory = Paracelsus (1500s AD)
chemicals can be measured
amount v. nature
3. Robert Boyle
The Sceptical Chymist (1661)
physiology &
natural law
4. William Harvey - body as machine
scientific methods & anatomy
C. Implications for the non-human world
1. Holistic ecology
- peasant culture
2. Arcadian ecology
- Gilbert White,
Natural History of Selborne
3. Imperial Ecology - Francis Bacon
- deductive reasoning
- form understanding of universe by collecting
vast amounts of data
- “reductionist” = make nature a
machine
D. Science Enthroned
1. Government Support
Royal Academy, Academie de Science
2. Technological advances
- James Watt’s steam engine; navigational
techniques; metallurgy; chemistry;
explosives; mining; etc.
III. The backlash
A. The Inquisition
1. Heresy
B. Witchcraft hysteria
1. Causes?
- social dislocation
- religious wars
2. The Hammer of Witches, 1486 [Sprenger & Kramer]
3. “traditional” witchcraft
expression of holistic ecology
“big” & “little” magic
4. Role of women
Anti-witch hysteria: last gasp of the medieval world
- division of Christianity
- market dislocation
- decline of the irrational