The Clockwork Universe

• Astronomy is the study of the heavens. Its the belief that beyond the heavens, the moon, lies the celestial heavens which are close to God where things are perfect and unchanging. Compared to below the heavens where things are cursed and changing. Therefore far away from God. We should strive to be fixed and constant.
• People believed that all knowledge derived either from the Bible or Aristotle's work.
•  Ptolemy's system fitted with the view that the Earth is at the centre of the universe. The moon, sun, planets and a fixed orb of the stars revolved around the Earth in a perfect, unchanging circular motion.
• Aristotelians and scholastics viewed the world in terms of its perfections and purposes. Everything moved to express its qualities and purposes- base things like Earth and Flesh fell to Earth while things like fire that could purge, rose up towards the heavens. This idea inspired Gaileo's theory of the leaning tower.

Francis Bacon 1561-1626
He entered a university system that had essentially been unchanged for hundreds of years. This was a system that was created mainly to train clergy. Bacon was violently against this scholastic/ Aristotelian approach to barren and circular ideas going nowhere. He also condemned the European philosophical movement for the great mistake of mixing religion and natural philosophy or in other words, science. This resulted in confusion and obsession with word play but not action. Marx criticised Bacon for this and said that you shouldn't interpret the word but change it. The purpose of knowledge is to reduce suffering and improve the well-being of humanity.

The new organon is a direct attack against Aristotle. There were four themes:

1. Knowledge is human power- it is the ability to harness power, navigate and grow crops etc.
2. There must be clear separation between science and religion.
3. Method for the acquisition of new knowledge is the introduction from the particular to general theories that are then tested through experiment.
4. Science is dynamic (always correcting itself), cooperatie (must be shared) and cumlative (always adding to it).

Bacon's scientific method protected us from the ideas of the mind (bias ideas in the individual/ society which may hinder true perception.
Overall he was a martyr of science since he died whilst carrying out an experiment involving keeping meat cold.

Locke- on human understanding
Our understanding comes from our experience which is worked on by our powers of reason to produce 'real' knowledge. He was also against the idea of innate knowledge since he believed that our minds are a 'black slate' because he thought that God had given reason to discover knowledge and morality. Innate ideas weren't needed.
Therefore he was guided by private revelation because these should never be imposed by the church or the state.

Heliocentric model ( The sun is the centre of the universe)
In the 16th century the astronomer Copernicus attempts to reform the calendar so that therefore the sun is the centre of the universe.
An astronomer of astonishing dedication was Johannes Kepler who was drawn to Copernicus' unproven Heliocentric hypothesis. He spent decades on data and calculations to prove Heliocentric model and improve Copernicus' theory.

Galileo

• Believed that bodies will move unless a force acts upon them- contrary to Aristotle.
• Kepler influenced the Italian mathematician and Galileo perfected the telescope (Bacon) and therefore realised the true make up of the universe. This was considered a true revelation.
• The distinction between Primary and Secondary qualities prove Aristotle wrong:

Primary Qualities were all quantitative- dimension, shape, mass, the measurable. A world to be understood in mathematical law.

Secondary Qualities ( all Aristotelian) are not real in objects themselves but depended on human perception of them.


''For the first time the human mind was looking at God's works with comprehension.'' (Kelper)

Newton 1642-1727

'Principia' was published in 1687, it was a mathematical demonstration of the Copernican hypothesis proposed by Kelper. This meant that Newton could convince people that the world was ordered and knowable. Therefore this caused the Clockwork Universe.
After Newton, Aristotle's physics were discredited and the rest of Aristotle's system of thought was undermined.
Was it the beginning of the Enlightenment?