Lecture Notes
History of Western Civilization 2
The Scientific Revolution
I. The Rise of Empiricism
1. Late medieval rediscovery of works of Aristotle, among others, influences notion that the
causes of material phenomena could be determined by observation. The idea that
knowledge was derived from observation became the basis of the scientific method or
Empiricism.
2. This new spirit of inquiry gained moment as the endo fthe 16th and 17th century wars of
religion stimulated a more secular, intellectual environment. Knowledge based on
observation, measurement, and recording of material phenomena.
3. Scientific discovery further stimulated by dissemination of knowledge through printing
revolution in the 16th century, development of accurate instruments of measurement and
observation and standard scientific vocabulary and standards for replicating
experiments.
4. Aristotle believed that through observation of how things work that we could determine the
sequence of cause and effect. All material phenomena took place in a hierarchy of cause
and effect. The first cause is the beginning of everything. That beginning was divine in
origin.
II. A Mathematical Universe
1. Astronomical discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo in 16 th and 17th centuries
demonstrated heliocentric configuration of solar system based on calculable laws
governing planetary motion. God recede as prime mover of universe and a secular
worldview gains ground.
2. Man is reconceived as being part of the mathematical universe and natural world, and
therefore subject to natural law. In 17th century, Spinoza and Leibniz attempt
reconciliation of natural law with divine order that elevated man as a rational being but
proposed that rational faculty is a unique mark of divine creation.
3. As man reconceived truth as knowledge derived from observation, the notion that science
revealed laws that governed time and space gave impetus to deism. God as watchmaker
(the argument from design).
III. Reason and Progress
1. Knowledge and understanding of natural laws seen as being for the benefit and use of life
(Francis Bacon).
2. Not just the physical world of nature but human history can be understood through observation
of development of human institutions, as conforming to laws as well. Reason drives the
progress of civilization towards ever more perfect institutions.
3. Basis of core Enlightnement belief of history as progress.
Imagine walking along a long beach completely alone. You look down and see a watch buried in the sand.
You pick it up and admire it’s craftsmanship, when in the back of your mind, you realize the watch has a
maker and designer. Thus is the same as our universe.
Reason is the instrument of progress. Remaking the world subject to human power for human benefit.
