Paste your essay in here…1. Final cause: The Final cause was Aristotle’s creation. It is essentially why formal causes do what they do. Why do things exist at all? Why do things happen? They happen for a specific reason, and the specific reason is the final cause. For example, why do bricks fall when dropped? They fall because bricks are heavy, and the air is not. Heavy things fall, and air rises; therefore, a brick would fall when dropped. Another example of a final cause is asking why something exists. The final cause of why puppies exist is that they are there to grow up and make more puppies, keeping the dog species alive. Final cause is important because it gives a rational explanation of why things are and why they do what they do.
2. Pliny: Pliny was significant for his work Natural History, among other things. His Natural History is divided into 37 books, each with their own significance. For example, book II focuses on cosmology and astronomy, whereas book VII through XI focus on zoology, or humans and animals. His work became famous and was used for general education, for students and scholars to learn from for years to come. However, by the end of the 17th century, enough people had challenged Pliny’s work for it to become rejected by some important scientists.
3. Alhazen (Ibn Al-Haytham): Alhazen was an Arab mathematician and astronomer who worked during the Islamic Golden Age. He is sometimes called the father of optics for his significant contribution to the principles of optics. He had many works that were significant, including Kitāb al-manāẓir, which was his most famous work. It meant “optics”. He is important because of his work on optics and his discoveries regarding optics, and his influence on later scholars such as Bacon, Peuerbach, and Kepler who used his works for their studies.
4. Simplicius: Simplicius was one of the last few Greek Neoplatonists (a term that used to be just Platonists but became Neoplatonist due to the fact that their beliefs and philosophical interpretations of Plato had new ideas that were different from what Plato originally believed). He was a commentator on Aristotle, specifically on his works De Caelo, De Anima, and Categories. His work was on Aristotelian teachings, on older philosophers, and ones close to his time period as well, mostly in the context of Neoplatonism. He used reliable documents to make sure his information was true, and his work became important to future historians, philosophers, and others due to its accuracy and validity.
5. Impetus: Impetus is a force of motion. It’s a less reapplied force but a more degrading force. Impetus is seeing motion as external instead of an internal process. It’s a second theory to Aristotelian dynamics and was introduced by Philoponus. Impetus is significant as it was the foundation for inertia and Newton’s laws. Impetus was also used to explain some celestial occurrences.
6. Epitome of the Almagest: The Epitome of the Almagest was written by Peuerbach and later finished by Regiomontanus. It was an alternative to Ptolemy’s original Almagest and had different models for the orbits of Venus and Mercury around the Sun as opposed to the Earth. Peuerbach was asked to write the Epitome of Ptolemy’s work, but he died halfway through writing it. Regiomontanus went to Rome to complete the Epitome. The Epitome eventually gave Copernicus the information he needed to come up with his heliocentric model. It is significant because of its influences in the heliocentric model, and for the fact that is it still a significant work and aids in understanding Ptolemy’s astronomy as well as future astronomy.
7. Paracelsus: Paracelsus was a famed physician and alchemist. Paracelsus stands for “above Celsus”, Celcus being a famous 1st century roman medical writer. He thought he was above this prominent medical writer and his ways. He thought that the healing power of nature was vital and thought that the original ideas of medicine hurt people, like leeches to drain “infected” blood, and padding wounds, which prevented draining and caused infection. If infection was avoided, then nature would be able to heal the injury. He thought many treatments such as some pills and other older forms of healing were useless, and he denounced them. He used chemistry in medicine, and he wrote on syphilis and how it could be treated with chemical compounds such as mercury. He was significant as he was a predecessor to the idea of homeopathy, and he was the first to begin using more modern forms of medicine and chemistry in his medicine. He denounced older forms of treatment that hurt the patient instead of healing them.
8. De motu cordis: This is the most known work of William Harvey, published in the 17th century, and it described the movement of blood in animals. He was the first to figure out the circulatory system and how blood was pumped by the heart throughout the body. Galen had originally said that blood was made in the liver, not the heart. This was corrected by Harvey as he said that blood came from the heart and was pumped through veins and arteries throughout the body in a circular motion, and he uncovered the use of valves that let the blood go through in solely one direction. He studied small animals, and his work became vital for future work in anatomy
9. Philosophical Transactions: The philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London is a scientific journal that was dedicated to natural philosophy and improving the learning of this subject. It was started in the 17th century by Henry Oldenburg, the first secretary of the society. Many issues have been published since, usually edited by the secretary of the society at the time. It is significant as many famous scientists published works in the journal, including Newton and Darwin. It was used to inform people of new scientific work and discoveries.
10. “General Scholium.”: The General Scholium was written by Isaac Newton in the 18th century as a continuation of Principia, one of Newton’s first famous works. It is an essay and one of his most famous works, however, it is not as widely understood as his other works. He talks about natural philosophy and contests the work of Leibniz and Descartes, as well as discussing the scientific method, his religious views, and metaphysics. The most famous phrase of the essay is “hypotheses non fingo” which means that he does not frame the hypothesis, furthermore, he rejects the use of hypothesis. He gives his approach of the scientific method and he discusses religion and the two spheres of natural philosophy and religion. It is significant because of its prominence and its fame, and furthermore, its importance to future scholars in relation to the idea of hypothesis and the scientific method.
Part II (75%)
Each of your answers should be in the form of an essay attempting to address the question in an informed and thoughtful way. Consider your views on the subject of the question, and then write an answer in such a fashion as to make it clear that you know what you’re talking about….
Each answer should be at least (but not much more than) 500 words in length.
Answer any THREE questions.
Some of Newton’s central ideas were relatively original to him, and some he accepted or took for granted from other philosophers and mathematicians of the Scientific Revolution. Discuss.
Until Newton, astronomy was more theoretical than a concrete practice. It was not always based on specific evidence. It was philosophy and hypothesis, not direct evidence. It related to God and used God to explain things that the science of the time could not. Principia, however, changed this. Newton used evidence and math to back everything he wrote. He did not use a hypothesis. He did not use God consistently as an explanation. Astronomy became more than just philosophy. However, Newton combined a lot of Galileo and Kepler’s ideas to form his own. He used the ideas of other astronomers from the Scientific Revolution in his work. Without Galileo, Kepler, and Copernicus, he could not have come up with the ideas that he did.
Many of Newton’s ideas were original, but many were also the ideas of past astronomers used to create his own. Kepler used math to figure out the motions of the planets. He came up with the idea of elliptical orbits instead of circular ones. This also led to the idea of gravity. Kepler used many of Tycho’s observations, too. All three of Kepler’s laws were true, but none had a firm bases until Newton. Without this information, Newton would have had to do much more work to figure out the elliptical orbits himself in order to incorporate them into his final design. Galileo was vital, proving the heliocentric model with his discoveries of Venus’ phases and Jupiter’s moons. He came up with calculations for the laws of motion for masses. All bodies accelerate at the same speed despite their size or mass. Galileo was one of the first to think about the idea of inertia, one of Newton’s laws. He also came up with the idea that all objects have a velocity, and when they are at rest, that velocity is zero. He used the idea of force in terms of motion. With these discoveries, Galileo was vital to all three of Newton’s laws. Descartes was also important, as he dealt with matter and the motion of matter, the laws of nature, and other new ideas within physics that were vital to future scientists.
Newton built on these astronomers as well as others for his discoveries, but Newton is the most famous of them all. His discovery of the use of gravity in the solar system was built on by the influences of mathematicians of his time and, because of these mathematicians, he was able to develop calculus, which in turn led to the ability to produce calculations that would prove the organization of the universe. Newton’s ideas expanded on the ideas of these other scientists. He expanded on Galileo’s work in his work of energy and motion, specifically inertia, force, momentum, and velocity. He used Descartes’ work with matter. He extended the effort of Kepler and Galileo in his work on gravity. Copernicus came up with the heliocentric model, Kepler came up with the idea of elliptical orbits, Descartes worked with matter among other things, and Galileo further proved the heliocentric model as well as working with the idea of motion for masses. Newton expanded on all of these ideas to create his own. He built off Kepler’s three laws to come up with his own. While many of his ideas were original, not all were. He used the ideas of the scientific revolution to aid in his discoveries.
To what extent can the Scientific Revolution be seen as a story of the gradual acceptance of Copernican astronomy? What might such a view overlook?
The scientific revolution can be seen as a story of gradual acceptance of Copernican astronomy because of the chain of events that occurred and the people that came along with different ideas to further prove a heliocentric model with concrete evidence. The scientific revolution culminated with Newton’s ideas and began with the sixteenth century. Copernicus proposed the idea that the long-standing notion of Earth’s position in the universe was, in fact, incorrect, and disproved the fifth element (quintessence). He proposed a heliocentric model, with the Sun stationary at the center of the Universe, and with Earth and the other planets orbiting around it in a circular fashion, with planets spinning on an axis. He had flaws, such as his epicycles at uniform speeds on circular paths. Heliocentrism took over as the main theory of the Universe after Ptolemy’s geocentric model. This is seen as the start of the scientific revolution; however, it was not easy to assert this theory as it disagreed with Aristotle’s view and the Church. However, following astronomers found new information to further and gradually prove this theory.
Following Copernicus, Bruno stated that the universe was not as was described by the Church and past natural philosophers, as it was not contained. It went on indefinitely. Furthermore, Kepler used math to figure out the motions of the planets. He came up with the idea of elliptical orbits instead of circular ones. He discovered that Mars had a very elliptical orbit, explaining Mars’s retrograde motion. Kepler found that the planets move in ellipses around the Sun and that the Sun was one of the foci of the ellipses. This was a big discovery, as past astronomers believed that the perfect shape was the circle, and therefore, the planet’s orbits must be circular. He came to the conclusion, through various triangles drawn from the sun to the planet, that the triangles would stay the same based on where the planet was in its orbit. For the triangles to all stay the same, the planet had to move quicker near the sun and slowly far from the sun, creating an elliptical shape. This elliptical orbit became Kepler’s first law. Kepler’s three laws inspired Newton and Newton’s three laws in the future.
Galileo then used a system that further proved heliocentrism. Galileo was able to use his telescope to observe the sun, moon, and various planets. The main planet that was important in supporting Copernicus’s theory was Venus. In a geocentric model, Venus would always be between earth and the sun. Therefore, only the night side of Venus should be visible. Galileo was able to view the day side of Venus which would suggest that Venus was on the opposite side of the sun than it should be for a geocentric model, indicating that it moved to the opposite side of the sun from the earth. Looking at Venus with a telescope makes it obvious that Venus has phases and moves, similar to the moon. These phases depended on Venus’s position relative to the sun and earth. The geocentric model could not account for the phases. This gave evidence of a heliocentric model, as phases could only occur if Venus was orbiting the sun instead of the earth. If Venus was orbiting the earth, we would not be able to observe the phases. Galileo also observed moons around Jupiter. Through these discoveries, Galileo was able to prove that the earth was not the center of the universe.
Finally, Newton brought together the findings of Galileo and Kepler and came up with a final design of the Universe. He wrote it out in Principia and it became an important landmark in the astronomy of the time and of the future. This shows a gradual acceptance of the theory of heliocentrism. However, this view overlooks a few aspects, such as the fact that these astronomers were very learned in their field and Newton, specifically, wrote some of his findings in a way that was incomprehensible to those that were not trained in mathematics. Therefore, the general public may not be able to understand everything that was written. Without a strict understanding, it is hard to convince someone that the theory is correct, as the geocentric model had been so rooted in the public for so many years. However, these scientists were smart, and their findings were correct. They just needed to be understood. While the scientists and mathematicians could gradually accept the new model over the course of the scientific revolution, it overlooks some of the general public. Religion is also overlooked, for example, religion would discredit the idea that the universe was indefinite, as stated by Bruno, and the perfect shape was a circle, not an ellipse. This view overlooks many things, for example, religion and the untrained sector of the people.
Compare the role of God in the natural philosophy of the High Middle Ages with God’s role in the physics of Descartes and Newton.
The middle ages were the precursor to science. Scholars studied Natural Philosophy instead of science as in the Scientific Revolution and as Newton and Descartes did. God could be much more limiting in the natural philosophy of the high middle ages that it was in the time of Descartes and Newton. However, there was still support from the church in the high middle ages as natural philosophy was an important element in learning. In general, there was support from the Church in the field of Natural Philosophy. Furthermore, God was an element in the learning and central to it. Natural Philosophy and God were not always separated. For example, there were questions about whether the world was eternal, the universe was indefinite, and the idea of creation in relation to religion. Natural Philosophy usually related to God and used God to explain things that the science of the time could not. Aristotle’s physics were vital to the physics of the High Middle Ages. God was much less influential in Newton’s physics, but still influential in his reasoning. God was influential to Descartes more so than Newton, but less than in the High Middle Ages. God and religion often influenced the findings of natural philosophers in the High Middle Ages, much more so than those who lived during the scientific revolution. Bacon, born at the end of the high middle ages, was a natural philosopher. He was a friar and he was religious, and he also explored the idea that theologians should be educated in natural philosophy and that it should be a part of the medieval curriculum. He had deep-rooted Christian principles, but also deep-rooted scientific curiousity, and he used many of Aristotle’s principles to come up with revolutionary ideas, regardless of religion. God was sometimes used to explain natural phenomena later explained by science, but much of the natural philosophy was not limited by religion; instead, the two were sometimes used to help create ideas. God was significant to natural philosophy in the high middle ages.
Descartes was religious, even going as far as to try to prove God’s existence. Newton’s physics were still influenced by religion, but far less so, as while he heavily depended on religion, he used logic much more than religion when formulating his ideas. Descartes influenced the scientific revolution with his work. His thinking was the opposite of the thinking of Bacon, in that he believed that the only thing that could be trusted was ones thinking: “I think therefore I am”. God was important and dominant in Descartes’ world because as he began to find cracks in his logic and his certain knowledge, God was his solution. His work centered around proving that God exists as the perfect being and using logic to prove this. However, he was noteworthy in the findings in physics and astronomy. He came up with the idea of the laws of nature, which again related to God and God’s influence in motion. Descartes discusses matter. The universe has matter, and there is no space without matter, but no matter without space. Matter is continuously colliding with matter. This is a significant idea in science and for scientists to come. He was heavily influenced by religion, but he still was vital in setting up ideas for scientists in the future and the scientific revolution.
Newton believed that there was a God and that he was the creator. However, while Newton believed in God, he also believed in science. The two do not have to be completely separated to get truths. Newton drew ideas from past scientists, mathematicians, and astronomers to create his laws, to come up with calculus, and to break ground in the scientific world. His work, called Principia, used evidence and math to back everything that he wrote, and does not use God as an explanation. He used concrete evidence and ideas from past astronomers to prove what he needed to prove. However, The General Scholium did discuss his religious beliefs. Yes, God was important and influential in his life and findings, but his work and science did not necessarily always revolve around God.