The Scientific
Revolution, 1500-1800
SC/STS 3760 (6.00)
York University
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Science & Technology Studies Program
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Course Director:
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Professor Byron Wall
Office: Room 218, Norman Bethune College
Telephone: 416416-736736-2100, ext. 20559
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
Website: www.yorku.ca/bwall
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Course website:
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www.yorku.ca/bwall/sts3760
Consult the website for general information,
special announcements, lecture notes,
schedule of assignments, supplementary
materials, interim marks, etc.
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The Scientific
Revolution, 1500-1800
This course is about the
remarkable development of
scientific ideas that occurred in
the 16th, 17th, and to a lesser
extent in the 18th centuries.
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A Revolution: the cosmos
Prior to the “scientific revolution”
revolution” the accepted
view of the world was that the Earth was in
the centre of the universe and was immobile
while all of the heavens, including the stars
and the planets revolved around the Earth
daily.
After the scientific revolution, the Earth was
seen as a planet circling the Sun.
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A Revolution: authority
Prior to the “scientific revolution”
revolution” the authority
for determining knowledge about the world
was either the philosophers, Aristotle in
particular, or at least the followers of
Aristotle (“
(“Aristotelians”
Aristotelians”) or it was religious
leaders.
After the scientific revolution, at least in Europe,
science became the final authority for
explaining Nature.
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A Revolution: humanity
Prior to the “scientific revolution”
revolution” human beings were
regarded as having a special place in creation, lower
than the angels, but higher, and totally different,
from all other life. Humanity had a special role as
caretakers of God’
God’s creation, and life on Earth was
a proving ground for a more important existence
that came afterward.
After the scientific revolution, the process was started
(but not carried through until after Darwin) of
seeing human beings as merely one of the many
species of Nature and not necessarily different in
kind from the rest of creation.
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The Major Characters
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Copernicus – Defying common sense, characterized the Earth
as in orbit around the Sun.
Tycho Brahe – Set a new standard in precise data that
scientific models must account for.
Johannes Kepler – Found a compact mathematical formula to
describe planetary motions.
Galileo – (a) Sold the Copernican system to the general public,
and (b) Provided a methodology for establishing scientific
theories.
René
René Descartes – Provided the basis for a thorough going
mechanistic model and mathematical tools to describe it.
Isaac Newton – Created the grand synthesis of the new
science, which effectively displaced Aristotle.
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Other notables: Biology & Medicine
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Andreaus Vesalius – Revived anatomy with
an illustrated textbook.
Paracelsus – Overthrew the authority of
ancient medical treatises in favour of a fresh
approach to fighting specific diseases.
William Harvey – Discovered the function of
the heart and the circulation of the blood.
Marcello Malpighi – Examined the
development of life before birth (embryology)
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Other notables: Matter and Mystery
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Robert Boyle – Provided a mechanist basis for
chemistry.
William Gilbert – Explored attractive forces,
such as magnets.
Robert Hooke – Clarified the idea of a
scientific experiment.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek – Discovered tiny
forms of life with his microscope.
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Communications
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Francis Bacon – Became the spokesperson for
the new philosophy (of observation).
Marin de Mersenne – Served as a
communication network with his extensive
correspondence with scientific minds all across
Europe.
The Royal Society of London – Became the
model for a scientific society where people
shared and discussed new ideas about Nature.
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The plan of this course
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In the fall term and perhaps into the beginning of the
winter term, we will examine the life and work of
some of the major figures in the scientific revolution
in order to gain a good overview of the main
developments that made the “revolution.”
revolution.”
In the winter term, we will rere-examine these works
and people and also a good number of the lesser
players with a more critical eye toward understanding
what happened and why.
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The texts in use (1)
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The books that we will study and discuss in
class in roughly the order taken up are:
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Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution – a
study of the transformation of astronomy from the
ancient world view of an EarthEarth-centered universe
to the SunSun-centered concept of Copernicus. First
the ancient viewpoint, then the “corrections”
corrections”
proposed by Copernicus, and finally, the
transformation of understanding brought about by
the general acceptance of the implications of
Copernicus’
Copernicus’ work.
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The texts in use (2)
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Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers. The
subject matter of Koestler’
Koestler’s book is essentially
the same as Kuhn’
Kuhn’s text, namely the
Copernican Revolution, but Koestler’
Koestler’s
emphasis is on Johannes Kepler rather than
Copernicus. The main part of the book is a
fascinating biographical study of this
extraordinary character from the scientific
revolution.
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The texts in use (3)
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Galileo, Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo,
Galileo,
translated and edited by Stillman Drake. This work
collects together some of the important minor
writings of Galileo, such as The Starry Messenger,
Messenger,
Letters on Sunspots, The Assayer, and The Letter to
the Grand Duchess Christina, which got Galileo into
trouble with the Church. About half of this book is
Drake’
Drake’s commentary on each of the components. This
provides an excellent introduction to this critical
character in the history of science.
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The texts in use (4)
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Byron Wall, Glimpses of Reality: Episodes in
the History of Science. This is my own survey
text in the history of science. I will assign
selected chapters from this work to fill in gaps
that are not covered in the other textbooks.
You do not need to buy this text (though you
certainly may!). There are several copies in the
Steacie Science Library and I will make the
assigned readings available on line through the
course website.
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The texts in use (5)
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James Gleick,
Gleick, Isaac Newton.
Newton. Isaac Newton is
the most important single person in the
Scientific Revolution, so we should learn a fair
bit about him and his work. Gleick’
Gleick’s work is a
biography of Newton with a fair emphasis on
Newton’
Newton’s actual scientific work. We will go
through it carefully and discuss it in class.
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The texts in use (6)
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John Henry, The Scientific Revolution and the
Origins of Modern Science. This fairly short
book is one man’
man’s view of the whole of the
scientific revolution and how it did what it did.
It gives one person’
person’s view of how it all came
together and what is important and what not in
his considered opinion. It will help us see the
whole period as a unit.
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The texts in use (7)
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Margaret J. Osler, ed., Rethinking the Scientific
Revolution. This is another work that looks at
the period of the scientific revolution and rereevaluates it from the point of view of
historians. However, this is an edited work.
Every chapter is by a different author, so we
will get a wide variety of opinion to consider
and debate.
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