Out of the
"Dark
Ages":
Medieval
Background:
Supernatural
Teleological
Conception of
the World:
Knowledge
comes
from
revelation
and
knowledge
claims
backed by
appeals to
authorities. |
-
The world is the stage on which
the drama of human salvation is enacted.
-
Late Medieval: Rebirth of interest
in Classical (Greek & Roman) philosophy, science, art, & literature
-
Late scholastic synthesis of Thomas
Aquinas combined Christianity with Aristotle
-
Aristotle's natural teleology {2}
-
every natural thing has a purpose
or telos, e.g.
-
plants: to grow & reproduce
-
animals: to sense
-
humans: to think
-
the elements each seeks its natural
place
-
the stars & planets (all things
ethereal) each have their natural (circular) motion
-
the good of each thing is fulfillment
of that purpose: natural source of value{3}
|
-
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10)
-
[F]or all things
that have a function the good and the "well" are supposed to reside in
that function, so too it would seem for man, if he has a function.
Have the carpenter, then, and the tanner certain functions or activities,
and has man none? Is he born without a function? Or as eye
and hand, foot, an in general each of the parts evidently has a function,
may one lay it down that man similarly has a function apart from all these?
What then can this be? Life seems to be common even to plants, but
we are seeking what is peculiar to man. Let us exclude, therefore,
the life of nutrition and growth. Next there would seem to be the
life of perception, but it seems common even to the horse, the ox,
and every animal. There remains, then an active life of the element
that has a rational principle . . . (Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics,
Bk.I:Ch.7)
-
The evil of drunkenness
and of excessive drink consists in a falling away from the order of reason.
(Thomas Aquinas: in Jones, vol. 2, p.267n16)
|
Machiavelli:
Political
"Naturalism":
Realpolitik:
"politics based
on practical and
material factors
rather than on
ethical and
theoretical
objectives" |
-
Supernatural-Teleological-Feudal
Conception of Political Authority
-
as Kings confer authority on the
Lords of their domains
-
So God confers authority on earthly
kings
-
in theory
-
Realpolitik: How does it
really
work?
-
Machiavelli Conception of Human
Nature (contrast Aristotle)
-
people are observably
-
stupid & irrational
-
incapable of self-government {1}
-
ruled by their passions & the
greatest of these is ambition: the lust for power. {2}
-
Human nature actually deteriorated
-- in terms of its capacity of self-government -- since Greek & Roman
times, probably due to the influence of Christianity.{3}
-
People consequently crave and need
strong leadership & this craving -- and people's weakness -- is ripe
to be exploited.{4}
-
Machiavelli Conception of Sovereignty
(i.e., political authority)
-
An sovereign absolute ruler (aka
"the prince") required to impose order on the stupid & irrational people.{5}
-
Three instruments by which the
prince exercises & maintains his authority are
-
force ("the stick"): ought to be
sparingly but when it is used should be applied ruthlessly and all at once
-
bribery (conferring benefits):
benefits ought to be dribbled out on a more or less continuous basis.{6}
-
deceit (propaganda) or "astuteness"{7}
-
religion is the most indispensable
propaganda device {8}
-
and the wiser the rulers "the better
they understand the natural course of things" in regard to the need to
use religion to control people's minds. {9}
|
-
Those who have
been present at any deliberative assemblies of men will have observed how
erroneous their opinions often are; and in fact unless they are directed
by superior men, they are apt to be contrary to all reason. (p.27)
-
[Ambition is]
so powerful in the hearts of men that it never leaves them, no matter to
what height they may rise. The reason of this is that nature has
created men so that they desire everything, but are unable to attain it;
desire being thus always greater than the faculty of acquiring, discontent
with what they have and dissatisfaction with themselves result from it.(p.27)
-
Our religion,
moreover, places the supreme happiness in humility, lowliness, and a contempt
for worldly objects, whilst [pagan religion], on the contrary, places the
supreme good in grandeur of soul, strength of body, and all such other
qualities as render men formidable; and if our religion claims of us fortitude
of soul it it more to enable us to suffer than to achieve great deeds.
(p.28)
-
These [Christian]
principles seem to me to have made men feeble, and caused them to become
an easy prey to evil-minded men. (p.28)
-
The only way to
establish any kind of order . . . is to establish some superior power which,
with a royal hand, and with full and absolute powers, may put a curb upon
the excessive ambition and corruption of the powerful. (p.28)
-
For injuries should
be done all together, so that being less tasted they will give less offence.
Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better
enjoyed.(p.29)
-
Still, the experience
of our times shows these princes to have done great things who have had
little regard for good faith, and have been able by astuteness to confuse
men's brains . . . (p.30)
-
In truth, there
never was any remarkable lawgiver amongst any people who did not resort
to divine authority, as otherwise his laws would not have been accepted
by the people . . . (p.31)
-
And therefore
everything that tends to favour religion (even though it were believed
to be false) should be received and availed of to strengthen it . . . (p.31)
|
Francis
Bacon
the
Search
for an
Inductive
Scientific
Method |
-
The utility of science: the aim
should not be knowledge for its own sake -- for the sake of contemplation
-- but for the sake but "knowledge whose dignity is maintained by works
of utility and power" (p. 75).{1}
-
the proof of knowledge is the power
it confers over nature
-
progress is our most important
product: better living through technology
-
Proposed "Great Insaturation":
called for "a total reconstruction of the sciences, arts, and all human
knowledge" (p.75)
-
Two Assumptions: behind his call
for total reconstruction
-
that virtually everything that
then passed for knowledge was erroneous
-
that the human mind is an adequate
instrument for obtaining knowledge
-
Reconciling the two assumptions:
the mind has gotten itself into bad habits that must be unlearned. {2}
-
Medieval Science (MS): Criticisms
& Proposed Alternatives
-
MS began with the highest level
assumptions -- e.g., about matter, form, and function -- and proceeded
to deduce consequences {3}
-
Inductive alternative: seek generalizations
"duly and orderly formed from the particulars" (p.77).
-
Idols: tendencies of thought which
stand in the way of understanding
-
Idols of the Tribe: innate &
can-be misleading tendencies
-
simplicity: prefer the simplest
account {4}
-
observations being equal this is
a virtue (Occam's razor)
-
it's a vice -- oversimplification
-- when we hold on to the simple story in the face of contrary observations.
-
conservatism: maintaining customary
or previously formed beliefs through rationalization.{5}
-
wishful thinking {6}
-
Idols of the Cave: personal biases
{7}
-
due to specialization.
-
due to pet peeves and preferences
-
Idols of the Marketplace "formed
by the intercourse and association of men with each other"(p. 78) don't
carve
nature at the joints.
-
names for nonentities, e.g., "Prime
Mover, "Element of Fire," "Fortune"
-
confused and ill defined names,
e.g. "humid"
-
Idols of the Theater due to allegiance
to systems of thought -- in the present context, the systems of Medieval
and Aristotelian thought
-
stressing final causes (aims or
purposes)
-
neglecting efficient causes (antecedents)
-
Need for an Inductive Method so
"our notions be derived from things by a more sure and guarded way" (p.
81)
-
to free the mind of all preconceived
notions {9}
-
and to make use of experiments
"skillfully and artificially devised for determining the purpose of determining
the point in question" (p.81){10}
-
Bacon's proposed method {13}
-
Draw up a "Table of Essence and
Presence": a list of all known cases in which the phenomenon in question
(e.g., heat) occurs
-
Make a "Table of Deviation or of
Absence of Proximity": a list of cases closely resembling cases where the
phenomenon is present, but in which it is absent.
-
Make up a "Table of Degrees" or
"Table of Comparison" of "instances in which the nature under examination
is found in different degree, more or less"
-
Apply the "Process of Exclusion"
to these tables to find some factor
-
always present when the phenomenon
is present
-
always absent when the phenomenon
is absent
-
present in greater or lesser degree
when the phenomenon is present to a greater or lesser degree.
-
To facilitate this exclusion process
undertake "the Indulgence of the Understanding or the Commencement of Interpretation"
(p. 84) {12}
-
a preliminary hypothesis or guess
at what the factor in question
-
may be suggested by "Shining or
Striking Instances" (p.84)
-
Verification: check the hypothesis
against all the cases in the tables
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But if a man should
succeed, not in striking out some particular invention, however useful,
but in kindling a light in nature . . . that man (I thought) would be the
benefactor indeed of the human race -- the propagator of man's empire over
the universe, the champion of liberty, the conqueror and subduer of necessities.
(pp.74-75).
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[T]he human intellect
makes its own difficulties [but can be] restored to its perfect and original
condition [which is] like a fair sheet of paper with no writing on it [or]
like a mirror with a true and even surface fit to reflect the genuine way
of things. (pp.75-76)
-
Therefore
if the notions themselves (which is the root of the matter) are confused
and over-hastily abstracted from the facts, there can be no firmness in
the superstructure. (p. 77)
-
The human understanding
is of its own nature prone to suppose the existence of more order and regularity
in the world than it finds. . . . Hence the fiction that all
celestial bodies move in perfect circles. (p.79)
-
The human understanding
when it has once adopted an opinion . . . draws all things else to support
and agree with it. (p.79)
-
What a man had
rather were true he more readily believes. (p.79)
-
[T]he spirit of
a man (according as it is meted out to different individuals) is in fact
a thing variable and full of perturbation. (p.79)
-
For men believe
that their reason governs words; but it is also true that words react on
the understanding; and thus it is that has rendered philosophy and the
sciences sophistical and inactive. Now words, being commonly framed
and applied according to the capacity of the vulgar, follow those lines
of division which are most obvious to the vulgar understanding. And
whenever an understanding of greater acuteness or a more diligent observation
would alter those lines to suit the true divisions of nature, words stand
in the way and resist the change. (pp.79-80)
-
It shows itself
likewise in the . . . in the introduction of abstract forms and final causes
and first causes, with the omission in most cases of causes intermediate,
and the like. Upon this point the greatest caution should be used.
(p.81)
-
We must lead
men to the particulars themselves, and their series and order; while men
on their side must force themselves for awhile to lay their notions by
and begin to familiarize themselves with the facts. (p.81)
-
I contrive that
the office of sense shall only be to judge of the experiment, and that
the experiment itself shall judge of the thing. {p.81}
-
From a survey
of the instances, all and each, the nature of which Heat is a particular
case appears to be Motion. This is displayed most conspicuously in
flame, which is always in motion, and in boiling or simmering liquids,
which also are in perpetual motion. (p.84)
-
[I have]] established
forever a true and lawful marriage between the empirical and rational faculty,
the unkind and ill-starred divorce and separation of which has thrown into
confusion all the affairs of the human family." (p. 91)
|
Scientific
Revolution:
Copernicus,
Kepler,
Galileo,
Newton |
-
Received Theories
-
Ptolemaic
astronomy: stationary central earth: apparent motions of the sun, stars
and planets interpreted as motions of these bodies themselves.
-
Aristotelian mechanics: distinct
elements naturally move in specific ways unless impeded.
-
terrestrial: earth, air, fire,
water
-
celestial: ether
-
Revolutionary Developments in Astronomy
-
Copernicus's
heliocentric hypothesis: Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around
the sun: the apparent motions of the sun, stars and planets viewed as products
of the earth's motion plus these other bodies motions (if any). {1}
-
Kepler's
laws of planetary motion: allowing a more exact reckoning of the motions
of the planets
-
planetary orbits are ellipses with
the sun in one focus
-
in equal periods of time equal
areas are swept out by a line from the planet to the sun
-
the square of the periodic time
=s the cube of the mean distance
-
Galileo's telescopic observations
-
moons of Jupiter
-
great red spot on Jupiter &
sunspots
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We find, therefore,
under this orderly [heliocentric] arrangement, a wonderful symmetry in
the universe, and a definite relation of harmony in the motion and magnitude
of the orbs.
-
Revolutionary Developments in Mechanics:
Galileo's Laws
-
Bodies fall with uniformly accelerating
motion not a constant velocity (contrary to Aristotle)
-
The rate of fall is independent
of the weight of the bodies (contrary to Aristotle).
-
Newtonian synthesis: Galileo's
laws of terrestrial & Kepler's laws of planetary motion can all be
deduced from a single set of laws
-
Three laws of motion
-
inertia: bodies at motion remain
in motion and bodies at rest remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside
force (contrary to Aristotle)
-
Force = mass times acceleration
-
For every action there is an equal
and opposite reaction.
-
Principle of Universal Gravitation:
All bodies mutually attract with a force = the product of their masses
over their distance squared times g (the universal gravitational constant.)
{A1}
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