Upload
rudolf-lyons
View
231
Download
2
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Francis Bacon1561 - 1626
Novum Organum, 1610
The Four Idols:
The TribeThe CaveThe MarketplaceThe Theater
Bacon and the Four Idols
Idols of the Tribe – Human Tendency to Fall in Love with a Dogma
Idols of the Cave – Excessive Importance Given to Personal Experience; the idol of personal bias
Idols of the Marketplace – The Fallacy of the catch word or unexamined vocabulary
Idols of the Theater – The Fallacy of Theorists to spin seductive theories; plausible but fictitious systems
Rene´ Descartes1596 - 1650
Discourse on Method,1637
The Cartesian Method
• Systematic Doubt• Clear and Distinct Ideas
CARTESIAN RATIONALISM
Systematic or Hyperbolic Doubt Deductive Argument from First
Principles– Cogito, ergo sum
Cartesian Dualism– Res extensa - Res cogitans
Physical Universe
Size, ShapeMotion, Rest
Thinking Universe
Soul
Math as Bridge
The first was never to accept anything as true if I did not have evident knowledge of its truth; that is, carefully to avoid precipitate conclusions and preconceptions, and to include nothing more in my judgments than what presented itself to my mind so clearly and distinctly that I had no occasion to doubt it.
The second, to divide each of the difficulties I examined into as many parts as possible and as may be required in order to resolve them better.
The third, to direct my thoughts in an orderly manner, by beginning with the simplest and most easily known objects in order to ascend little by little, step by step, to knowledge of the most complex, and by supposing some order even among objects that have no natural order of precedence.
And the last, throughout to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so comprehensive, that I could be sure of leaving nothing out.
1. We have an idea of that which has infinite perfection.
2. The idea we have of ourselves entails finitude and imperfection.
3. According to the principle of sufficient reason, there must be as much reality (formally or eminently) in the cause of any idea as (objectively) in the idea itself.
4. Therefore, the idea we have of infinite perfection originated from a being with infinite formal perfection.
5. It follows that the idea could not have originated in ourselves or our ideas of ourselves.
6. The origin of the idea could only be the real existence of the infinite being that we call God.
CARTESIAN RATIONALISM
Systematic Doubt Deductive Argument from First
Principles– Cogito, ergo sum
Cartesian Dualism– Res extensa - Res cogitans
Physical Universe
Size, ShapeMotion, Rest
Thinking Universe
Soul
Math as Bridge
Type: Objects Properties
Secondary Objects of Sense
hardness, heat, light, odor, color, taste, sound
Primary Objects of Mathematics
quantity, shape, time, magnitude
God as
First Cause
Nature As
EssentiallyQuantitative
HumanSoul
Cartesian DualismAnd
Modern Worldview
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek1632-1723
Develops an early Microscope
Robert Hooke1635-1703
Robert Boyle1627-1691
Boyle’s Air PumpCorpuscular Theory of Matter
God as
First Cause
Nature As
EssentiallyQuantitative
Man as
Soul
Cartesian DualismAnd
Modern Worldview
Benedict de Spinoza1632-1678
Theological-Political Treatise1670
Influenced by Cartesian Rationalism
Rejects Cartesian Dualism
Theory of “Monism”; equates GodAnd Nature
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed
The rate of change of momentum of a body
is proportional to the resultant force acting on the body and is in the same direction
For every action force there is an equal, but opposite, reaction force
Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727
Principia, 1687
Newtonian Worldview
• One universal, mathematical law explains all motion in universe
• World of nature open to human investigation and knowledge
• Mechanical view of nature• Orderly, regulated, uniform• Machine operates by natural laws
• Natural Laws can be Known by Man
TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE
ARTS & CRAFTS KNOWLEDGE-TRUTH
PRACTICAL/MATERIALWORLD
WORLD OF SUBSTANCEPHILOSOPHY/THEOLOGY
QUANTITATIVEMECHANISTIC
QUALITATIVESPIRITUAL/SOUL
ANCIENT WORLD
CHRISTIANMEDIEVAL
SCIENTIFICREVOLUTION
PHYSICAL UNIVERSE QUANTITATIVE/MATHEMATICALLY STRUCTURED & MECHANISTIC
MATHEMATICS IS BRIDGE FROM HUMAN SOUL/MIND TO KNOWLEDGE OF REALITY