Science and ReligionScience and Religion

Enemies or AlliesEnemies or Allies

Lesson Intention –

Introduce the main ideas that influenced the Scientific Revolution and the key scientific figures.

What is a world-view? A world-view is the way in which the

structure of the world is understood, based on beliefs and/or science.

A world-view often includes ideas about the world’s place in the universe.

Science and religion both discuss ideas about how we understand the world, how traditional religious beliefs relate to scientific understanding and how the contributions of philosophers, scientists and believers can contribute to the welfare of humans.

Science and Religion: The Love Affair

Religion and science weren’t always at each others throats!

It was out of the work of scientists and philosophers that science was born.

Until the 16th century philosophers and theologians were the scientists. They asked questions like: How was the world made? What holds the world up? Why does the Moon not fall down?

Science and Religion: The Love Affair The two got on so well together

because the scientific explanations included reference to God.

Things began to change in the 16th century as the way in which we understood God’s place in the universe and His relationship with humans began to change.

Science and religion began to drift apart and scientific principles began to be accepted without reference to God.

The Middle Ages –

Scientific Knowledge Expands

Introduction Profound change in the European world-view

in the late 16th and 17th centuries Primary cause was the Scientific Revolution

(1543-present) The most profound change in human history? New intellectual climate differed from

medieval & early modern world-view: Rejection of authority – e.g. bible and

church - without reason “Best” knowledge was practical Demystification of the universe Scientists of

this era differed from predecessors in combining mathematics and experiment – previous just Observation

Scientific Thought in 1500 The Aristotelian/Ptolemaic Universe

Geocentric 10 separate, transparent, crystal spheres

First 8 held the moon, sun, planets, stars 2 added during Middle Ages Heaven lay beyond the 10th sphere Angels kept the spheres moving

Sublunar world Earth, water; fire, air Uniform force moved objects until something

stopped it The Church invested greatly in this world-view – man

was at the center of the universe, most important part of Creation

The Scientific Revolution

                                                                                                  

The Geocentric UniverseThe Geocentric (Ptolemaic) Universe

Why Earth centred?

• The sun appeared as if moving.

• Earth felt stationary• If earth moved round

surely wind would sweep everything off the earth.

• Distant stars did not seem to change position

• A spinning earth would be expected to fling off everything that was not fixed to it.

• A cannonball, fired straight up would be expected to fall to the west of firing point as the earth moved (same with birds and clouds.)

Some people were studying the stars and noticed that they moved. Eventually,

scientists started discussions that the world was round and went round the sun.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

Polish monk Observed patterns of star

and planet movement On the Revolutions of

Celestial Bodies (1543) Heliocentrism Called into question the

literal truth of the Scriptures

Copernicus waited until he was near death to publish his findings

The Heliocentric (Copernican) Universe

Galileo (1564 – 1642) then published his own work based

on Copernicus and his work was widely read.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Italian scientist Improved the telescope Made observations that proved the

Copernican view of the universe Moon Planets Stars

Wrote in the vernacular 1633 – Church forced Galileo to

recant; placed under house arrest

Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (1615)

Written to address the conflict between the Bible and heliocentric theory

Argued that the Bible must be interpreted in light of scientific knowledge

Argued for a non-literal interpretation of the Bible

Galileo declared the Bible teaches how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go

The letter began Galileo’s troubles with the Catholic Church

The church confronts Galileo and asks him to back down

Galileo believed in God so why did the Catholic Church declare him a heretic?

Why did his books remain banned until the second half of the 20th century?

Real issue for the church was,

Who interprets the Bible?

The Church wanted to and if they allowed the scientists to it would mean a danger to the literal interpretation of

the Bible.

René Descartes (1596-1650)

French mathematician and philosopher

A transitional figure between the medieval past and modern science

A rationalist – Appealed to reason

Promoter of deductive reasoning, predicting particular results from general principles

Discourse on Method (1637)

Descartes wished to develop a method that could be used to yield scientific truth

Argued that abstract reasoning and math were a more reliable path to truth; our senses could deceive us

Cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”)

Significance of the Scientific Revolution

Contributions of these scientists made the universe comprehensible for the first time

The individual became much more important; collective authority was not the source of wisdom…individual intellect was

After the Revolution, God was viewed by many as either a remote “master mechanic”, or his existence began to be doubted

Began long “adversarial” relationship between science and religion

The Revolution laid the foundation for the Enlightenment of the 18th century…

The Enlightenment

Intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries…a product of the Scientific Revolution

Key principles of the Enlightenment: Belief in human reason Belief in the scientific method Progress, or “easing man’s estate”

Enlightenment ideals often came into conflict with religion

Blossomed in 18th century France

John Locke (1632-1704)

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

Argues against innate knowledge –ideas of God, right and wrong , justice

Experience is the only source of knowledge

Tabula rasa - mind is a blank tablet – on which experience writes everything we come to know

Consequently, the knowledge of which we are capable is quite limited

Jean d’Alembert (1717-1783)

With Denis Diderot, edited the Encyclopedia (1750-1765) Published in 17 vols. Hundreds of contributors Goal was “to change the general

way of thinking” The Preliminary Discourse to the

Encyclopedia of Diderot contains d’Alembert’s reflections on knowledge

Goal to make everything available to the masses – math's, science etc

Discredit religion and superstition Listed Communion as ‘see

Cannibalism

To Do

1. Read back through the notes pages 1- 5

Create 5 questions based on the information on those pages.

2. Create in jotter 1 page summary of notes on the Medieval Worldview and the

Scientific Revolution

You could do a mindmap, bullet points etc but MUST only be ONE page in length