MMW 14 Lecture 1
MMW 14
The Enlightenment
1. Geo-political factors in Europe before and during the 18th century
2. A traditional, pre-Enlightenment view of the world
1. People believed in what they were told.
2. Nobody questioned what the world did
3. A traditional, pre-Enlightenment view of humanity and its history
4. Ibn al-Haytham (965-c. 1040 CE), Arab scientist
1. “With eyes wide open”
1. People wondered how sight worked
1. Emission theory of sight, light comes out of eyes
2. Aristotle believed that light came into eyes
3. al-Haytham had friends stare at the sun and observed their newfound blindness
1. set-up and performed an experiment
5. The empirical method
1. Inductive reasoning, John Locke (1632-1704)
1. Empiricism
1. From the individual to the universal
2. E.g. Apples fall to the ground; therefore there is a universal force that pulls things to Earth.
2. Locke's view of the mind
1. The mid in its primeval state is a "white Paper, void of all Characters."
2. No innate ideas.
3. The mind has an ordering faculty
2. Vs. Deductive reasoning
1. Rene Descartes and Rationalism
1. rationalism does not refer to reason, just refers to the mind
2. "Our innate ideas our true, because God put them there, and God would not give us ideas that are false."
1. From the universal and established to the specific
1. E.g. High fever, sore throat, and pustules in the mouth indicate streptococcus infection. If one has those symptoms, then he has strep.
6. The age of scientific discovery
1. Copernicus (1473-1543)
2. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
3. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
4. Galileo (1564-1642)
5. Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
6. Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686)
7. A new way of looking at the world, humanity, its history
1. Reason as the equalizer
2. Science begins to challenge religion
3. Human-centered universe
The Enlightenment
1. Geo-political factors in Europe before and during the 18th century
2. A traditional, pre-Enlightenment view of the world
1. People believed in what they were told.
2. Nobody questioned what the world did
3. A traditional, pre-Enlightenment view of humanity and its history
4. Ibn al-Haytham (965-c. 1040 CE), Arab scientist
1. “With eyes wide open”
1. People wondered how sight worked
1. Emission theory of sight, light comes out of eyes
2. Aristotle believed that light came into eyes
3. al-Haytham had friends stare at the sun and observed their newfound blindness
1. set-up and performed an experiment
5. The empirical method
1. Inductive reasoning, John Locke (1632-1704)
1. Empiricism
1. From the individual to the universal
2. E.g. Apples fall to the ground; therefore there is a universal force that pulls things to Earth.
2. Locke's view of the mind
1. The mid in its primeval state is a "white Paper, void of all Characters."
2. No innate ideas.
3. The mind has an ordering faculty
2. Vs. Deductive reasoning
1. Rene Descartes and Rationalism
1. rationalism does not refer to reason, just refers to the mind
2. "Our innate ideas our true, because God put them there, and God would not give us ideas that are false."
1. From the universal and established to the specific
1. E.g. High fever, sore throat, and pustules in the mouth indicate streptococcus infection. If one has those symptoms, then he has strep.
6. The age of scientific discovery
1. Copernicus (1473-1543)
2. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
3. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
4. Galileo (1564-1642)
5. Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
6. Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686)
7. A new way of looking at the world, humanity, its history
1. Reason as the equalizer
2. Science begins to challenge religion
3. Human-centered universe