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Geocentric Universe
The heavens were crystalline spheres in which the planets, stars and moon were embedded which revolved around the earth.
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Four Humours
- blood
- phlegm
- yellow bile
- black bile
- (experimenting was not encouraged [unbalance])
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Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
- helped to define the process for the gaining of new knowledge in his "Novum Organum" (the new instrument) in 1620. He rejected old concepts of understanding and sought to create a new objective method of investigation of scientific knowledge. Bacon's ideas helped create what we call the Scientific Method for gaining knowledge.
- BACON'S FOUR STEPS TO KNOWLEDGE
- 1. Collect reliable, tested information - for example that gained by experiment.
- 2. Classify and compare this material
- 3. From such classification and comparison adduce generalization and scientific laws
- 4. Test these laws by further application to the phenomenon in question.
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Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
a french thinker, wrote a book called "discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking for Truth in the Sciences" (1637). Descartes felt that to understand the universe a person had to start with what was certain and mathematically deduce how the universe works. He started with the statement "Cogito Ergo Sum" ( i think, therefore I am). Descartes felt the universe existed at God's will but that the mathematical order of nature was the same as God. This approach was called the Cartesian method and it was one of the most important advances in exploring scientific questions.
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Nicholas Copernicus
used old Greek ideas, theorized that the earth rotated on its axis and revolved around the sun. This was a Heliocentric Universe. Copernicus theory did not explain everything but it was a big step in redefining the universe.
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Galileo Galilei
was an Italian scientist who made use of a new invention, the telescope, to observe the heavens. He clearly saw both the planets and their moons( Jupiter had four). In his book "Dialogues on the Two Chief systems of the World", he sought to criticize the Aristotelian universe and to establish the copernican view of the universe. Galileo was attacked by the Roman Catholic Church because he did not the church held view of an Aristotelian universe. He was brought before an inquisition council and told not to teach his ideas. After his book was published he was arrested and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
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Johann Kepler
German astronomer, applied mathematics to the understanding to the understanding of the laws of planetary motion. Kepler discovered planets move in oval rather than round orbits and that they move faster or slower in relation to their proximity to the sun. These new scientific laws he published in his book "New Astronomy or Celestial Physics". Kepler compared the Universe to a "Celestial Machine" like a clock.
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Sir Isaac Newton
- joined galileo and keplers ideas.
- wrote the book "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosopy" - theories of the universe were correct
- giant clock
- Newtons Three Laws of Motion
- 1. A body will continue in a state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, until compelled to change its state by some external force impressed upon it.
- 2. Every change of motion or acceleration of a body is directly porportional to the force that makes the change.
- 3. To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.
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New Scientific Thought About 1600, Ideas and People who emerged:
- Uniform acceleration of falling bodies (Galileo)
- Kepler's laws of planetary motion (kepler), coupled with Copernicus' publication of Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.
- Constant period of the pendulum (Newton)
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Deism - a belief that God created the world as a "First Cause" or "Supreme Intelligence" but left to be run by natural law. Humans was perfectible and rational, they did not need God's redemption (mercy). This was a common and popular idea during the Enlightenment.
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