The Foundations of Modern Thought: Philosophy, Politics, and Science
Philosophical Shifts and Political Thought
William of Ockham and the Decline of Scholasticism
The doctrine of William of Ockham defended empirical knowledge of facts. With him began the decline of Scholasticism. This period marked the start of major conflicts between religious and political power. Ockham’s approach paved the way for encouraging empirical thinking and science. Philosophy began to separate from theology.
Niccolò Machiavelli: Politics and the State
Machiavelli sought to explain the nature and origin of the State. To do so, he created a doctrine (detailed in The Prince) discussing political power, the need for order in society, and the role of the prince through politics. Every action is justified if the prince seeks the common good.
Machiavelli was the first to describe political reality and explain how society should function. He argued that politics is based on human nature (men are inherently bad, driven by ambition), necessitating order. The common good justifies the existence of the State and thus the actions of the Prince, who acts independently of any moral standard.
The Religious Reformation
The Religious Reformation favored the independence of philosophical knowledge from theological knowledge.
Causes of the Reformation:
- Europe faced an era of wars, famine, and death—a situation religious sermons could not alleviate.
- There was a perceived need to reform the Church.
Classical Cosmology and the Prime Mover
Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover
The Universe or reality is divided into two worlds:
- The Sublunar world (Earth).
- The Supralunar world (the celestial world of the stars).
The Earth is the center of the Universe (Sublunar), which consists of a series of concentric spheres. The outermost is the sphere of fixed stars. Its movement causes the movement of the others. This sphere is moved by the Prime Mover (or Unmoved Mover), which explains the movement of the Universe.
Aristotle posits the existence of an Unmoved Mover, which is immaterial and acts. The activity of this Prime Mover is pure thought. The Universe moves due to the desire to approximate perfection. The Prime Mover is identified with God.
Ptolemy’s Model
Ptolemy’s cosmological model sought to modify Aristotle’s because the latter could not explain phenomena such as eclipses.
The Scientific Revolution (16th and 17th Centuries)
This period refers to a fundamental change in the understanding and practice of science. It culminates with the work of Isaac Newton, although in the late twentieth century, these hypotheses and theories were subject to refutation.
This revolution consists of three phases:
- Copernican: When Copernicus proposed that the Earth orbits the Sun.
- Astronomical Advances: Kepler, Galileo, and Brahe advancing astronomy beyond Ptolemy and Aristotle.
- Synthesis: Synthesis of the two previous stages by Isaac Newton.
Key Figures in the Revolution
Tycho Brahe
Defended the geoheliocentric model. The Earth is at the center of the world with the Sun and Moon orbiting it, but the other planets revolve around the Sun.
Johannes Kepler
Defended a finite set of planets moving around the Sun. He argued for the separation of this planetary system from the sphere of fixed stars.
Galileo Galilei and Copernican Cosmology
Galileo is often credited with initiating modern science. He invented the telescope, providing a new vision of the cosmos. He defended Copernicus’s heliocentric theory, but did not state it publicly until he had empirical proof. The dissemination of his ideas led to intervention by the Inquisition.
Isaac Newton
Discovered universal gravitation. His work culminated in the development of the scientific discipline known as mechanics.