Hey guys, I let my seminar group know, but for everyone else, here is my seminar speech. It's just my interesting points about Bertrand Russell's book, book 3, chapters 1 - 9.
Before reading Bertrand Russell’s book, the ‘History of Western Philosophy’ I only really knew of Plato, Galileo and Newton. However after reading I’ve found that there are many other philosophers and scientists that contributed just as much to science and the Renaissance as the philosophers I had heard of.
Today I am going to talk about the scientists and philosophers from the book that I found the most interesting and that I think contributed the most to the knowledge of science and philosophy.
I thought that I would start at the beginning with Copernicus. Many theories Russell wrote about in the book are based upon Copernicus’s theory. Russell also puts Copernicus in with the list of his opinion of ‘the four great men in the creation of Science’ the list also included; Kepler, Galileo and Newton.
Copernicus was Polish but had visited Italy in his youth. Russell says that the renaissance in Italy managed to ‘rub off’ on him. He studied mathematics in Rome for three years, this would eventually pay off when he started to study Astronomy. Russell says that ‘Like Copernicus’s great successors he possessed both merits.’ The merits were, one, immense patience in observation and two, great boldness in framing hypothesis.
Copernicus believed that the sun was in the centre of our universe and that the earth had two motions. A diurnal rotation, which is the rotation of the earth on its axis causing us to experience one day. The other motion was an annual revolution about the sun. This causes us to experience one year. Russell says that the reason for Copernicus deferring his publication of his book, De Revoloutionibus Orbium Coelestium to after his death was because of his fear of ecclesiastical censure. Copernicus dedicated his book to the Pope which could have been one reason for it escaping Catholic condemnation until the time of Galileo.
Many astronomers rejected this theory. Luther and Calvin also rejected his theory and accused Copernicus of going against God. The book was published in 1954, during this time people still believed vehemently that the Bible was fact and that anyone who believed Copernicus’s theory then chose to believe it over the Holy Spirit. However we know now that Copernicus’s theory was true and that the earth does rotate on it axis and round the sun. It is for this reason that I chose to include him in my interesting points about Bertrand Russell’s book. Not only was he completely right in his findings but he also wanted to make sure that it got read and that it wasn’t condemned by the church.
Galileo was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. Many hail him as the father of science. Stephen Hawking also says that, ‘Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.’
Galileo was also a supporter of Copernicanism, showing that he didn’t follow the crowd and was ready to accept ideas and theories that didn’t base God at the power of everything. Galileo had many theories but I found the most interesting one to be the theory off acceleration or the law of inertia. Newton also enunciated it as ‘the first law of motion.’ Not only did it prove Copernicus’s theory of the earth rotating on its axis as well as around the sun but it also explained the law of falling bodies.
This law says that, ‘when a body is falling freely, its acceleration is constant, except in so far as the resistance of the air may interfere. Galileo also explains that the acceleration is the same for all bodies, whether heavy or light.’ Galileo couldn’t prove this however until 1654 when the air pump was invented. Galileo’s second law was that of the parallelogram law. This law was applied to forces, to discover the separate laws of the several forces to which moving bodies are subject. This was fundamental to science and later led Newton to his theory of universal gravitation. Both these laws presented by Galileo were Newton’s starting point.
Newton also used Kepler’s findings that every planet, at every moment, has acceleration towards the sun, which varies inversely as the square distance from the sun. Newton proved Kepler’s three laws of motion after the telescope was invented. Newton enunciated his law of universal gravitation: ‘Everybody attracts every other with a force directly proportional to the square of the distance between them.’ I have included Newton because I believe he is not only interesting in Bertrand Russell’s book, but also because I believe that he is a very important man of science. Newton’s theory of universal gravitation allowed many scientists to discover a lot more about the world we live in and the universe we are situated in.
Francis Bacon's aphorism, ‘for also knowledge itself is power,’ now commonly known as ‘Knowledge is power’ led me to include Bacon into my interesting points of Russell’s book. It is a saying that I have heard many times but have not known who said it or why. Bacon wrote the book, The Advancement of Learning, where the statement originated from. I find that this statement is very true and believe that it very useful in modern times as well as when Bacon published it in 1597. I interpret the saying as being that the more you know about literature, people, media, etc, the more power you have over all. Rupert Murdoch, for example, being all knowledgeable of news, media and knowing what his audience wants he has more and more power, and money. He bought Myspace in July 2005 for 580 million dollars, a year later in June; it was announced as the most popular social networking site. Thus meaning that Rupert Murdoch knows what will earn him money and takes it giving him more power.
Lastly I found Rene Descartes interesting too. His whole theory and experiment about who he is and what controls him led him to say, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ This is very conclusive to his experiment and very matter-of-fact. Russell states that the saying is known as Descartes’ cogito, and the process by which it is reached is called ‘Cartesian doubt.’ I agree with the statement. I think with my brain, my brain makes my hand move, makes my mouth speak and allows me to remember memories, thoughts and opinions. I do believe that therefore I am alive and that I control myself.
I hope that you liked my points of interest on Bertrand Russell’s, ‘History of Western Philosophy’.
Today I am going to talk about the scientists and philosophers from the book that I found the most interesting and that I think contributed the most to the knowledge of science and philosophy.
I thought that I would start at the beginning with Copernicus. Many theories Russell wrote about in the book are based upon Copernicus’s theory. Russell also puts Copernicus in with the list of his opinion of ‘the four great men in the creation of Science’ the list also included; Kepler, Galileo and Newton.
Copernicus was Polish but had visited Italy in his youth. Russell says that the renaissance in Italy managed to ‘rub off’ on him. He studied mathematics in Rome for three years, this would eventually pay off when he started to study Astronomy. Russell says that ‘Like Copernicus’s great successors he possessed both merits.’ The merits were, one, immense patience in observation and two, great boldness in framing hypothesis.
Copernicus believed that the sun was in the centre of our universe and that the earth had two motions. A diurnal rotation, which is the rotation of the earth on its axis causing us to experience one day. The other motion was an annual revolution about the sun. This causes us to experience one year. Russell says that the reason for Copernicus deferring his publication of his book, De Revoloutionibus Orbium Coelestium to after his death was because of his fear of ecclesiastical censure. Copernicus dedicated his book to the Pope which could have been one reason for it escaping Catholic condemnation until the time of Galileo.
Many astronomers rejected this theory. Luther and Calvin also rejected his theory and accused Copernicus of going against God. The book was published in 1954, during this time people still believed vehemently that the Bible was fact and that anyone who believed Copernicus’s theory then chose to believe it over the Holy Spirit. However we know now that Copernicus’s theory was true and that the earth does rotate on it axis and round the sun. It is for this reason that I chose to include him in my interesting points about Bertrand Russell’s book. Not only was he completely right in his findings but he also wanted to make sure that it got read and that it wasn’t condemned by the church.
Galileo was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. Many hail him as the father of science. Stephen Hawking also says that, ‘Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.’
Galileo was also a supporter of Copernicanism, showing that he didn’t follow the crowd and was ready to accept ideas and theories that didn’t base God at the power of everything. Galileo had many theories but I found the most interesting one to be the theory off acceleration or the law of inertia. Newton also enunciated it as ‘the first law of motion.’ Not only did it prove Copernicus’s theory of the earth rotating on its axis as well as around the sun but it also explained the law of falling bodies.
This law says that, ‘when a body is falling freely, its acceleration is constant, except in so far as the resistance of the air may interfere. Galileo also explains that the acceleration is the same for all bodies, whether heavy or light.’ Galileo couldn’t prove this however until 1654 when the air pump was invented. Galileo’s second law was that of the parallelogram law. This law was applied to forces, to discover the separate laws of the several forces to which moving bodies are subject. This was fundamental to science and later led Newton to his theory of universal gravitation. Both these laws presented by Galileo were Newton’s starting point.
Newton also used Kepler’s findings that every planet, at every moment, has acceleration towards the sun, which varies inversely as the square distance from the sun. Newton proved Kepler’s three laws of motion after the telescope was invented. Newton enunciated his law of universal gravitation: ‘Everybody attracts every other with a force directly proportional to the square of the distance between them.’ I have included Newton because I believe he is not only interesting in Bertrand Russell’s book, but also because I believe that he is a very important man of science. Newton’s theory of universal gravitation allowed many scientists to discover a lot more about the world we live in and the universe we are situated in.
Francis Bacon's aphorism, ‘for also knowledge itself is power,’ now commonly known as ‘Knowledge is power’ led me to include Bacon into my interesting points of Russell’s book. It is a saying that I have heard many times but have not known who said it or why. Bacon wrote the book, The Advancement of Learning, where the statement originated from. I find that this statement is very true and believe that it very useful in modern times as well as when Bacon published it in 1597. I interpret the saying as being that the more you know about literature, people, media, etc, the more power you have over all. Rupert Murdoch, for example, being all knowledgeable of news, media and knowing what his audience wants he has more and more power, and money. He bought Myspace in July 2005 for 580 million dollars, a year later in June; it was announced as the most popular social networking site. Thus meaning that Rupert Murdoch knows what will earn him money and takes it giving him more power.
Lastly I found Rene Descartes interesting too. His whole theory and experiment about who he is and what controls him led him to say, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ This is very conclusive to his experiment and very matter-of-fact. Russell states that the saying is known as Descartes’ cogito, and the process by which it is reached is called ‘Cartesian doubt.’ I agree with the statement. I think with my brain, my brain makes my hand move, makes my mouth speak and allows me to remember memories, thoughts and opinions. I do believe that therefore I am alive and that I control myself.
I hope that you liked my points of interest on Bertrand Russell’s, ‘History of Western Philosophy’.
Hi!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting this in your blog!
Sorry for not being able to discuss on tues...
I'm new to nearly all of this, having never studied history or philosophy beyond school levels; but I find the scientific value of classical civilisations intriguing, especially when comparing them to modern beliefs. I like your point about Bacon and Rupert Murdoch, knowledge is definitely power in that instance!!
Thanks again,
Lauren
x
Thanks for that - it was a very good start, it led to a pretty good discussion. It was a massive amount of territory to cover as well so - when I stood back and looked at it - it was a really, really hard task! Talk about in at the deep end! Well done.
ReplyDeleteIn the session I though that the inclusion of Rupert Murdoch alongside the rest of it was a bit of stretch. But now it strikes me that Rupert Murdoch is in some ways rather similar to Machievelli.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys, I worked hard and tried to include a little of everything. It did mean that I couldn't go into such depth with everything but thought the points I pulled out were interesting.
ReplyDeleteHey DJ, yeah, very good blog - contains alot of key facts and some very interesting points and ideas. Shall use alot of this info to aid revision! Good work, JG :)
ReplyDelete