Early Modern Europe: Crisis, Science, and New Philosophy
Responses to Early Modern Crises
Mercantilism
The mercantilist doctrine was an attempt to cope with economic crises by maximizing domestic production, protecting commerce, and industrializing the country.
Absolutism
Absolute monarchy was viewed as the best means of ensuring peace and security, which everyone desired. However, absolute monarchs often aggravated crises instead of resolving them.
Official Culture
The monarchy utilized culture as a tool to manage crises and reduce concerns and protests.
The Scientific Revolution: A New Understanding
The advance of scientific and technical knowledge required an updating of understanding, which involved abandoning Aristotelian physics and the geocentric picture of the universe. This traditional view included features such as:
- A geocentric model (Earth at the center)
- A spherical universe
- A heterogeneous universe (different rules for celestial and terrestrial realms)
- An extrinsic cause and heritage of movement
Copernicus proposed placing the sun at the center of the universe, making the Earth a planet. However, in many respects, Copernicus retained classical characteristics like simplicity and aesthetic harmony. This emerging paradigm was based on physical-mathematical principles, grounded in experience and a rigorous, logical method. Observed facts were translated into mathematical language, leading to the mathematization of the universe. Reality was reduced to quantifiable elements, achieving the Pythagorean-Platonic ideal of a universal mathematics and establishing its laws. Kepler, with his three laws, realized that the Copernican system needed significant corrections. His first two laws demolished two fundamental principles of Aristotelianism: the circularity of movement and the uniformity of movement.
Foundations of the New Science
This method consolidated the following scientific-philosophical assumptions:
- a) The authority of the ancients lost value.
- b) Nature possesses an inherent simplicity.
- c) Nature operates according to a rational and necessary order, formulated in mathematical terms.
- d) An emphasis on nominalism and phenomena (focusing on observable particulars).
Galileo’s Scientific Method
Galileo was inspired by the method of “resolution and composition”:
- Resolution: Analyze the phenomenon under study, reducing it to its essential properties while discarding others.
- Composition: Construct a mathematical hypothesis linking the essential elements identified in the resolution phase. Then, deduce the consequences mathematically.
- Verification: Test the hypothesis by conducting experiments to verify the truth of the consequences deduced from that hypothesis.
Philosophical Developments: Rationalism and Empiricism
These scientific changes were consolidated in the seventeenth century by two opposing philosophies that shaped the modern age: rationalism and empiricism.
Descartes and Rationalism
Descartes is considered the founder of rationalism, whose main features include:
- Full Confidence in Reason: Reason is the sole power leading humans to the knowledge of truth.
- Search for a New Method: A method modeled on the perceived certainty of mathematics.
- Subjectivity and Reality: Subjectivism triumphs, viewing the human as a being turned inward, primarily accessing reality through their own thinking.