Exercises on Scientific Renaissance

(Cesgranrio) The Scientific Revolution, which took place in Modern Europe between the 16th and 17th centuries, was characterized by:

a) to accentuate the critical spirit of man through the development of experimental science.

b) reinforce the anti-naturalist conceptions that emerged in the beginnings of the Renaissance.

c) prove the thesis of a geocentric universe contrary to the traditional explanation accepted by the Church

Medieval.

d) denying humanist values, thus strengthening rationalist ideas.

e) confirm the logical and empiricist foundations of scholastic philosophy in its critique of medieval Catholic dogmas.

(Puccamp) [Modified] Read the text below:

The orders are already sent, the bailiffs are already hurrying.

They enter through rooms and alcoves, report clothes and books:

(...)

Compendiums and dictionaries, and scholarly treatises

about peoples, about kingdoms, about inventions and Councils...

And the dangerous suggestions from France and the United States,

Mably, Voltaire and many others, who are all libertines...

(Cecília Meireles, Romance XLVII or Dos sequestros. "Romanceiro da Inconfidência")

The reference to textbooks, dictionaries and erudite treatises in the 18th century suggests a clear appreciation of scientific knowledge, a position that is also verified in the period known as the Renaissance. Contributed to the emergence of this broad cultural movement in Europe:

a) the unification of Italy and the weakening of the Catholic Church.

b) scientific discoveries and the industrial revolution in England.

c) the strengthening of the bourgeoisie and the development of urban centers.

d) the Counter-Reformation and the fragmentation of the sovereign's political power.

e) maritime expansion and Arab hegemony in the Iberian Peninsula.

“It remains for me to talk about Kepler, whose work is not entirely scientific either, being deeply inspired by the idea of ​​harmony, by the idea that God organized the world according to laws of mathematical harmony. For Kepler, this is the key to the structure of the Universe. As for the respective places he assigns to the Sun and the Earth, he is, of course, Copernican, for the same reason as Copernicus:for him, the Sun represents God; he is the visible God of the Universe, symbol of the Creator God, who expresses himself in the created Universe; and that is why he needs to be at the center.” (KOYRE, Alexandre. “The stages of scientific cosmology”. In:Studies in the History of Scientific Thought . Rio de Janeiro:University Forensics, 1991, p. 88.)

Based on the text, mark the correct alternative:

a) The historian of science Alexandre Koyrè points out that the astronomer Kepler, one of the main characters of the Scientific Renaissance, was still a bad scientist because he believed, like Copernicus, that God had organized the Universe.

b) Kepler, according to Koyrè, gave a cosmological explanation (explanation that goes beyond scientific discovery through experiments) for the Universe, which was in accordance with Christian philosophical and theological precepts.

c) With the expression “whose work is not entirely scientific either”, Koyré points out the pernicious presence of mathematical harmony in Kepler's work.

d) The development of modern science, of which Kepler was a part, depended exclusively on the rescue of the Greek tradition during the Renaissance.

e) Scientific discoveries were and still are through observation and experimentation, but cosmological explanations today are entirely dispensable.

The development of modern experimental science, in the 16th and 17th centuries, brought about what Max Weber called “the disenchantment of the world”, a process that, in the long run, invalidated the fantastic and mythological explanations of phenomena. natural disasters, pests, epidemics, etc. and replaced them with rational and experimentally probable explanations. One of the effects of this “disenchantment of the world” was:

a) the delay of technological progress in the 18th century.

b) the expansion of the Muslim worldview in European nations.

c) the delay of European urban development.

d) the proliferation of epidemics such as cholera and leptospirosis.

e) industrial technological development, followed by the process of sanitizing cities, as well as urban and population growth in Europe.

Letter A

The Scientific Revolution took advantage of the naturalistic perspectives of the beginning of the European Renaissance (contrary to what alternative B points out) and became contrary to the geocentric cosmological explanation of Ptolemy which has been endorsed by the Catholic Church for centuries (which eliminates alternative C). In the context of the Scientific Renaissance, humanism and rationalism were sides of the same coin, that is, the valorization of Reason presupposed the valorization of Man and his attributes (thus, alternative D is incorrect). Such appreciation accentuated the critical spirit of Man, through the development of experimental science (which points to the correct alternative, letter A). The philosophical thought characteristic of the Late Middle Ages, Scholasticism, had no empiricist foundations, but had an advanced development of Logic. The Scientific Revolution of this period also did not directly confront Catholic dogmas, but rather with the cosmological formulations elaborated earlier (which invalidates alternative E).

LetterC

The Renaissance became a historic event of grandiose proportions, especially in the Italian Peninsula, from the moment when the bourgeoisie that had formed in cities like Genoa and Venice and that, too, had established the commercial control of the Mediterranean Sea, provided the conditions for urban development necessary for there to be cultural effervescence in that region (so the correct alternative is C). The unification of Italy only took place in the 19th century (which invalidates alternative A), while scientific discoveries and the industrial revolution in England are post-Renaissance events (which invalidates question B). Likewise, the Counter-Reformation is a post-Renaissance event (which eliminates alternative D). The maritime expansion of the 15th century was due to the unification of the Iberian kingdoms, which took place with the expulsion of the Arabs from the Iberian Peninsula (thus, alternative E is incorrect).

Letter B

Koyrè does not want to characterize Kepler as a bad or incomplete scientist because of his belief in the fact that God “organized the Universe”. The historian of science only points out the type of (Christian) cosmology that Kepler perfected from his scientific discoveries (which eliminates the letter A and points to alternative B, which is correct). Koyrè wants to emphasize that Kepler's cosmology fundamentally depends on his conception of the mathematical harmony of the Universe. For him, if Man can infer physical laws from the observation of natural phenomena, the “Divine Being” is responsible for having infused such laws into nature (thus, alternative C is incorrect). The development of modern science is due to the cultural crossroads of at least three great civilizations:the Greek (whose philosophy, and especially logical reasoning, were decisive), the Muslim (which developed Arabic numerals and various mathematical formulas) and the Christian (who conceived the idea of ​​a God creator of nature, who organized it logically; a fact that freed men to investigate the logic of natural phenomena) (thus, alternative D is incorrect). Nowadays, the big problem that sciences, especially physics, face is the inability to elaborate cosmological explanations for the Universe. These explanations are extremely important and necessary, but they require a strong dialogue with other forms of knowledge, especially religion and philosophy. This dialogue is not always fruitful nowadays (alternative E is eliminated).

Letter E

The phenomenon of the "disenchantment of the world", described by Weber, despite moving away from the fantastic (or fanciful) European worldviews, did not give way to the Arab/Muslim worldview, given that the Arabs they were not able to spread throughout the European continent, since they were expelled from the continent with the unification of Spain (thus, alternative B is incorrect). With “the disenchantment of the world”, the development of modern science became possible, based on the observation and explanation of natural phenomena, including diseases and catastrophes. In addition to scientific development, a great development of technology, which started to make housing and health conditions better and more adequate, which enabled modern urban and population growth. (So, alternative E is correct, as it points to this, while the others – A, C and D – expose the exact opposite of this).