Faith, Reason, Renaissance, and the Cosmos: From Augustine to Newton

1. Augustine on Faith and Reason

Augustine believed that reason alone is insufficient to reach the truth due to its inherent limitations. He argued that reason must submit to faith to attain true understanding.

2. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotelian Philosophy

Thomas Aquinas adopted Aristotelian principles but selectively, rejecting elements that contradicted Christian doctrine, such as the eternity of the world or the non-immortality of the soul.

3. The Renaissance

What Constitutes the Renaissance?

The Renaissance, originating in Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries, marked a transition to the modern age through the recovery of Greco-Roman culture.

Features of Renaissance Humanism

Renaissance Humanism emphasized:

• Recovery of classical texts
• The concept of the "universal man" and the interconnectedness of knowledge
• Human values, emphasizing the natural and active life
• Aesthetic, ethical, and wisdom-focused approaches to life

Key figures included Erasmus and Thomas More.

Utopian Authors

Authors who wrote about utopias include:

• Thomas More: Coined the term "utopia" and described a society without private property.
• Francis Bacon: Wrote about a scientific utopia, "New Atlantis," ruled by an elite without the people.
• Tommaso Campanella: Advocated for total communism in "The City of the Sun."

Commonalities and Differences in Utopias

Common themes in these utopias include the absence of private property, governance without direct public participation, and communal ownership of essential resources.

4. Machiavelli's Political Thought

Machiavelli believed that rulers need special qualities to gain and maintain power.

5. Aristotelian Cosmology

Main Elements of Aristotelian Cosmology

• Geocentricity: The Earth is the center of the universe.
• Sphericity of the Universe: The universe is finite, bounded by a sphere of fixed stars, and filled with transparent spheres of ether containing the stars.
• Heterogeneity of the Universe: The supralunar world (beyond the Moon) is perfect, composed of incorruptible ether, with stars as perfect spheres moving in constant circular motion. The sublunary world (Earth) is composed of four perishable elements with "natural" movement.
• Intangible Extrinsic Cause of Movement: A prime mover initiates the motion of the fixed stars, which then move the other spheres through friction.

6. Kepler's Contributions to Astronomy

Kepler's innovations in astronomy include:

1. Law of Orbits: Planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus.
2. Law of Areas: The radius vector of a planet sweeps equal areas in equal times.
3. Law of Periods: The squares of the orbital periods of planets are proportional to the cubes of their average distances from the Sun.

7. Galileo's Telescopic Observations

Galileo used the telescope to observe that celestial bodies are not perfect, challenging the Aristotelian notion of ether. His observations provided empirical evidence that contradicted Aristotle's theories.

8. Antecedents of Newton's Law of Gravitation

Newton's law of universal gravitation built upon the work of Kepler, William Gilbert, and Galileo. Kepler and Galileo laid the foundations for Newton's theory. Kepler's evolving concept of force, influenced by William Gilbert's studies on magnetism, played a crucial role in this transition to a new astronomy.