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3.14

Philosophy 1700CE to 1900 CE: The empirical western mind

While the growth of knowledge in the preceding period (1400-1700) set the stage for the independent empirical western mind, an inevitable backlash/re-adjustment took place.

The 1600s saw the emergence of anti-technology, anti-science religious cultures that instead saw the meaning of life to be a status-quo adoption of stoic virtues. General poor living standards and overcrowding in major European cities saw terrible disease and plague.

This negative backlash itself proved to be a propulsion towards greater optimism and consideration for what kind of societies should humanity adopt. Great thinkers emboldened with science and maths could conceive of better systems of living, government and technology.

3.14.1

Conquering the "forces" of nature- the mechanical universe

Key concept: A universe of quantifiable and measurable “forces” of motion obeying natural laws

Architect	Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Main influence
Idea	That the universe is made up of an infinite number of indivisible units of matter that interact in forces of attraction and repulsion during discrete units of time. That these interactions of forces can be both mathematically modeled and measured empirically.

The great pivot point representing the next major evolution of human thinking was the conquering through science the understanding of the forces of nature.

Isaac Newton stands out as one of the greatest minds of humanity. His ideas on forces defined through mathematics gave the basic template for all inventors to consider the taming of natural phenomena, from steam, electricity, magnetism to ultimately the petroleum engine.

3.14.2

Political renaissance

Key concept: Democratic government in the pursuit of improving the conditions of citizens

Architect	John Locke (1632-1704)
Main influence
Idea	Innate knowledge does not exist. All knowledge is experience. That the power of monarchs is neither absolute nor divine. A rulers authority is conditional. That most ideal and fair form of government is one where people elect their officials so that people are ultimately sovereign over themselves. That the rules of any government of the people requires a covenant (constitution) which defines these powers .

In response to the terrible horror of disease and weak city infrastructure, inventors and philosophers used their increased knowledge and skills to invent solutions to hygiene, city planning, power systems, transport systems and ultimately political systems.

The liberation of the human mind from the clutches of God of the old testament also represented a time to reflect on exactly what kind of civil society constitutes just and honest government.

The two great philosophers of virtually all modern systems of political government were John Locke and Rousseau.

Key concept: Man was born free, but he is everywhere in chains

Architect	Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Main influence
Idea	Passions that generate vices hardly exist in the state of nature but begin to develop as soon as men form societies. Property leads to inequality since it made it necessary for men to institute law and government in order to protect property. Civil society, is of some advantage to everyone, but mostly to the advantage of the rich, since it transforms their de facto ownership into rightful ownership and keeps the poor dispossessed. Even so, the rich are no happier in civil society than are the poor because social man is never satisfied. Society leads men to hate one another to the extent that their interests conflict, and the best they are able to do is to hide their hostility behind a mask of courtesy. Men need not be in chains. If a civil society, or state, could be based on a genuine social contract.

Locke’s extensive and detailed model of an ideal political system represented the most comprehensive and serious work of its kind in history. Many philosophers had speculated about various political systems from the time of Plato. However Locke was the first to provide a comprehensive framework– a blueprint.

This is why Locke represents one of the most influential minds even today as virtually every major political system on planet Earth derives its origins from his ideas.

3.14.3

Eliminating the metaphysical

Key concept: Modern Philosophy of Skepticism (reduce to paradox)

Architect	David Hume (1711-1776)
Main influence	John Locke, Sir Isaac Newton
Idea	Philosophy as the inductive, experimental science of human nature. No theory of reality is possible; there can be no knowledge of anything beyond experience. Belief is a significant component in the process of causal inference. Reason cannot be rationally grounded, and the ground of rationality is wholly non rational. Proof is a reductio ad absurdum (reduce to paradox) argument against belief in rationality.” if rationalism is true, then it is not rational to be rational. Since the consequent is contradictory, the assumption that rationalism .

Key concept: Empirical rationalism– “the only truth is demonstrated proof and experience”

Architect	Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Main influence
Idea	Philosophy should model itself on mathematics and aim at constructing a chain of demonstrated truths based on self-evident premises. things cannot be reduced to logical contradiction Sense is a source of knowledge in its own right. The mind has no such power to arrive, by pure thought, at truths about entities, which, by their very nature, can never be objects of experience, such as God, human freedom, and immortality.

At the same time, the age of science and discovery saw a concerted effort to the elimination of all metaphysical concepts as having any validity in science once and for all.

Until this time, many of the “old sciences” of alchemy, astrology and mystic inspiration had hung on. Many great minds saw this as baggage of a pre-science error, having no valid existence in a rational world.

Men such as Hume and Kant provided the basic framework for logic arguments that would help kill these “sciences” once and for all. With the end of metaphysics as a branch of science the human mind was preparing for its next great leap.

The great idea of empirical rationalism was the belief that anything reduced to a paradox is absurd and therefore false, enabled the elimination of mysticism on mathematics and science.

As mathematics contained many paradoxes, these ideas and areas quickly became discredited and eliminated from serious thought. To eliminate the paradox became the underpinning of mathematical discovery.

1.14.3

Evolution revolution against "creationism"

Key concept: Life evolved on the Earth naturally

Architect	Charles Darwin (1859)
Main influence
Idea	All life on planet Earth can be traced back to common biological ancestors. The evolution of life can be attributed to non-purposeful natural selection (survival of the fittest).

Increasingly isolated against the barrage of new ideas, one key area of religious thought still remained in the area of cosmogony and life. Religions such as Christianity ascribed to the Adam and Eve story of creation.

In contrast, great explorers and scientists such as Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck came up with provable alternative theories on the evolution of life on Earth.

By showing that all life can be traced back to earlier lifeforms, Darwin and Lamarck ended the exclusive philosophical monopoly of religion on the creation of life.

Now without any seeming foothold in natural science and philosophy, religion and the belief in God stood isolated and vulnerable for one final push and change– the 20th Century mind

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