ENSCI 1100: Science,Technology and Society

1. What is the role of the scientific method in the scientific revolution and how was the society transformed by the scientific revolution?
2. Discuss how new observations can lead to changes in the way we view natural phenomena over time
3. How Copernicus influenced modern astronomy by proposing a new paradigm for describing the displacement of earth from the center of the universe?
4. The instrumental view of technology rests on a view of causality. Differentiate the four Aristotelian causes (4 causes) citing a one peso coin as an example.

 

Answer:

Question 1: What is the role of the scientific method in the scientific revolution and how was society transformed by the scientific revolution?

• The scientific revolution, which emphasized systematic experimentation as the most valid research method, resulted in developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry. 
• The Scientific Revolution by means of Science itself came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences, and associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of religion and traditional authority in favor of the development of free speech and thought. Broadly speaking, Enlightenment science greatly valued empiricism and rational thought and was embedded with the Enlightenment ideal of advancement and progress

Question 2: Discuss how new observations can lead to changes in the way we view natural phenomena over time

• Observations inspire, lend support to, and help refute scientific hypotheses and theories. However, theories and hypotheses (the fundamental structures of scientific knowledge) cannot be directly read off of nature. A falling ball (no matter how detailed our observations of it may be) does not directly tell us how gravity works, and collecting observations of all the different finch species of the Galapagos Islands does not directly tell us how their beaks evolved. Scientific knowledge is built as people come up with hypotheses and theories, repeatedly test them against observations of the natural world, and continue to refine those explanations based on new ideas and observations. Observation is essential to the process of science, but it is only half the picture.

Question 3: How Copernicus influenced modern astronomy by proposing a new paradigm for describing the displacement of earth from the center of the universe?

• Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer who proposed a heliocentric system, that the planets orbit around the Sun; that Earth is a planet which, besides orbiting the Sun annually, also turns once daily on its own axis; and that very slow changes in the direction of this axis account for the precession of the equinoxes.

Question 4: The instrumental view of technology rests on a view of causality. Differentiate the four Aristotelian causes (4 causes) citing a one peso coin as an example.

One Peso Coin:

• Material Cause - Nickel-plated steel
• Formal Cause -  Diameter - 23.00mm, Thickness - 2.05mm and Edge - Round/Segmented (Plain and Reeded sections)
• Final Cause - It is a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value
• Efficient Cause - Commodities weren't always easy to transport and often they were perishable or difficult to store. These issues with commodities led people to create coins out of precious metals to use as money.

Step-by-step explanation

Details:

Question 1: The scientific revolution laid the foundations for the Age of Enlightenment, which centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and emphasized the importance of the scientific method. By the 18th century, when the Enlightenment flourished, the scientific authority began to displace religious authority, and disciplines until then seen as legitimately scientific (e.g.,  alchemy and astrology) lost scientific credibility.

Question 2: Humans have been observing earthworms and their activities for a very long time. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle referred to earthworms as "the intestines of the earth." Charles Darwin is credited with inspiring popular and scientific interest in earthworms with his book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits. Darwin kept pots of soil in his study so he could observe earthworms. He tested their sensitivity to light and heat, observed their food preferences, and even set up challenges to test their intelligence!

Question 3: The contested state of planetary theory in the late 15th century and Pico's attack on astrology's foundations together constitute the principal historical considerations in constructing the background to Copernicus's achievement. In Copernicus's period, astrology and astronomy were considered subdivisions of a common subject called the "science of the stars," whose main aim was to provide a description of the arrangement of the heavens as well as the theoretical tools and tables of motions that would permit accurate construction of horoscopes and annual prognostications. At this time, the terms astrologer, astronomer, and mathematician were virtually interchangeable; they generally denoted anyone who studied the heavens using mathematical techniques. Pico claimed that astrology ought to be condemned because its practitioners were in disagreement about everything, from the divisions of the zodiac to the minutest observations to the order of the planets. A second long-standing disagreement, not mentioned by Pico, concerned the status of the planetary models. From antiquity, astronomical modeling was governed by the premise that the planets move with uniform angular motion on fixed radii at a constant distance from their centers of motion. Two types of models are derived from this premise.

Question 4: Aristotle held that any contingent event (particularly a material event) was explainable in principle. That is, for Aristotle, there are no uncaused contingent events in the universe. Much of his work in Physics and Metaphysics is dedicated to articulating an exhaustive account of causation. He built on Plato and the Natural Philosophers, who had offered various theories to explain the observable universe. However, Aristotle believed all the previous accounts of causation were incomplete; they either failed to account for the rational element that explains order (nous) or failed to account for the natural elements out of which order is formed (phusis). This is commonly known as the hylomorphic composite. The explainable combination of matter (hulos) and form (morphos) is the observable universe.

• Material Cause - the stuff out of which something is made.
• Formal Cause - the defining characteristics of (e.g., shape) the thing.
• Final Cause - the purpose of the thing.
• Efficient Cause - the antecedent condition that brought the thing about.