History and Theory of Biology Midterm 2

-thought about "how to do science" (like Descartes)
-good representative of the Scientific Revolution
-wrote about scientific method
-stresses experimentation and observation
-4 idols (tribe, cave, marketplace, theatre)

Preconception of races

Preconception of the individual

Misuse of language

Abuse of authority

-Descartes: deduction (math), rational, Continent, thought
-Bacon: induction (observation--> general theories), observational (empirical), Great Britain, experimentation

Theory-->deduction-->observation-->induction-->theory, etc

-"picks up the stick at the other end"
-thought about how to do science
-devout
-disagreed with Jesuit thought (scholasticism)
-excelled in mathematics
-epistemology (how we know)
-from object to subject
-rejected a lot of religious and Aristotelian thought
-"I think, therefore I am" (autonomous thought- I know I am thinking)
-REASON: we know physical things, matter and extension
-GOD: there is a ghost in the machine
-mechanical view of nature, our bodies are machines, rational mind thoiught
-dualist for humans, but animals don't have a rational mind therefore perfect for experimentation
-turned the world up-side down- its what I am thinking that is important
-matter and extension: "Give me matter and extension and I will create the world"
-worked on vision, only have one thymus, therefore it was the seat of the soul

-32 members which included Galileo

-first meetings in London, at Gresham College (John Wilkins was a moving force)
-members very affected by political events, falling in and out of favor as the throne toppled and was re-established
-discussion of publishing results

-government controlled
-if you were active in the academy you could get a job at the university
-for professional scientists
-Royal input channeled through Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the King's adviser
-Descartes became a major influence

-Ben Franklin was a founding father (had close contacts with Joseph Banks) - published Saturday Evening Post "a penny saved is a penny earned"

-other organizations followed such as AAAS (American Association for Advancement of Science)

-all microscopic things were waiting to be discovered
-lenses used for spectacles, cauterizing and magnifying glasses
-basis for construction of microscopes

-from the Netherlands
-started to make compound microscopes, as a craft

-worked in Italy
-published amazing pictures drawn with the aid of a hand lens or simple microscope
-made engraving of weevil