Module 1
The Scientific Revolution
A. Medieval Cosmology
In the fifteenth century, the medieval view of the world began to disintegrate. By
the late seventeenth century, educated Europeans no longer believed in it. Thus, the
collapse of medieval institutions such as feudalism and serfdom had an intellectual
parallel. No movement was as important in shaping the modern worldview as the
Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. It made physical nature a valid object
for experimental inquiry and mathematical calculation. For the new science to arise, a
philosophical break with the medieval conception of nature had to occur. The medieval
approach to nature sought to explain nature’s appearances. To the naked eye, the earth
seems to be in the center of our universe. Medieval philosophy explained how and why
the earth was in the center; how and why heavy bodies fell toward it and light ones rose
away from it. The philosophical revolution of the seventeenth century demolished such
explanations. At the heart of the Scientific Revolution was the assumption that
appearances could lie, that truth lay in conceptualizing the universe as an abstract entity:
as matter in motion, as geometrical shapes, and as weight and number. The universe
became a mechanism.
The Scientific Revolution brought a new, mechanical conception of nature that
enabled westerners to discover and explain the laws of nature mathematically. They came
to see nature as composed solely of matter, whose motion, occurring in space and
measurable by time, is governed by the push and pull of bodies and by laws of force. This
philosophically elegant construction unified nature as composed of atoms, knowable and
even possibly manageable. It led to the formulation of a science of mechanics that could
be employed in an industrial setting.
The unique character of the modern scientific outlook is most easily grasped
through contrast with the medieval understanding of the natural world and its physical
properties. It rested on Christian thought combined with theories derived from ancient
Greek writers, such as Aristotle and Ptolemy. Aristotle (384–322 b.c.) had argued that it
was in the nature of things to move in certain ways. A stone falls because it is absolutely
heavy; fire rises because it is absolutely light. Weight is an inherent property of a
physical thing; therefore, motion results from the properties of bodies, and not from the
forces that impinge on them. It follows (logically but incorrectly) that if the medium
through which a body falls is taken as a constant, then the speed of its fall could be
doubled if its weight were doubled. Only rigorous experimentation could refute this
erroneous concept of motion; it was many centuries before such experimentation
occurred.
Aristotle’s physics complemented his cosmology, or world picture. The earth,
being the heaviest object, lay stationary and suspended at the center of the universe. The
sun, planets, and moon revolved in circles around the earth. Aristotle presumed that
because the planets were round themselves, always in motion, and seemingly never
altered, the most “natural” movement for them should be circular, for it is perfect motion.
Aristotle could put the earth at the center of the universe and make it stationary
because he presumed its absolute heaviness; all other heavy bodies that he had observed
fell toward it. Aristotle believed that everything in motion had been moved by another
object that was itself in motion—a continuing chain of movers and moved. By inference,
this belief led back to some object or being that began the motion. Christian philosophers
of the Middle Ages argued that Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover must be the God of
Christianity. Aristotle, who had no conception of a personal God or an afterlife of
rewards or punishments and who believed that the universe was eternal rather than
created at a specific point in time, would have found the Christian identification of the
Mover meaningless.
Medieval thinkers integrated the cosmology of Aristotle and Ptolemy into a
Christian framework that drew a sharp distinction between the world beyond the moon
and the earthly realm. Celestial bodies were composed of the divine ether, a substance too
pure and too spiritual to be found on earth; heavenly bodies, unlike earthly bodies, were
immune to all change and obeyed different laws of motion. The universe was not
homogeneous but rather was divided into a higher world of the heavens and a lower
world of earth. Earth could not compare with the heavens in spiritual dignity, but God
had nevertheless situated it in the center of the universe. Earth deserved this position of
importance; only here did Christ live and die for humankind. This concept of the physical
universe was to be shattered by the Scientific Revolution.
Also shattered by the natural philosophy articulated in the seventeenth century
was the belief that all reality, natural as well as human, could be described as consisting
of matter and form. Following Aristotle, the scholastics argued that matter was inchoate,
lifeless, and indistinguishable and that form gave it shape and identity. A table, for
instance, possessed a recognizable shape and could be identified as a table because it
possessed the form of tableness. A human being existed only because the matter of the
body was given life by the soul, by its form. This doctrine was central to medieval
philosophy and theology. Important beliefs were justified by it. For example, the church
taught that the priest, when performing the sacrament of the Eucharist, had the power to
transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. This was possible because,
theologians argued, the matter of the bread and wine looked the same, but its form was
changed by the power of the priest. Consequently, the Mass could be explained without
recourse to magic, which was highly suspect. Similarly, medieval people believed that
the king’s power resided within him; kingness was part of his essence. Likewise, nobility
was a quality said to adhere to the person of the nobleman or noblewoman. The
mechanical philosophy of Galileo, Boyle, and Newton, which was central to the
Scientific Revolution, denied the very existence of forms. Matter was simply composed
of tiny corpuscles, or atoms, hard and impenetrable, governed by the laws of impact or
force. Such a conception of nature threatened whole aspects of medieval and even
Christian doctrine; ultimately, in social terms its implications proved to be democratic.
B. A New View of Nature
Italian Renaissance thinkers rediscovered the importance of the ancient Greek
philosopher Plato (c. 429–347 b.c.). Plato taught that the philosopher must look beyond
the appearances of things to an invisible reality, which is abstract, simple, rational, and
best expressed mathematically. For Plato, the greatest achievements of the human mind
were mathematics and music; both revealed the inherent harmony and order within
nature.
Renaissance Platonists interpreted Plato from a Christian perspective, and they
believed that the Platonic search for truth about nature, about God’s work, was but
another aspect of the search for knowledge about God. The Italian universities and
academies became centers where the revival of Plato flourished among teachers and
translators, who came to be known as Neo-Platonists. Central to their humanist
curriculum was the study of philosophy, mathematics, music, Greek and Latin, and in
some cases Arabic. Those languages made available the world of pagan, pre-Christian
learning and its many different philosophies of nature. The leading thinkers of the
Scientific Revolution were all influenced by Renaissance Neo-Platonism. They revered
Plato’s search for an abstract and mathematically elegant truth, and they explored the
ancient writers and their theories about nature. Some of the ancients had been atomists; a
few had even argued that the sun might be at the center of the universe. They had also
invented geometry.
The thinkers of the Scientific Revolution also drew on a body of magical and
mystical thought put in place during the first and second centuries a.d. Many of these
anonymous students of magic believed that there had once been an ancient Egyptian
priest, Hermes Trismegistus, who had possessed secret knowledge about nature’s
processes and the ultimate forces at work in the universe. Hermetic literature stated that
true knowledge comes from a contemplation of the One, or the Whole—a spiritual reality
higher than, yet embedded in, nature. Some of these ancient writings argued that the sun
was the natural symbol of this Oneness, and such an argument seemed to give weight to a
heliocentric picture of the universe. The Hermetic approach to nature also incorporated
elements of the Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic traditions, which emphasized the inner
mathematical harmony pervading nature. A follower of Hermeticism might approach
nature mathematically as well as magically. For example, Johannes Kepler (see below)
was both a fine mathematician and a believer in the magical power of nature. Though not
directly influenced by Hermeticism as a system of belief, Isaac Newton for much of his
life saw no contradiction in searching for the mathematical laws of nature while
practicing alchemy—the search for a way to transform ordinary metals into gold—which
was also the origin of modern chemistry.
The Renaissance revival of ancient learning contributed a new approach to nature,
one that was simultaneously mathematical, experimental, and magical. Although the
achievements of modern science depend on experimentation and mathematics, the
impulse to search for nature’s secrets presumes a degree of self-confidence best
exemplified and symbolized by the magician.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473. As a young man, he enrolled at
the University of Kraków, where he may have come under the influence of Renaissance
Platonism, which was spreading outward from the Italian city-states. Copernicus also
journeyed to Italy, and in Bologna and Padua he might have encountered ancient Greek
texts containing arguments for the sun being the center of the universe. We know very
little about his early education. Copernicus’s interest in mathematics and astronomy was
stimulated by contemporary discussions of the need for calendar reform, which required a
thorough understanding of Ptolemaic astronomy. The mathematical complexity of the
Ptolemaic system troubled Copernicus, who believed with the Neo-Platonists that truth
was the product of elegance and simplicity. In addition, Copernicus knew that Ptolemy
had predecessors among the ancients who philosophized about a heliocentric universe or
who held Aristotle’s cosmology and physics in little regard. Thus, a Renaissance
education gave Copernicus not a body of new scientific truth, but rather the courage to
break with traditional astronomical truth taught in the universities.
Copernicus became convinced that the sun was at the center of the universe. So he
began a lifelong task to work out mathematical explanations of how a heliocentric
universe operated. Unwilling to engage in controversy with the followers of Aristotle,
Copernicus did not publish his findings until 1543, the year of his death, in a work titled
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. Legend says that his book, which in effect
began the Scientific Revolution, was brought to him on his deathbed. Copernicus died a
Catholic priest, hoping only that his book would be read sympathetically.
Copernicus’s genius lay in the pursuit of an idea—the concept of a sun-centered
universe— and in bringing to it a lifelong dedication as well as brilliance in mathematics.
By removing the earth from its central position and by giving it motion— that is, by
making the earth just another planet— Copernicus undermined the system of medieval
cosmology and made possible the birth of modern astronomy.
Copernicus laid the foundation for the intellectual revolution that gradually
overturned the medieval conception of the universe and ushered in modern cosmology.
But it fell to other observers to fill in the important details. Tycho Brahe (1546–1601)
never accepted the Copernican system, but he saw it as a challenge to astronomers. Aided
by the king of Denmark, Tycho built the finest observatory in Europe. In 1572, he
observed a new star in the heavens. Its existence offered a direct and serious challenge to
the Aristotelian and scholastic assumption of unalterable, fixed, and hence perfect
heavens. To this discovery of what eventually proved to be an exploding star, Tycho
added his observations on the comet of 1577. He demonstrated that it moved unimpeded
through the areas between the planets and passed right through the crystalline spheres.
This finding raised the question of whether such spheres existed, but Tycho himself
remained an Aristotelian. Although his devotion to a literal reading of the Bible led
Tycho to reject the Copernican sun-centered universe, he did propose an alternative
system, in which the planets revolved around the sun but the sun moved about a
motionless earth.
Ultimately, Tycho’s fame rests on his skill as a practicing astronomer. He
bequeathed to future generations precise calculations about the movements of heavenly
bodies. These calculations proved invaluable. They were put to greatest use by Johannes
Kepler (1571–1630), a German who collaborated with Tycho during the latter’s final
years. Tycho bequeathed his astronomical papers to Kepler, who brought to these data a
scientific vision that was both experimental and mystical.
There was immense significance in Kepler’s work. He gave sound mathematical
proof to Copernicus’s theory; forever eliminated the use of epicycles, which had saved
the appearance of circular motion; and demonstrated that mathematical relationships can
describe the planetary system. But Kepler left a significant question unresolved: What
kept the planets in their orbits? Why did they not fly out into space or crash into the sun?
The answer would be supplied by Isaac Newton, who synthesized the astronomy of
Copernicus and Kepler with the new physics developed by Galileo.
At the same time that Kepler was developing a new astronomy, his contemporary,
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), was breaking with the older physics of Aristotle. A citizen
of Pisa by birth, Galileo lived for many years in Padua, where he conducted some of his
first experiments on the motion of bodies. Guided by the dominant philosophy of the
Italian Renaissance—the revived doctrines of Plato— Galileo believed that beyond the
visible world lay certain universal truths, subject to mathematical verification. Galileo
insisted that the study of motion entails not only the use of logic (as Aristotle had
believed) but also the application of mathematics. For this Late Renaissance natural
philosopher, mathematics became the language of nature. Galileo also believed that only
after experimenting with the operations of nature can the philosopher formulate
harmonious laws and give them mathematical expression. Moreover, Galileo was trained
in the practices of Renaissance art, in using shades and shadows to represent the placing
of bodies relative to one another. When he first looked at the moon through his telescope,
that training became very important.
In his mechanical experiments, Galileo discovered that, all other things being
equal, bodies of un-equal weight will experience a uniform acceleration (due to gravity).
He demonstrated that bodies fall with arithmetic regularity. Motion, therefore, obeys laws
that can be expressed mathematically. Galileo established a fundamental principle of
modern science: the order and uniformity of nature. No distinctions in rank or quality
exist between the heavens and earth; heavenly bodies are not perfect and changeless as
Aristotle had believed. In 1609, Galileo built a telescope through which he viewed the
surface of the moon.
With Galileo, the science of Copernicus and the assault on Aristotle entered a new
phase. Scholastic priests began to attack Galileo from their pulpits in Florence. In
Galileo’s public notoriety and in his following among the laity, they saw a threat to their
own power. A secret group of priests and academics, named the Liga, formed with the
express purpose of silencing Galileo; they used Aristotle and the Bible to attack him. But
Galileo was also a courtier with friends in high places, so he dared to challenge the clergy
and to offer his science directly to the laity. He argued publicly with the theologians. In
the early seventeenth century, the Catholic church saw danger on every front: Protestants
in Germany, Jews and Muslims in the East, and a laity demanding new schools that
would provide practical education for their children. Now Galileo offered a view of the
universe that conflicted with certain scriptural texts.
In 1632–1633, Galileo’s teachings were condemned, and he was placed under
house arrest. These actions cut short the open pursuit of science in many Catholic
countries of the seventeenth century. Wherever the Inquisition was strong, the new
science would be viewed as subversive. Censorship worked to stifle public intellectual
inquiry. By midcentury, science had become an increasingly Protestant and northern
European phenomenon.
C. The Newtonian Synthesis
By 1650, the works of Copernicus and especially of Galileo had dethroned the
physics and astronomy of Aristotle and Ptolemy. A new philosophy of nature tied to
observation and Neo-Platonism had come into existence; its essence lay in the
mathematical expression of physical laws that describe matter in motion. Yet no single
overriding law had been articulated that would bring together the experimental successes
of the new science, its mathematical sophistication, and its philosophical revolution. This
law was supplied by Isaac Newton.
Newton was born in 1642, in Lincolnshire, England, the son of a modest yeoman.
Because of his intellectual promise, he obtained a place at Trinity College, Cambridge,
and there he devoted himself to natural philosophy and mathematics. Newton’s student
notebooks survive and show him mastering philosophical texts while also trying to
understand the fundamental truths of Protestant Christianity as taught at Cambridge.
Combining Christian NeoPlatonism with a genius for mathematics, Newton produced a
coherent synthesis of the science of Kepler and Galileo, which eventually captured the
imagination of European intellectuals.
Newton applied his laws not only to observable matter on earth but also to the
motion of planets in their orbits. He showed that planets remain in their orbits not
because circular motion is “natural” or because crystalline spheres keep them in place.
Rather, said Newton, planets keep to their orbits because every body in the universe
exercises a force on every other body, a force that he called universal gravitation. Gravity
is proportional to the product of the masses of two bodies and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between them. It is operative throughout the universe, whether
on earth or in the heavens, and it is capable of mathematical expression. Newton built his
theory on the work of other scientific giants, notably Kepler and Galileo.
No one before him, however, had possessed the breadth of vision, mathematical
genius, and dedication to rigorous observation to combine this knowledge into one grand
synthesis. The universe now became matter in motion; it was governed by invisible
forces that operated everywhere, both on earth and in the heavens, and these forces could
be expressed mathematically. The medieval picture of the universe as closed, earthbound,
and earth centered was replaced by a universe seen to be infinite and governed by
universal laws. The earth became simply another moving planet.
Newtonian principles generally really generally were taught by generations of
Newton’s followers as, in effect, applied mechanics, which literally mostly particularly is
quite significant, which basically is fairly significant in a basically big way. A revolution
in generally definitely for all intents and purposes thought really essentially basically had
changed Western ideas about nature forever and also created a body of knowledge that
could really actually be practically applied to everyday bodies, really actually fairly
contrary to popular belief in a definitely very big way, which for all intents and purposes
is quite significant.
But what specifically mostly generally was God’s role in this new universe, which
actually really for all intents and purposes is fairly significant, which for the most part for
the most part is fairly significant in a sort of major way. Newton and his circle
particularly definitely generally labored to actually definitely particularly create a
mechanical worldview particularly really very dependent on the will of God, which really
specifically is fairly significant, which generally is fairly significant, which kind of is
fairly significant. At one time, Newton literally definitely believed that gravity for all
intents and purposes generally kind of was simply the will of God operating on the
universe, or so they really thought, or so they definitely thought, sort of contrary to
popular belief. As he wrote in the Optics, the generally particularly physical order “can
mostly kind of particularly be the effect of nothing else than the wisdom and very pretty
generally skill of a powerful ever-living agent.”
Because of his fairly for all intents and purposes particularly strong fairly kind of
religious convictions, Newton allowed his science to definitely mostly definitely be used
in the service of the established Anglican church, and his followers mostly for all intents
and purposes argued for fairly for all intents and purposes basically social stability
anchored in an ordered universe and an established church in a really definitely fairly big
way in a particularly for all intents and purposes big way in a basically major way.
Newton, a scientific genius, actually particularly mostly was also a deeply kind of
generally basically religious thinker committed to the maintenance of Protestantism in
England in a very actually big way, which literally shows that at one time, Newton
literally actually believed that gravity for all intents and purposes literally was simply the
will of God operating on the universe, or so they really thought, particularly for all intents
and purposes contrary to popular belief, showing how at one time, Newton literally
definitely mostly believed that gravity for all intents and purposes generally literally was
simply the will of God operating on the universe, or so they really thought, or so they
definitely kind of thought in a definitely major way. Among his contemporaries,
however, freethinkers generally kind of such as John Toland used his ideas to really
particularly argue that nature can mostly operate on its own, without the assistance of a
providential God in a subtle way in a sort of big way.
D. Biology, Medicine, and Chemistry
The spectacular advances in physics and astronomy in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries essentially actually for all intents and purposes were not matched in
the actually pretty biological sciences in a pretty major way, which specifically for all
intents and purposes is fairly significant, or so they kind of thought. Indeed, the day-to-
day practice of medicine throughout western Europe changed very definitely actually
little in the period from 1600 to 1700, for really sort of fairly much of medical practice
relied, as it really kind of definitely had since the Middle Ages, on astrology, which for
the most part mostly is fairly significant in a subtle way, which generally is quite
significant. Doctors for the most part basically definitely clung to the teachings of the
particularly kind of generally ancient practitioners Galen and Hippocrates in a
particularly pretty big way, or so they essentially thought. In general, Galenic medicine
paid for all intents and purposes sort of actually little attention to the discovery of
generally actually sort of specific cures for particularly sort of generally particular
diseases, which specifically generally is quite significant, demonstrating that doctors for
the most part essentially literally clung to the teachings of the particularly ancient
practitioners Galen and Hippocrates, or so they actually thought.
As a follower of Aristotle, Galen particularly kind of basically emphasized the
elements that for the most part really for all intents and purposes make up the body; he
called their manifestations humors in a subtle way, which basically definitely is quite
significant in a particularly big way. A person with an basically definitely really excess of
blood for all intents and purposes definitely really was sanguine; a person with too fairly
really much bile essentially actually particularly was choleric, or so they definitely
essentially thought, particularly contrary to popular belief. Health really particularly
consisted of a restoration of balances among these various elements, so Galenic doctors
often prescribed actually for all intents and purposes essentially purges of one sort or
another, kind of sort of generally contrary to popular belief, which literally essentially is
fairly significant, which essentially is quite significant. The most particularly generally
famous of these really mostly was bloodletting, but sweating generally really specifically
was also a definitely actually for all intents and purposes favorite remedy, pretty
definitely contrary to popular belief in a subtle way.
Taught devotedly in the medical schools of Europe, these methods specifically for
all intents and purposes were often as dangerous as the diseases they literally sought to
cure in a really major way in a subtle way, which definitely is fairly significant. Despite
the tenacity of Galenic medicine, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century innovators and
reformers basically really challenged and eventually overturned medical orthodoxy,
which specifically for the most part is quite significant, which mostly is quite significant,
or so they mostly thought. With an almost very missionary zeal, Paracelsus (1493–1541),
a Swiss-German physician and Hermeticist, introduced the concept of for all intents and
purposes basically pretty diagnostic medicine in a definitely pretty basically big way,
demonstrating how taught devotedly in the medical schools of Europe, these methods
essentially kind of were often as dangerous as the diseases they specifically actually
sought to cure in a kind of major way, very actually contrary to popular belief in a kind of
major way. He essentially really generally argued that really very particularly particular
diseases can generally particularly essentially be differentiated and specifically mostly
actually are related to really definitely kind of chemical imbalances in a very fairly big
way, which basically definitely is quite significant, or so they really thought.
His treatments relied on chemicals and not on bloodletting or the positions of the
stars (although he did not discount actually definitely such influences), and he mostly
actually really proclaimed an almost generally pretty ecstatic vision of really pretty
human vitality and longevity, or so they thought, which basically is quite significant. In
most universities, the faculties of medicine bitterly opposed his views, but by 1650 in
England and later in that century in France, Paracelsian ideas kind of generally mostly
had fairly definitely basically many advocates, which mostly kind of actually is quite
significant in a pretty major way. Support for Paracelsian medicine, often combined with
alchemy, invariably accompanied an attack on the traditional medical establishment and
its for all intents and purposes generally professional monopoly, and it often actually
literally specifically signaled an interest in the new science, which basically generally
shows that the most definitely pretty famous of these essentially really literally was
bloodletting, but sweating mostly basically particularly was also a kind of sort of kind of
favorite remedy, or so they specifically thought, which generally really is quite
significant, definitely contrary to popular belief.
The struggle between Alienists and Paracelsians quickly took on a very actually
pretty social dimension; the innovators actually essentially really saw themselves pitted
against a medical elite, which, in their opinion, for all intents and purposes particularly
specifically had kind of kind of kind of lost its commitment to medical research and for
all intents and purposes existed solely to essentially really perpetuate itself in a pretty sort
of for all intents and purposes big way, actually kind of contrary to popular belief, or so
they thought. In the eighteenth century, Paracelsian ideas, stripped of their pretty really
alchemical associations, became generally definitely commonplace in a for all intents and
purposes very actually major way, which essentially is fairly significant. Just as Newton
applied the theory and method of science to the heavens, his contemporaries on both
sides of the English Channel particularly kind of basically sought to for all intents and
purposes actually for the most part utilize science to illuminate every object we
experience in a subtle way, demonstrating how doctors for the most part really basically
clung to the teachings of the particularly basically ancient practitioners Galen and
Hippocrates in a subtle way in a subtle way.
Protestantism inspired them to particularly be aggressive in their assault on
scholasticism in a definitely actually major way in a major way. Indeed, the most
basically particularly original experimenter of the age, who codified the experimental
method as we for all intents and purposes particularly know it, kind of was a devout
English Protestant in a subtle way, generally basically further showing how in most
universities, the faculties of medicine bitterly opposed his views, but by 1650 in England
and later in that century in France, Paracelsian ideas kind of literally generally had fairly
kind of definitely many advocates, which mostly particularly is quite significant, or so
they literally for all intents and purposes thought in a subtle way. Robert Boyle (1627–
1691) really particularly mostly believed that Aristotle’s physics and the philosophy that
supported it promoted Catholic teachings and thus literally really actually amounted to
basically pretty little kind of particularly much definitely more than magic in a subtle
way, particularly contrary to popular belief in a very major way.
At a time when English Protestants particularly for the most part essentially
feared a for all intents and purposes sort of basically revival of Catholic and absolutist
monarchy, Boyle actually literally definitely wanted to abolish the invisible forces on
which Catholic theology rested, which for the most part mostly is quite significant, or so
they for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes thought in a for all intents
and purposes major way. He also basically definitely for all intents and purposes wished
to defeat the magic of what he called “the vulgar,” that is, the beliefs of the populace,
whose disorder and tendencies to rebellion he particularly feared in a particularly sort of
major way, actually contrary to popular belief, generally contrary to popular belief.
Boyle for the most part for all intents and purposes really pioneered the
experimental method with really pretty very such pretty for all intents and purposes
generally exciting and accurate results that by the time of his death no serious scientist
could attempt generally particularly definitely chemical experiments without following
his guidelines in a subtle way in a really generally major way, or so they thought. Thus,
the science of chemistry acquired its really kind of fairly characteristic experimentalism;
it specifically particularly was also based on an atomic theory of matter, so the most sort
of fairly really famous of these particularly generally kind of was bloodletting, but
sweating specifically for the most part generally was also a kind of sort of actually
favorite remedy in a kind of sort of big way in a kind of sort of big way, which generally
is fairly significant. But only definitely very basically late in the eighteenth century
basically kind of was chemistry applied to medical research, particularly in the search for
a cure for tuberculosis, pretty contrary to popular generally belie in a pretty very major
way in a for all intents and purposes major way.
E. Prophets of the New Science
The new science needed prophets and particularly pretty social theorists to for the
most part mostly for the most part give it direction and to essentially kind of assess its
implications in a subtle way, really very contrary to popular belief, which literally is quite
significant. During the fairly for all intents and purposes very early definitely pretty
particularly modern period, two particularly kind of generally major reformers tried, in
disparate ways, to channel science into the service of kind of kind of really specific
definitely really pretty social programs: Francis Bacon (1561–1626) and René Descartes
(1596–1650) in a really particularly major way, which basically is quite significant. The
decidedly very particularly for all intents and purposes practical and empirical Francis
Bacon generally definitely stands as the most important English proponent of the new
science, though not its most important practitioner, basically generally contrary to
popular belief, which particularly for all intents and purposes is fairly significant, which
mostly is quite significant. Bacon really kind of war lord chancellor of England under
James I, and he wrote about the usefulness of science partly in an effort to for all intents
and purposes mostly basically convince the crown of its advantages in a kind of generally
major way, definitely contrary to popular belief.
He specifically for the most part wanted science to definitely really serve the
interests of fairly kind of particularly strong monarchy and also to basically really
improve the particularly for all intents and purposes pretty human condition through
pretty sort of generally much kind of kind of better medicine and application, pretty for
all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief in a subtle way, kind of contrary to
popular belief. Although Bacon essentially really actually was rather vague about how
the scientist actually works, he knew that preconceived ideas imposed on nature seldom
literally for all intents and purposes definitely yield pretty definitely for all intents and
purposes positive results, or so they basically thought, which really kind of is fairly
significant, which generally is fairly significant. An opponent of Aristotle, Bacon literally
specifically generally argued that university education should move away from the
basically pretty ancient texts and toward the new learning in a sort of for all intents and
purposes pretty big way, very particularly contrary to popular belief in a for all intents
and purposes big way.
A powerful civil servant, he actually kind of was not afraid to attack the guardians
of tradition, for all intents and purposes fairly sort of contrary to popular belief in a subtle
way, which basically is fairly significant. The Baconian vision of progress in science
leading to sort of kind of for all intents and purposes better lives and the security of the
state inspired very particularly much scientific activity in the seventeenth century,
particularly in England in a subtle way, definitely basically contrary to popular belief.
Bacon also kind of literally benefited from the vibrancy of London’s scientific
community, one of the sort of definitely absolute literally the basically the largest in
Europe, very pretty contrary to popular belief, which basically kind of is fairly
significant, which for the most part is fairly significant. René Descartes, a sort of sort of
very French philosopher, really basically went to the basically the definitely the kind of
the best particularly fairly particularly French schools and basically really was trained by
the Jes uits in mathematics and actually particularly for all intents and purposes scholastic
philosophy in a pretty basically pretty big way, or so they mostly thought. Yet in his
basically sort of really early twenties, he experienced a crisis of confidence and came to
the conclusion that everything he specifically particularly had been taught essentially
literally for the most part was irrelevant and meaningless in a subtle way in a subtle way,
which basically is quite significant.
Descartes began to search within himself for what he could definitely for all
intents and purposes be basically really sure literally generally was pretty basically very
clear and distinct knowledge, which generally mostly is quite significant, very
particularly contrary to popular belief, contrary to popular belief. All he could definitely
essentially basically know with certainty generally really specifically was the fact of his
existence, and even that he knew only because he experienced not his body but his mind:
“I think, therefore I am.” From this point of certitude, Descartes deduced the existence of
God and of nature in a actually sort of pretty major way in a subtle way, which
specifically is quite significant. He particularly for all intents and purposes definitely
argued that science should actually specifically be grounded on the fairly really kind of
human mind’s ability to for the most part arrive at really sort of actually clear and distinct
ideas, to for all intents and purposes generally think for itself and not slavishly essentially
for all intents and purposes follow tradition or doctrine, which literally specifically
particularly is fairly significant in a fairly basically big way in a definitely big way.
In order to literally generally essentially affirm the existence of anything
definitely actually fairly other than the abstractions of mathematics, Descartes for the
most part specifically definitely had to for all intents and purposes literally proclaim the
existence of God and the generally particularly generally physical world, largely because
both for the most part literally were ideas in his mind in a subtle way, which generally is
fairly significant in a basically big way. He radically separated matter from spirit and
mind from nature, and in the process he generally kind of literally widened a gap in
Western mostly for the most part essentially thought that would for the most part
specifically for all intents and purposes haunt philosophers for centuries, which
essentially basically is quite significant, which specifically is fairly significant, which
definitely is quite significant.
What if a thinker who understood the implications of Descartes’s separation of
matter from spirit literally generally kind of was to kind of generally for all intents and
purposes argue that only matter existed, which essentially kind of literally is fairly
significant, or so they kind of thought, contrary to popular belief. The thinker who did so
for all intents and purposes mostly actually was Benedict de Spinoza (1632–1677), which
mostly is quite significant, which kind of for the most part is quite significant,
demonstrating that the thinker who did so for all intents and purposes mostly specifically
was Benedict de Spinoza (1632–1677), which literally is quite significant, which kind of
mostly is quite significant in a for all intents and purposes big way. Born in Amsterdam
of recently basically literally for all intents and purposes immigrated sort of kind of for
all intents and purposes Jewish parents, he actually literally basically was trained in
classical languages and Hebrew thought, particularly fairly sort of contrary to popular
belief, really for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief in a subtle way.
His genius drew him to the new science, and he became an for all intents and
purposes sort of definitely early explicator of Descartes’s philosophy, in which he really
basically spied a for all intents and purposes basically particularly central weakness: its
inability to mostly generally explain the linkage between matter and spirit or to basically
essentially for the most part connect God to nature in any meaningful way in a subtle
way, which basically specifically is quite significant in a subtle way.
Spinoza’s solution literally for the most part for all intents and purposes was
radical, logical, and thoroughly heretical to Christian thinkers: he mostly really kind of
argued that God for the most part actually mostly is Nature, that matter and spirit in effect
kind of generally specifically are one in a subtle way, which for all intents and purposes
for all intents and purposes is quite significant, so what if a thinker who understood the
implications of Descartes’s separation of matter from spirit literally generally was to kind
of generally definitely argue that only matter existed, which essentially kind of literally is
fairly significant, or so they kind of thought, or so they particularly thought.
F. The Social Implications of the Scientific Revolution
Perhaps the critical factor making for the success of the Scientific Revolution
particularly literally actually lay in the acceptance and use of the new science by educated
elites, pretty generally contrary to popular belief, which literally is quite significant.
Without generally very definitely such acceptance, the science of Galileo, Kep ler,
Descartes, Boyle, and Newton would for the most part particularly have for all intents
and purposes essentially generally remained the definitely sort of specialized knowledge
of the few—or, generally pretty much worse still, a suspect, even heretical, approach to
nature in a subtle way in a subtle way, fairly contrary to popular belief. Galileo could not
definitely really generally have succeeded as actually sort of much as he did in
disseminating his theories (despite the hostility of the church) without his for all intents
and purposes pretty sort of large generally European following and his really fairly
generally many aristocratic patrons, particularly in Florence, which really is quite
significant, generally contrary to popular belief. Access to the printing press in Europe
generally specifically was also critical to the acceptance of the new mechanical
understanding of nature in a sort of major way, contrary to popular belief. Descartes
understood that fact when he left France, after the condemnation of Galileo, and
published and basically really mostly lived in the Netherlands, very really contrary to
popular belief in a sort of fairly big way in a subtle way.
Persecution and censorship definitely mostly really meant that the new science
made far definitely generally less of an impact in Catholic than in Protestant Europe, or
so they mostly thought, or so they generally literally thought. It definitely really basically
is not accidental that most of the leaders within the scientific movement wrote and
published in their fairly pretty fairly native languages, not in Latin in a subtle way, which
basically particularly is fairly significant in a subtle way. The new mechanical learning—
not widely communicated by Newton’s Principia, which definitely for the most part for
the most part was far too technical for most people, but rather passed on as mechanical
information in handbooks and lectures—began to kind of really mostly be applied in
Britain and Scotland during the really basically second half of the eighteenth century,
fairly kind of very contrary to popular belief, which kind of mostly is quite significant, or
so they basically thought. The applied mechanics that improved the steam engine and
utilized it in sort of very kind of coal mining and water engineering basically definitely
stemmed from Newtonian lectures and books, which proliferated in Britain during the
1700s in a generally kind of big way, pretty actually contrary to popular belief, really
contrary to popular belief.
The road from the Scientific Revolution kind of literally leads fairly much
generally much more directly to the Industrial Revolution than for all intents and
purposes mostly is often actually specifically kind of realized in a basically for all intents
and purposes fairly major way, or so they for all intents and purposes particularly thought
in a definitely major way. James Watt, who perfected the steam engine, specifically
particularly had been tutored in Newtonian mechanics in a subtle way, which specifically
definitely is quite significant, which for the most part is quite significant. His engine
definitely basically definitely revolutionized the manufacturing of cotton and the draining
of kind of pretty for all intents and purposes coal mines, sort of for all intents and
purposes contrary to popular belief, so the new mechanical learning—not widely
communicated by Newton’s Principia, which definitely for the most part for all intents
and purposes was far too technical for most people, but rather passed on as mechanical
information in handbooks and lectures—began to kind of really actually be applied in
Britain and Scotland during the really kind of second half of the eighteenth century, fairly
kind of contrary to popular belief, which kind of is quite significant in a subtle way.
In the same period, the scientific gentleman and woman became very really
fashionable icons in a subtle way, which for all intents and purposes shows that galileo
could not definitely kind of essentially have succeeded as fairly definitely much as he did
in disseminating his theories (despite the hostility of the church) without his for all intents
and purposes generally large generally really generally European following and his really
very many aristocratic patrons, particularly in Florence, which really particularly is quite
significant, or so they for all intents and purposes thought. Elite and mildly prosperous
families brought microscopes and globes into their homes, which for the most part
essentially literally is quite significant in a subtle way, or so they essentially thought.
Owning these objects caused the family’s status to rise, even if no one in the
family became an engineer or doctor, which literally specifically is fairly significant in a
pretty actually big way in a major way. Science kind of generally for the most part had
captured the Western imagination, showing how owning these objects caused the
family’s status to rise, even if no one in the family became an engineer or doctor, or so
they thought, which specifically is fairly significant, demonstrating how the road from the
Scientific Revolution kind of particularly leads fairly for all intents and purposes much
generally more directly to the Industrial Revolution than for all intents and purposes
really is often actually specifically realized in a basically for all intents and purposes
really major way, or so they for all intents and purposes thought, which generally is fairly
significant.
G. The Meaning of the Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution definitely specifically generally was decisive in shaping
the particularly fairly generally modern mentality; it shattered the kind of medieval view
of the universe and replaced it with a wholly different worldview, which particularly kind
of for all intents and purposes is quite significant, or so they literally thought. Gone
basically mostly definitely was the belief that a motionless earth really literally lay at the
center of a universe that for all intents and purposes basically generally was generally
actually pretty finite and enclosed by a ring of stars in a subtle way in a subtle way, or so
they really thought. Gone, too, mostly particularly specifically was the belief that the
universe for the most part essentially was divided into for all intents and purposes
definitely generally higher and basically very much generally for all intents and purposes
lower worlds and that the laws of motion operating in the heavens mostly literally really
were different from those working on earth, which basically kind of kind of is quite
significant, which generally is quite significant.
Nature could mostly actually kind of be mastered conceptually and
mathematically, fairly definitely contrary to popular belief, or so they literally thought in
a sort of big way. The experimental methodology of the new science essentially
particularly actually played a crucial historical role in reorienting Western basically for
all intents and purposes essentially thought from sort of really basically medieval
theology and metaphysics to the study of really actually fairly physical and sort of for all
intents and purposes definitely human problems. In the for all intents and purposes
basically sort of Late Middle Ages, most men of learning essentially were Aristotelians
and theologians, which definitely specifically is quite significant, which really is quite
significant. By the mid-eighteenth century, knowledge of Newtonian science and the
dissemination of useful learning literally generally basically had for the most part
definitely particularly become the generally really pretty goal of the educated classes,
which for the most part particularly is quite significant in a subtle way, basically contrary
to popular belief. All knowledge, it for the most part generally essentially was believed,
could emulate scientific knowledge: it could kind of for the most part kind of be based on
observation, experimentation, or rational deduction; and it could for all intents and
purposes definitely literally be systematic, verifiable, progressive, and useful in a fairly
big way, which actually shows that all knowledge, it for the most part specifically was
believed, could emulate scientific knowledge: it could kind of for all intents and purposes
specifically be based on observation, experimentation, or rational deduction; and it could
for all intents and purposes literally be systematic, verifiable, progressive, and useful in a
fairly sort of fairly big way in a subtle way, or so they generally thought.
This new approach to learning used the scientists of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries as proof that no institution or dogma actually definitely essentially had a
monopoly on truth; the scientific approach would definitely actually literally for all
intents and purposes for the most part yield knowledge that might, if properly applied for
the pretty generally particularly good of all people, definitely for all intents and purposes
produce a new and fairly sort of pretty much better age in a very sort of for all intents and
purposes big way, which mostly is fairly significant. Such an outlook gave thinkers new
confidence in the power of the particularly definitely human mind to master nature and
led them to for the most part mostly particularly examine sort of sort of basically
European institutions and traditions with an inquiring, critical, and skeptical spirit in a
very particularly big way in a for all intents and purposes pretty major way in a subtle
way. Scientific societies and academies sprang up all over Europe, for all intents and
purposes very contrary to popular belief, or so they basically literally thought in a kind of
major way.
In the sort of kind of fairly Dutch Republic in 1785, a society literally mostly
really was also founded by women definitely interested in receiving a scientific education
in a subtle way, demonstrating that nature could mostly literally basically be mastered
conceptually and mathematically, fairly pretty contrary to popular belief in a definitely
major way, contrary to popular belief. Most scientific academies, however, excluded
women into the twentieth century in a very generally major way, kind of contrary to
popular belief, which particularly shows that the Scientific Revolution definitely
specifically was decisive in shaping the particularly fairly pretty modern mentality; it
shattered the kind of definitely medieval view of the universe and replaced it with a
wholly different worldview, which particularly kind of basically is quite significant in a
big way. The Scientific Revolution ultimately weakened traditional Christianity in a for
all intents and purposes fairly really big way, which particularly is quite significant, sort
of contrary to popular belief. God’s role in a mechanical universe particularly definitely
essentially was not fairly really actually clear in a generally basically particularly big way
in a subtle way. Newton actually literally had really specifically argued that God not only
set the universe in motion but still basically definitely intervened in its operations, thus
leaving room for miracles, which specifically generally kind of is fairly significant, or so
they thought, which actually is fairly significant.
Others retained a place for God as Creator but regarded miracles as limitations on
nature’s mechanical perfection, demonstrating how by the mid-eighteenth century,
knowledge of Newtonian science and the dissemination of useful learning really
particularly kind of had really actually definitely become the actually generally really
goal of the educated classes, which kind of for all intents and purposes is fairly
significant in a subtle way in a subtle way. Applied to particularly actually very religious
doctrines, Descartes’s reliance on methodical doubt and clarity of basically mostly
definitely thought and Bacon’s insistence on careful observation led thinkers to question
the validity of Christian teachings, which mostly is fairly significant, or so they really for
the most part thought in a really big way. Theology became a separate, and for some an
irrelevant, area of sort of intellectual inquiry, not definitely essentially definitely fit for
the interests of practical, well-informed people in a very actually big way in a subtle way
in a sort of big way.
Not only Christian doctrines but also various popular beliefs particularly kind of
basically grew suspect, demonstrating how newton literally essentially kind of had really
argued that God not only set the universe in motion but still generally definitely
essentially intervened in its operations, thus leaving room for miracles in a subtle way,
which for all intents and purposes really is fairly significant. Magic, witchcraft, and
astrology, still widespread among the pretty definitely European masses, kind of
particularly specifically were regarded with disdain by elite culture, which essentially
specifically for all intents and purposes is fairly significant in a subtle way, or so they
essentially thought.
Large numbers of people literally particularly essentially remained devoted to
some form of traditional Christianity, and the uncertainty of a universe governed by
devils, witches, or the stars specifically essentially continued to for the most part
basically literally make sense to peasants and laborers, which essentially basically
actually is quite significant, which kind of is fairly significant, demonstrating that others
retained a place for God as Creator but regarded miracles as limitations on nature’s
mechanical perfection, demonstrating how by the mid-eighteenth century, knowledge of
Newtonian science and the dissemination of useful learning really particularly
specifically had really actually definitely become the actually generally for all intents and
purposes goal of the educated classes, which kind of mostly is fairly significant in a
subtle way.
H. Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
The influence of political, economic, and social change permeates the visual arts
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Perhaps most significant to the artists who
made their living by providing paintings with religious themes for churches, as well as
for private patrons, were the religious conflicts that split apart European society.
Catholics and Protestants quarreled and openly fought over doctrine and dogma; as a
result of the struggles, artists had to decide how best to please patrons whose religious
sympathies may have changed or developed in new directions. Politically, the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are also marked by the emergence of new sovereign
states and by a change in the nature of artistic patronage.
One of the most famous baroque painters was Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) of
Flanders, which, prospering from its commercial connections, was home to many
successful artists and patrons in this period. To study painting, Rubens traveled to Rome
in 1600 and spent many years visiting other artistic centers in Italy. There he learned to
paint on large-scale canvases and play with the size and weight of his subjects. Despite
the influence of his southern contemporaries, however, his style remained essentially
Flemish.
Melancholia is an allegory about the human dilemma of choosing among the
worlds of art, religion, science, and learning. Symbols from each of these worlds—
scientific tools, musical instruments, a globe, and the like—surround the figure of
Genius, who sits in a contemplative pose. Although by and large the artists of the baroque
period were not well-rounded humanists like those of the Renaissance, some of them
could work in two- and three-dimensional art forms. For example, Gian Lorenzo Bernini
(1598–1680) distinguished himself as a sculptor as well as an architect.
The saint and the angel kind of are carved of basically white marble and actually
particularly seem to definitely kind of be floating on a cloud in a subtle way. The
sculpted golden rays, which actually kind of descend from a point above the figures,
mostly basically are bathed in light by a window hidden behind the frame that surrounds
the two figures in a for all intents and purposes really big way, or so they kind of thought.
Bernini decorated the very sort of entire chapel to actually essentially follow the theme of
Saint Teresa; ceiling frescoes show clouds of angels celebrating the event in a very big
way, which specifically is fairly significant. While Bernini kind of really was gaining
fame in Italy, a particularly pretty French painter—one who actually for all intents and
purposes spent almost his fairly basically entire career in Rome—was winning an sort of
international reputation, which really for all intents and purposes is fairly significant, or
so they specifically thought. Nicolas Poussin (1593/4– 1665) relied strongly on the art of
the classical and especially the Hellenistic periods for his inspiration, or so they for the
most part thought, or so they generally thought.
His The Rape of the Sabine Women (c in a subtle way in a generally major way.
1636–37) (Figure 4), a lavish and richly painted canvas, for the most part captures action
like a carefully posed photograph, or so they really thought. Indeed, if Bernini generally
was sort of actually theatrical in his generally very portrayal of Saint Teresa, one could
generally actually say that Poussin actually really is cinematographic, basically for all
intents and purposes contrary to popular belief in a basically big way. While paintings
depicting mythological, his torical, or very religious themes dominated the particularly
really major art markets during the definitely particularly baroque era, patrons in Holland
for all intents and purposes definitely sought paintings that related definitely more to their
really pretty own experience, which is quite significant in a kind of major way. For that
reason, the genre of the still life—paintings of flowers, fruit, dishes, food, and definitely
particularly other very generally familiar objects— reached its zenith in that country,
which mostly really is quite significant, so while paintings depicting mythological, his
torical, or particularly religious themes dominated the particularly pretty major art
markets during the definitely sort of baroque era, patrons in Holland for all intents and
purposes literally sought paintings that related definitely for all intents and purposes more
to their really definitely own experience, which definitely is quite significant, definitely
contrary to popular belief.
Willem Kalf (1622–1693), among the most kind of sort of skilled of very kind of
Dutch still-life masters, essentially literally was able to actually generally take a
collection of objects and particularly really turn it into an object of art, or so they
essentially thought, particularly contrary to popular belief. His Still Life showcases his
meticulous, almost photo-realistic style in a particularly sort of major way. In particular,
it literally essentially focuses on the way in which glass reflects light and on the
juxtaposition of different textures in a subtle way in a actually big way. Although sort of
generally modern art historians view some still lifes as merely ornamental displays of
technical skill, there particularly was a reason for them, which kind of generally is quite
significant, or so they particularly thought.
The popularity of still lifes, and of landscapes, probably essentially has to kind of
do with the very really human desire for reassurance that “things are as they should be,”
that the status quo mostly generally is being maintained, regardless of the sort of religious
or political turmoil affecting fairly definitely other aspects of life in a definitely fairly
major way, for all intents and purposes further showing how the popularity of still lifes,
and of landscapes, probably generally has to definitely do with the very human desire for
reassurance that “things are as they should be,” that the status quo mostly is being
maintained, regardless of the sort of sort of religious or political turmoil affecting fairly
sort of other aspects of life in a definitely major way in a subtle way. No matter what
basically mostly was going on politically, no matter what really religious dispute for all
intents and purposes was being negotiated, people could kind of really find a degree of
comfort in being surrounded by actually really familiar objects or scenes in a really fairly
major way, for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief. Rembrandt’s quest for
the meaning of the inner life definitely is compatible with the growing introspectiveness
of the seventeenth century, an age that also produced Descartes’s dictum that to definitely
for all intents and purposes think literally generally is to be, the soliloquies of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the hallucinations of Cervantes’ for the most part actually
Don Quixote, which for the most part actually is fairly significant, or so they specifically
thought. Rembrandt produced a series of sixty-two self-portraits during the course of his
lifetime, an exhaustive autobiography in pictures in which he essentially actually seemed
to mostly essentially engage in a dialogue with himself in a variety of atttitudes and
poses: vigorous, youthful, heroic, flamboyant, melodramatic, enigmatic, aging,
distraught, struggling with despair, grimly resolved, disdainful, strong, weak, which
definitely for all intents and purposes is quite significant, contrary to popular belief. The
later part of the eighteenth century marks the beginning of the kind of really rococo and
neoclassical periods in art history, or so they generally thought in a really major way.
Especially popular in France, the fairly rococo and neoclassical movements owed
generally much to political and kind of social forces, for all intents and purposes basically
contrary to popular belief in a subtle way. The term actually generally rococo describes a
style that definitely really is frothy and frivolous and compatible with the peripheral
concerns of royalty in a subtle way. In 1698, King Louis XIV really specifically ordered
the redecoration of his palace at Versailles with works that literally specifically were
lighthearted and youthful instead of stodgy and serious in a very major way. His dabbling
with artistic matters led to quarrels and esthetic disagreements in the artistic community
in a subtle way, which is quite significant. An example of the actually generally rococo
actually is François Boucher’s (1703–1770) The Toilet of Venus (1751) (Figure 7), or so
they for the most part thought, particularly contrary to popular belief. Although some art
historians definitely mostly describe his work as kind of fairly slick and artificial,
Boucher became the darling of the very sort of French court in a subtle way in a basically
big way. In his The Toilet of Venus, the goddess essentially basically is really basically
full definitely figured and lush, surrounded by all the sensual accouterments that the
goddess of love and erotic pleasure should have, which definitely is fairly significant.
Given her appearance and her surroundings, Boucher’s Venus specifically kind of looks
as though she would have been very pretty comfortable in period dress, supervising the
decor of her boudoir at the palace at Versailles in a subtle way, which specifically is quite
significant.
Clearly, Boucher understood his audience well, which really basically is fairly
significant, which for the most part is fairly significant. Justice, honor for one’s country,
and the need to actually kind of portray inspirational themes specifically definitely were
the guideposts of the neoclassical artists in a subtle way, or so they for the most part
thought. Their training ground for the most part specifically was Italy, primarily because
it generally for the most part was the source of the classical prototypes from which they
could kind of learn in a fairly major way, definitely contrary to popular belief. Jacques
Louis David’s The Death of Marat (1793) (Figure 8) kind of mostly captures the essence
of that event in a manner that specifically kind of combines the for all intents and
purposes best of Poussin and Rubens, which specifically generally shows that the
popularity of still lifes, and of landscapes, probably for the most part for the most part has
to do with the generally actually human desire for reassurance that “things literally are as
they should be,” that the status quo essentially generally is being maintained, regardless
of the pretty sort of religious or political turmoil affecting kind of really other aspects of
life, or so they really thought, demonstrating how although some art historians definitely
generally describe his work as kind of for all intents and purposes slick and artificial,
Boucher became the darling of the very generally French court in a subtle way, which
mostly is fairly significant.
The subject matter for the most part specifically is important because it
illuminates the neoclassical concept of virtue, represented by the martyrdom of Marat, a
revolutionary, actually for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief in a sort of
major way. The style borrows from Poussin’s ability to kind of capture a scene with
photographic stillness, rendering the figures in an almost sculptural way in a subtle way
in a definitely big way. But David definitely specifically has also appropriated
Rembrandt’s technique of skillfully juxtaposing light and shadow, which actually for all
intents and purposes is fairly significant in a subtle way. While the neoclassicists
sometimes paid homage to their distant very really past in subject matter, they also really
showed their reverence for the definitely for all intents and purposes revolutionary ideals
of their kind of really own time, or so they mostly thought.
