Formation of a picture of the world of modern times. History and cultural studies
The end of the 16th century and the 17th century were marked in Western Europe by the crisis of feudalism and early bourgeois revolutions in the Netherlands and England. Not only a genuine scientific natural science emerges, the basis of which is the organic combination of theory with a systematic experimental study of nature, but also a qualitatively new picture of the world, based on science and its philosophical understanding.
Experimental research into nature and thematic interpretation of its results had a decisive influence on philosophical thought. The object of special attention in modern times is epistemology and methodology for studying nature.
The philosophy of the New Age, which expressed the essential features of this era, changed not only value orientations, but also the way of philosophizing.
The leader of natural science in modern times, thanks to the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, became mechanics - the science of the movement of bodies observed directly or with the help of instruments. This science, based on the experimental and mathematical study of nature, had a significant impact on the formation of a new picture of the world and a new paradigm of philosophizing. Under its influence, a mechanistic and metaphysical picture of the world is formed. All natural phenomena are treated as machines (machina mundi) or systems of machines created by an infinite creator. True, the creativity of God is reduced to a minimum in this picture - the creation of matter and the imparting to it of a certain initial impulse, as a result of which all of it comes into chaotic motion. The unraveling of this chaos and its transformation into space occurs spontaneously in accordance with the laws of mechanical motion and is subject to strict, unambiguous determination. God becomes an external “click” in relation to the world he created. This understanding of the world distinguishes the natural science of modern times not only from ancient and medieval science, but also from the natural philosophy of the 15th-16th centuries, which considered the concepts of “nature” and “life” as identical (this position can be called organicism).
The main attitude of this period is the recognition of reason as the highest, at least within philosophy, authority.
Thinkers of the 17th century were interested in the problem of determining the source of human knowledge and the cognitive role of sensory and rational forms of knowledge. Differences in assessing the role of these forms of knowledge gave rise to the main directions of new European philosophy: rationalism and empiricism.
Empiricism (F. Bacon, T. Hobbes, J. Locke, J. Berkeley, D. Hume) - a direction in philosophy that considers sensory experience to be the main source of knowledge (T. Hobbes: there is nothing in the mind that is not in the senses) . A special form is sensationalism, which derives all knowledge from sensations. Rationalism (R. Descartes, B. Spinoza, G.V. Leibniz) is the opposite direction to empiricism, emphasizing the autonomy of the mind from the senses, the limitations of sensory experience and, on this basis, the priority of reason in knowledge.
17th century – the beginning of modern culture. This is the period when a new picture of the world is being formed. There is a transition from the medieval theological, theocentric model (God is the center of the universe, the center of cultural development) to a scientific one, in which the role of the church and religious ideas about the world are relegated to the background. The transition from one picture of the world to another did not occur automatically; it required time and certain conditions associated with changes in various spheres and areas of activity. One of these conditions for the transition was the reformation. It made it possible to re-evaluate the relationship between a person and the church. But human behavior itself, the way of life becomes more secular. However, not only the reformation, but also many other factors of social development contributed to the transformation of the picture of the world into a scientific one.
The second half of the 16th century was a time of rapid development of science, when the very course of scientific development pushed progressive social thought to change the systemic understanding of the world. This is due to the fact that amazing discoveries were made in different areas of scientific knowledge, inventions were made that contributed to changing the general understanding of the world.
The most important contribution to the development of a new ideological platform is made by the philosophy of Rene Descartes. This is the philosophy of rationalism, according to which a person, thanks to his reason, can comprehend all the secrets of nature, discover all the laws by which the world exists. This attitude towards nature becomes the foundation of the existence of European culture of the New Age.
The most important contribution to the development of this culture is made by the philosophy of the English educators Hobbes and Bacon. This is a philosophy that is based on the principles of empiricism, i.e. on the accumulation of preliminary experience, on the discovery of connections between various phenomena of reality and the desire to derive certain general patterns from the discovered facts.
Thus, the philosophy of the New Age gives society a platform on which to base knowledge, information about the world and develop culture. These are the principles of rationalism, pragmatism, i.e. principles according to which a person should carry out activities that bring practical benefits. This is technicalism, i.e. according to which a person must equip himself with various devices, machines, and only such development will ensure efficiency in development.
Thus, the culture of modern times, relying on various kinds of inventions and discoveries, develops a scientific picture of the world. The scientific picture of the world had a beneficial effect on the relationship between man and the church and on changes in the artistic system, i.e. Significant changes are taking place within artistic culture, within art.
When comparing the pictures of the world of the New Age with the medieval ones, attention is drawn, first of all, to the non-religious nature of the former. Intellectual systems of modern times are an attempt to describe nature, history and culture, relying only on the human mind. In this case, God is assigned a modest role as the “prime mover of the universe” or the personification of the “moral law”, and such concepts as “natural law”, “movement”, “development”, “evolution”, “progress”, etc. come to the fore. .
Revolution in science of the second half of the 17th century. created a natural scientific picture of the world. This revolution was expressed in a qualitative increase in reliability, accuracy, mathematical validity of scientific and technical knowledge, and in an increase in their practical applicability. Methods for theoretical and experimental research were created and special institutions were formed (scientific and technical societies, academies and institutes) within which scientific knowledge could be reproduced and developed.
The revolution in natural science was initiated by scientists from a number of European countries. Galileo (Italy) discovered many laws of motion and gave final confirmation of the heliocentric system. The mathematical foundation of the new natural science was the work of Pascal and Fermat (France), and especially the creation in 1665-1676. Newton (England) and Leibniz (Germany) methods of differential and integral calculus; Descartes (France) introduced variables, thanks to which mathematics became capable of describing motion; Boyle (England) developed the doctrine of the chemical element. In 1687, Newton, in his “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,” formulated three laws of motion and the law of gravity, with the help of which he brought into a single system all previously known laws and data. In the 18th century Newton's mechanics became the basis of the natural scientific picture of the world, which derived all forms of motion from the forces of attraction and repulsion.
In the natural sciences of the 19th century. The period of dissemination of the concepts of evolution and self-development of nature has begun. The cosmological interpretation of this idea dates back to the 18th century, when Kant and Laplace created hypotheses about the formation of planets from a gas cloud revolving around the Sun. The teachings of Buffon and Lyell about the evolution of the Earth and the continuous change of the earth's surface played an important role. Theories of development in biology of the 19th century.
expressed in the concepts of the evolution of species. The first of them, based on the idea of a direct change in heredity under the influence of external conditions, was proposed by Lamarck (1809). Darwin's doctrine of evolution by natural selection (1859) became an empirically based theory of evolution. The universality of the cellular structure of organisms was established by the German biologist Schwann; in 1865, the Austrian Mendel discovered the laws of heredity and created genetics.
In physics, the largest discoveries of the 19th century. the law of conservation of energy, the discovery of electromagnetic induction and the development of the doctrine of electricity appeared. The idea of the atomic-molecular structure of matter has received universal recognition. In 1868, the Russian scientist Mendeleev discovered the periodic law of chemical elements.
The distinctive features of modern science were its mathematical and experimental nature, the use of special scientific languages, the collective and sometimes international nature of research, and the inextricable connection between science and technology.
Parallel to the scientific picture of the world and under its influence in the 17th–18th centuries. The philosophy of the Enlightenment develops. In France, this movement was strongest during the period between 1715 and 1789, called the “Age of Enlightenment” and the “Century of Philosophy.” This movement has acquired pan-European proportions: its main representatives in France are Voltaire, Montesquieu, Condillac, Holbach, Diderot, Rousseau, in England - Locke, Mandeville, Hume, in Germany - Lessing, Herder, Kant, in the USA - Franklin, Jefferson.
The Enlightenment emerged as a worldview that claimed to correct man and society according to “natural law.” It is knowable by the human mind and corresponds to the genuine, unspoiled desires of man. Social relations must be brought into harmony with the laws of the environment and human nature. The Enlightenmentists believed that society is characterized by gradual development based on the steady improvement of the human mind.
For educators, ignorance, obscurantism, and religious fanaticism are the main causes of human disasters. In the concept of “God”, most of them saw only the designation of the intelligent first cause of the world, the supreme geometer and architect of the universe. Hence the attempts to create a “religion of reason” or “religion within the limits of reason alone,” a more or less sharp break with the Christian tradition and church organizations, which in La Mettrie, Holbach, Diderot, Helvetius reached open atheism. The moral teaching of the Enlightenment was intended to substantiate individualism, freedom and independence of the individual from restrictions, especially religious ones, so characteristic of the New Age. The Enlightenment call to follow human nature could be understood very broadly: from moderate concepts of “reasonable egoism” to preaching immoralism, vices and crimes as manifestations of the same human nature (Marquis de Sade). One of the spiritual children of the Enlightenment was Napoleon, who once said: “A man like me doesn’t give a damn about the lives of a million people.”
It was within the framework of Enlightenment philosophy that the first serious attempts to analyze culture were made. Particularly interesting in this sense is the work of the German educator Herder, “Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind.” It conveys the idea of organic development in all of nature, ascending from the inanimate world to man, to his limitlessly improving soul. The human spirit and culture are moving towards humanity, reason, and justice. Herder tries to systematize data from history, psychology, ethnography, and natural sciences in order to give a holistic picture of the evolution of culture.
New time is the era of ideologies. They were necessary to justify revolutions and reforms, class and party politics. From the extraordinary variety of ideological concepts of the 17th–19th centuries. Let's select some of the most significant ones.
Above we mentioned the doctrine of public sovereignty, which was an ideological reflection of the absolutist monarchy and the parliamentary state. An outstanding contribution to its development was made in the 17th century. English philosopher Hobbes. He viewed the state as a human, not a divine institution, which arose on the basis of a social contract. It was preceded by a period when people lived separately, in a state of war of all against all. The state is established to ensure universal peace. As a result of the social contract, the rights of individual citizens who voluntarily limited their freedom were transferred to the sovereign. Hobbes strongly emphasized the role of the state and the monarchy as an absolute sovereign. On the contrary, Rousseau in the 18th century. comes out with sharp criticism of the state, which has arrogated to itself the rights of the people, which has become the cause of social inequality and violence of the rich against the poor. Rousseau proposed the restoration of genuine popular sovereignty in the form of direct democracy.
The most significant ideological and political movement of the 19th century. there was liberalism. It united supporters of a parliamentary state or "rule of law" - a constitutional government based on the division of power between the executive and legislative bodies, ensuring the basic political rights of citizens, including freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, etc. Throughout the 19th century. liberalism defended the idea of a social order in which the regulation of economic and social relations would be carried out through the mechanisms of competition and the free market, without state intervention. Liberals saw the latter’s only function as protecting the property of citizens and establishing a general framework for free competition between individual entrepreneurs. Liberalism reached its greatest flowering in Great Britain, where its prominent representatives were Mill and Spencer.
The political thought of modern times is also characterized by sharply critical sentiments towards the new European social system and the search for an alternative to it. They reached their most complete expression in the socialist and communist theories of the 17th-19th centuries. The common features of these detailed concepts were demands for complete equality, the destruction of social hierarchy and what it is based on: private property, state, family, religion. In the middle of the 18th century. Meslier, Mably, Morelli came up with projects in France for a communist society that would implement the principles of “perfect equality” of all people. At the beginning of the 19th century. The teachings of Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Owen became widespread, providing for numerous practical measures for the socialist transformation of society using technological advances. In the middle of the 19th century. socialism turns from a circle movement into a mass movement. Marx and Engels played a significant role in this. Marxism claimed the title of “scientific socialism”, which shows the objective need for the transition to a communist society.
In the 19th century Positivism continues the tradition of the Enlightenment. It is based on the idea that all genuine, “positive” (positive) knowledge can be obtained only as a result of individual sciences and their synthetic unification. According to the founder of positivism, Comte, what could be called philosophy comes down to general conclusions from the natural and social sciences. Science does not explain, but only describes natural phenomena and answers not the question “why?”, but the question “how?”. Following the Enlightenment, Comte and his followers in all countries of Europe and beyond expressed their belief in the ability of science for endless development, the unlimited possibilities of science, including in transforming social life. Thus, the idea of progress is the result of the development of paintings of the New Age (XVII-XIX centuries).
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
ST. PETERSBURG STATE FORESTRY ACADEMY named after. CM. KIROVA
Faculty of Humanities
Department of Philosophy
ABSTRACT
On the topic: Philosophy of the New Age and the formation of the first scientific picture of the world
Supervisor: ________________________/
Associate Professor Dmitry Evgenievich Lyubomirov
Performer: Graduate student
Department of Wood Chemistry
and colloid chemistry
______________________/ Le Quang Dien
St. Petersburg, 2003
INTRODUCTION
Science is a historically established form of human activity aimed at understanding and transforming objective reality; at the same time, it is a system of knowledge, its spiritual production, and practical activity based on it.
The importance of science was already understood in ancient times, and its role was different in different periods of history. The formation of strictly scientific forms of knowledge, isolated from both philosophy and religion, is usually associated with the name of Aristotle, who laid the initial foundations for the classification of various knowledge and today, having gone through multi-stage stages of its development, science undoubtedly plays a leading role in the development of the Universe. Humanity is now at a point in its history when the solution to truly vital issues depends on it, when the achievements of science, being the driving force of progress, have simultaneously become a threat to the life of man himself. In other words, the progressive development of science inevitably gives rise to many problems that are of a vital and moral nature.
Studying the history of the origin, logic and patterns of the formation and development of science allows a person to make better decisions when choosing the right way to use the achievements of science for their own purposes.
From the time of the first ancient philosophers to the present day, the development of science as a special type of knowledge of the surrounding world has been inextricably linked with the development of philosophical views on science. For the first time, the phenomenon of science was comprehended in the epistemological systems of classical rationalism of the modern period. Formation and development of experimental science in the 17th century. led to fundamental changes in human lifestyle. Science was understood as a system of true knowledge. The interests of philosophers were aimed at understanding the correspondence between knowledge and the subject area of the totality of objects in relation to which this knowledge was obtained.
Philosophy in the form in which it exists now would not be possible without conditions external to man, its source: the level achieved by science in everyday life frees up a colossal amount of time for reflection that has nothing to do with worrying about getting a piece of bread essential, protecting yourself and loved ones from the external environment.
And vice versa, science without philosophy is doubly impossible, since scientific discoveries (and simply scientific work) must be realized, comprehended, experienced, otherwise they will not be discoveries, but will be simple mechanical work to obtain and take away new, dead knowledge from Nature. Dead knowledge cannot give a person anything good. That is why a real scientist must be, first of all, a philosopher, and only then a natural scientist, experimenter, and theorist.
European science started with the adoption of the classical scientific picture of the world, which is based on the achievements of Galileo and Newton, and today a wide panorama of knowledge about nature is associated with the scientific picture of the world, including the most important theories, hypotheses and facts, therefore it will be impossible to understand the modern scientific picture of the world without research into the problems of its genesis. The development of a new bourgeois society in the modern period gives rise to great changes not only in economics, politics and social relations, it also greatly changes the consciousness of people. The most important factor in these changes is science, and above all experimental and mathematical natural science, which was precisely in the 17th century. is going through a period of its formation. Gradually, independent branches of knowledge are formed - astronomy, mechanics, physics, chemistry and other special sciences.
This work is devoted to the formation of the first scientific picture of the world, the relationship between philosophy and science in the modern era. Since it is difficult to completely cover such a vast topic in the scope of an abstract, only the relationships between philosophy and science, the initial stages of the formation of the first scientific picture of the world in the modern era (from Leonardo da Vinci to Rene Descartes) will be covered. Despite some conventionality of the given time boundaries, an attempt was made to achieve the logical integrity of the work. Since the goal of the work was to cover as completely as possible the factual material directly on the interaction of philosophy with science, the role of the development of philosophical views in the formation of science, biographical information is omitted, except for the most general ones.
2. PROBLEMS OF NEW TIME PHILOSOPHY
AND FORMATION OF THE IMAGE OF SCIENCE
The seventeenth century opens a new period in the development of philosophy, which is commonly called the philosophy of modern times. The process of decomposition of feudal society, which began in the Renaissance, expanded and deepened in the 17th century.
In the last third of the 16th - early 17th centuries, a bourgeois revolution took place in the Netherlands, which played an important role in the development of capitalist relations in bourgeois countries. From the middle of the 17th century (1640-1688), the bourgeois revolution unfolded in England, the most industrially developed European country. These early bourgeois revolutions were prepared by the development of manufacturing, which replaced craft labor.
The development of a new bourgeois society gives rise to changes not only in economics, politics and social relations, it also changes the consciousness of people. The most important factor in such a change in public consciousness is science, and, above all, experimental and mathematical natural science, which was going through its period of formation in the 17th century: it is no coincidence that the 17th century is usually called the era of the scientific revolution.
In the 17th century, the division of labor in production creates a need for rationalization of production processes, and thereby for the development of science that could stimulate this rationalization.
The development of modern science, as well as social transformations associated with the disintegration of feudal social orders and the weakening of the influence of the church, gave rise to a new orientation of philosophy. If in the Middle Ages it acted in alliance with theology, and in the Renaissance - with art and humanitarian knowledge, now it relies mainly on science.
Therefore, to understand the problems that faced the philosophy of the 17th century, it is necessary to take into account: firstly, the specifics of a new type of science - experimental-mathematical natural science, the foundations of which were laid precisely in this period; and, secondly, since science occupies a leading place in the worldview of this era, then in philosophy the problems of the theory of knowledge - epistemology - come to the fore.
The most important distinguishing feature of modern philosophy in comparison with scholasticism is innovation. But it should be especially emphasized that the first philosophers of the modern era were students of neo-scholastics. However, with all the strength of their minds and souls they sought to revise, test the truth and strength of the inherited knowledge. The criticism of “idols” by F. Bacon and the method of doubt by R. Descartes in this sense are not just intellectual inventions, but features of the eras: old knowledge was revised, solid rational foundations were found for a new title. The search for rationally justified and provable truths of philosophy, comparable to the truths of science, is another feature of the philosophy of the New Age.
The growth of the social significance of the class associated with the development of economic and industrial life, the development of scientific, in particular natural science, knowledge, based on empiricism and experience, constitutes the social and epistemological basis from which both the specific philosophy of Bacon, and all philosophy in general, arose and drew strength New time.
The formation of modern science, in particular natural science, is characterized by an orientation towards knowledge of reality, based on feeling. The turn to sensory knowledge of reality, which we already encountered in the Renaissance, brings with it an unprecedented increase in factual data in various areas of both emerging science and industrial and social (craft) practice.
The formation of natural science during this period is associated with the tendency to understand not single, isolated factors, but certain systems and wholes. At the same time, philosophers and scientists are faced with the question of the essence and nature of knowledge itself, which leads to an increased significance of the epistemological orientation of the new philosophy.
The focus on sensibility and practicality of knowledge is not, however, the only expressive feature of the emerging science of the New Age, which influenced the nature of thinking of that time. The desire for systematization, quantitative growth and the increasing differentiation of knowledge cause the development of theoretical thinking, not only seeking a cause-and-effect (related to laws) explanation of the relationship between individual phenomena and areas of phenomena, but also striving to create a holistic image of the world, based on new science and its data. Both empirical and rational knowledge lead to the development of science as a whole, shape its character and are projected onto the emerging main directions of philosophical thinking of the New Age (Bacon, Descartes).
A person tries to find an answer to the most general and profound questions: what is the world around us and what is the place and purpose of man in it? What underlies everything that exists: material or spiritual? Is the world subject to any laws? Can a person know the world around him, what does this knowledge represent? What is the meaning of life, its purpose? Such questions are called worldview questions. A person can rely on life experience and common sense, on faith in the supernatural or on scientific knowledge, reason, and logic.
The main problem of modern philosophy is the problem of knowledge, scientific methods, and social structure.
Problems of epistemology come to the fore. Epistemological philosophy consists of studying the cognitive relationship in the “world-man” system. The theory of knowledge is considered as the relationship between the object and the subject of knowledge, the connection between the sensory and the rational is revealed, the problems of truth and other epistemological issues are explored.
Two main directions of philosophy of the New Age:
Empiricism is a direction in the theory of knowledge that recognizes sensory experience as the only source of knowledge.
a) idealistic empiricism (representatives J. Berkeley (1685-1753), D. Hume (1711-1776). Empirical experience is a set of sensations and ideas, the size of the world is equal to the size of experience.
b) materialistic empiricism (representatives F. Bacon, T. Hobbes) - the source of sensory experience is the existing external world.
Rationalism (Latin: rational) highlights the logical basis of science, recognizes reason as the source of knowledge and the criterion of its truth.
Epistemology is a philosophical doctrine of human cognition. Man and society in their existence change the world around them, but society can only exist by changing the world. This practical attitude towards the world is the practical basis of society. A feature of human existence is that for his existence, a person is forced to purposefully change the world around him. For change to be rational, humanity has developed knowledge. The task of epistemology is to clarify the nature of human cognition, its basic laws, and determine the goals and possibilities of human cognition. She examines the basic mechanisms of cognitive activity; analyzes the structure of human knowledge, its basic properties ( What is truth?– the most important issue of epistemology), the role of biological and social factors of cognition; explores the patterns of development of human knowledge, etc. Epistemology tries to give an image of human cognition, based on centuries of experience; it is connected with psychology, linguistics, cybernetics, etc.
The modern era is the period of development of European states from the 17th to the 18th centuries. Sometimes scientists include the Renaissance here, in addition, some include the 19th century. The twentieth century is always considered separately, and is defined as "modernity".
Periodization
The era of the New Time is based on the bourgeoisie and spiritual guidelines, composing them into a single whole. Since this period includes as many as three centuries, each of them has its own historical “face” and cultural characteristics. This:
- The 17th century is the century of the emergence and development of rationalism;
- XVIII century - the century of Enlightenment and the “third estate”;
- The 19th century is the century of classics, the heyday of the bourgeoisie and at the same time its crisis.
The new time covers two stages. In the 17th century, the dominance of France and Spain progressed, and the endless revolutions of the bourgeoisie in England. This is the beginning of the formation of a modern picture of the world and philosophy.
The stage of formation of manufactories was completed, a free economy and a liberal political system were formed. In addition, people began to strive for freedom and the right to choose their ideology. All this contributed to the development of the ideology of the Enlightenment.
Character traits
The era of modern times is a period of contradictions, as people needed to change the old way of life to a more current one, rethink values, accept technological progress and become part of it. It is characterized by the following features:
- The main role began to be played by the individual. All attention was directed to the spirituality of a person, a sense of heightened self was awakened, which contributed to the discovery of self-awareness as another reality.
- The individual began to gravitate towards elitist humanism, which glorified the freedom of creativity. Its main feature was universality, that is, every person received the right to freedom, life, wealth, etc.
- The consciousness of people began to form, which was directed towards the development of technological progress, towards changing the everyday way of life and towards the establishment of an economic order.
- The struggle between church and state became more intense, but ended with the authorities being unable to subjugate religion.
On the one hand, a person, thanks to the constant pressure of his material condition, turned into an economic tool. But on the other hand, it came into conflict with total technogenic and economic dependence.
The periodization of the New Age is extremely interesting and original; this cannot be ignored. After all, it combines and develops two eras at once - the New and the Enlightenment. The second is dominated by equality and justice of the late 17th - 18th centuries.
More stylistic genres of art appeared at this time than at any other time. At the end of the 19th century, cinema appeared and began to develop. And in the period of the 17-19th centuries, metro and underground tunnels were built for the first time.
Social aspect
If we talk about the culture of the New Age, then it should be noted that this was a period when society woke up and decided to change its not very pleasant environment in order to see itself and the world around us with a fresh look.
Scientists have dubbed this period of history “New” because it really became one. Especially when compared with the Middle Ages. For the first time, the most significant figure became an individual and his personality, and a legal community began to take shape. In addition, the pressure in the field of culture and science disappeared.
Conditions were created to ensure freedom and liberation from slavery. As a result of all of the above, man developed the concept and awareness of his own “I”.
Thanks to this, there was a change from conservative social relations to a fast and impetuous bourgeois society, in which harsh market relations were established in conditions of enormous competition.
While the bourgeoisie was trying to improve the economy, human consciousness began to strive to understand the nature and spirituality of man. At this time, interest in philosophy and natural science increased very sharply.
As Protestantism spread to northern and central Europe, the level of education increased dramatically. This was facilitated by familiarity with the Bible. But her reading also influenced the development of religious fanaticism. We can say that there has been a rethinking and revaluation of the role of man, people have come to understand that for a long time they were limited in education, that is, they were deprived of cultural, creative, and scientific enlightenment. The era became an omen of happiness, people began to understand what they could do and what they could not do.
In modern times, the formation of the bourgeoisie and industrial society took place. But it also brought many revolutions: the Dutch (1566-1609), the English (1640-1688), the Great French (1789-1794). The broad masses of the population were involved in these events, all of which was aggravated by culture and discoveries.
Scientific progress
Due to the development of production, there is an urgent need for research. The leader was mechanics and its discoveries in the field of body motion. The scientific culture of modern times developed rapidly. Mathematical achievements played a huge role. The universe began to be viewed no longer as a living being, but as a faceless phenomenon governed by natural laws that can be studied and understood. And religion began to be viewed as a secondary or even non-existent factor.
Main features of culture
Returning to the periodization of the New Age, it should be noted that the dominance of science began with the scientific revolution, which is associated with the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. It caused protest in the religious community. Fanatics connected it with the theory of Giordano Bruno, who was condemned by the Inquisition. Only in the 20th century did Catholics recognize that they were right. And Kepler proved that the motion of planets occurs in a continuous ellipse.
Galileo Galilei invented the telescope and with its help was able to prove that the planets are homogeneous. After these discoveries, a division was formed in science between the natural and human sciences.
In modern times, God began to be perceived as an architect and mathematician who once launched the mechanism of the planet’s movement, but does not interfere with its existence. This is a significant moment in the history of modern culture, because this is how the formation of philosophy - deism - took place. Rationalism has become the main tool for studying the Universe.
Philosophy almost always outstrips science in development, and sometimes turns into a mechanism for its movement. The problem with the development of science was that society was divided into two opposing camps. Some were for rationality, others were sensualists. The latter argued that the sensory and empirical path of knowledge is the most reliable. The first believed that a person does not have enough senses for knowledge. The only way to understand the world around us is the mind.
During the formation of modern culture, interest in sexual differences increased, and the cult of the woman’s body appeared and developed. And in the 19th century, ladies began to fight for freedom of speech and social liberation. The bourgeoisie began to consider the house a fortress. And love became the primary reason for marriage. The age of entry for men was 30 years, and for girls - 25. Children began to be brought up taking into account their behavior and aspirations. Education spread throughout society, and boys and girls began to be taught separately.
Art
This is an inseparable part of the culture of the New Age. In art, Baroque became one of the main styles, characterized by dynamics and expression. It originated in Italy, and during this era it began to be called “new art.” If you translate the name of the style into Russian, it will take on the meaning “bizarre”.
Baroque began to appear in all areas of life, both in clothing and in architecture. Women's dresses in this style have replaced all skinny lace French clothes. The architecture tried to balance forms, that is, to combine light and airy with massive elements. The influence of this style is most noticeable in the decoration of French buildings. In England, the style became more conservative and acquired features of classicism.
But later Baroque in France began to replace classicism. Its main feature is the predominance of ancient forms. It combines rigor and conciseness. The style is based on rationalism, it carries the symbolism of personal interests, central power and unification under it.
Music in classicism manifested itself in the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Gluck, Salieri.
In the New Age, another style was formed - Rocco. Some take it to be a type of baroque, and its emergence is usually associated with a person’s desire to leave the familiar world and plunge into the world of illusions and fantasies. The Rocco style is focused on creating something new, graceful and airy. In it you can see ethnic elements of the East, especially in artistic culture. The direction of “sentimentalism” appeared in literature.
Great figures
They should also be noted with attention when talking about the peculiarities of the culture of the New Age. During this era, science developed very actively. It was during this period that the basic principles of natural science were laid down. All information that was acquired by doctors, healers, and alchemists acquired a structured form. Thanks to this, new norms and ideals for the structure of science were formed. They were associated with mathematics and experimental testing of not only natural processes, but also religious dogmas.
The main difference of the New Age was the sharp decline in the authority of the church and the rise of science. Galileo began to study the methodology of science, and Newton mastered mechanics and its principles. Thanks to the efforts of Bacon, Hobbes, and Spinoza, philosophy was freed from scholasticism. And its basis was not faith, but reason. Society became increasingly independent of religion.
This is the age of the birth of people with new actions and thoughts. Science was formed not from the knowledge of one specific person, but based on facts and verification.
Discoveries
The modern era is symbolized not only by great changes in art and science, but also by geographical discoveries. It is impossible not to note the progress in the fields of mathematics, medicine, philosophy, and astronomy.
This is the period of reformation, when the attitude towards religion and faith as such completely changed. There was simply a huge revolution in culture.
Modern times were based on the principle of humanism and human creativity and development. The image of a man who created himself became the ideal of the era.
At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, great geographical discoveries were made and journeys were made that were previously impossible. Cultural figures of the New Age gave impetus to incredible progress. This was largely due to the need of capitalists to expand their wealth. And they decided that it was time to find the mythical country - India. The two most powerful naval powers at that time (Spain and Portugal) went in search.
In 1492, the Spanish navigator H. Columbus set sail from his native shores, and after exactly 33 days he landed on the Colombian shores, mistaking them for India. He died without ever knowing that America had been discovered. But later A. Vespucci proved the discovery of a new side of the world.
The route to India was discovered in 1498 by another navigator - Vasco da Gama. This discovery provided new trade opportunities with the countries along the Indian Ocean.
Magellan made the first trip around the world, which lasted 1081 days. But, unfortunately, only 18 people out of the entire team survived, so people for a long time did not dare to repeat his feat.
The culture and science of modern times developed very rapidly, and all views on these areas were rethought in principle. Copernicus studied not only astronomy and mathematics, but also paid great attention to medicine and legal education.
D. Bruno became a revolutionary, but he had to say goodbye to his life, proving that there are many planets in the world. And also that the Sun is a star, and besides it, there are millions more of them. But G. Galileo, having made a telescope, proved the theory of Bruno and Copernicus.
I. Gutenberg invented printing, which contributed to the growth of education. And the intellectually developed person, who later became an example of the culture of the New Age, began to be considered the standard.
However, that's not all. If we talk about literary and artistic culture, then the poet F. Petrarch has been read for almost seven hundred years, and the Italian D. Boccaccio wrote a collection that said that a person has the right to joy. M. de Cervantes wrote the famous novel “Don Quixote”; he expressed ideas that are still relevant today. The peak of literature was the dramaturgy of W. Shakespeare.
Peculiarities
It’s worth talking a little more about the features of the culture of the New Age. Here's how it differs:
- ideals of humanity and equality of people before the law, regardless of class and gender;
- the development of rational thinking and the rejection of metaphysics;
- the development of natural science used for development and progress.
This ideology became the basis for the transformations that took place during the revolutions.
The formation of Russian culture
Lastly about this. The 17th century was a turning point not only in Europe, but also in Russia. St. Petersburg becomes the capital, and as a result of reforms, the formation of a bureaucratic state begins. The territory is expanding, the country gains access to the Baltic and Black Seas, this helps to establish ties with Europe.
Peter I actively took up the development and formation of the state and the departure from the Middle Ages. As a result, the formation of the Russian national culture of the New Age began to take place.
The economy and social life began to develop dynamically. This also affects the culture. Religion again finds itself under political power, and when an attempt is made to evaluate the action of Peter, it is quickly eradicated.
New cities with fairly developed infrastructure are being intensively built, and education is being brought to the fore.
In the mid-18th century, the monarchy flourished, at which time social thinking and self-awareness grew. Freedom becomes its center, which contributes to the formation of a new layer of society - the intelligentsia.
The second half of the century was the most significant in the development of art. All possible genres and types are mastered, and the creative process is not limited by anything. Beauty and nobility, as well as patriotism, come forward.