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Change

Change

:This article is about the meaning of change in terms of flux and variation. For other uses, see Change (disambiguation) Change, the quality of impermanence and flux, has had a chequered history as a concept. In ancient Greek philosophy, while Heraclitus saw change as ever-present and all-encompassing, Parmenides virtually denied its existence. Ovid produced a classic thematic handling of change as metamorphosis in his Metamorphoses. Ptolemaic astronomy envisioned a largely static universe, with erratic change confined to less worthy spheres. Medieval thought fostered great respect for authority and revelation, severely cramping any encouragement of change. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz harnessed mathematical concepts into calculus to provide mathematical models of change. This constituted a major step forward in understanding flux and variation. With the rise of industrialisation and capitalism, the importance attached to innovation grew, and social and political upheavals and pressures often forced change by violent revolution (as in North America in the late 18th century and in later imitators). By the late 20th century much business and New Age thought focussed enthusiastically on transformation in management, in function and in mental attitudes, while ignoring or deploring changes in society or in geopolitics. And Madison Avenue receives payment to repeat the litany of the fad for change: In the fast-changing world of today, you need ... product X. Cultural attitudes to change itself may fall into one of at least two categories:
- Change is random, lacking determinism or teleology.
- Change is cyclical, and one expects circumstances to recur. This concept, often seen as related to Eastern world views such as Hinduism or Buddhism, nevertheless had great popularity in Europe in the Middle ages, and often appears in depictions of the wheel of fortune. Change may require organisms and organizations to adapt (see also evolution). Category:Philosophical terminology

Change (disambiguation)

:This article describes various contextual meanings of the word change. For an in-depth examination of change as the quality of impermanence and flux, see the main article: Change. Change in various contexts:
- Coinage
- In change ringing, a change is the particular sequence in which one rings a series of bells
- In jazz, a change may refer to tonal modulation; a change in harmony In some contexts, change refers to a substitution:
- In public transport, to change buses or to change trains (referring either to locomotives or some other form of rapid transit) means to disembark from one vehicle and embark on another.
- A different set of clothing. In certain contexts of Modern English, to change means to replace the clothes one is wearing with different—fresher, alternate, or more appropriate—clothing. In other contexts, change is a proper noun:
- Change is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire département in France

Heraclitus

Heraclitus of Ephesus (Greek Herakleitos) (about 535 - 475 BC), known as 'The Obscure,' was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Ephesus in Asia Minor. As with other pre-Socratics, his writings only survive in fragments quoted by other authors. He disagreed with Thales, Anaximander, and Pythagoras about the nature of the ultimate substance and claimed instead that everything is derived from the Greek classical element fire, rather than from air, water, or earth. This led to the belief that change is real, and stability illusory. For Heraclitus everything is "in flux", as exemplified in his famous aphorism "Panta Rhei":

Everything flows, nothing stands still

Heraclitus is recognized as one of the earliest dialectical philosophers with his acknowledgement of the universality of change and development through internal contradictions, as in his statements:

"By cosmic rule, as day yields night, so winter summer, war peace, plenty famine. All things change. Fire penetrates the lump of myrrh, until the joining bodies die and rise again in smoke called incence."

"Men do not know how that which is drawn in different directions harmonises with itself. The harmonious structure of the world depends upon opposite tension like that of the bow and the lyre."

He is famous for expressing the notion that no man can cross the same river twice:

ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν
εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν.
We both step and do not step in the same rivers.
We are and are not.

The idea of the logos is also credited to him, as he proclaims that everything originates out of the logos. Further, Heraclitus said

"I am as I am not,"

and

"He who hears not me but the logos will say: All is one."

Heraclitus held that an explanation of change was foundational to any theory of nature. This view was strongly opposed by Parmenides, who argued that change is an illusion and that everything is fundamentally static. He appears to have taught by means of small, oracular aphorisms meant to encourage thinking based on natural law and reason. The brevity and elliptical logic of his aphorisms earned Heraclitus the epithet 'Obscure'. The technique, as well as the teaching, is redolent of Zen Buddhism's koans. Moreover, the Heraclitean emphasis on the nature of things and existence as one of constant change, expressed with language of polarity, is particularly reminiscent of another ancient philosophical tradition, that of Taoism: the Tao (or "the Way") often refers to a space-time sequence, and is similarly expressed with seemingly-contradictory language (e.g., "The Way is like an empty vessel / that may still be drawn from / without ever needing to be filled"). Indeed, parallels may be drawn between the fundamental concepts of the logos (as it was understood during Heraclitus's time) and the Tao. Heraclitus is described as having a melancholy disposition, and is sometimes referred to as the "weeping philosopher," as opposed to Democritus, who is known as the "laughing philosopher."

References

- Heraclitus, Herakleitos and Diogenes, translated by Guy Davenport, Bolinas: Grey Fox Press, 1979. ISBN 0912516364 (Complete fragments of Heraclitus translated into English)
- Heraclitus, Fragments: The Collected Wisdom of Heraclitus, translated by Brooks Haxton, forward by James Hillman, (parallel English & Greek), Viking Penguin 2001 ISBN 0-670-89195-9.
- Martin Heidegger and Eugen Fink, Heraclitus Seminar, translated by Charles H. Seibert (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1993). ISBN 0810110679. (Transcript of seminar in which two major German philosophers engage in detailed analysis and discussion of Heraclitus texts)

External links

- [http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/h/heraclit.htm Heraclitus] at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- [http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/HERAC.HTM Heraclitus] at Washington State University
- [http://www.thebigview.com/greeks/heraclitus.html The Flux and Fire Philosophy of Heraclitus]
- [http://philoctetes.free.fr/heraclitus.htm Fragments of Heraclitus]
- [http://plato.evansville.edu/public/burnet/ch3a.htm John Burnet Early Greek Philosophy: brief analysis; the fragments] Category:535 BC births Category:475 BC deaths Category:Ancient Greek philosophers Category:Presocratic philosophers ko:헤라클레이토스 ja:ヘラクレイトス

Parmenides

Parmenides of Elea (5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He is reported to have been a student of Xenophanes, and the founder of the Eleatic school, which also included Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos. He is one of the most significant of the pre-Socratic philosophers. His only known work, conventionally titled 'On Nature' is an apocalyptic poem, which has only survived in fragmentary form. Approximately 150 lines of the poem remain today. It is known, however, that the work originally divided into three parts: a proem, "the way of truth" (alethia) and "the way of appearance/opinion" (doxa). The proem is a narrative sequence in which the narrator travels "beyond the beaten paths of mortal men" to receive a revelation from an unnamed goddess on the nature of reality. Alethia, an estimated 90% of which has survived, and doxa, most of which no longer exists, are then presented as the spoken revelation of the goddess without any accompanying narrative.

Teachings

The traditional interpretation of Parmenides' extremely obscure and esoteric work is that he argued that the every-day perception of reality of the physical world (as described in doxa) is mistaken, and that the reality of the world is 'One Being' (as described in alethia): an unchanging, ungenerated, indestructible whole. Under 'way of seeming', Parmenides set out a contrasting but more conventional view of the world, thereby becoming an early exponent of the duality of appearance and reality. For him and his pupils the phenomena of movement and change are simply appearances of a static, eternal reality. However, when one says that Parmenides "argued" something, one cannot think about "argue" in the modern sense. Parmenides was a prophet, magician and healer (just like Pythagoras, Empedocles and many others), and his philosophy is presented in verse, through mythology and obscure mystic visions. The philosophy he argued was, he says, given to him by the Goddess of the underworld (Tartaros): :Welcome, youth, who come attended by immortal charioteers and mares which bear you on your journey to our dwelling. For it is no evil fate that has set you to travel on this road, far from the beaten paths of men, but right and justice. It is meet that you learn all things - both the unshakable heart of well-rounded truth and the opinions of mortals in which there is not true belief. It is with respect to this religious/mytstical context that recent generations of scholars such as Alexander P. Mourelatos, Charles H. Kahn and the controversial Peter Kingsley have begun to call parts of the traditional, rational logical/philosophical interpretation of Parmenides into question. It has been claimed, for instance, that previous scholars placed too little emphasis on the apocalyptic context in which Parmenides frames his revelation. As a result, traditional interpretations have put Parmenidean philosophy into a more modern, metaphysical context to which it is not necessarily well suited, which has led to misunderstanding of the true meaning and intention of Parmenides' message. The obscurity and fragmentary state of the text, however, renders almost every claim that can be made about Parmenides extremely contentious, and the traditional interpretation has by no means been completely abandoned. Parmenides' considerable influence on the thinking of Plato is undeniable, and in this respect Parmenides has influenced the whole history of Western philosophy, and is often seen as its grandfather. Even Plato himself, in the Sophist, refers to the work of "our Father Parmenides" as something to be taken very seriously and treated with respect. In the Parmenides the Eleatic philosopher, which may well be Parmenides himself, and Socrates argue about dialectic. In the Theaetetus, Socrates says that Parmenides alone among the wise (Protagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Epicharmus, and Homer) denied that everything is change and motion.

Metaphysics

The Way of Truth discusses that which is real, which contrasts in some way with the argument of the Way of Seeming, which discusses that which is illusory. Under the Way of Truth, Parmenides stated that there are two ways of inquiry: that it is, that it is not. He said that the latter argument is never feasible because nothing can not be and be an object of speech and thought: :For never shall this prevail, that things that are not are. :Thinking and the thought that it is are the same; for you will not find thought apart from what is, in relation to which it is uttered. :For thought and being are the same. :It is necessary to speak and to think what is; for being is, but nothing is not. :Helplessness guides the wandering thought in their breasts; they are carried along deaf and blind alike, dazed, beasts without judgment, convinced that to be and not to be are the same and not the same, and that the road of all things is a backward-turning one. Furthermore, he implied that it could not have "come into being" because "nothing comes from nothing." Moreover he argued that movement was impossible because it requires moving into "the void", and Parmenides identified "the void" with nothing, and therefore (by definition) it does not exist. That which does exist is The Parmenidean One which is timeless, uniform, and unchanging: :How could what is perish? How could it have come to be? For if it came into being, it is not; nor is it if ever it is going to be. Thus coming into being is extinguished, and destruction unknown. :Nor was [it] once, nor will [it] be, since [it] is, now, all together, / One, continuous; for what coming-to-be of it will you seek? / In what way, whence, did [it] grow? Neither from what-is-not shall I allow / You to say or think; for it is not to be said or thought / That [it] is not. And what need could have impelled it to grow / Later or sooner, if it began from nothing? Thus [it] must either be completely or not at all. :[What exists] is now, all at once, one and continuous... Nor is it divisible, since it is all alike; nor is there any more or less of it in one place which might prevent it from holding together, but all is full of what is. :And it is all one to me / Where I am to begin; for I shall return there again.

Works

- On Nature (written between 480 and 470 BC) [http://www.elea.org/Parmenides/ ]

References and Further Reading

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An extensive bibliography is avaialble [http://presocratics.org/parmenides.htm here]

External links

- [http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/parmenid.htm Parmenides, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
- [http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/parm1.htm "Lecture Notes: Parmenides", Mark Cohen, University of Washighton]
- [http://www.formalontology.it/parmenides.htm Parmenides' Way of Truth] Category:Ancient Greek philosophers Category:Presocratic philosophers ja:パルメニデス

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis may mean:
- Metamorphosis (biology)
- Metamorphic rock, in geology
- Shapeshifting, synonym: 'Metamorphosis'
- "The Metamorphosis", a novella by Franz Kafka
- Metamorphosis I, Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III, works M. C. Escher
- The Golden Ass, novel by Apuleius, also called Metamorphosis
- Metamorphosis of Narcissus (painting), by Salvador Dalí
- Altsys Metamorphosis, a font conversion utility
- The Metamorphosis trick is a stage illusion (magic trick)
- Transfiguration of Jesus, also called metamorphosis ;Music:
- Metamorphosis (John Cage), a series of pieces for solo piano (1938)
- Metamorphosis (Philip Glass), a cycle of pieces for solo piano (1988)
- Metamorphosis (Hilary Duff album), 2003
- Metamorphosis (Rolling Stones album), 1975

Metamorphoses (poem)

edition of Ovids Metamorphosis Englished.]] The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in 15 books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms of Greek and Roman mythology. It has remained one of the most popular works of mythology, being the work best known to medieval writers and thus having a great deal of influence on medieval poetry. Ovid takes as his theme tales of transformation so often found in myths, in which often a person or lesser deity is permanently transformed into an animal or plant. The poem begins with the transformations of creation and Prometheus metamorphizing earth into Man and ends with the transformation of the spirit of Julius Caesar into a star. Ovid goes from one to the other by working his way through mythology, often in apparently arbitrary fashion, jumping from one transformation tale to another, sometimes retelling what had come to be seen as central events in the world of Greek myth and sometimes straying in odd directions. There is perhaps little depth in most of Ovid's portrayals. However, if others have written far more deeply, few have written more colorfully. The poem is often called a mock-epic. The entire poem is written in dactylic hexameter meter, the form of the great heroic and nationalistic epic poems both of the ancient tradition (the Iliad and Odyssey) and of Ovid's own day (the Aeneid). It begins with the ritual "invocation of the muse", and makes use of traditional epithets and circumlocutions. But instead of following and extolling the deeds of a human hero, it leaps from story to story with little connection, with little more than token attention to the epic themes of great deeds, national glory, and religious observance. Instead, the recurring theme, as with nearly all of Ovid's work, is that of love -- personal love or love personified as Amor (Cupid). Indeed, the other Roman gods are repeatedly perplexed, humiliated, and made ridiculous by Amor, an otherwise relatively minor god of the pantheon who is the closest thing this mock-epic has to an epic hero. Apollo comes in for particular ridicule as Ovid shows how irrational love can confound the god of pure reason. While few individual stories are outright sacrilegious, the work as a whole inverts the accepted order, elevating humans and human passions while making the gods and their desires and conquests objects of low humor. The Arthur Golding translation of 1567 influenced William Shakespeare and was characterized as "The most beautiful book in the English language" by the poet Ezra Pound. See Ovid for links to other text and translations not duplicated here.

External links

- Latin text with English translation
- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/latin/ovid/ovidillust.html Ovid Illlustrated: The Renaissance Reception of Ovid in Image and Text] (An elaborate environment allowing simulanteous access to Latin text, English translations, commentary from multiple sources along with wood cut illustrations by Virgil Solis.)
- Latin text
- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/latin/ovid/index.html University of Virginia: Metamorphoses]
- [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ovid.html The Latin Library: P. OVIDI NASONIS OPERA]
- English translation
- By A. S. Kline, 2000
- [http://www.tkline.freeserve.co.uk/Ovhome.htm Poetry in Translation: Ovid: Metamorphoses]. (Enhanced viewer with links and notes. Can be downloaded in different formats.)
- [http://www.mythology.us Mythology: Metamorphoses]
- By Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden et al., 1717
- [http://classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.html Internet Classics Archive: Ovid's Metamorphoses]
- [http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Ovid/00000010.htm Globusz Publishing: Ovid's Metamorphoses]
- By Others:
- [http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/ovid00.htm Elizabethan Authors: Ovid's Metamorphoses], trans. by Arthur Golding, 1567.
- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/latin/ovid/sandys/contents.htm Ovid's Metamorphoses] trans. by George Sandys, 1632.
- [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Ov.+Met.+1.1 Ovid's Metamorphoses] trans. by Brooke Moore, 1922.
- [http://www.textkit.com/learn/ID/154/author_id/71/ TextKit: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books I–IV], trans. Rev. Dr. Giles, a learning translation/crib in PDF graphic format.
- Insight and commentary
- [http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/ovid The Ovid Project: Metamorphising the Metamorphoses] (Illustrations by Johann Whilhelm Baur (1600–1640) and anonymous illustrations from George Sandy's edition of 1640.)
- [http://www.tonykline.co.uk/Browsepages/Latin/AHoneycombForAphrodite.htm A Honeycomb for Aphrodite by A. S. Kline]
- [http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/xeno.ovid1.htm Ovid's Metamorphoses, An introduction and commentary by Larry A. Brown].
- [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/analyticalonomasticon/index.htm An Analytical Onomasticon to the Metamorphoses of Ovid] (Concordance and narrative index.) Category:Greek mythology Category:Latin poems Category:Roman era books Category:Shapeshifting ja:変身物語

Ptolemaic system

The Ptolemaic system was a model to explain the motions of the heavens in which the earth was the centre of the universe and all other celestial bodies revolved around it, espoused by Claudius Ptolemaeus in his work, the Almagest some time around the 2nd century, A.D., and accepted for over 1,000 years by the vast majority of Europeans to be the correct cosmological model. It may be also called the geocentric model. It was overthrown by the Copernican revolution after Galileo Galilei and Copernicus discovered that the planets orbited the sun.

The Almagest

An Epitome of the Almagest (Epitome in Ptolemaei Almagestum) was written between 1460 and 1463 by the Austrian astronomer Georg Peurbach and his famous pupil Johannes Regiomontanus at the suggestion of Cardinal Bessarion. It gave Europeans the first sophisticated understanding of Ptolemy's astronomy, and was studied by every competent astronomer of the 16th century. Unlike earlier systems (such as 'the stars move because that is the will of the gods', or the model of concentric spheres), the Ptolemaic model explained all phenomena in the sky, while holding to Plato's dictum which states that all motions in the heavens can be explained with uniform, circular motion, and obeying Aristotelian physics.

Geocentricity

According to the Ptolemaic model, the spherical Earth is at the center of the universe. All heavenly bodies are attached to crystal spheres which rotate around Earth. The Moon is on the innermost sphere, and touches the realm of Earth, thereby contaminating it, and causing the light and dark spots and the ability to go through phases. It is not perfect like the other heavenly bodies, which shine by their own light. The planets are actually attached to 2 spheres: one sphere which is centered on Earth (the deferent), and another sphere (the epicycle) embedded within the deferent. The epicycle rotates within the deferent, causing the planet to move closer to and farther from Earth at different points in its orbit, and even to slow down, stop, and move backward (in retrograde motion). (The earlier model based on concentric spheres explained retrograde motion, but did not explain the changes in brightness caused by the change in distance). The epicycles of Venus and Mercury are always centered on a line between Earth and the Sun (Mercury being closer to Earth), which explains why they are always near it in the sky. The order of spheres from Earth outward is: Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Stars.

Problems with geocentricity

Unfortunately, the system still did not quite match observations. Sometimes the size of a planet's retrograde loop (most notably that of Mars) would be smaller, and sometimes larger. Ptolemy could not explain this even when he moved deferents off-center, for the change in loop size did not match with the change in speed. This prompted Ptolemy to come up with the idea of an equant. The equant was a point near the center of a planet's orbit which, if you were to stand there and watch, the center of the planet's epicycle would always appear to move at the same speed. Therefore, the planet actually moved at different speeds at different points in its orbit. By using an equant, Ptolemy claimed to keep motion which was uniform and circular, but a lot of people didn't like it because they didn't think it was true to Plato's dictum of "uniform, circular motion." The resultant system which eventually became Catholic dogma was an unwieldy one, using two sets of epicycles, revolving on a deferent, offset by an equant which was different for each retrograde planet (then known to be only Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), but it predicted the beginnings and ends of retrograde motion far more accurately than either earlier Platonic spheres or early (and falsely perfect) Copernican systems.

Replacement with Copernican system

Though there were observations made (primarily by Galileo) which called into question some of the tenets of the Ptolemaic system (such as the fact that Jupiter also has moons), it was not until the discovery of the phases of Venus by Galileo in 1610 that the Ptolemaic system became untenable in any form. Under the Ptolemaic system, Venus can only be either between Earth and the Sun, or on the other side of the Sun (Ptolemy placed it inside the orbit of the Sun, after Mercury, but this was completely arbitrary; he could just as easily swapped Venus and Mercury and put them on the other side, or any combination of placements of Venus and Mercury, as long as they were always colinear with Earth and Sun). If that was the case, however, it would not appear to go through all phases, as was observed. If it was between Earth and Sun, it would always appear mostly dark, since the light from the sun would be falling mainly where we can't see it. On the other hand, if it was on the far side, we would only be able to see the lit side. Galileo saw it small and full, and later large and crescent. Astronomers of this time period saw the result of this being unsalvageable for a Ptolemaic cosmology, if the results were accepted as true. As a result, later 17th century competition between astronomical cosmologies focused on variations of Tycho Brahe's Tychonian system (in which the Earth was still at the center of the universe, and around it revolved the Sun, but all other planets revolved around the Sun in one massive set of epicycles), or variations on the Copernican system.

References

Category:History of astronomy Category:Obsolete scientific theories Category:Systems

Medieval

The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. The Middle Ages of Western Europe are commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) until the rise of national monarchies, the start of European overseas exploration, the humanist revival, and the Protestant Reformation starting in 1517. These various changes all mark the beginning of the Early Modern period that preceded the Industrial Revolution. The Middle Ages are commonly referred to as the medieval period or medieval times or simply medieval.

The Early Middle Ages

medieval flourished in the early Middle Ages: Hildesheim.]] As the authority of the Roman Empire dwindled in Western Europe, its territories were entered and settled by succeeding waves of "barbarian" tribal confederations, some of whom distrusted and rejected the classical culture of Rome, while others, like the Goths admired it and considered themselves the legatees and heirs of Rome. Prominent among these peoples in the movement were the Huns and Avars and Magyars with the large number of Germanic and later Slavic peoples. The era of the migrations is referred to as the Migration Period. It has historically been termed the "Dark Ages" by Western European historians, and as Völkerwanderung ("wandering of the peoples") by German historians. The term "Dark Ages" has now fallen from favour, partly to avoid the entrenched stereotypes associated with the phrase, but also partly because more recent research into the period has in fact revealed its surprising artistic sophistication, though its political and social senses were unevolved and its technologies undeveloped, compared to the preceding culture. Although the settled population of the Roman period were not everywhere decimated, the new peoples greatly altered established society, and with it, law, culture and religion, and patterns of property ownership. The Pax Romana, with its accompanying benefits of safe conditions for trade and manufacture, and a unified cultural and educational milieu of far-ranging connections, had already been in decline for some time as the 5th century drew to a close. Now it was largely lost, to be replaced by the rule of local potentates, and the gradual break-down of economic and social linkages and infrastructure. This break-down was often fast and dramatic as it became unsafe to travel or carry goods over any distance and there was a consequent collapse in trade and manufacture for export. Major industries that depended on trade, such as large-scale pottery manufacture, vanished almost overnight in places like Britain. The Islamic invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries, which conquered the Levant, North Africa, Spain, Portugal and some of the Mediterranean islands (including Sicily), increased localization by halting much of what remained of seaborne commerce. So where sites like Tintagel in Cornwall had managed to obtain supplies of Mediterranean luxury goods well into the 6th century, this connection too was lost. Administrative, educational and military infrastructure quickly vanished, leading to the rise of illiteracy among leadership.

A new order

Until recently it has been common to speak of "barbarian invasions" sweeping in from beyond Imperial borders and bringing about the end of the Roman Empire. Modern historians now acknowledge that this presents an incomplete portrait of a complex time of migration. In some important cases, such as that of the Franks entering Gaul, settlement of the newcomers took place over many decades, as groups seeking new economic opportunities crossed into Roman territory, retaining their own tribal leadership, and acculturating to or displacing the Gallo-Roman society, often without widespread violence. Other outsiders, like Theodoric of the Ostrogoths, were civilized, though illiterate patrons, who saw themselves successors to the Roman tradition, employing cultured Roman ministers, like Cassiodorus. Like the Goths, many of the outsiders were foederati, military allies of the Empire, who had earned rights of settlement, including among others the Franks and the Burgundians. Between the 5th and 8th centuries a completely new political and social infrastructure developed across the lands of the former empire, based upon powerful regional noble families, and the newly established kingdoms of the Ostrogoths in Italy, Visigoths in Spain and Portugal, Franks and Burgundians in Gaul and western Germany, and Saxons in England. These lands remained Christian, and their Arian conquerors were soon converted, following the example of the pagan Frank Clovis I. The interaction between the culture of the newcomers, the remnants of classical culture, and Christian influences, produced a new model for society. The centralized administrative systems of the Romans did not withstand the changes, and the institutional support for large scale chattel slavery largely disappeared. However beyond these areas of Europe were many people with little or no contact with Christianity or with classic Roman culture. Warrior people such as the Avars and the Vikings were still capable of causing major disruption to the newly emerging societies of Western Europe. The Christian Church, the only centralized institution to survive the fall of the western Roman Empire intact, was the sole unifying cultural influence, preserving its selection from Latin learning, maintaining the art of writing, and a centralized administration through its network of bishops. The Early Middle Ages are characterized by the urban control of bishops and the territorial control exercised by dukes and counts. The rise of urban communes marked the beginning of the High Middle Ages. bishop Outside the de-urbanized remains of cities, the power of central government was greatly reduced. Consequently government authority, and responsibility for military organization, taxation and law and order, was delegated to provincial and local lords, who supported themselves directly from the proceeds of the territories over which they held military, political and judicial power. In this lay the beginnings of the feudal system. The High Middle Ages would see the regrowth of centralized power, and the growth of new "national" identities, as strong rulers sought to eliminate competition (and potential threat to their rule) from powerful feudal nobles. Well known examples of such consolidation include the Albigensian Crusade and the Wars of the Roses. This hierarchy of reciprocal obligations, known as feudalism or the feudal system, binding each man to serve his superior in return for the latter's protection, made for a confusion of territorial sovereignty (since allegiances were subject to change over time, and were sometimes mutually contradictory). The benefit of feudalism however, was its resiliency, and the ability of local arrangements to provide stable government in the absence of a strong royal power in a political order distinguished by its lack of uniformity. Territoriality was reduced to a network of personal allegiances. In the east, the Eastern Roman Empire (called by historians the "Byzantine Empire"), maintained a form of Christianised Roman rule in the lands of Asia Minor, Greece and the Slavic territories bordering Greece, and in Sicily and southern Italy. The eastern emperors had maintained a nominal claim to rule over the west, reconquered by Belisarius, but this was a political fiction under Lombard rule and became strongly disputed from 800, with the creation of the so-called Holy Roman Empire, under Charlemagne, briefly uniting much of modern day France, western Germany and northern Italy. From now on, Europe was to be bi-polar, with east and west competing for power and influence in the largely un-christianized expanses of northern Europe. The spread of Christianity in the Migrations Period, both from the Mediterranean area and from Ireland, occasioned a pre-eminent cultural and ideological role for its abbots, and the collapse of a res publica meant that the bishops became identified with the remains of urban government. Christianity provided the basis for a first European "identity," Christendom, unified until the separation of Orthodox Churches from the Catholic Church in the Great Schism of 1054, one of the dates that marks the onset of the High Middle Ages.

A Carolingian renaissance

See also the careers of Charlemagne and Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.
The High Middle Ages
:Main article: High Middle Ages From beginnings roughly about the year 1000, greater stability came to the lands of western Europe. With the brief exception of the Mongol incursions, major barbarian invasions had ceased. The advance of Christian kingdoms and military orders into previously pagan regions in the Baltic and Finnic northeast brought the forced assimilation of numerous native peoples to the European entity. The "High Middle Ages" describes the expansionist culture and intellectual revival from the late 11th century to the beginning of the 14th. In central and northern Italy and in Flanders the rise of towns that were self-governing to some degree within their territories marked a beginning for re-urbanization in Western Europe. In Spain and Portugal, a slow reconquest of the urban and literate Muslim-ruled territories began. One consequence of this was that the Latin-literate world gained access to libraries that included classical literature and philosophy. Through translations these libraries gave rise to a vogue for the philosophy of Aristotle. Meanwhile, trade grew throughout Europe as the dangers of travel were reduced, and steady economic growth resumed. This period saw the formation of the Hanseatic league and other trading and banking institutions that operated across western Europe. The first universities were established in major European cities from 1080 onwards, bringing in a new interest and inquisitiveness about the world. Literacy began to grow, and there were major advances in art, sculpture, music and architecture. Large cathedrals were built across Europe, first in the romanesque, and later in the more decorative gothic style.
The Crusades
:Main article: Crusade Following the Great Schism, prime examples of the force of the divided cultural identities of Christendom can be found in the unfolding developments of the Crusades, during which Popes, kings, and emperors drew on the concept of Christian unity to inspire the population of Western Europe to unite and defend Christendom from the aggression of Islam, often at the expense of the Byzantine Empire. From the 7th century onward, Islam had been gaining ground along Europe's southern and eastern borders. Muslim armies conquered Egypt, the rest of North Africa, Jerusalem, Spain, Sicily, and most of Anatolia (in modern Turkey), although they were finally turned back in western Europe by Christian armies at the Battle of Tours in southern France. Political unanimity in Europe was less secure than it appeared, however, and the military support for most crusades was drawn from limited regions of Europe. Substantial areas of northern Europe also remained outside Christendom until the twelfth century or later; these areas also became crusading venues during the expansionist High Middle Ages.
Technology
:Main article: Medieval technology During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major technological advances, including the invention of cannons, spectacles and artesian wells; and the cross-cultural introduction of gunpowder, silk, compass and astrolabe from the east. There was also great improvements with ships and upon the clock. The latter advances made possible the dawn of the Age of Exploration.
The Late Middle Ages (circa 1300-1500)
:Main article: Late Middle Ages The 14th century witnessed a decline that began with the first economic retrenchment after the long, gently inflationary rise of a unified economy that had been under way since the 11th century. The European climate itself was worsening, after the long Medieval Warm Period, leading to the onset of the Little Ice Age. In the Black Death, large areas of Western Europe lost up to a third of their population, especially in the crowded conditions of the towns, where the heart of innovations lay. The Black Death sealed a sudden end to the previous period of massive change, which resumed centuries later in the Early Modern Period. Politically, the later Middle Ages were typified by the decline of feudal power replaced by the development of strong, royalty-based nation-states. Wars between kingdoms, such as the Hundred Years' War between England and France, weakened the Christian nations in their confrontations with Islam. Religously Christendom was increasingly divided during the Western Schism, which resulted in greater loyalty to national churches, though lay piety rarely wavered. The Great Famine of 1315-1317, the Black Death of 1348, popular uprisings all produced stresses while encouraging creative social, economic, and technological responses that signalled the end of the old medieval order and laying the groundwork for further great changes in the Early Modern Period. In the east, the Byzantine Empire followed a separate destiny, with its strongest period coinciding with the Western collapse during the Early Medieval period. After the Battle of Manzikert (1071), the former empire was reduced to a shell; it survived until 1453, but in a diminished and weakened form.
Historiography

Middle Ages in history
:Main article: Middle Ages in history After the Middle Ages ended subsequent generations imagined, portrayed and interpreted the Middle Ages in different ways. Every century has created its own vision of the Middle Ages, the 18th century view of the Middle Ages was entirely different from the 19th century which was different from the 16th century view. The reality of these images remains with us today in the form of film, architecture, literature, art and popular conception.
Medieval and Middle Ages

"Middle Age"
The term "Middle Age" ("medium ævum") was first coined by Flavio Biondo, an Italian humanist, in the early 15th Century. Until the Renaissance (and some time after) the standard scheme of history was to divide history into six ages, inspired by the biblical six days of creation, or four monarchies based on Daniel 2:40. The early Renaissance historians instead talked about two periods in history, that of Ancient times and that of the period referred to as the "Dark Age". In the early 15th Century it was believed history had evolved from the Dark Age to a Modern period and scholars began to write about a middle period between the Ancient and Modern, which became known as the Middle Age. This is known as the three period view of history. The plural form of the term, Middle "Ages", is used in English, Dutch, Russian and Icelandic while all other European languages uses the singular form. This difference originates in different Neo-Latin terms used for the Middle Ages before media aetas became the standard term. Some were singular (media aetas, media antiquitas, medium saeculum and media tempestas), others plural (media saecula and media tempora). There seem to be no simple reason why a particular language ended up with the singular or the plural form. Further information can be found in Fred C. Robinson: "Medieval, the Middle Ages" in Speculum, Vol. 59:4 (Oct. 1984), p. 745-56. The common subdivision Early, High and Late Middle Ages came into use after World War I. It was caused by the works of Henri Pirenne (in particular the article "Les periodes de l'historie du capitalism" in Academie Royale de Belgique. Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres, 1914) and Johan Huizinga (The Autumn of the Middle Ages, 1919). A medieval era can also be applied to other parts of the world that historians have seen as embodying the same feudal characteristics as Europe in this period. The pre-westernization period in the history of Japan is sometimes referred to as medieval. The pre-colonial period in the developed parts of sub-Saharan Africa is also sometimes termed medieval. Today historians are far more reluctant to try to fit the history of other regions to the European model and these terms are less often used.
"Medieval"
The term "medieval" was first contracted from the Latin medium ævum, or more precisely "middle epoch", by Enlightenment thinkers as a pejorative descriptor of the Middle Ages. The spelling of "medieval" may depend on context. Medieval is the modern English spelling, used in normal discourse in England and elsewhere. Mediaeval is a legacy of the Latin spelling Mediæval, which uses the diphthong ae rendered as a ligature; it is an antiquated spelling found in older works, or those that emphesis the words Latin origins. Medieval was originally a pejorative description, and as such it has taken on broader meanings that usually impart some kind of value judgement, such as things that are old, "byzantine", "gothic", crude, heavy, harsh, or dark in nature.
Periodization issues
:See also: Periodization It is extremely difficult to decide when the Middle Ages ended, and in fact scholars assign different dates in different parts of Europe. Most scholars who work in 15th century Italian history, for instance, consider themselves Renaissance or Early Modern historians, while anyone working on England in the early 15th century is considered a medievalist. Others choose specific events, such as the Turkish capture of Constantinople or the end of the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (both 1453), the invention of printing by Johann Gutenberg (around 1455) or the fall of Muslim Spain or Columbus's voyage to America (both 1492), or the Protestant Reformation starting 1517 to mark the period's end. In England the change of monarchs which occurred on 22 August 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth is often considered to mark the end of the period, Richard III representing the old medieval world and the Tudors, a new royal house and a new historical period. Similar differences are now emerging in connection with the start of the period. Traditionally, the Middle Ages is said to begin when the West Roman Empire formally ceased to exist in 476. However, that date is not important in itself, since the West Roman Empire had been very weak for some time, while Roman culture was to survive at least in Italy for yet a few decades or more. Today, some date the beginning of the Middle Ages to the division and Christianization of the Roman Empire (4th century) while others, like Henri Pirenne see the period to the rise of Islam (7th century) as "late Classical". The Middle Ages are often subdivided into an early period (sometimes called the "Dark Ages", at least from the fifth to eighth centuries) of shifting polities, a relatively low level of economic activity and successful incursions by non-Christian peoples (Slavs, Arabs, Scandinavians, Magyars); a middle period (the High Middle Ages) of developed institutions of lordship and vassalage, castle-building and mounted warfare, and reviving urban and commercial life; and a later period of growing royal power, the rise of commercial interests and weakening customary ties of dependence, especially after the 14th-century plague.
Religion in the Middle Ages

- Holy Roman Empire
- The Crusades
- Pilgrimage
- Papacy
- Medieval Inquisition
- Heresy (for example, Arian; Cathar; John Wyclif)
- Alchemy
- Monastic orders
- Benedictines
- Carthusians
- Cistercians
- Mendicant friars
- Franciscans
- Dominicans
- Carmelites
- Augustinians
- Judaism
- Islam (Western Europe): Moors
- Islam (Eastern Europe): Sultanate of Rum & Ottoman Empire
See also

- Medieval art
- Medieval architecture
- Medieval climate optimum
- Medieval communes
- Medieval Chronological Timeline
- Medieval demography
- Middle Ages in film
- Medieval guilds
- Medieval hunting
- Medieval medicine
- Medieval music
- Medieval tournament
- Slave trade in the Middle Ages
- History of the Jews in the Middle Ages
Selected bibliography

- Monumenta Germaniae Historica
- Migne's Patrologiae
- Liber Pontificalis
- C. Warren Hollister and Judith M. Bennett, Medieval Europe, A Short History. McGraw-Hill, 2002.
- David Abulafia et al., The New Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge, 1995.
External links

- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ Internet Medieval Sourcebook Project] Primary source archive of the Middle Ages. See also Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
- [http://www.the-orb.net/ The Online Reference Book of Medieval Studies] Academic peer reviewed articles. See also Online Reference Book of Medieval Studies.
- [http://the-orb.net/ The Labyrinth] Resources for Medieval Studies.
- [http://www.netserf.org/ NetSERF] The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources.
- [http://www.medievalmap.net Interactive Medieval Map] (Flash Plug-in Required.)
- [http://www.sca.org.au/cunnan/ Cunnan: A Wiki collecting information for re-enactors of the Middle Ages and Renaissance] with a heavy slant towards members of the SCA
- [http://www.shadowedrealm.com/ Shadowed Realm - Medieval Content and Discussion] Contains hundreds of glossary terms, a timeline, quotations, quizzes, a wiki, forums, and more.
- [http://www.medieval-castles.org Contains Medieval Castles and their history.] ja:中世 simple:Middle Ages

Appeal to authority

An appeal to authority is a type of argument in logic also known as argument from authority, argumentum ad verecundiam (Latin: argument to respect) or ipse dixit (Latin: he himself said it, where an unsupported assertion depends on the asserter's credibility). It is one method of obtaining propositional knowledge and is often a logical fallacy.

Forms

There are two basic forms of appeal to authority. The first is when a person presenting a position on a subject mentions some authority who also holds that position, but who is not actually an authority in that area. For instance, the statement "Arthur C. Clarke recently released a report showing it is necessary to floss three times daily" should not convince many people of anything about flossing, as Arthur C. Clarke is not an expert on dental hygiene. Much advertising relies on this logical fallacy in the form of endorsements and sponsorships. The second, citing a person who actually is an authority in the relevant field, carries more weight in that the authority is more likely to be correct. However the possibility of mistake remains and the argument is not a compelling one.

Appeal to authority as logical fallacy

A (fallacious) appeal to authority argument has the basic form: #A makes claim B; #there is something positive about A, #therefore claim B is true. The first statement is called a 'factual claim' and is the pivot point of much debate. The last statement is referred to as an 'inferential claim' and represents the reasoning process. There are two types of inferential claim, explicit and implicit. Arguments that (fallaciously) rely on the objectionable aspects of the person for the truth of the conclusion are discussed under ad hominem. An appeal to authority is a logical fallacy: authorities can be wrong, both in their own field and in other fields; therefore referencing authority does not automatically imply truth. However, referencing authority may carry a high enough probability of truth that it would be correct to base decisions on it.

Examples of appeals to authority

- Referring to the philosophical beliefs of Aristotle. "If Aristotle said it was so, it is so".
- Quotes from religious books such as the Bible. "The Bible says X, therefore X is the right thing".
- Claiming that some crime is morally wrong because it is illegal. "It's against the law for stores to be open on weekends, therefore it's wrong for them to do so". Here the lawmakers are the "authority", whose judgment is taken as correct without debate.
- Referencing scientific research published in a peer-reviewed journal. "Science (in the form of an article in a prestigious journal) says X, therefore X is so".
- Believing what one is told by one's teacher. "My teacher said so, therefore it must be right."
- Something must be true because it is in the news.
- Something must be true because it is in a textbook.
- Something must be true because it is in an encyclopedia.
- Something must be true because it is in Wikipedia.

Discussion

In the Middle Ages, roughly from the 12th century to the 15th century, the philosophy of Aristotle became firmly established dogma, and using the beliefs of Aristotle was an important part of many debates. Aristotle's thought became so central to the philosophy of the late Middle Ages that he became known in Latin as Ille Philosophus, "the philosopher," and quotations from Aristotle became known as ipse dixits ("He, himself, has spoken."). In this case, Aristotle is an example of someone who is an authority in philosophy, but philosophy is an area where direct evidence is less readily available, and therefore, Aristotle's ideas carry weight, but are not the final word. On the other hand, arguing that all astronomers believe that the planet Neptune exists - and therefore, that serves as evidence of the planet's existence - is a more compelling argument because astronomers are knowledgeable in the relevant field and are in a position to readily prove or disprove the existence of the planet (direct experience). However, it is still better to argue from evidence than from what astronomers believe. Authoritarian ethics is the meta-ethical theory by which one attains ethical knowledge from an authority, for example from a God or from the law (see Divine command theory). The bandwagon fallacy can be viewed as a special case of an appeal to authority, where the authority is public opinion. A corollary to this is the infamous 'Because I said so' argument much stated by parents and loathed by children. It is a logical fallacy of this kind, in the fact that the parent is an authority figure and, therefore, should have the proper knowledge to make their statements true. However, like most fallacies of this kind, the validity of their statements is only in the form of their individual beliefs, and when pressed for a logical explanation for the reasoning behind their statement, are unable to do so in a satisfactory manner. As such, the basic overall fallacy here is that, as they are the authority figures over a child, the child is supposed to believe that only their parents' statement is explanation enough for it to be so.

Conditions for a legitimate argument from authority

Any argument should ideally be based solely on direct evidence, not on the authority of the messenger. However, it is rarely possible in common discourse to provide all the direct evidence, so an "appeal to authority" is often used as a shortcut:
- The authority must have competence in an area, not just glamour, prestige, rank or popularity. A sports or entertainment figure making claims about foreign policy is an example of how this rule is frequently violated.
- The judgment must be within the authority's field of competence. Linus Pauling won a Nobel Prize for chemistry, then later made claims that massive quantities of vitamin C would prevent cancer in humans. This claim was in the field of medicine and thus outside his field of competence.
- The authority must be interpreted correctly. This is particularly a problem in religion; where the Koran, Bible, Torah, etc., have been interpreted with varying and contradictory results.
- Direct evidence must be available, at least in principle.
- The expert should be reasonably unbiased (not unduly influenced by other factors, such as money, political considerations, or religious beliefs). This is why appealing to one's own authority is always illegitimate. The Pope claiming that the Sun revolved around the Earth was an example of an authority making a false claim biased by their religious beliefs.
- The judgment must be representative of expert opinions on the issue (as opposed to an unrepresentative sample). Lawyers often find a non-representative "expert" to offer a theory which is not generally accepted, such as the Twinkie defense, in hopes of winning their case.
- A technique is needed to adjudicate disagreements among equally qualified authorities. If scientific testing of the claim is not possible, then the majority of expert opinions is sometimes used to develop a consensus.

Taxonomy

The appeal to authority is a genetic fallacy.

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton, PRS ( – ) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist and philosopher associated with the scientific revolution and the advancement of heliocentrism. He was one of the most influential scientists in history. Among his scientific accomplishments, Newton wrote the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, wherein he described universal gravitation and, via his laws of motion, laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. With Gottfried Leibniz he shares credit for the development of calculus. Newton was the first to promulgate a set of natural laws that could govern both terrestrial motion and celestial motion, and is credited with providing mathematical substantiation for Kepler's laws of planetary motion, which he expanded by arguing that orbits (such as those of comets) could include all conic sections (such as the ellipse, hyperbola, and parabola). Newton realised that the spectrum of colours observed when white light passed through a prism is inherent in the white light and not added by the prism (as Roger Bacon had claimed in the 13th century), and also notably argued that light is composed of particles. Newton additionally developed a law of cooling, proved the binomial theorem, and discovered the principles of conservation of momentum and angular momentum. Newton is regarded by many as having "unrivalled mathematical genius" [see Dampier & Dampier]. The mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736-1813), Director of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, said this about Newton: ::"Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed and the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish." [See Shapley.]

Biography

Early years

Newton was born in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth (at Woolsthorpe Manor), a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. Newton was prematurely born and no one expected him to live; indeed, his mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, is reported to have said that his body at that time could have fit inside a quart mug (Bell, 1937). His father, Isaac, had died three months before Newton's birth. When Newton was two years old, his mother went to live with her new husband, leaving her son in the care of his grandmother. According to E.T. Bell (1937, Simon and Schuster) and H. Eves: :Newton began his schooling in the village schools and was later sent to Grantham Grammar School where he became the top boy in the school. At Grantham he lodged with the local apothecary, William Clarke and eventually became engaged to the apothecary's stepdaughter, Anne Storer, before he went off to Cambridge University at the age of 19. As Newton became engrossed in his studies, the romance cooled and Miss Storer married someone else. It is said he kept a warm memory of this love, but Newton had no other recorded 'sweethearts' and never married. Cambridge University From the age of twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at Grantham Grammar School. His family then removed him from school and attempted to make a farmer of him. However he was thoroughly unhappy with the work and eventually with the help of his uncle and of his schoolteacher, he managed to persuade his mother to send him back to school so that he might complete his schooling. This he did at the age of eighteen, achieving an admirable final report. His teacher said: :His genius now begins to mount upwards apace and shine out with more strength. He excels particularly in making verses. In everything he undertakes, he discovers an application equal to the pregnancy of his parts and exceeds even the most sanguine expectations I have conceived of him. In 1661 he joined Trinity College, Cambridge, where his uncle William Ayscough had studied. At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of Aristotle, but Newton preferred to read the more advanced ideas of modern philosophers such as Descartes, Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler. In 1665 he discovered the binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that would later become calculus. Soon after Newton had obtained his degree in 1665, the University closed down as a precaution against the Great Plague. For the next two years Newton worked at home on calculus, optics and gravitation. He later continued his studies at Woolsthorpe Manor. The popular tradition has it that Newton was sitting under an apple tree when an apple fell on his head, and that this made him understand that earthly and celestial gravitation are the same. A contemporary writer, William Stukeley, recorded in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life a conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726, in which Newton recalled "when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth's centre." In similar terms, Voltaire wrote in his Essay on Epic Poetry (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree." These accounts are exaggerations of Newton's own tale about sitting by a window in his home (Woolsthorpe Manor) and watching an apple fall from a tree. It is now generally considered probable that even this story was invented by Newton in later life, to illustrate how he drew inspiration from everyday events.

Middle years

Mathematical research

Woolsthorpe Manor.]] Newton became a fellow of Trinity College in 1669. In the same year he circulated his findings in De Analysi per Aequationes Numeri Terminorum Infinitas (On Analysis by Infinite Series), and later in De methodis serierum et fluxionum (On the Methods of Series and Fluxions), whose title gave the name to his "method of fluxions". Newton is generally credited as the discoverer of the binomial theorem, an essential step toward the development of modern analysis. Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed the theory of calculus independently, using different notations. Although Newton had worked out his own method before Leibniz, the latter's notation and "Differential Method" were superior, and were generally adopted throughout the world. Though Newton belongs among the brightest scientists of his era, the last twenty-five years of his life were marred by a bitter dispute with Leibniz, whom he accused of plagiarism. The dispute created a divide between British and Continental mathematicians that persisted even after Newton's death. He was elected Lucasian professor of mathematics in 1669. Any fellow of Cambridge or Oxford had to be ordained at the time. However the terms of the Lucasian professorship required that the holder not be active in the church (presumably so as to have more time for science). Newton argued that this should exempt him from the normal ordination requirement, and Charles II, whose permission was needed, accepted this argument. This prevented the conflict that would have occurred between his religious views and the orthodoxy of the church.

Optics

From 1670 to 1672 he lectured on optics. During this period he investigated the refraction of light, demonstrating that a prism could decompose white light into a spectrum of colours, and that a lens and a second prism could recompose the multicoloured spectrum into white light. He also showed that the coloured light does not change its properties, by separating out a coloured beam and shining it on various objects. Newton noted that regardless of whether it was reflected or scattered or transmitted, it stayed the same colour. Thus the colours we observe are the result of how objects interact with the incident already-coloured light, not the result of objects generating the colour. For more details, see Newton's theory of colour. Many of his findings in this field were critized by later theorists, the most well-known being Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who postulated his own colour theories. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe From this work he concluded that any refracting telescope would suffer from the dispersion of light into colours, and invented a reflecting telescope (today, known as a Newtonian telescope) to bypass that problem. By grinding his own mirrors, using Newton's rings to judge the quality of the optics for his telescopes, he was able to produce a superior instrument to the refracting telescope, due primarily to the wider diameter of the mirror. (Only later, as glasses with a variety of refractive properties became available, did achromatic lenses for refractors become feasible.) In 1671 the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope. Their interest encouraged him to publish his notes On Colour, which he later expanded into his Opticks. When Robert Hooke criticised some of Newton's ideas, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate. The two men remained enemies until Hooke's death. In one experiment, to prove that colour perception is caused by pressure on the eye, Newton slid a darning needle around the side of his eye until he could poke at its rear side, dispassionately noting "white, darke & coloured circles" so long as he kept stirring with "y^e bodkin." Newton argued that light is composed of particles; thus he could not explain the diffraction of light. Later physicists instead favoured a wave explanation of light to account for diffraction. Today's quantum mechanics recognises a "wave-particle duality"; however photons bear very little semblance to Newton's corpuscles (e.g., corpuscles refracted by accelerating toward the denser medium). Newton is believed to have been the first to explain precisely the formation of the rainbow from water droplets dispersed in the atmosphere in a rain shower. Figure 15 of Part II of Book One of the Opticks shows a perfect illustration of how this occurs. In his Hypothesis of Light of 1675, Newton posited the existence of the ether to transmit forces between particles. Newton was in contact with Henry More, the Cambridge Platonist who was born in Grantham, on alchemy, and now his interest in the subject revived. He replaced the ether with occult forces based on Hermetic ideas of attraction and repulsion between particles. John Maynard Keynes, who acquired many of Newton's writings on alchemy, stated that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: he was the last of the magicians." Newton's interest in alchemy cannot be isolated from his contributions to science.² (This was at a time when there was no clear distinction between alchemy and science.) Had he not relied on the occult idea of action at a distance, across a vacuum, he might not have developed his theory of gravity. (See also Isaac Newton's occult studies.) In 1704 Newton wrote Opticks, in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. The book is also known for the first exposure of the idea of the interchangeability of mass and energy: "Gross bodies and light are convertible into one another...". Newton also constructed a primitive form of a frictional electrostatic generator, using a glass globe (Optics, 8th Query).

Gravity and motion

glass In 1679, Newton returned to his work on mechanics, i.e., gravitation and its effect on the orbits of planets, with reference to Kepler's laws of motion, and consulting with Hooke and Flamsteed on the subject. He published his results in De Motu Corporum (1684). This contained the beginnings of the laws of motion that would inform the Principia. The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (now known as the Principia) was published on 5 July 1687¹) with encouragement and financial help from Edmond Halley. In this work Newton stated the three universal laws of motion that were not to be improved upon for more than two hundred years. He used the Latin word gravitas (weight) for the force that would become known as gravity, and defined the law of universal gravitation. In the same work he presented the first analytical determination, based on Boyle's law, of the speed of sound in air. With the Principia, Newton became internationally recognised. He acquired a circle of admirers, including the Swiss-born mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, with whom he formed an intense relationship that lasted until 1693. The end of this friendship led Newton to a nervous breakdown.

Later life

nervous breakdown In the 1690s Newton wrote a number of religious tracts dealing with the literal interpretation of the Bible. Henry More's belief in the infinity of the universe and rejection of Cartesian dualism may have influenced Newton's religious ideas. A manuscript he sent to John Locke in which he disputed the existence of the Trinity was never published. Later works — The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) and Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733) — were published after his death. He also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy (see above)². Newton was also a member of the Parliament of England from 1689 to 1690 and in 1701, but his only recorded comments were to complain about a cold draft in the chamber and request that the window be closed. Newton moved to London to take up the post of warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, a position that he had obtained through the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. He took charge of England's great recoining, somewhat treading on the toes of Master Lucas (and finagling Edmond Halley into deputy comptroller of the temporary Chester branch). Newton became Master of the Mint upon Lucas' death in 1699. These appointments were intended as sinecures, but Newton took them seriously, exercising his power to reform the currency and punish clippers and counterfeiters. He retired from his Cambridge duties in 1701. Ironically, it was his work at the Mint, rather than his contributions to science, which earned him a knighthood. Newton was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705. Newton was made President of the Royal Society in 1703 and an associate of the French Académie des Sciences. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, by attempting to steal his catalogue of observations. Newton died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It is believed Newton never had a romantic relationship, and he is said to have died a virgin. There is some speculation that Newton had Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. See People speculated to have been autistic. His niece, Catherine Barton Conduitt³, served as his hostess in social affairs at his house on Jermyn Street in London; he was her "very loving Uncle"⁴, according to his letter to her when she was recovering from smallpox.

Religious views

4 The law of gravity became Newton's best-known discovery. He warned against using it to view the universe as a mere machine, like a great clock. He said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done." His scientific fame notwithstanding, the Bible was Newton's greatest passion. He devoted more time to the study of Scripture and Alchemy than to science, and said, "I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily." Newton himself wrote works on textual criticism, most notably An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture. He also attempted, unsuccessfully, to find hidden messages within the Bible (See Bible code). Despite his focus in theology and alchemy, Newton tested and investigated these myths with the scientific method, observing, hypothesizing, and testing his theories. To Newton, his scientific and mythical experiments were one in the same, observing and understanding how the world functioned. Newton is often accused of being a Unitarian and Arian, and not believing in the church's doctrine of divine trinity. However, T.C. Pfizenmaier argued that he more likely held the Eastern Orthodox view of the Trinity rather than the Western one held by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and most Protestants.⁷ In his own day, he was also accused of being a Rosicrucian (as were many in the Royal Society and in the court of Charles II). In his own lifetime, Newton wrote more on religion than he did on natural science. He believed in a rationally emanent world, but he rejected the hylozoism implicit in Leibniz and Baruch Spinoza. Thus, the ordered and dynamically informed universe could be understood, and must be understood, by an active reason, but this universe, to be perfect and ordained, had to be regular.

Newton's effect on religious thought

Newton and Robert Boyle’s mechanical philosophy was promoted by rationalist pamphleteers as a viable alternative to the pantheists and enthusiasts, and was accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the latitudinarians. Thus, the clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional and metaphysical superlatives of both superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism, and, at the same time, the second wave of English deists used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a "Natural Religion." The attacks made against pre-Enlightenment "magical thinking," and the mystical elements of Christianity, were given their foundation with Boyle’s mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle’s ideas their completion through mathematical proofs, and more importantly was very successful in popularizing them. Newton refashioned the world governed by an interventionist God into a world crafted by a God that designs along rational and universal principles. These principles were available for all people to discover, allowed man to pursue his own aims fruitfully in this life, not the next, and to perfect himself with his own rational powers. The perceived ability of Newtonians to explain the world, both physical and social, through logical calculations alone is the crucial idea in the disenchantment of Christianity. Newton saw God as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation.⁵'^6' But the unforeseen theological consequence of his conception of God, as Leibniz pointed out, was that God was now entirely removed from the world’s affairs, since the need for intervention would only evidence some imperfection in God’s creation, something impossible for a perfect and omnipotent creator. Leibniz's theodicy cleared God from the responsibility for "l'origine du mal" by making God removed from participation in his creation. The understanding of the world was now brought down to the level of simple human reason, and humans, as Odo Marquard argued, became responsible for the correction and elimination of evil. On the other hand, latitudinarian and Newtonian ideas taken too far resulted in the millenarians, a religious faction dedicated to the concept of a mechanical universe, but finding in it the same enthusiasm and mysticism that the Enlightenment had fought so hard to extinguish.

Newton versus the counterfeiters

Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in during The Great Recoinage were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was treason, punishable by death by drawing and quartering. As gruesome as the penalties were, the courts were not arbitrary or capricious. The rights of free men had a long tradition in England and the crown had to prove its case to a jury. The law also allowed for plea bargaining. Convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be maddeningly impossible to achieve; however, Newton proved to be equal to the task. He assembled facts and proved his theories with the same brilliance in law that he had shown in science. He gathered much of that evidence himself, disguised, while he hung out at bars and taverns. For all the barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, English law still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton was made a justice of the peace and between June 1698 and Christmas 1699 conducted some 200 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers and suspects. During this time he obtained the confessions he needed and while he could not resort to open torture, whatever means he did use must have been fearsome because Newton himself later ordered all records of these interrogations to be destroyed. However he did it, Newton won his convictions and in February 1699, he had ten prisoners waiting to be executed. Newton's greatest triumph as the king's attorney was against William Chaloner. Chaloner was a rogue with a devious intelligence. He set up phony conspiracies of Catholics and then turned in the hapless conspirators whom he entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning Parliament, Chaloner accused the Mint of providing tools to counterfeiters. (This charge was made also by others.) He proposed that he be allowed to inspect the Mint's processes in order to improve them. He petitioned Parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited. All the time, he struck false coins, or so Newton eventually proved to a court of competent jurisdiction. On March 23, 1699, Chaloner was hanged, drawn and quartered.

Enlightenment philosophers

Enlightenment philosophers chose a short history of scientific predecessors—Galileo, Boyle, and Newton principally—as the guides and guarantors of their applications of the singular concept of Nature and Natural Law to every physical and social field of the day. In this respect, the lessons of history and the social structures built upon it could be discarded. It was Newton’s conception of the universe based upon Natural and rationally understandable laws that became the seed for Enlightenment ideology. Locke and Voltaire applied concepts of Natural Law to political systems advocating intrinsic rights; the physiocrats and Adam Smith applied Natural conceptions of psychology and self-interest to economic systems, and sociologists critiquing the current social order fit history into Natural models of progress.

Newton's legacy

progress]] Newton's laws of motion and gravity provided a basis for predicting a wide variety of different scientific or engineering situations, especially the motion of celestial bodies. His calculus proved vitally important to the development of further scientific theories. Finally, he unified many of the isolated physics facts that had been discovered earlier into a satisfying system of laws. Newton's conceptions of gravity and mechanics, though not entirely correct in light of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, still represent an enormous step in the evolution of human understanding of the universe. For this reason, he is generally considered one of history's greatest scientists, ranking alongside such figures as Einstein and Carl Friedrich Gauss. In 1717, the Kingdom of Great Britain went on to an unofficial gold standard when Newton, then Master of the Mint, established a fixed price of £3.17.10 ½d per standard (22 carat) troy ounce, equal to £4.4.11 ½d per fine ounce. Under the gold standard the value of the pound (measured in gold weight) remained largely constant until the beginning of the 20th century. Newton is reputed to have invented the cat flap. This was said to be done so that he would not have to disrupt his optical experiments, conducted in a darkened room, to let his cat in or out. Newtonmas is a holiday celebrated by some scientists as an alternative to Christmas, taking advantage of the fact that Newton's birthday falls on December 25. In July 1992, the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences was opened at Cambridge University - it is regarded as the United Kingdom's national institute for mathematical research.

Fictional appearances

Isaac Newton appears in many works of fiction. He is a recurring figure in Rubrique-à-brac, a French comic strip by Marcel Gotlieb. An ongoing gag involves various depictions of the legend that he discovered the law of gravity due to an apple falling on his head. Newton also figures as a major character in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle and in Philip Kerr's novel, Dark Matter. Newton has a cameo role, along with Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein, in a poker game in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation during season 6. Newton is notable in that scene for being the only scientist without a sense of humour. He also takes offence at the notion that the story of the apple would be fictitious. He also appears in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager where it is claimed that a member of the Q Continuum shook the tree he was sitting under, causing the apple to fall. "Isaac Newton's College" is one of the "Wonders of the World" bonus achievements in the classic computer strategy game by Sid Meier, Civilization. One of the more bizarre fictional apperances have been made in a Japanese animated show Vision of Escaflowne, where the main antagonist, Dornkirk, is revealed to be a 200+ year-old Isaac Newton.

Writings by Newton

- Method of Fluxions (1671)
- De Motu Corporum in Gyrum (1684)
- Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
- Opticks (1704)
- [http://www.pierre-marteau.com/currency/ed/newton-intro.html Reports as Master of the Mint] (1701-1725)
- Arithmetica Univ