POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

OPEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Intellectual
Revolutions that
Defined Society
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

OPEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Intellectual
Revolutions that
Defined Society:
Copernicus
Overview
• Revolution is a fundamental change of perspective
or view ("Definition of REVOLUTION", n.d.). This
involves paradigm shifting.
Objectives
After successful completion of this module, you
should be able to:
1. know how ideas of Copernicus, Darwin, and
Freud inspired the spark of scientific revolution;
2. trace the evolution of computers from its simple
beginnings to its present and various forms;
3. articulate ways by which society is transformed
by science and technology.
Astronomy before
Copernicus
 Uses of Astronomy
• To tell time
• To determine the
seasons
• Calendars
• Navigation
• Predict the future
(eclipses & rainfall)
Greek Science
• Did not rely on
supernatural
explanations
• Used mathematics
• Used logic and
reasoning
• Developed the idea of
scientific models
Arabic Science
• Much of the Greek • Continued to develop
knowledge was lost math and astronomy
with the burning of the • When Constantinople
Library at Alexandria fell, scholars headed
• Europe feel into Dark west, leading to
Ages, Baghdad became European Renaissance.
center
• Influence from China,
India, and Greece
Greeks and Planets
Aristotelian Model
• Geocentric
• Concentric crystalline
spheres
Greeks and Planets
Ptolemaic Model
• Still geocentric
• Explained Retrograde
motion of planets
• Used smaller circles called
epicycles moving around
bigger circles called the
deferent
• Used for 1500 years
 Epicycle

Equant

Deferent
Copernican Revolution
Nicolaus Copernicus
• Adopted idea from
Aristarchus of Samos
• Heliocentrism – planets
orbit the sun
• Not accepted quickly
because it has several
shortcomings
 Tycho Brahe
• Lived 1546-1601
• Geo-heliocentricm
• Sun and Moon orbited
the Earth, while the
other planets orbited the
Sun
 Johannes Kepler
• 1571-1630
• Three laws of planetary motion:
1. the planets revolve in elliptical orbits
with the Sun at one focus;
2. the time needed to traverse any arc of a
planetary orbit is proportional to the
area of the sector between the central
body and that arc (“area law”);
3. there is an exact relationship between
the squares of the planets’ periodic
times and the cubes of the radii of their
orbits (“harmonic law”).
Galileo Galilei
• 1564-1642
• Did not invent the
telescope, improved it
• Father of Observational
Astronomy
• Championed the
Copernican model and
gathered evidence to
support it
Galileo
Objections to Copernicus Galileo's Responses
If Earth were moving, birds, clouds, Physics experiments leading to
etc. would fall off as Earth moved Newton’s first law
Heavens are perfect Inperfections: sunspots, moon not a
• Circular orbits perfect sphere
Orbits are elliptical, not circular
(Kepler)
If Earth orbits, parallax should have Parallax was negligible because stars
been observed were so distant
Supplementary Course Materials
Watch:
• The Scientific Revolution: Crash Course History of
Science #12
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzo8vnxSARg
• The New Astronomy: Crash Course History of Science
#13
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FYvy3_egHw
Points to ponder
1. Although we now know that Earth is not the
center of the universe/solar system, what were
the factors that made people believe of
geocentrism for 1500 years?
2. What were the hurdles of the early beginnings of
heliocentricism?
3. How were the people behind heliocentrism able
to convince the public about it?
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

OPEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Intellectual
Revolutions that
Defined Society:
Darwin
Biology Before Darwin
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Thomas Robert Malthus
• Inheritance of Acquired • Essay on the Principle of
Characteristics - 1802 Populations - 1798
• Proposed that environmental • Argued that a population will
events could cause a response outgrow its resources if left
in organisms that can be unchecked
inherited and passed on to
generations
Cuvier (early 1800s)
- paleontology:
the history of life
recorded in rock
strata
Charles Lyell
• Principles of Geology (1830-
33)
• revived Hutton's principle of
slow geological change, and
presented a classic
explanation of development
over millions of years
Animal husbandry: Shows how a pup inherits its traits from parents
Darwinian Revolution
Charles Darwin in 1859, the year The Origin of
Species was published
The Voyage of HMS Beagle 1831-1836
Galapagos Islands
Diversification of finches on the Galápagos Islands
 The Origin of Species
• Descent with Modification (evolution)
• unity of life
• all organisms related through a distant ancestor
• Natural Selection and Adaptation
• the mechanism of evolution
• capacity for “overproduction” of offspring
• a struggle for survival
• variability in population favors some individuals over others
 A Darwinian View of Life
(Darwin’s main ideas)
• Natural selection is differential success in reproduction
• Natural selection occurs through an interaction between
the environment and the inherent variability among the
individuals making up a population
• The product of natural selection is the adaptation of
populations to their environment
 Evidence for Evolution
• Evidence that Species are Related
• Geographic proximity of similar but distinct species.
• Homologies: structural, developmental, and genetic.
Structural homology

Humerus

Radius and ulna

Carpals
Metacarpals

Phalanges

Turtle Human Horse Bird Bat Seal

Developmental homology

Both the chick and

the human have gill
pouches and tails

Chick Human
Evidence for Evolution –
Darwin’s Predictions

• Evidence that Species Change over Time:

• Law of succession
• In a given geographic region, species are succeeded by similar
species
• Evidence of extinctions in the fossil record
• Vestigial traits
 Law of Succession

Present- Fossil
day sloth sloth
Extinctions

• Fossils of trilobites,
animals that lived in
the seas hundreds of
millions of years ago
Vestigial Traits

• left - human coccyx

• right - Capuchin monkey tail (used for balance,
locomotion)
Darwin as an ape - Public reception of Darwin ideas
Clock analogy for some key events in
evolutionary history
Challenges to the
understanding of evolution:
• Chance
• Contingency
• Deep time
• Extinctions
• Continuity of process
 Conclusion of “On the Origin of Species”

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been
originally breathed (by the Creator) into a few forms or into one; and that,
whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity,
from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most
wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

- Charles Darwin, 1859

Supplementary Course Materials
Watch:
• What is evolution?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhHOjC4oxh8
• Myths and misconceptions about evolution
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZt1Gn0R22Q
Points to ponder
1. How does the notion that evolution is a continuous process,
happening all around us all the time, rather than some remote
process that happened long ago, influence the way you think about
life on Earth?
2. Evolution has been a controversial subject even to this date, what do
you think hinders the general public from embracing or
understanding it?
3. Over the years, a variety of Creationistic “alternatives” to evolution
have surfaced in the popular media (e.g. “scientific creationism” and
“intelligent design”). Why is the general public often quick to
embrace these ideas? Why are these ideas quickly rejected by the
scientific community?
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

OPEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Intellectual
Revolutions that
Defined Society:
Freud
Psychology before Freud
Early Beginnings of Psychology:
Relation of mind to body
Mind and body are Mind and body are
connected distinct
The Hebrews Socrates
Aristotle Plato
Augustine Descartes
Early Beginnings of Psychology:
Formation of Ideas
Some ideas are inborn The mind is a blank state
Socrates Aristotle
Plato Locke
Psychology Today
• The scientific study of behavior (what we do) and
mental processes (inner thoughts and feelings)

51
Personality
• Individual’s unique patterns of thinking,
feeling, and behaving
• Personality theory
• Attempt to describe and explain how
people are similar, how they are different,
and why every individual is unique
Personality According to
Freud
 Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
• Founder of psychoanalysis
• Proposed the first complete theory of
personality
• Thinks that a person’s thoughts and
behaviors emerge from tension
generated by unconscious motives and
unresolved childhood conflicts.
Psychoanalytic Approach
• Psychoanalysis is:
• an approach to therapy
• a theory of personality
• Emphasizes unconscious motivation
• causes of behavior lie buried in the
unconscious mind
Freud: Conscious,
preconscious, and
unconscious mind
Conscious Mind
• All the thoughts, feelings, and
sensations that you are aware of at this
particular moment represent the
conscious level
Preconscious Mind
• A region of the mind holding information that is not
conscious but is easily retrievable into conscious
awareness
• Holds thoughts and memories not in one’s current
awareness but can easily be retrieved (childhood
memories, phone number)
Unconscious Mind
• A region of the mind that includes unacceptable thoughts,
wishes, feelings, and memories
• No awareness of these thoughts, wishes, etc. but these
exert influence over our conscious thoughts and behavior
• Dreams were “The royal road to the unconsciousness” –
behind the surface image (manifest content) lied the true
hidden meaning (latent content)
• Freudian Slips
Id, Ego, and Superego
Psychoanalytic
Divisions of the Mind: Id
• Instinctual drives present at birth
• Does not distinguish between reality and fantasy
• Operates on the “pleasure principle”
• Demands immediate gratification
• Sources of energy
• Eros - life instinct, perpetuates life
• Thanatos - death instinct, aggression, self-destructive actions
• Libido - sexual energy or motivation
Psychoanalytic
Divisions of the Mind: Ego
• Develops out of the id in infancy
• understands reality and logic
• mediator between id and superego
• Operates on “reality principle” or the ability to
postpone gratification in accordance with demands
of reality
• Can repress desires that cannot be met in an
acceptable manner
Psychoanalytic
Divisions of the Mind: Superego
• Develops around ages 5-6
• Internalization of society’s and parental moral standards
• Focuses on what the person “should” do
• Partially unconscious
• Can be harshly punitive using feelings of guilt
Freud's Psychosexual
Stages
 Stages of Psychosexual Development
Age Pleasure Major
Stage Fixation
Bracket Source Development
smoking, overeating, nail
coming off breast biting; optimism and
Oral 0-1 years mouth
feeding independence; pessimism and
hostility
overly neat, precise, and
Anal 1-3 years anus toilet training orderly; disorganized, messy,
and destructive
oedipus/electra
Phallic 3-6 years genitals sexual dysfunction
complex
developing defence social skills; find comfort in
Latency 6-12 years none
mechanisms peer or family interaction
Genital 12+ years genitals full sexual maturity mentally healthy
Freud's Defense
Mechanisms
Three types of anxiety
• Reality anxiety - most basic form of anxiety and is based on
the ego. It is typically based on the fear of real and possible
events.
• Neurotic anxiety - an unconscious fear that the basic
impulses of the id will take control of the person, leading to
eventual punishment from expressing the id's desires
• Moral anxiety - comes from the superego. It appears in the
form of a fear of violating values or moral codes, and
appears as feelings like guilt or shame.
Defense Mechanisms

• Unconscious mental processes

employed by the ego to reduce
anxiety by unconsciously distorting
reality.
Repression

• Puts anxiety-producing thoughts,

feelings, and memories into the
unconscious mind
• The basis for all other defense
mechanisms
Denial

• Lets an anxious person refuse to

admit that something unpleasant is
happening
Regression

• Allows an anxious person to retreat to

a more comfortable, infantile stage of
life
Reaction Formation

• Replacing an unacceptable wish

with its opposite
Projection

• Reducing anxiety by attributing

unacceptable impulses or problems
about yourself to someone else
Rationalization

• Displaces real, anxiety-provoking

explanations with more comforting
justifications for one’s actions
• Reasoning away anxiety-producing
thoughts
Displacement

• Shifts an unacceptable impulse

toward a more acceptable or less
threatening object or person
Sublimation
• A form of displacement in which
sexual urges are channeled into
nonsexual activities that are valued
by society
Undoing
• Unconsciously neutralizing an anxiety causing
action by doing a second action that undoes the
first
Erik Erickson's Psychosocial Theory
Points to Ponder
1. There are still a lot of things to discover about the human
psyche, one of the most popular ones is the “nature
versus nurture” debate. Which of the two are you more
inclined to support? What led you to this kind of belief?
2. Freud has a lot of controversial ideas, a lot of those have
been debunked; why do you think Freud's works should
still be looked into?
3. How does Freud's ideas help you understand yourself?
4. What Freudian techniques could you think of that will
help you reduce your own stress and anxiety?
Supplementary Course Materials
Watch:

• Psycotheraphy - Sigmund Freud

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQaqXK7z9LM
• History vs. Sigmund Freud - Todd Dufresne
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKG-PEVYOR8
Sources
Barlup, S. (2006). Psychology.
Copernican revolution. En.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernican_Revolution.
Definition of revolution. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolution
Evolution (Darwin and Darwinism). Retrieved from fairfield.edu
Freud's psychoanalytic theories. En.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freud%27s_psychoanalytic_theories.
Galileo Galilei. (2020). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei
Mister Simplify. (2019). Freud's psychosexual stages of development - simplest explanation [Video]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHtyNhdAUes
Personality [Power Point slides].
Psychoanalytic theory [Power Point slides].
Tycho Brahe. (2020). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe
Tycho Brahe Johannes Kepler. Retrieved from http://homepages.spa.umn.edu
The Darwinian Revolution. Evolution-of-man.info. https://evolution-of-man.info/history.htm.
Westman, R. Johannes Kepler - Kepler’s social world. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-
Kepler/Keplers-social-world