Monday, November 26, 2012
Chapter 18
Inductive vs Deductive
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VS953hRXwY Art Heads
http://www.thecaveonline.com/APEH/voltairebiography.html Voltaire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvEq5KEhytU&feature=related Baroque as a weapon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWXP8670IQE Rem
http://members.tripod.com/~Nevermore/ctgfaq.htmhttp://fascinatinghistory.blogspot.com/2005/06/catherine-great-and-her-many-lovers.html Catherine the Great
http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/3301/3381043/flash_cards/index17.html Flash Cards
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1719defoe-women.html Women
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/shorthistory.stm Methodist
http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Mathematicians/Galileo.html Galielo Site
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/SCIREV.HTM Scientific Revolution Site-Check out parts of it.
http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/westciv/science/ Nice Site to Click and Read
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html Von Leeuwenhoek
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/pascal.html Pascal
http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/GLOSSARY/CARTES.HTM Cartesianism
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/galileo/ NOVA Galielo Site
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/harrison
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7 comments:
I was first drawn to site on Antony van Leeuwenhoek because I was interested in learning about him, since he was never mentioned in class, the text, or the notes. He certainly should have been - what a guy! His accomplishments - discovering bacteria, white and red blood cells, improving microscopes, and many more - were remarkable and so important to the world of science. Not to mention, he came from an average family and received little education. Leeuwenhoek should be regarded as one of the most important contributers to the microscopic field of science. I really enjoyed reading the biography of such an interesting and important figure.
Next, I read the page about Blaise Pascal. I knew of his great contributions to mathematics, but I was surprised to find out things I didn't know about him. For instance, I wasn't aware of the work he did to prove that vacumes could and did exist. Also, his involvement and religious convictions with the Jansenists were interesting to learn about. Overall, I enjoyed learning more about the "triangle guy" than his triangle alone.
The site on the Education of Women was interesting first taking a look at why Women were never educated, most ideas of why not seem silly. From music and dance they would learn language and from language speech and conversation. It seems that if taught a women can be all a man can and better which could of lead to fear from a man's standpoint. With the introduction of Salons Women began to get greater respect and an increase in education.
The life of Voltaire interested me as well. His constant movement allowed him to see different parts of the world and how each worked. Hiding and running seemed to be his main options besides his preaching of rebellion. Finding a way to spread his knowledge besides speech he began to write plays and poetry. Interestingly he became popular in all of Europe even France, the country that had imprisoned and beat him. Voltaire ran his mouth greatly but always had intelligent remarks and wit to see him through.
OK. So. The first link I clicked on was the "fascinating history" link on Catherine the Great. I didn't read the text in the link, so I was rather surprised when I started to read and found out the article was about Catherine's sex life. After getting over my initial surprise, I decided to view this new information in the light that it showed (to some degree) that she was a rather modern woman. The fact that the court physician and a countess knew about her going-ons shows her decision not to play the "Virgin Queen" like Queen Elizabeth I.
The other site I checked out was the one about Antony van Leeuwenhoek. When his name appeared in the presentation the other day in class, it rung a bell; then I realized I had read about him in a "Cricket" magazine as a little kid. Having vague ideas of microscopes and enlarged images of water mites floating through my head, I was eager to read the information. van Leeuwenhoek came from an average family but educated himself to the point that he built over 500 microscopes. With these, he discovered bacteria, protists, and small water life. While that might not seem too important, his discoveries opened up a whole new world to scientists.
The first article I read was on The Education of Women, by Daniel Defoe. I was rather interested in such an article since, I had very little knowledge on whether women were encouraged to be educated or not. Luckily Mr. Defoe was an advocate for them. His views incorporated the best of both worlds for his time, a woman who was well educated and witty, but she also was well mannered and was able to be lady-like. During these times there were very well educated women coming out of the woodwork, such as Maria Theresa, Catherine the Great, and Mary Wollstonecraft, so if they could make a difference as well educated noble women, imagine how much education could help the common woman during the 18th century.
The next article I was definitely drawn to was on Catherine the Great. I am so utterly fascinated by this woman (plus there's tons of dirt on her). I actually have been on the Fascinating History blog before from a result of my late-night history blog binges. The blog really showed how scandalous Catherine the Great's life was. An Empress consenting to Catherine having a lover to produce an heir? It has been done before but I had never heard of the girl actually getting consent to do such a thing. I was also shocked on how modern she was health wise when it came to doing the deed. It is quite brilliantly done actually, get the man examined, then give him a lesson on what to do and not to do. Catherine the Great was really an interesting ruler and this entry proved it!
Voltaire was against oppression, cruelty and was for freedom of thought. Through his comparisons of England and France, Voltaire shows how England not only has freedom of thought, but actualy celebrates literary men and scientists. Because the Catholic Church resided in France, Voltaire developed a hatred toward the institution. Voltaire also emphasized the Greek's and Roman's advancements in knowledge.
Caretesianism is the system in which certain knowledge is derived through reason from inate ideas. It goes against the traditional system, empiricism, which originates from Aristotle, but both systems gained their scientific theories through observations and theories. Cartesianism alows for some uncertainty, because it includes God. Caresianism also includes two finite substances, either and matter. Descartes philosophy origens can be traced to mathmatics. he invented analytic geometry.
Because all the other articles I wanted to read weren't there, I chose to learn about the difference between Deductive and Inductive reasoning. These terms get thrown around a lot, but many (including myself) are confused on the exact distinctions between them. According to socialresearchmethods.net, deductive is much more "top-down" in approach. The investigator begins with a theory, which is honed to a testable hypothesis and confirmed or debunked based on real data and experimentation. Conversely, the inductive process does not begin with a particular conjecture , but rather deals with the observation of patterns in measurements and, well, observations. From there, it is up to the scientist to draw a conclusion from their findings. The article also suggested that these two methods can be, and often are, used together, which is something I had not considered before.
The second thingee I read was the biography of Voltaire. I didn't learn anything too suprising here; as I had known before, much of Voltaire's thought and work was concerned with battling oppression and supporting freedom of though. A few facts stood out, however. Firstly, Voltaire also was a historian and popularized the term the "Dark Ages" for the Medieval era because of the restricted thinking and theocracy that characterized the time. While living in England, he wrote numerous popular plays. Later, he even battled intolerance in the legal system; for instance, in the Jean Calas case, he worked tirelessly to have the religiously-motivated conviction overturned and recieved widespread recognition for his work. Voltaire was quite a dude.
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