Synchronicity Cambray

ackground will help. As I have briefly written elsewhere, 13 the origins
of modern science are usually placed in the seventeenth century,
though even orthodox histories of science recognize a few significant
individuals prior to this, most notably Copernicus (1473–1543), and
several others whose lives spanned into the seventeenth century:
Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), Galileo (1564–1642), and Kepler (1571–1630)
who, as seen in chapter 1, was a subject of great interest to Pauli (“The
Influence of Archetypal Ideas on the Scientific Theories of Kepler”).
Those who articulated basic, universal laws of physics, especially when
stated in mathematical terms, are generally heralded as the founders
of the Western scientific view of the cosmos. Although Kepler did
begin this quantification of nature, albeit in a heuristic manner, with
his laws of planetary motion, it was without a deeper explanatory
theory that would have provided a rationale for the observations and
testable hypotheses to extend them. Thus the philosopher-scientistmathematicians
who sought to both systematize and explain natural
phenomenon are given pride of place, beginning with René Descartes
with his analytical geometry. Descartes is also known for his philosophical
views stemming from his meditations, especially the view
of soul as wholly separate from the body, a radical dualism in which
matter and mind are completely distinct entities. Centuries of debate
on the origins and nature of consciousness began with Descartes; this
problem is (re)gaining attention in the twenty-first century as technological
probing of the brain/mind interplay is becoming accessible
to scientific exploration.
The greatest exponent of the mathematical approach during
this inaugural period was, of course, Isaac Newton. Using his laws
of motion combined with his conception of universal gravitation,
Newton was able to give an accurate theoretical account for Kepler’s
observational “laws” of planetary motion. The subsequent success
of Newtonian physics resulted in a mechanistic worldview that held
sway for several centuries and still has application for human scale
observations, but this achievement was troubled over time on two
major points. First, an understanding of gravity: while Newton’s laws
gave accurate mathematical description of gravitational forces and
the movement of bodies, especially observable celestial objects like
Visions and Science of Field Theory ( 37 )