Changes Brought about the Scientific Revolution

Humanism has played a very large role in history. The Middle Ages was a period in time where religion flourish and everything was based on what the church declared. This “religious fervor” was challenged by logical and secular thoughts and the new philosophical movement called “Humanism” was born. Humanism focused on the secular way of life, they focused on the truth and pursue intellectual inquiry. HUmanism rediscovered the Greek and Roman classical culture and was readopted in society. Humanist scholars focused on humans and glorified them and all of their natural “beauty”. They also ruled out supernatural powers, like gods. They used their own abilities and values to pursue what they wanted and used their wisdom to solve problems and find solutions. This literary and artistic movement crushed religious thought and paved a new way of creativity. This new era was called the Renaissance.

In the beginning God created the heavens with the Earth along with man in his own image. For over 1500 years, Christian followers were heavy believers of the bible, seeing it as the primary source for knowledge. Then came the scientific revolution in the 1500s, a movement which challenged the Christian view of the universe. It was a time when people were looking for a new way of thinking about the world. Since then and to this day, there has been several instances in which scientific inquiry and religious belief have collided in their ideologies.

The Scientific Revolution was when modern science was essentially established, which came along with the major scientific discoveries took place at the time. Some major scientists that contributed to this major era include Nicholas Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton. The scientific revolution took place following the Renaissance, from the mid-1500’s until about 1700. This revolution took place throughout Europe. This occurred because, following the Renaissance and the reformation, people became very curious and wanted to understand how the Earth worked. It was almost as if, being that this occurred after the reformation, that they wanted to either confirm or refute the church’s claims. The significance of the scientific revolution was one of great proportions, it changed mankind’s understanding the importance of science, and of how the Earth and solar system function.

The Scientific Revolution had a tremendous impact on the Western Civilization. The desire to discover who was correct stimulated new scientific work thus the Scientific Revolution. Some of the bountiful people who contributed to the impact on the Western Civilization included William Harvey, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton. All of these men tested the boundaries of what people new to be true at the time. Individually, these men innovated science.

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What was the Scientific Revolution and why was it so important to Europe? What did the scientific revolution help develop during time? These are some of the questions that many ask themselves when asked to define scientific revolution and enlightenment in the 17th/ 18th century. The terms “Scientific Revolution” and “Enlightenment” are used to describe two important phases that Europe came across during the 1500s to the 1800s. The 17th century scientific revolution left a huge impact on Europe leading it to the 18th century enlightenment. The Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th century was the start and new beginning to the modern science. The new discoveries that were being developed during this period led to a more clear way of understanding why things happened. The scientific revolution removed a state of ignorance and error, which eventually led to the age of enlightenment in the 18th century. There were many people who disbelieved the improvements and changes that Europe was going through. Instead of taking the new material as an advantage to the society many people were receiving it as something evil. Thankfully there were some people who approved of the changes and helped with the process. The scientific revolution and enlightenment brought new ideas into how people lived, thought, and worshipped.

Humanism; the study of classical texts and ideas led to a movement. This happened in the 1200’s, because people once again wanted to gain knowledge, also due to the fact that war and political instability had disrupted society. Humanism stressed many subjects but mostly classical subjects as history and literature. The whole purpose of humanism was to create well-rounded individuals and to encourage people to achieve all they could in life. The effect of the stressing of the importance of the individuals caused medieval thinking.

The discoveries made during the Scientific Revolution were incredible, impactful, and never even thought about before. However, these new discoveries were constantly under fire from the church. Even so, the breakthroughs kept coming, and the church couldn’t stop them. Some of these scientific discoveries are still in use today, and were the building blocks to modern science. The people who made these revelations were the scientists who first found out that the earth revolved around the sun, or that the moon was full of holes and craters. There were many conflicts throughout this period, as the church didn’t want their power and ideas to come into question. That was unacceptable to them.

Many of the scientists involved in the Scientific Revolution were devout Catholics, and they would obey any order from the church. However, the church did not appreciate the challenging of their ideas. The church’s scientific ideas were taken from classical scientists, such as Aristotle. If anyone disagreed or questioned these theories, they were considered heretical and immediately put on trial.

The Scientific Revolution was a period in 17th century Europe in which people were trying to explore the “unknowable”. Scientists, philosophers, physicist, and others were trying to understand what could be measured and observable. During this time, many ideas and discoveries were made. The scientific method, physics, and alchemy were discovered. René Descarte believed that everything through formulas, they only needed to be discovered, and “invented” deductive reasoning - or using a formula to predict a phenomenon. Francis Bacon that people should be able to carefully observe and notice how things worked. He also came up with inductive reasoning - using the phenomenon to predict the formula - and the empirical method - this involved gathering

Kuhn used the “Chemical Revolution” as one of his primary examples of a scientific revolution and based on what was read and discussed in class, I agree with Kuhn’s analysis. Historical examples of Kuhn’s account of the chemical revolution in the Structure of Scientific Revolution are exemplified in the Phlogiston theory, its period as a paradigm, point of normal science, and eventually the theory’s abandonment for Lavoisier’s discovery of oxygen as a point of Scientific Revolution.

I believe the Scientific Revolution was not intending to be a war on tradition and religion. The scientists and philosophers of the scientific revolution did not set out to change the world or cause war on tradition and religion. The scientific revolution developed gradually over a period and was revolutionary in the sense that it transformed human thought, just as political revolutions have changed systems of governments. The scientific revolution challenged traditional views of the world and fostered a new way of thinking that relied on empiricism and skepticism rather than accepted, fundamental truths, a development which changed the world forever. Due to increased emphasis placed on experimentation and empirical knowledge during the

Throughout the Scientific Revolution, scientists and natural philosophers created a new scientific world by questioning popular ideas and constructing original models. During the 1500s and 1600s, the concept of individualism, the principle of being independent and self-reliant, began to be applied to one’s life. People began to have individual thoughts and started to disagree with commonly believed ideas promoted by the Church. As this way of thinking expanded throughout Europe, scientists looked to others for clarification and support on scientists’ ideas. Scientists needed the acceptance of others and the money of patrons to spread their ideas and discoveries. During this era the work of scientists were positively impacted by the views of society, the influence the church had over the general public and the power held by political leaders.

Before the Scientific Revolution began to take shape around the year 1550, the world of science was exceedingly narrow and thought to be known. The scientific views of the pre-scientific revolution stem back even further than the popular Aristotelian era of science. Hippocrates contributed greatly to the field of science, especially in the field of medicine. It was during his years of medical studies that Hippocrates theorized the “Four Temperaments”. This theory hypothesized that there are four bodily fluids in a human that affect that human’s personality and behavior. The bodily fluids were blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. These four temperaments were also to have been thought to be linked or associated with a vital force. If these bodily fluids, known as humors, became imbalanced then it is said to have an effect on a person’s mood, emotions, or behaviors. The vital force which was tied to these temperaments was said to be a type of force that had no connection to physical or chemical forces. This unknown force, although unnamed during its period of belief, was a philosophical principle known as Vitalism. Vitalism had been the belief and basis of scientific method for years before Hippocrates. Vitalism is the life-giving force that enables living organisms to function. It was thought that an organism contains a form of energy within which completes and animates it. Up until the start of the scientific revolution, vitalism had been the foundation of biological

The Scientific revolution changed everyone's outlook on science. People were starting to challenge the church's way of doing things and their astronomy. The scientist did not believe that the scientists 300 years ago were right. They thought of the world differently. They conducted experiments differently too. It took more than one scientist to make this revolution come to life. People like Copernicus, Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton are the leaders in the revolution. That is only 3 of them, and there’s a lot more than that.