Essay on HUMAN BEINGS AND NATURE DURING THE REVOLUTION OF THE MIND

Ptolemy, a Roman astronomer came up with the theory that the universe revolved around Earth and all the creatures inhabiting it (Doc. C). This theory, The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, was adjusted by most of the people during The Middle Ages. However, much later on, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, disagreed with Ptolemy’s theory. With his use of math and reason, he came up with a new theory called The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus (Doc. C). He said that the universe & Earth itself revolves around the sun. The Church denied this theory because they did not want to be proven wrong. If the Church was wrong about this part of the universe, this would then cause man to wonder what else they could be wrong about, or even lied to them about. This new theory taught men to think for themselves and not to rely on the Church for

Enlightenment, a stage in life where one should strive for. According to the text “What is Enlightenment” written by Immanuel Kant, enlightenment is “Sapere aude!” (Kant 105), which translates to “dare to know.” One reached enlightenment once they have achieved maturity and freedom. Throughout Immanuel Kant’s work “What is Enlightenment,” (Kant 105) he suggested that mankind developed a dependency on others for answers. Immanuel Kant believed that humankind is lazy and full of cowardice. Kant believed that humans depend too much on others by basing their decisions and thoughts solely on the words of others. Due to dependency, humankind developed a habit of laziness throughout time. This habit eventually serves as the main barrier prohibiting one from being enlightened because one is too lazy to seek the truth or oneself. Kant suggested that in order to each enlightenment, one must not be afraid to take the first step and use one’s own judgment and understanding. One must separate oneself from immaturity, and to achieve that, one must have fearlessness and vigor. Kant also speaks of freedom and suggested that one should have the freedom to express their opinion and act on it, one should be able to criticize what is wrong and change it.

During most of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was not easy for scientists to make new discoveries and present them to the world. The Catholic Church, a dominating force during that period, persecuted anyone who would spread ideas and opinions that contradicted what the Bible stated. Both Copernicus and Galileo believed in the heliocentric theory, also called Copernicus theory, which stated that the sun was at the centre of the universe and the earth revolves around it. However, the Catholic Church did not agree with this idea because the Bible stated that the earth was at the centre of the universe and the sun revolved around it, which is the complete opposite. Due to this disagreement, Copernicus and Galileo were threaded by the Catholic Church and

Another important figure in the Scientific Revolution was Galileo Galilei. He was an Italian born professor of mathematics who had a great interest in the workings of the universe. Galileo served as a professor at the University of Padua, and it was during this time that he began to question the accuracy of the Churches representation of the world. Galileo’s approach towards knowledge was much different then the afore mentioned Copernicus. Where as Copernicus presented his finding to the mercy of the church, Galileo wrote his conclusions and left the Roman Catholic Church interpret them as they chose. The very nature of his findings pitted him as an opponent of the church.

Kant explains that, "enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred immaturity". Immaturity is man's incompetence to have direction for oneself. In other words, enlightenment is the progress of a society through the free activity of rational thought and scholarly critique. Kant feels that if we are going to liberate ourselves from immaturity then we must be able to use our

His more relaxed viewpoint on the interpretations of the Bible and scripture allowed him to accept the Copernican theory. He even justified his stance through principals. The first principle was called biblical limitation. “I should judge that the authority of the Bible was designed to persuade men of these articles and propositions which, by science, or by any other means than through the very mouth of the Holy Spirit.” This principle overall explained that the bible could only be understood and interpreted correctly by the Holy Mother Mary. This gave a justification against claims from previous scholars such as St. Aquinas and St. Augustine. These two scholars took ideas for the overall argument from interpretations of the Bible made from either themselves or those before them. Therefore, Galileo believed that the interpretations were false. This allowed for science to not come in conflict with Catholicism as no one truly understood it. Another principle was the priority of physical demonstration. This principle stressed more on the empirical evidence before scriptural evidence. For this principle, Galileo focused primarily on nature and this allowed him to protect the concept of the Copernican theory from the bible. Since he used empirical evidence on nature, it allowed him to determine that the sun was at the center of the universe. Thus, observation, a major part of scientific

1). Copernicus came from Poland, a very Catholic nation, which explains his choice to dedicate his book to Pope Paul III. John Calvin, a theologian who founded the Calvinist sect of Protestantism, was very fond of astronomy, saying that it shows the wisdom of God (Doc. 2). Other religious figures condemned the work of scientists, like Giovanni Ciampoli, who in a letter to Galileo insisted that Galileo censure facts due to the disagreement of church doctrines to the findings of Galileo (Doc. 3). Other philosophers merged their ideas on the sciences to religious beliefs to please the church and their own traditional beliefs. In a book by Walter Charleton, an English doctor and philosopher, he states that the creation of atoms and arrangement of them could only be achieved by a higher power (Doc. 8). His occupation as a doctor may have led him to this conclusion as the human body is a very complex machine, and it seemed that only God would be capable of engineering such an organism. Another philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz, compares God to an engineer manipulating his machines, further affecting the work of scientists by meshing religious and scientific ideas (Doc. 12). Many scientists’ works were condemned by the church at this time for blasphemy, so many turned to deism, where God made the Universe like a clock and let it run on its own. Many scientists’ work during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was

Similar to Huck's willingness to face punishment for illegal activity and nonconformity, Galileo went against the Catholic Church's beliefs and declared that the Earth went around the Sun. An Italian astronomer and physicist, Galileo Galilei invented the telescope in 1609 and his observations supported Copernicus' theory that all planets revolved around the Sun. However, Galileo's belief faced much opposition as it did not follow the ideas of the Church, which had monumental influence on society at that time. This indeed set the scene for an individual's clash with the ideals of society. Although Galileo did not want to instigate conflict, he could

During the Scientific Revolution, in the 17th century, several philosophers began to doubt scientific knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. One of those philosophers, Galileo, discovered a new innovation that could have changed the viewpoint on the Church’s Scripture accuracy. Galileo discovered that the sun stayed still as the Earth revolved around it, which was the opposite of what the Church taught. During this time, it was very dangerous for Galileo to oppose the Church. This was because doubts about the Church would lead to a loss of its power and the people’s trust, which was unwanted.

This essay will explore parallels between the ideas of the scientific revolution and the enlightenment. The scientific revolution describes a time when great changes occurred in the way the universe was viewed, d through the advances of sciences during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The enlightenment refers to a movement that grew out of the new scientific ideas of the revolution that occurred in the late seventeenth to eighteenth century. Although both the scientific revolution and enlightenment encapsulate different ideas, the scientific revolution laid the underlying ideological foundations for the enlightenment movement. A number of parallels

It is evident that the Catholic Church realized their inaccuracy of their theory of the function of the solar system. After several centuries, the church accepted the truth in the theory of Galilei’s heliocentrism theory. The Timeline further explains that in, “1939: Pope Pius XII called Galileo a hero of research”(Doc A: Line 14). Galileo was no longer known as heresy of the Catholic religion but rather a hero that drew the line between reality and belief.

In the 17th Century, there was much controversy between religion and science. The church supported a single worldview that God’s creation was the center of the universe. The kings and rulers were set in their ways to set the people’s minds to believe this and to never question it. From these ideas, the Enlightenment was bred from the Scientific Revolution.

Over two centuries ago the Catholic Church tried Galileo, because he published his book in 1632 that supported the heliocentric ideas that originated from Copernicus. The church claimed that the heliocentric theory went against scripture. During this time the Catholic Church believed in the idea that the Earth was at the center of the universe. This was called the geocentric theory, which had been around for nearly 1500 years. Galileo was tried less than a year later in 1633. The trial was private, because the church feared the community would support him, because he was one of the most achieved astronomers of their time. The church’s committee unanimously voted that his book, the Two Chief World Systems violated his

In the beginning of Emmanuel Kant’s What is Enlightenment, he stays true to his title and gives his definition of enlightenment. By his understanding, enlightenment is ones "release from self-incurred tutelage." By this he is implying for one to reach enlightenment they must be able to free themselves from the superintendence of others and their reason, while harnessing the ability to successfully use their own reason. In other words, it is movement towards a reliance on self-reason. According to Kant an enlightened person comes to his ideas on his own.

The “scientific mind”, or how people think about the world, has changed multiple times throughout history. Before the 1700s, people had a more religious-based point of view on life; the church was considered to be far more important than it is today. With the church’s iron grip over society and its people, it came with a shock as the 1700s passed by and more and more people started to think for themselves. The acceptance of having more freedom, when it came to religion and change, changed the world forever.During the scientific revolution, Isaac Newton, Rene Descartes, and Francis Bacon all came up with principal scientific