The Scientific Revolution Of Western Civilizations

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.

In the book “ The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction”, Lawrence Principe discusses the general occurring events of the scientific revolution, and overviews various in-depth details in relation to those events. People at the time highly focused on the meanings and causes of their surrounds, as their motive was to “control, improve and exploit” (Principe 2) the world. In his work, Principe has successfully supported the notion that the Scientific Revolution stood as a period in time where one's innovation would drive improvements towards change and continuity of future innovations, along with changes of tradition. His statement is strongly backed by his detailed and particular order of events throughout the book. Nevertheless, certain details that lead beyond the necessary background are found, as they do not appertain to the general line of the book, but rather for background knowledge.

Over the course of the years, society has been reformed by new ideas of science. We learn more and more about global warming, outer space, and technology. However, this pattern of gaining knowledge did not pick up significantly until the Scientific Revolution. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the Scientific Revolution started, which concerned the fields of astronomy, mechanics, and medicine. These new scientists used math and observations strongly contradicting religious thought at the time, which was dependent on the Aristotelian-Ptolemy theory. However, astronomers like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton accepted the heliocentric theory. Astronomical findings of the Scientific Revolution disproved the fact that humans were

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.

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.

Copernicus discovery was a revelation and it undermined the system of hierarchy in the universe that gave order to the world, which was central to the Christian faith. (7) It was believed that God had created the universe for man, and that he had given the central position in his creation to man, giving people a profound sense of security however Copernicus theory took away man’s central position in the universe. (7) The new scientific discoveries were detrimental to authority as they fostered doubt uncertainty, anxiety and threated belief in the faith (*), however the full implications of these discoveries were not fully understood by people during the scientific revolution. The enlightenment further built on this decreasing belief in political and religious authority, and an increasing belief in the power through human reason (8). Critical reason was believed to be able to be used to combat both ignorance and tyranny. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) viewed the enlightenment as man emerging from a self-imposed state of immaturity. He believed that with critical reasoning man would be enlightened with the truth, further building on the discoveries of the scientific revolution, the enlightenment enabled was the start of people questioning, what they believed with critical reason. The so called age of reason’ targeted religion and the old way of Aristotelian logic.(8) The discoveries of the scientific

The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, which spanned from the late 1500’s to 1700’s, shaped today’s modern world through disregarding past information and seeking answers on their own through the scientific method and other techniques created during the Enlightenment. Newton’s ‘Philsophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ and Diderot’s Encyclopedia were both composed of characteristics that developed this time period through the desire to understand all life, humans are capable of understanding the Earth, and a sense of independence from not having to rely on the nobles or church for knowledge.

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.

The Scientific Revolution not only led to countless inventions that changed the way of life, but changed people’s perspectives on many subjects such as the natural world. Copernicus changed the traditional view of the universe from an earth centered theory to a sun centered theory based on data collected from his predecessors in the field of astronomy. The key to proving this new view of the universe was the collaboration of other scientists, such as Galileo, and the usage of new astronomical instruments, particularly the telescope. The telescope allowed systematic observations of the universe, which ultimately supported the heliocentric view of the universe. This new view questioned everything that was fundamental to the Christian faith, which infuriated the Catholic Church (Spielvogel 475-480, 493).

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.

The first event that occured in set one was The Scientific Revolution. In the 1500’s changes took place in science that directed towards a new way of looking at the universe versus only looking at it from a religious standpoint. European scholars made new advances in chemistry, medicine, physics, etc. These new teachings about the physical world led to the beginning of the Scientific Revolution. Scientists looked for natural laws in the universe, which led to the Enlightenment philosophers looking for natural laws that governed society and politics. After the Scientific Revolution, an era known as The Enlightenment occurred in the 1700’s. In the Enlightenment, philosophers developed new ideas about basic human rights and the way government

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.

During the 14th century, the worldview of people was extremely superstitious, little was known about the human body, medicine, the universe, or simple laws of science that seem very rudimentary to us today. People during this time had complete faith in the Catholic Church and those who said any different were deemed heretics. However, these things started changing as time marched on into the 15th century. As time went on, the worldview of intellectual people started changing from ecclesiastical and sectarian mindsets who listened to a classical authority, to one based on inquiry and observation of the natural world. This time period of advancements in art and science was labeled The Renaissance and The Scientific Revolution by modern historians.

Nothing seems to generate as much controversy as having historians decide whether events actually were a revolution. The very term is defined and redefined to allow or disallow as to the author’s predilection. So how does a mere student defend against Steven Shapin’s provocative claim: “There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it...”? So great is this claim that Professor Daniel Garber begins his lecture with it and Marcelo Dascal and Victor D Boantza use it to start their book’s introduction , apart from so many writers seem to wish that they had thought of that phrase themselves, it does highlight the problem of whether it can be called a revolution. My view is that one must compare the period from

challenged the Catholic Church’s power to dictate knowledge to people of all standing in society