The Scientific Revolution
Meagan Jones
What is the Scientific Revolution?
The Scientific Revolution was a point in time where ancient theories and ideas were revisited and challenged. This created a brand new view of the universe. It took place over a long period of time and only involved a few hundred people studying in fairly different areas. The concepts and methods found during this revolution set the standard for proving the discoveries made today in the Western world. In fact, an intellectual revolution such as this one may be more outlasting than any political revolution as it is still evident we use the same theories.
Nicolaus Copernicus
His heliocentric theory put the sun in the center of the solar system rather than the Earth. His model of the solar sysytem was much more detailed than that of astronomers who had made the theory before. However, the geocentric theory was more widely accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, and parts of Copernicus' theory would be proved incorrect, like his thought that the planet's orbit were circular.
Tycho Brahe
His study of planetary movement would help Kepler make the model of the solar system we have today. He discovered that comets were further away from Earth than the moon, which proves that comets are not an atmospheric phenomenon. He also proved that space was changing by finding a super nova, once again proving Aristotle wrong. His heliogeocentric theory stated that the sun revolved around the Earth and the rest of the planets revolved around the sun, and it was widely accepted.
Johannes Kepler
He developed three Laws of Planetary Motion. His first law states that the planets move in an elliptical orbit around a fixed point which is the sun. his second law states that a planet moves faster when closer to the sun and it covers the same amount of area with the same amount of time anywhere on the orbit. His third law compares the orbit of two planets and states the time it takes to complete one full orbit around the sun is directly connected to the distance of the planet to the sun. His studies also led to Newton's Law of Gravity.
Galileo Galilei
Galileo is the first to use a telescope to look into space, and discovers that it's much more complex than anyone had thought before. He could see undiscovered stars, sun spots that he would study the movement of, and Jupiter's moons. He supported the Heliocentric Theory and helped to popularize Copernicus' system and ideas. Galileo also had a theory that everything followed mathematical rules and could be relate back to math.
Isaac Newton
He helped to answer the question of how everything in space moved in such an orderly manner with the concept of gravity. He said that all objects in space are affecting each other through this mutual attraction, and it is what allows objects to move. Newton, however, did not try to explain gravity itself. He was a brilliant mathematician but firmly believed in observation and collecting data. His aw of gravitation was widely accepted.
Francis Bacon
Bacon is known as the father of empiricism and experimentation in science. He was a natural philosopher, and urged others to look at the evidence surrounding their theories in order to make the most logical conclusion. Bacon created the scientific method that is still used today.
Political Philosophies: Locke vs. Hobbes
John Locke
Locke is the most influential political thinker of the seventeenth century. He envisions a government that celebrates one's natural rights of life, liberty, and property. He writes of humanity as logical and basically good. His ideas of government are of limited power. The relationship between an authority figure and the people is one of trust and the authority may be replaced if the trust is broken. Rebellion may also take place when the government violates natural rights. He supports religious toleration. He also created the theory that a human mind starts as a blank slate and is formed throughout experiences of life.
Thomas Hobbes
Hobbes was the most original political thinker of the seventeenth century. He believed in having an extremely strong central government due to bad nature of humanity. He said our motivations are egotistical, and intend to increase pleasure and reduce pain. Humans only exist to fulfill daily needs of life instead of higher spiritual purposes like originally thought. He describes the world as "a war of every man against every man." This led him to fear the dangers of Anarchy and conclude that all rulers should be strong and absolute because the mankind cannot make decisions for itself.
Controversy and Conflict
Women in Science
Science had never been associated with a woman's gender role. They stay home and cook and clean and take care of the kids. Women's work was more likely to be overlooked for a man's work instead. Women however had a better understanding of the family relationship since they were at home with the kids. This also gave them a chance to observe their children's behaviors.
Disagreement with the Church
The church disliked the heliocentric theory because it differed from the previous geocentric theory which supported the idea that God put the Earth in the center of the universe. This means the church was against controversial minds such as Copernicus and Galileo.
Witch Hunts
Although this was a time of advancement and new thought, there was definite evidence of repression. Extremists used superstition to explain things that contradicted their beliefs. There were also exorcisms along with witch hunts and accusations of magic. They could explain science and the new views of the universe so they had to look to their religion. The reformation may have been a cause of this because of how it split the church. Many different Protestant faiths formed out of the reformation and many of them were extremely conservative and radical.
Sources
The Western Heritage 10th Edition AP
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