As illustrated in the videos, the Enlightenment was an era of intellectual movements where the power of the Church began to be questioned. The Enlightenment movement was greatly influenced by the notion of reason and individuality. This movement was shaped by the idea of understanding the world in ways other than what was dictated by the Church. Isaac Newton claimed knowledge was attainable without the need for God. As a result of his beliefs, Newton began to question God’s power and relied on science to explain how objects fall. To explain this phenomenon, Newton developed the theory of gravity, which explained that the power of gravity makes the earth go around the sun and the moon around the earth. To scientifically understand how gravity works, Newton developed calculus, which involves more reasoning than the traditional mathematics. …show more content…
In other words, Newton believed that observation and critical interpretation were crucial to understand the world. Furthermore, Newton’s scientific approach demonstrated that the universe operated by natural laws. Like Newton, there were other Enlightenment thinkers that revolutionized the traditional way of thinking and challenged religious beliefs through science. Rene Descartes also believed that science was crucial to understand the world. Even today Descartes is more known for his philosophy “I think, therefore I am,” he also made scientific contributions to modern geometry. As a philosopher, Descartes incorporated logic and critical thinking, making problem solving less