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The Scientific Revolution: The Origins Of Enlightenment

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Science and Enlightenment

The origins of Enlightenment can be traced back to the sixteenth century when Galileo through his systematic study and observations, provided empirical support to the concept of heliocentricity put forward by Copernicus in the previous century, which also marked the beginning of the Scientific Revolution. Building upon the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment thinkers set out to improve humanity through reason, knowledge, and experience of the natural world. Their emphasis on truth through observable phenomena set the standard of thought for the modern age, deeply influencing the areas of government, the modern state, science, technology, religious tolerance and social structure. In some sense Enlightenment …show more content…

In France the advancement in scientific thought was limited by the Catholic hegemony over knowledge, while England on the other hand due to the laxing of policing mechanism provided the ideal space for progress in scientific thought. Religion which had played an important role in the advancement of science since the sixteenth century becomes ever more significant in the span of two decades from 1640 to 1660. The moderate Puritan reformers were now being challenged by a number of radical sectarian movements who saw in science the potential to bring about radical changes in the society. The moderate reformers who later established the Royal Society of Science in 1662, had to declare its goal of promoting an organized pursuit of experimental science in order to distance themselves from any attempt at radically reforming the church or the state. The threat of being deemed heretical loomed large over the puritan scientific reformers and they sought to divert it by coming up with the Christianized versions of upcoming scientific theories. For instance to counter the materialism proposed by Hobbes, Robert Boyle came up with the Christianized Corpuscular theory, which was derived from the theory of Epicurus that all the motion in the world was determined by the random collisions of lifeless atoms. Puritan reformers like Boyle claimed that it could be proven through experiments that it was …show more content…

In the hands of the lower classes science was more applicable in practice than in theory and as I had mentioned earlier, science became associated with labour and the Baconian vision of science as a tool for improving the human condition came to forefront. With Bacon the doctrine of millennialism also came into dominance, according to which the second coming of Christ was imminent and would closely follow the saturation of scientific knowledge in the society. The collective desire for the realization of paradise on earth contributes to the rapid progress of

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In Thomas Hobbes believed that geometry was honest and clear and would not affect one’s personal agenda in which he stated in his book Leviathan (Doc 7). This document may not be a reliable source of information because it was written by Hobbes who was an English philosopher who had originally thought all human beings are evil. On the other hand, Marin Mersenne who was a French monk, wrote a letter to his noble patron explaining that his experiments were valid (Doc 5). As a French monk pursuing science, Mersenne understood the repercussions of not having solid evidence when presenting his theories to the world. Furthermore, society at this time was not ready for advancements in

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The Scientific Revolution occurred roughly between 1550 and 1700. Some people also refer to the time period to be between the lives of Nicholas Copernicus and Issac Newton, to state who the revolution started with and who it ended with (Hatch). It doesn't mean there aren't changes to our scientific processes today, this was just a time period in our history that has recorded information of large changes happening often. The changes were very large and many people were against the views of the men who made the changes/discoveries. Since people put their religion first, the sudden views that made God nonexistent were immediately ignored by citizens and courts ordered many scientists to stay in their homes at all times.

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Because of Galileo’s studies, he was put on trial by the Catholic Church for using science to “destroy” religion and its ideas. Galileo was actually a devout Catholic but he believed that science would not interfere with religion or his god where the Catholic Church disagreed with this in fear of losing their power. Because of issues like this, during this time period is what I like to think of “religion with science” meaning that the church only approved of science that supported the Catholic religion and if not then the Church would ban scientific books and figures. The idea of natural philosophy occurred which focused on fundamental questions about nature and the universe, but these ideas were brought into harmony with Christian doctrines.

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This movement challenged traditional beliefs–most of which originally centered around Christian theology–and developed a background in modern science, along with a newfound curiosity and understanding of nature, man, and religious relationships with God. Through major shifts in European society following the events of the Protestant Reformation, a new way of thinking–combined with a fascination with nature and the physical universe–led to the rise of challenging traditional sources of authority and pre-established, conventional ways of thought. This movement which took place within a roughly 150-year span was known as the “century of genius”, an era that birthed many great minds: Shakespeare, Galileo, Descartes, Locke, and Rousseau, among many others. During and following the time of the Scientific Revolution, ideas pertaining to science and the universe would find themselves separated from philosophy and religious conjectures. This led to a more rational and empirical approach to knowledge, which challenged the authority of traditional institutions and contributed to the rise of

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The Scientific Revolution showed that a rise in observations and conclusions became an acceptable source of knowledge and truth, where it had been less so in earlier

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The Enlightenment was a movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was a time period where people came up with ideas of freedom. The direct meaning of the Enlightenment was to focus on equality and independence. There were in total 10 philosophers who expanded after one another. These thinkers valued reason, religious tolerance, science, and what they call “Natural Rights”.

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The Enlightenment was the era that followed the Scientific Revolution, and it was heavily influenced by the revolution. It did this by “extending its ideas to new disciplines such as demography, the science of man, and anthropology; by transforming chemistry, the life sciences (biology), and the study of electricity; and by vastly developing the power of mathematics as the language of science” (Reill & Wilson). Lastly, the Scientific Revolution, along with the Enlightenment, helped to pave the way for science as is known to this

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The Enlightenment, also known as the “Age of Reason,” occurred in the eighteenth century and was a period in which ideas concerning God, nature, reason and humanity were combined, and these ideas instigated revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. The Enlightenment was crucial in determining aspects in terms of politics, government, and religion. Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Charles Montesquieu influenced the Founding Fathers and their ideas were found in the Declaration of Independence. The most important influence that shaped the founding of the United States came from John Locke, an Englishmen who redefined the nature of government.

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During the seventeenth century, many of Europe’s diverse and numerous countries were going through countless political, economic, and cultural transformations. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were two of the greatest, most important changes of the early modern era which greatly altered the course of history in most of Europe. People were starting to question and challenge widely accepted beliefs and applying approaches to knowledge rooted in human reason to the physical universe and human affairs. The study of history often focuses on these events and its effects on Europe, excluding or ignoring its effects on places outside of Europe. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment both sparked interests in science in China and

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The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government.

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People believed that the progress made in science was an assault on Church and Christianity. Until the movement of Enlightenment, the Bible, the belief in God, and Christianity as well as the institution Church were seen as sacred and unquestionable. However, with the advent of science religious beliefs and the unique position of Church were

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Modern philosophy developed alongside the Scientific Revolution and both influenced and affected each other. Therefore, many of the great early philosophers were also important scientists, and, unlike Bacon, so was Descartes. Thus even though both these men share points in common, they also have many differences, either in their backgrounds or in their way of thought. We will focus mainly on comparing and contrasting the methods used by both Bacon and

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In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.

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There were scientific findings before the 16th century and there were more to follow the 18th century. Shapin’s thesis covers that there was no specific scientific distinction between the 17th century and the rest of time for this period to stand out and be a revolution but he explains that the Scientific Revolution is more of a process. Shapin still believes that the scientific findings of this time can be considered revolutionary. Shapin explains that “Science remains whatever it is-certainly the most reliable body of natural knowledge we have got” (165) to show that he still understands how important science and the findings in science are to the world and civilization.

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“God, who has given the world to men in common, has also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience” (Locke, 35). The Scientific Revolution concentrated on understanding the physical world through astronomical and mathematical calculations, or testable knowledge. The Enlightenment focused more on “Spreading of faith in reason and in universal rights and laws” (Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 535). While the Scientific Revolution preceded the Enlightenment, both time periods sought to limit and challenge the power of the Church, through the spread of science, reason and intellect, and political philosophies. The Scientific Revolution began with Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1542) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) wanting to understand the movement of the planets beyond what they authorities had told them.

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