Lawrence M. Principe’s book The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction is exactly as the title of the books states, a short introduction to the Scientific Revolution. In the beginning of the book Principe touches on an interesting event called the translation movement. The translation movement of the twelfth century changed the European world. Many important works were translated from Arabic to Latin, allowing scholars to study the works of Aristotle and many more (Principe 7). The knowledge European people gained from these translations went on to further their knowledge and allowed them to experiment with new concepts. This movement truly changed the world at this time for the better. The world view of science during the Scientific Revolution was a mix of competing systems and concepts which created much excitement in the world at that time (Principe 4). In order for the Scientists of the Scientific Revolution to create their concepts the Translation Movement had to happen. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, also known as the Italian Renaissance, revived the intellectual appetite of Europe. As the Christian side of Europe began to separate from Islam, it came across a lot of what the Arabic scholars had learned over the years. They wasted no time in acquiring and translating this knowledge (Principe 6). Many European scholars embarked …show more content…
The twelfth century translators that went through Spain, Sicily and many other places opened up opportunities for science and math scholars of the time. Without those translators, many major works including Ptolemy’s Almagest, Euclid’s Elements of Geometry, and Avicenna’s The Canon of Medicine would not have been translated and the knowledge of those works would not have been shared for many years. The translation movement is truly one of the main causes that allowed the Scientific Revolution to