How Did Religion And Politics Affect The Scientific Revolution Dbq

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When the renaissance emerged from the middle ages, it brought new ideas of thought to the surface. Individuals like Leonardo Da Vinci proposed that to achieve a fuller understanding of God and the universe one must understand the natural laws and mathematics that govern it. During the 16th and 17th century in Europe, religion and politics affected the Scientific Revolution because there was no separation of the two in science, this is why the Church restricted scientific progress and politics pushed for scientific improvements for personal gain. Up until this point, religious scripture was undisputed. The Church was the authority figure and all their science was based on the outdated theories of Aristotle. The most classic dispute between the Church and the scientific community was a debate over geocentrism vs. heliocentrism. The Church believed that earth was the …show more content…

Just like today, most of scientific inquiry is funded by a government or other wealthy individuals. This influence over funding limits and controls scientific inquiry. During the reign of Louis XIV of France, he encouraged any improvement to his kingdom just to gain power. Science would get him that. The French Royal Academy was created for that purpose. It was state funded and controlled by the government. (Doc 1) Periodically Louis would even visit the scientists and see how they were improving his country. (Doc 8) France was not the only place that was developing a scientific community. In England, there was the English Royal Society. Unlike France, they were privately funded. This enabled them to research what they wanted to. Unfortunately they did not have as much funding as the French Royal Academy. Politics did not influence scientific inquiry in England nearly as much compared to other places. This society realized how liberating it was not to be controlled by an outside organization even encouraging other groups to do

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