The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment

1738 Words4 Pages

The Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries changed the way people viewed the world. Scientific philosophers, such as Galileo and Descartes, rejected the old teachings of the church and introduced new ways of thinking. These men sought to prove that rational thought could demonstrate the existence of God. They also argued that understanding a series of rational thoughts, rather than faith, would lead to an understanding of how the world worked. Traditional ways of thinking were ultimately challenged by logical and sensible reasoning. Galileo Galilei, an Italian philosopher, was born in 1564. As an adult, he did not believe in the universal geocentric theory of the planets and heavens, which was established by the Catholic Church. The Church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe, and everything revolved around our planet. Another theory that the Church supported was that the Earth stood still while the sun rose and set every day. Society in the 1500s believed that the Pope spoke for God through a divine connection, and to go against the Church was to go against God. To speak out against the Church in this time was strictly taboo. If one spoke against the Church, it was considered heresy, which is exactly what happened to Galileo. Galileo invented the telescope and began studying the heavens above and noticed changes within the stars and planets. He observed that the "stars" that surrounded Jupiter moved. He came to the conclusion through rational thinking that Copernicus' heliocentric theory was correct. Copernicus was a scientist and philosopher whose theory proposed that the sun was stationary, and the heavens orbit around the sun. Galileo tried to convince the Church not to abolish the Copernican theory but was told that he was not to entertain such thoughts with others.... ... middle of paper ... ...(n.d.). Simple Wiki. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes René Descartes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 10, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes SparkNotes: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778): The Social Contract. (n.d.). SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Retrieved February 9, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/rousseau/section2.rhtml SparkNotes: René Descartes (1596–1650). (n.d.). SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/descartes The Enlightenment in Europe. (n.d.). Classzone.com. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://www.lmoskal.net/worldhistory/whtext/ch22/W5E22BAD.pdf

Show More
Related

  • Prove the Existence of God Using Who Has the Idea of God

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descartes, René. "Meditation Three." Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Third Edition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1993. 24-35. Paperback.

    Read More

  • Galileo Dbq Essay

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Bible was one of the most important pieces of text during Galileo’s lifetime. If you went against what the Bible stated then you were considered to be a heretic. The Bible indicated that the earth was in the center of the universe and the sun and the other planets revolve around it. a theory known as the geocentric model. Many scientists argued against this theory by stating that actually the sun was in the center of the universe and the earth and the other planets revolved around the sun, this theory was known as the heliocentric model. Nicolas Copernicus was one of the first out of many scientists who publically shared this theory. Later Giordano Bruno also supported this theory and because of this the Church ordered him to be burned

    Read More

  • Analysis of Galileo's Letter

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist, often referred to as “the father of modern physics”. He was one of the inventors of the telescope and a strong proponent of Copernicanism. Galileo used his invention to make astronomical observations which supported Copernicus’ heliocentric model of the universe. These discoveries led to a fierce dispute, because they contradicted the theory which was prevalent at the time – that the universe followed a geocentric model, a theory, which had been accepted by the Catholic Church. To address this dispute, Galileo wrote a letter to Tuscany’s Grand Duchess Christina, in which he presented his position on the relation between science and religion, stating that the Bible does not contradict science.

    Read More

  • The Folly of René Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to embark on his quest for truth, Descartes first devises his four rules which should serve as a solid foundation for all else that he comes to understand. Those rules are here evaluated in terms of what they fail to take into consideration. The rules are examined individually and consecutively, and are therefore also reiterated in order to be clear about them. Furthermore, the approach of using these rules is also analyzed to some degree. Ultimately, however, it is my conjecture that Descartes’ four rules are not as solid a foundation as he claims, but fail to consider key issues which are noted herein.

    Read More

  • Meditation on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    4. Descartes, Rene, and Roger Ariew. Meditations, objections, and replies. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub., 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    This essay will explore parallels between the ideas of the scientific revolution and the enlightenment. The scientific revolution describes a time when great changes occurred in the way the universe was viewed, d through the advances of sciences during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The enlightenment refers to a movement that grew out of the new scientific ideas of the revolution that occurred in the late seventeenth to eighteenth century. Although both the scientific revolution and enlightenment encapsulate different ideas, the scientific revolution laid the underlying ideological foundations for the enlightenment movement. A number of parallels exist between the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment; there was a decrease in the belief in authority, there was an increased belief in Darwinism, The importance of science grew as beneficial to society, the ideas of society as better off without scientific and knowledge. The parallels between the scientific revolution and the enlightenment will be explored throughout this essay.

    Read More

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract

    1773 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. “The Social Contract”. Modern Political Thought, Second Edition. Ed. David Wootton. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2008. 427-487.

    Read More

  • Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baird, Forrest E. and Walter Kaufmann. “René Descartes’ Meditations.” In Philosophical Classics: From Plato to Derrida (6th Edition). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall, 2010.

    Read More

  • Descartes' First Meditation

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rene Descartes decision to shatter the molds of traditional thinking is still talked about today. He is regarded as an influential abstract thinker; and some of his main ideas are still talked about by philosophers all over the world. While he wrote the "Meditations", he secluded himself from the outside world for a length of time, basically tore up his conventional thinking; and tried to come to some conclusion as to what was actually true and existing. In order to show that the sciences rest on firm foundations and that these foundations lay in the mind and not the senses, Descartes must begin by bringing into doubt all the beliefs that come to him by the senses. This is done in the first of six different steps that he named "Meditations" because of the state of mind he was in while he was contemplating all these different ideas. His six meditations are "One:Concerning those things that can be called into doubt", "Two:Concerning the Nature of the Human mind: that it is better known than the Body", "Three: Concerning God, that he exists", "Four: Concerning the True and the False", "Five: Concerning the Essence of Material things, and again concerning God, that he exists" and finally "Six: Concerning the Existence of Material things, and the real distinction between Mind and Body". Although all of these meditations are relevant and necessary to understand the complete work as a whole, the focus of this paper will be the first meditation.

    Read More

  • Descartesian Epistemology Essay

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    Descartes was born 1596 in France. At eight years old he was already in college. Descartes was a scientist and was also known as the father of modern Western Philosophy. He is famous for his book “The mediations of philosophy,” first published in 1641. He is much like me because he refused to stem off other philosophers thought. Instead, he created his philosophy. He is most famous for his quote “I think therefore I am.” This paper will include Descartes doubt, Descartes the cogito, his knowledge of the material world. The principles of the Cartesian epistemology. The “light of nature.”

    Read More

  • Skepticism and the Philosophy of Language in Early Modern Thought

    3311 Words  | 7 Pages

    Descartes,R., (1996) Règles pour la direction de l'esprit, Principes de la Philosophie, in Ouevres, Paris,Vrin,.

    Read More

  • The Scientific Revolution

    1262 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, radical and controversial ideas were created in what would become a time period of great advances. The Scientific Revolution began with a spark of inspiration that spread a wild fire of ideas through Europe and America. The new radical ideas affected everything that had been established and proven through religious views. "The scientific revolution was more radical and innovative than any of the political revolutions of the seventeenth century."1 All of the advances that were made during this revolutionary time can be attributed to the founders of the Scientific Revolution.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Rene Descartes's Approach To Knowledge

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rene Descartes’s meditations on fist philosophy is still viewed as the standard text most university philosophy department. This is evidence of Descartes’s contribution to the modern world view especially when looking at his influence in mathematics. This justifies the fact that he was called the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry (Internet encyclopaedia of philosophy, 1995). It is evident even today that most of the books in philosophy seem to be a response to most of his writings.

    Read More

  • Shifting Perspectives: The Scientific Revolution

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Scientific Revolution by Steven Shapin defines a juncture in history when scholars that originally complied with accepted truths based from ancient Hellenistic Greece and Rome began to question the phenomenon that is our universe. Through observation of experimentation and theory, Shapin guides readers to consider nature as a macrocosm like scholars in this era. Societies during the scientific revolution began to reorder the way they saw the natural world and made efforts to examine nature and science as a closer relationship. While reading the scientific revolution we can examine the shift from stagnant religious beliefs and accepted truths, that were dictated by the middle ages, to the introduction of critical natural scholars like Nicholas Copernicus, Robert Boyle who contributed to the overall rapid aggregation of knowledge in Europe during the 18th century. Through observing and experimenting with the way nature interacts

    Read More

  • Descartes: I Think, Therefore I Am

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cottingham, John. Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. 1-8. Print.

    Read More

More about The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment

Open Document