The Enlightenment And The Scientific Revolution

The Enlightenment was a turning point in European history because of the breakthroughs in scientific discovery that led to new beliefs in human nature and the differing opinions between religion. The first important development that led to the origins of the Scientific Revolution was the creation and establishment of universities. The Scientific Revolution was the breakthrough that led into the start of the Enlightenment. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, discoveries about intellectual thought created the modern worldview we possess today. Scientific and mathematical thought was the way of thinking during these centuries and the Scientific Revolution used modern science. “In the eighteenth century philosophers extended the use …show more content…

With the invention of newer technology, scholars were able to make closer observations for how different concepts of the science worked. With these scientific breakthroughs scholars and philosophers, who were mainly Christian, of this time of the Scientific Revolution made a pathway for a more efficient way of life. Natural Philosophy was used in the early 1500s by Enlightenment thinkers. It can be defined as the “study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned” (McKay, 504) All belief about the universe and its structure was based on Aristotle’s hypothesis. He believed the Earth was the center of the universe. Though he worked for Christian belief, natural philosophy in the early 1500s was based off of Aristotle’s model of the universe and his ideas of the planetary motion. This hypothesis was the center of natural philosophy until the Copernican Theory came into discovery. Aristotle believed that the world was flawed and that the planets in the universe represented the heavenly bodies. His theory was that there were ten spheres in the universe: water, air, fire, the moon, the sun, and the five planets. Aristotle declared that beyond the tenth sphere was heaven and this model was proved by Christian theologists to fit into the beliefs of Christians. The Christians …show more content…

“In the eighteenth century philosophers extended the use of reason from the study of nature to human society” (McKay, 502). “The Enlightenment created concepts of human rights, equality, progress, universalism, and tolerance that still guide western societies today” (McKay, 502). Francis Bacon was the greatest advocator of the new experimental method. Bacon argued that new knowledge had to be found through observation and experience. He gave the empirical method its formal status and turned it “into the general theory of inductive reasoning known as empiricism” (McKay, 511). Empiricism was defined as “a theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation rather than deductive reason and speculation” (McKay, 511). Bacon’s work led into the creation of experimental philosophy in England after he had died. In 1660, Bacon’s followers put together the Royal Society where they met weekly to experiment and talk about recent discoveries of European scholars. Bacon believed there were only two ways of discovering the truth of anything and this belief backs up his idea of empiricism. He said “natural philosophy is, after the word of God, at once the surest medicine against superstition and the most approved nourishment for faith” (Bacon, 124-126) Another important philosopher after the time of Bacon