The Journey from Blind Faith to Knowledge

The Journey from blind Faith to Knowledge

Although the period called The Enlightenment is frequently associated with a sudden, revolutionary change of thought in historic Europe, it was in fact a movement that slowly evolved over time. The idea that reason could explain much of the then mysterious, that critical thinking could provide humans with some influence on their fate, did not just happen overnight. The development can be traced back to the rediscovery of antiquity, and the research inspired by it which established a new scientific approach: The Scientific Revolution.

From Aristotles to Humanism

Ancient thought like that of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, well supported by Thomas Aquinas, were well known and applied in medieval Europe. However, the logic promoted by these early Greek scholastics often contradicted the teachings of the strong European Catholic Church. Not surprisingly, a new group of faithful thinkers in the 14th to 15th century, the humanists, introduced the idea of a capable human, created in God's image, which used its intellect for fulfilling its divine purpose in this world. By the 16th century, some humanists, started to question religious dogmas, and found growing support by researchers in the fields of physics, astronomy, and medicine, who begun to run into more and more difficulties to explain their observations with the traditional approach. One of these scholastics was Galileo Galilei.

Church Doctrine vs. Development

Galileo Galilei applied the same approach the ancient scholastic had used-observation of natural events- but when his observations suggested that the earth must rotate next to the sun contrary to the deep rooted religious believe that the sun was simply moving through the ...

... middle of paper ...

...uted significantly to Europe's development from medieval blind faith and superstition to rational and critical thinking.

The Closed Cycle

As noted earlier, the Enlightenment was not a sudden event, and revolutions like the Scientific Revolution which produces the basis were not sudden events. Europe's development from medieval witch hunts over scientific approach to modern philosophy was lengthy and shaken by drawbacks and inner conflicts. It is difficult, if not impossible, to really draw an actual line or to pinpoint the moment that opened the gate for the thoughts of The Enlightenment. There might not have been any doubt which urged a scientific revolution without the ancient Greek suggested logic. There might have been no claim for equality during the Enlightenment without the doubt raised and investigated through modern scientific approach.