The Scientific Revolution: A Paradigm Shift from Miracles to Facts - Essay Example

The Scientific Revolution: A Paradigm Shift from Miracles to Facts It is easy to dismiss something which one makes no effort to understand. Throughout the middle ages, understanding was undoubtedly sought with reference to God, religion, and the natural world. Theology procured its stature as the queen of all sciences (Galilei, 1957). Likewise, society adhered to the authority and teachings of the Church. However, some time between the mid-sixteenth and early eighteenth century, a revolutionary event took place in history and took its seat as humanity’s new path to knowledge and understanding. This paper aims to show that the birth of Science radically transformed the manner by which society viewed religion, God and Nature. This period is known as the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution has led to modern discoveries beyond human imagination. Religion still plays a central role in the lives of human beings, but science still remains as humanity’s tool for finding rational explanations for phenomena that happen in the world. The historical significance of the scientific revolution is characterized by humanity’s radical shift in thought. It primarily represented an intellectual movement from religion to science as the source of absolute knowledge that is clear and distinct to the mind. According to the medieval worldview, “Nature was conceived to be kept going from moment to moment by a miracle . . . It was God who ordered the universe through these miracles . . .If God pronounced it to be so, then it must be so” (“Kreis”, 2009a, n.p.). This paper will be divided into four parts. The first part will be devoted to an historical analysis of the scientific revolution. A brief history of the medieval worldview will be emphasized herein. The second part will focus on the impact that the scientific revolution made in contrast to the pre-established medieval worldview, in the light of religion, God and Nature. The third part will emphasize on some important ideas and figures that gave birth due to the impact of the scientific revolution. Here I will stress on how these ideas characterized the potential of society to progress and evolve. Finally, part four will consist of my conclusion as well as a justification on how this can be traced and applied further in this present day and age. Historical breakthrough In order to understand what the scientific revolution is, it is vital to take note of what was happening before the birth of science. What was the dominant educated-European view of the world before science stepped into the picture? During the middle ages, Christianity was the dominant worldview. Christianity began to globalize, and along with it were challenges. One major challenge was the development of human reason. This was characterized by man’s capacity to rationalize. The Church wanted to explain its teachings through faith alone. Thus, the supremacy of reason above faith was perceived as a threat to the Church. To compensate for this, Christian thinkers sought to reconcile religion and science, for according to the Church, they have one common factor, i.e. they both led to a single truth: “God exists” (Kreis, 2009b, n.p.). Furthermore, during the middle ages, the dominant view was that of geocentricism. Since the earth was known to be the center of the universe, human beings were made to feel central above all else. It is this view that the Church accepted and advocated. It was not until a major breakthrough by Nicolaus Copernicus that initiated the first and final break from religious dogma. Miracles vs. Facts Herein is the birth of modern science. Since the time of the publication of Copernicus’ On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), religious authorities and teachings were attacked and questioned. In what ways did this revolution affect the previous worldview? The greatest impact was on how people thought and believed. Due to the rise of modern scientific methods, the geocentric view of the universe was replaced with the new heliocentric theory, which made the sun as the center of the universe. Religion was forced to step down as the source of truth along with the decline of the authority of the Church. Not only did the power of religious authorities decline, so was the nature of human knowledge. “This in turn raised questions about the traditional Human Eternal Verities, i.e. how humans understood themselves in relation to 'God, Nature, and Man'” (“Hatch,” n.d., n.p.). Science was slowly overpowering the powerful image of God. “Science is faith. And the Gospel of that faith was written by Copernicus, Galileo , Newton, Darwin, Einstein and others” (“Kreis,” 2009a, n.p.). The foundation of religion is faith, while science stems from human reason, i.e. the capacity of human beings to think. The former hindered humanity’s potential to intellectually grow, while the latter paved the way towards a new era of human discovery. This new era of human discovery is known as the Enlightenment. Scientific Enlightenment Immanuel Kant (1784) defined Enlightenment as a “daring to know”. The emphasis herein is that during the Enlightenment, humanity started to realize that knowledge could be applied to practical human affairs. Thus, society conceived of science as that which could bring enlightenment to humankind. What were the scientific discoveries that shaped the minds of many? Among them are the following: Adam Smith came up with economic laws. John Locke formulated various ideas of constitutional government. Education for women began to flourish. Voltaire wrote works that attacked the established religious order. (Strayer, 2008). The beginning of modern science continued to flourish throughout history, and along with it came the development of human inquiry. In the nineteenth century, science was applied to new sorts of inquiry; it undermined Enlightenment assumptions. Among the influential intellectual figures are Charles Darwin, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. It is in this regard that science, along with its developments, characterized the potential of human beings to progress and evolve by the use of reason above faith. Are these discoveries of the Enlightenment still applicable today? What about religion? Science - a dogma? Indeed, the birth of science has led to modern discoveries beyond human imagination. Religion still plays a central role in the lives of human beings, but science still remains as humanity’s tool for finding rational explanations for phenomena that happen in the world. The scientific revolution represented the final break with religious dogma. It marked the transition of humanity towards an evolved modern way of thinking. I end this essay with an insight on today’s progress in scientific thought. During the late 1900’s, Thomas Kuhn (1962), an American physicist, raised a controversial issue in his work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He questioned the authenticity of the scientific revolution. “Was there a Scientific Revolution that replaced pre-scientific thinking about nature and society and thus marked the transition to modernity? Which later developments, if any, are truly revolutionary?” (Nickles, 2009, n.p.). Indeed, many scholars have challenged the claim that there was a development appropriately called The Scientific Revolution. Steven Shapin (1996) captures the tension by starting his book with the following statement: “There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it” (p. 1). References Galilei, Galileo. (1957). Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany concerning the use of biblical quotations in matters of science. In discoveries and opinions of Galileo. Stillman Drake, Trans. New York, NY: Anchor Books. (Original work published 1615) Hatch, Robert. The scientific revolution. In scientific revolution home page. Retrieved from http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/ufhatch/pages/03-Sci-Rev/SCI-REV-Teaching/03sr-definition-concept.htm Kant, Immanuel. (1784). An answer to the question: what is enlightenment? Retrieved from http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html Kreis, J. S. (2009a). Lecture 10: The scientific revolution. In The history guide: Lectures on early modern European history. Retrieved from http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture10c.html Kreis, J.S. (2009b). Lecture 24: The medieval world view. In The history guide: Lectures on ancient and medieval European history. Retrieved from http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture24b.html Kuhn, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Nickles, T. (2009). Scientific revolutions. In the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-revolutions/ Russell, T. Scientific revolution [pdf document] Retrieved from http://www.esmschools.org/Data/FileManager/ESM%20High%20School/Russell/scirev.pdf Shapin, S. (1996). The scientific revolution. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Strayer, R. (2008). Ways of the world: A brief global history. Monterey, CA: Bedford / St. Martin's. World Civilizations 111 Section 03 Paper Rubric Criteria Excellent (A ) Proficient to Adequate (B to C) Adequate to Marginal (C- to D) F Comments Problem/Question Well-developed, clearly defined thesis identifying the problem/question at issue. Thesis is present, but lacks clarity and development. Thesis is either weak or not apparent. B Student position The student has taken a position or viewpoint to be argued throughout the paper. Though a position or viewpoint is present, it is not clearly expressed. The paper does not present an opinion to be argued, but offers information. A Key Assumptions The student clearly identifies his or her own assumptions, as well as those of the sources. The student makes an effort to reveal assumptions, but does not clearly identify them. The student does not express any awareness of assumptions. B+ Evidence Quality The paper presents at least three sources equally and clearly distinguishes between fact, opinion and value judgments. The paper represents three sources, but has not balanced them equally. Though there is an effort to distinguish between fact, opinion and value judgments, the distinctions aren’t clear. The paper uses less than three sources, and makes little or no effort to distinguish between fact, opinion and value judgments. B+ More citations are needed Conclusion There is a clear summary of the argument, as well as the consideration of potential implications, consequences, or connections between the topic and past or present events. Though there is a clear summation of the argument, there is little or no consideration of potential implications, consequences or connections between the topic and past or present events. There is an attempt at a conclusion, but the summation of the argument is vague, and there is little or no attempt to consider potential implications, consequences or connections between the past or present events. A- Style/Mechanics Writing is clear and free of spelling and grammatical errors. The paper is well-organized. The bibliography is complete and correctly formatted. Sources are accurately cited throughout the paper. Writing clarity, though good, could be improved. The paper is not consistently well-organized and contains some proofreading errors. There may be some problems with the bibliography and citations. The writing quality is uneven to consistently poor. The paper’s organization is either weak or not apparent. There are spelling and formatting errors throughout. B+/B Read More