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  Unit 11: Changing World Views / Scientific Revolution
Copernicus on the Earth's Revolution   Primary Source

Most historians of the Scientific Revolution believe that the writings of Nicolaus Copernicus began to change the medieval view of the universe. Copernicus (1473-1543), a Polish mathematician and clergyman, revolutionized the science of astronomy by arguing that the earth was not stationary, as Aristotle and Ptolemy had originally thought, but instead revolved around the sun. Because he feared a backlash from church authorities, Copernicus long refused to publish his theories. Eventually he relented, and his On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, from which the following selection is taken, was published in 1543, when Copernicus was on his deathbed. The book aroused the anger of Catholic and Protestant philosophers and theologians, among them Martin Luther, but Copernicus's ideas in turn inspired others to study the heavens more closely.

The Starry Messenger   Primary Source

Inspired in part by the work of Copernicus and Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) also rejected the medieval division of the universe into higher and lower realms. In his 1610 book, The Starry Messenger, Galileo recounted how he built a telescope and used it to observe the heavens. Among other discoveries, Galileo concluded that heavenly and earthly bodies had no differences, paving the way for the modern belief of nature's uniformity.

Galileo's Paintings of the Moon

Galileo's Starry Messenger was accompanied with the publication of his paintings of the moon's surface, two of which are reproduced here. The second illustration depicts Galileo's telescope that he made himself in order to conduct his observations.

Bacon's Reasoning   Primary Source

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), an English scholar, was one of the most important advocates for the value of the new science. In his numerous writings, Bacon defended the advancement of science and what became known as the scientific method, and in the process helped to found the empirical tradition in modern philosophy. In the following passage, Bacon argues for the advancement of all knowledge and for the use of inductive reasoning as a path to truth.

Bacon on the New Science   Primary Source

Although the new scientific discoveries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries aroused the anger of church authorities, many of the scientists themselves believed that God had granted them their abilities. Beginning with Copernicus, who dedicated his work to Pope Paul III, and Galileo, who vociferously argued that God had endowed him with reason, the scientists of the time attempted to align their arguments with their religious beliefs. In the following passage, from the preface to his Novum Organum, Francis Bacon eloquently writes about how his faith inspired his interest in uncovering the mysteries of life.

Circulation of the Blood   Primary Source

Rejecting the teachings of the Greek physician Galen (c. 130-c. 201), who believed that the human body contained two centers for the circulation of blood, the English physician William Harvey (1578-1657) demonstrated that the heart pumped blood throughout the body. In his 1628 work, Harvey supported the inductive method advocated by Bacon and detailed his numerous experiments (many of them graphic vivisections on live animals) that in turn showed how the heart acted as a pump. This discovery marked another important break with medieval medical ideas inherited from the ancients, and initiated the study of modern physiology.

Leeuwenhoek's Observations   Primary Source

Many of the great advances of the Scientific Revolution occurred through the luck and persistence of the people who attempted to satisfy their own curiosities. Perhaps no one exemplifies this process more than the Dutchman, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Inspired by the buzz of scientific discoveries taking place around him, Leeuwenhoek bought a microscope and began to observe a variety of objects underneath it. Leeuwenhoek wrote about what he saw to members of the English Royal Society, which included such luminaries as Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke. As the following letter written to the Society indicates, Leeuwenhoek discovered unicellular life, and thus helped to revolutionize the sciences in the process.

Hooke's Micrographia

In response to Leeuwenhoek, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) began to keep a detailed record of his own microscopic observations. Published in 1667 as Micrographia, Hooke's work also included his sketches made of objects under the glass, including the following one of a flea. Hooke's work in turn inspired other scientists and amateur scientists, including Samuel Pepys.

"I Think, Therefore I Am"   Primary Source

In his Discourse on Method (1637), the French mathematician Rene Descartes (1596-1650) asserted the belief that the universe was a system whose inner laws could be discovered through mathematical thinking. Championing the deductive approach, Descartes attempted to offer a method through which one could reach an understanding of the world. With his expression, "I think, therefore I am," Descartes not only voiced his belief on the power of thought, he also expressed the most succinct and one of the most famous phrases in modern philosophy.

Newton's Principles   Primary Source

Sir Isaac Newton (1646-1723) demonstrated that all bodies in the universe–-from planets to earthly materials–-obeyed the same laws of gravitation and motion in his 1687 work, Principia Mathematica. Newton's arguments seemed to support Descartes's belief that the universe could be understood by working out its "laws," and in this passage Newton champions the experimental philosophy as a means of acquiring knowledge.

God's Universe   Primary Source

In this selection from his Principia, Isaac Newton argues that God created the universe, and that only a supreme being could properly run it. A devoted Anglican, Newton demonstrates that science and religion are not mutually exclusive.

No Revolution   Secondary Source

In this passage, Steven Shapin challenges the idea that the scientific discoveries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries can be called a revolution. Although he does not discount the importance of the arguments made by Copernicus, Newton, and others, Shapin argues that these advances cannot be viewed as an event, and must be seen instead as part of a "diverse array of cultural practices aimed at understanding, explaining, and controlling the natural world, each with different characteristics and each experiencing different modes of change."

Revolutionizing Science   Secondary Source

Although Peter Dear does not completely embrace the idea that the scientific advancements of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries should be called a revolution, he does argue in the following passage that a fundamental change took place in the way in which Europeans understood their world. From Copernicus to Newton, as Dear writes, European scientists successfully revolutionized their field, and in turn originated modern science.

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