9-22-10 History Notes - 9/22/2010 H istory 123 Notes The...

9/22/2010 History 123 Notes
The Scientific Revolution
WHAT WAS THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?

The scientific revolution changed how intellectuals investigated the
natural world.

There was no agreed time frame upon which this revolution began and
started but there is a broad time range starting in the mid 16
th
century
and ending sometime in the early 18
th
century. The main contributors
were countries from western and central Europe.
BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION:

In the late 15
th
and early 16
th
century scientists went back and
rediscovered Ancient Greek and Roman ideas, some which were mainly
dead in the European culture but were preserved and improved upon
by the Arabs.

Europeans rediscovered their scientific heritage and gave all the
information equal validity and decided to move forward with the ideas
and make their own progress and improvement after they relearned
what their ancestors discovered.

They formulated new questions to find out what was true and false of
the past discoveries and to understand the findings.
METHODS OF INQUIRY:

In the 1620s and 1630s two new methods of inquiry had come to light:
o
1. Inductive Reasoning (specific ideas  general conclusions):
Francis Bacon believed that all (or most of) the knowledge of the
universe was flawed and we have preconceived notions and

prejudices and we need to overcome these by examining small parts
of nature in a controlled environment to pull it away from all
prejudice. (this was looked down upon for fear of taking nature out
of “nature” and therefore possibly changing the outcome of the
observance)
o
They would soon figure out that scholars could control knowledge
and determine what could be studied and what could be learned
from studying objects.
o
Inductive reasoning was built upon politics and power. Knowing
nature was a form of power.