Scientific_Revolution's_Impact_on_Religion_and_Philosophy

Tyler Sanford Pd.4 Ms. George AP European History 11/30/11 Scientific Revolution FRQ The Scientific Revolution caused religion to come into question, but did not cause a drop in numbers, it also gave reason and evidence to philosophy from 1550-1750. Before the Revolution, it was widely accepted that Ptolemy’s geocentric view was correct and that there was no need for reason or evidence because faith was all that was needed. But now, the first effect that the new facts and ideas of the Revolution had was to cause many to question religion and faith instead of blindly following the church and the Bible. What it did was just mainly to cause people to change their view on God and Christianity more than causing them to abandon their views. The second thing was an impact of the revolution on philosophy where it caused people to think more rationally with the use of logic, reason, and evidence. This impact was clearly seen in a popular turn from many superstitions like witch hunts and was also seen in the emergence of mathematics. The first impact that the scientific revolution had on religion was a new push towards reason over faith. For instance, Nicholas Copernicus rejected Ptolemy’s geocentric theory where the earth was the center of the universe and it was very widely accepted by the church and the scientific community. He instead believed in a heliocentric universe with the sun at the center with the earth and other planets revolving around the sun. His new theory was actually rejected by the church in favor of the long held geocentric view. Then Galileo even publicized his support for the Copernican Theory which caused even more people to question whether religion could truly answer all questions because they persecuted Galileo for his support. So in these instances and with many other experiments that contradicted religion, reason sometimes trumped faith in areas such as the structure of the universe. It very rarely caused people to totally reject God though. The impact on religion can also be seen in the works of Newton, and sometimes in the actions of monarchs. Isaac Newton created a set of laws that pertained to gravity which was a totally new idea for Europeans. He also saw God as being a rational God and actually tended to believe that he could explain nature and earthly happenings without religion because God had just set it in motion. Also, certain monarchs such as Catherine the Great of Russia reduced her emphasis on religion and became a patron of the sciences. She even had many of the scientists come to Russia to teach and tutor her personally on things other than religion that was almost unheard of before this era. With all of these developments, also came a list of prohibited books released by the church and the Pope in an attempt to stop the spread of these hethenistic and non-religious views. Although, some people and scientists actually used the new scientific advances to bolster their beliefs and Christianity but mostly separate from the church. The Encyclopedie was also a new source of knowledge at the end of this period which was a sign of arrogance in the attempt itself but also showed a need for a creator to create the intricacies of nature. Secondly, the impact that the Scientific Revolution had on philosophy was very profound in the turn from superstitions. People such as Francis Bacon who encouraged people to search for their own understanding instead of blindly following the church and the Bible and he encouraged scientists to use evidence to gain knowledge were very influential. Rene Descartes with his newly developed scientific method which relied on deduction rather than observation but was still a shift from just faith and he believed that there was nothing non-material, but all was rational. These new views made it possible to see a shift in society from superstitions such as witch hunts and the belief in witches that virtually disappeared in this era. The impact on philosophy can also be seen with the introduction of mathematics and the new views of Hobbes and Locke. Nicholas Copernicus had a great impact on philosophy from his book with his combination of Mathematics with data and observation which produced the heliocentric theory. The book also pushed the use of these for everyone to produce more accurate and rational reasoning in Europe. Thomas Hobbes on the other hand with his views and his book “Leviathan” where his philosophy was much different than those before him and he had a low view of human nature and believed that humans had to enter into a social contract and be ruled under an absolute rule. John Locke who had a virtually opposite view from Hobbes opposed absolutism and had a very high view of human nature defending the rights of people in his “Two Treatises of Government”. He also championed the belief that humans should enjoy their natural rights of life, liberty and property. These two very new philosophies personified a shift from the philosophical focus of before to one focused on society. Basically, the Scientific Revolution caused a cataclysmic shift in philosophy in the era. In conclusion, during the Scientific Revolution Europe became a vastly different place. It caused religion to be redefined and rather than being blindly followed, where the belief in God was not abandoned, but in some cases strengthened or just simply altered. In Philosophy, people began to use reason and logic along with mathematics to explain things and a widespread abandonment of superstitions occurred. The Scientific Revolution caused religion to be questioned by new ways of thinking but not abandoned and it also impacted philosophy with new methods of rational reasoning using evidence and logic which among other things put an end to previous superstitions and provided for new concepts and theories.