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By Root 3172 0

Although traditional churches stubbornly resisted the new ideas and a few intellectuals pointed to some inherent flaws, nothing was able to halt the supplanting of the traditional ways of thinking by new ways of thinking that created a more fundamental break with the past than that represented by the breakup of Christian unity in the Reformation.

The Scientific Revolution forced Europeans to change their conception of themselves. At first, some were appalled and even frightened by its implications. Formerly, humans on earth had viewed themselves as being at the center of the universe. Now the earth was only a tiny planet revolving around a sun that was itself only a speck in a boundless universe. Most people remained optimistic despite the apparent blow to human dignity. After all, had Newton not demonstrated that the universe was a great machine governed by natural laws? Newton had found one—the universal law of gravitation. Could others not find other laws? Were there not natural laws governing every aspect of human endeavor that could be found by the new scientific method? Thus, as we shall see in the next chapter, the Scientific Revolution leads us logically to the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century.

CHAPTER REVIEW

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Upon Reflection

How do you explain the emergence of the Scientific Revolution?

What do we mean by the “Newtonian world-machine,” and what is its significance?

Compare the methods used by Bacon and Descartes. Would Pascal agree with the methods and interests of these men? Why or why not?

Key Terms

Scientific Revolution

geocentric conception

heliocentric conception

world-machine

querelles des femmes

Cartesian dualism

rationalism

scientific method

empiricism

Suggestions for Further Reading

GENERAL WORKS General surveys of the entire Scientific Revolution include J. Henry, The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science, 2nd ed. (London, 2002), and J. R. Jacob, The Scientific Revolution: Aspirations and Achievements, 1500–1700 (Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1998). For a revisionist perspective, see S. Shapin, The Scientific Revolution (Chicago, 1996). See also the collections of articles in R. Porter, ed., Scientific Revolution in National Context (Cambridge, 2007), and P. Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500–1700 (Princeton, N.J., 2001). On the relationship of magic to the beginnings of the Scientific Revolution, see the pioneering works by F. Yates,

CHAPTER TIMELINE

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Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (New York, 1964) and The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (London, 1975). On the importance of mathematics, see P. Dear, Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (Chicago, 1995). On the relationship between Renaissance artists and the Scientific Revolution, see P. H. Smith, Body of the Artisan: Art and Experience in the Scientific Revolution (Chicago, 2006).

A REVOLUTION IN ASTRONOMY On the important figures of the revolution in astronomy, see E. Rosen, Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution (New York, 1984); H. Margolis, It Started with Copernicus: How Turning the World Inside Out Led to the Scientific Revolution (New York, 2002); M. Sharratt, Galileo: Decisive Innovator (Oxford, 1994); S. Drake, Galileo, Pioneer Scientist (Toronto, 1990); M. Casper, Johannes Kepler, trans. C. D. Hellman (London, 1959), the standard biography; R. S. Westfall, The Life of Isaac Newton (New York, 1993); and P. Fara, Newton: The Making of Genius (New York, 2004). On Newton’s relationship to alchemy, see M. White, Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer (Reading, Mass., 1997).

ADVANCES IN MEDICINE The worldview of Paracelsus can be examined in P. Ball, The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science (New York, 2006). The standard biography of Vesalius is C. D. O’Malley, Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, 1514–1564 (Berkeley, Calif., 1964). The work of Harvey is discussed in G. Whitteridge, William Harvey and the Circulation of the Blood (London, 1971).

IMPACT OF SCIENCE