The Scientific Revolution

Essential Questions• What factors in Europe from the 12th century on helped

to prepare Europeans and help them make the breakthrough to a modern scientific way of thinking?

• Why was the question of the position of the earth and sun in the universe so important in debates about natural science in the late Middle Ages?

• In what ways did ancient Greek thinkers like Aristotle, Galen, Ptolemy and others prepare Europeans to make the breakthrough to modern science yet also thwart their efforts to do so somewhat?

Essential Questions (continued)• Why are the philosophers Rene Descartes and Francis

Bacon seen as key to the development of the scientific method even though neither was actually a scientist?

• Why are the contributions of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton often linked together as the key series of contributions that launched the Scientific Revolution?

• How did the development of various instruments for making new kinds of observations and measurements contribute to the development of the Scientific Revolution?

What Was the Scientific Revolution?

• A revolution in human understanding and knowledge about the physical universe

• 17th century• Began with

Kepler, Galileo• Ended with Newton

• Based almost entirely on reasoning

• Experimental method or observation wasn’t used at all

• Science in medieval times– Alchemy– Astrology

A medieval alchemist

“Science” Before the Scientific Revolution

Factors Leading to the Scientific Revolution

• Rise of universities

• Contact with non-Western societies

• The Renaissance• Exploration

Rationalism

René Descartes

• Reason, not tradition, is the source of all knowledge

• René Descartes (1596–1650)

• French philosopher and mathematician

• Cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore, I am”)

• Deductive reasoning

Empiricism• The belief that experience

is the only true source of knowledge

• Roger Bacon• Shift toward empiricism

a hallmark of the Scientific Revolution

• Helped lead to the development of the scientific method

Roger Bacon

Francis Bacon and the Scientific Method

• 1561–1626• English philosopher

and empiricist• Inductive reasoning• Argued for experimental

methodology

The Scientific Method

Science as a multiple-step process:

3. Test the theory with experiments

2. Develop a theory that explains the object or phenomenon

1. Observe an object or phenomenon