The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment Essay -- Essays Papers

The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment In the 17th Century, there was much controversy between religion and science. The church supported a single worldview that God’s creation was the center of the universe. The kings and rulers were set in their ways to set the people’s minds to believe this and to never question it. From these ideas, the Enlightenment was bred from the Scientific Revolution. Nicholas Copernicus was the first to question the universal truths and teachings of the church. He devised a theory that the earth along with the other planets revolved around the sun. This theory disagreed with Aristotle and the old teachings that the universe revolved around the earth, and that man was the center of the universe. To follow Copernicus’ theory was Giordano Bruno. He went beyond Copernicus to suggest that space was limitless, and that the sun and its planets may not be the only systems of its kind. i Bruno dared to say that he believed there was a possibility of other worlds with rational beings possibly superior to us. Since this kind of action was unheard of at that time, Bruno was condemned and burned at the stake for blasphemy. The team of Tycho Brahe and John Keppler were the next to study Copernicus’ theory. Brahe tried to disprove Copernicus’ theory and tried to prove the idea of the earth-centered universe. Although Keppler was Brahe’s assistant, he argued for Copernicus and analyzed Brahe’s data to conclude that the sun was the center of the universe. Keppler also used Brahe’s data to discover the movement of the planet Mars. This was the key to explaining all planetary motion. ii He also discovered the planets move in elliptical orbits, which also went against the beliefs of the church. Kepp... ...nce and nature inter-twined to compliment one another. i Santillana, Giorgiode. The Crime of Galileo. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955. ii Dene Scoggins. www.txwesleyan.edu/scoggins/world/17thCenturyScience/menu.html iii Porter, Roy. The Enlightenment. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. 1990. iv Dene Scoggins. www.txwesleyan.edu/scoggins/world/17thCenturyScience/menu.html v Santillana, Giorgiode. The Crime of Galileo. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955. vi Santillana, Giorgiode. The Crime of Galileo. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955. vii Brians, Paul. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html viii Outram, Dorinda. The Enlightenment. Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ix Brians, Paul. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html