Abstract
Working Definition
By tradition, the "Scientific Revolution" refers to historical
changes in thought & belief, to changes in social & institutional
organization, that unfolded in Europe between roughly 15501700; beginning with Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), who
asserted a heliocentric (sun-centered) cosmos, it ended with Isaac
Newton
(1642-1727),
who
Mechanical Universe.
Was there such a thing as the 'Scientific Revolution' -- and if the
question makes sense, what is it, or what was it? Better still, what
do historians mean when they speak of the 'Scientific Revolution'?
What follows is a modest attempt to clarify basic issues and
suggest others that are less obvious. As an introduction to the
concept of the Scientific Revolution, the following narrative
provides examples that make the story increasingly complex,
arguably, it may seem to undermine the very notion of a Scientific
Revolution. In any case, this short essay should be viewed as but
one example of how historians more generally think about history.
Which is to say, the Scientific Revolution provides an excellent
exercise for thinking about how historical periodizations emerge,
develop,
and
mature.
Arguably,
periodizations
serve
as
1
step
toward
Enlightenment
thinking
(with
an
experiences,
and
teleology,
as
the
idea
that
of
science
before
the
scientific
revolution
was
so
to
answer
through
their
methods
of
research
or
way
the
scientist/philosopher
comes
by
this
vague
can
be
described
as
the
scientists
different
Bacon
largely
differed
from
his
sixteenth
method contrasted
in that he believed
experimentation
be
means
getting information
or
of
eliminating
ignorance,
means of testing a
of
theory
but
and
method.
of
Galileo
that
because
every
phenomenon
results
from
one
applies
phenomenon,
the
one
many
can
proven
accurately
theorems
explain
to
the
larger
why
certain
necessitating
mixture
of
elements
from
different
Galileos
experimental
method
aided
advances
in
complex.
(4)
Recheck
the
11
as
well
as
Galilean
mechanism
17th
and
century
Baconian
through
made
Baconian
progress
in
experimentation
the
field
of
(fact-finding
discovered
30
years
prior
to
his
Micrographia).
4.6. Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1747):
Newton
invented
method
that
approached
science
between
natural
the
work
of
their
14
15
parallel
developments
in
anatomy
and
physiology,
philosophy"
(=
science)
brought
important
16
periodization,
the
Scientific
Revolution
has
grown
and
alternative
perspectives,
new
additions
and
Revolution
refers
to
European
developments
or
18
Galilei
(1564-1642),
Ren
Descartes
(1596-1650),
19
Western.
These
historians
found
it
difficult
to
talk
very
disparate
disciplines.
New
historical,
philosophical,
'Scientific
Revolution'
have
been
resilient
--
albeit
problematic -- periodization.
22
with
the
development
of
science
as
discipline
Improvement
of
Natural
Knowledge
(from
official
Commonly known
the
for
scientific
study
in
Europe. Accomplished
Moreover, the
work they published through the society helped gain credibility for
the society and for science as a discipline. For example, scholars
such as Robert Boyle published significant scientific findings in its
unofficial
journal
Philosophical
Transactions
(Dear,
140).
method.
Although
the
Royal
Society
was
24
9. Conclusion
The defining feature of the scientific revolution lies in how much
scientific thought changed during a period of only a century, and
in how quickly differing thoughts of different natural philosophers
condensed
to
form
cohesive
experimental
method
that
through
mechanism,
and
Newtons
method
of
or
used
too
much
inference/logic
and
too
little
26
10.
References
1. http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/ufhatch/pages/03-Sci-Rev/SCI2.
REV-Teaching/03sr-definition-concept.htm\
http://cnx.org/content/m13245/1.1/
27