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A Revolution: The Transition from
Philosophy to Science
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The Transition from Philosophy to
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Science

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23/05/2014
Moisés Toledo
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 A REVOLUTION:

THE TRANSITION FROM PHILOSOPHY TO SCIENCE

Before the 17th century the pre-Renaissance science was a field that based its obtention of
knowledge in divine interventions, supernatural forces, philosophical thinking, popular or “vulgar”
knowledge and a few scientific ideas. Science did not have a concrete structure, or a stable method
to completely analyze the material world; it tried to study but to no avail, the non-material world.
Science was basically a combination of facts and myths.

During this period, important figures rose, to demonstrate the reliability that science posed when
studying the material world; they proved that it was futile for philosophy to study this realm
completely on its own.

One of the champions of this time was Francis Bacon. He repeatedly insisted that a wrong
acquisition of knowledge resulted in zero knowledge. Bacon realized that the knowledge humans
had at the time was ambiguous, resulting from certainties that were false, that only led to an
accumulation of wrong knowledge that was of no benefit to human beings; it only worsened the
human condition.

Thus, Bacon developed a new system of logic based on the nation that despite the complexity of the
material world, it was a joining of separate parts, which could be analyzed individually. This
contributed to the development of the scientific method, which became and still is the basis for
every scientific investigation.

Another key figure was Rene Descartes, whose thinking became the basis for scientific thinking.
His influences lies in the fact, that he created the framework through which modern scientists think,
and gave people the idea to think by themselves, to not depend on the church as the ultimate source
of truth, that we are capable of achieving some truths by the power of our mind.

Through his explanations he demonstrated how limited were the human senses, and how the mind is
the only one that can control and give shape to this confusing information. In this manner Descartes
proceeds to construct a system of knowledge, discarding perception as unreliable and instead
admitting only deduction as a method. He also claims to prove the existence of a benevolent God,
who, being benevolent, has provided him with a working mind and sensory system, and who cannot
desire to deceive him, and thus, finally, he establishes the possibility of acquiring knowledge about
the world based on deduction and perception.

Then Thomas Hobbes came to question Descartes’ theory by stating that the mind was physical, and
did not believe in the existence of a spiritual world. Despite focusing on political philosophy,
Hobbes made many contributions to science including but not limited to demonstrating, that the
human brain was a structure made of many components, that it analyzed the material world by
acquiring information through the senses; he demonstrated that human beings like everything else
in the world were mechanical and influenced by the laws of nature.

But most importantly he showed that despite the unreliability of the mind, humans could still
achieve the truth by applying experimentation to everything that was part of the material world.
He demonstrated that through scientific experimentations, subjective information shared by
individuals could be transformed into true objective information that could unify everybody into
one single truth: the truth of science.

Before the rise of science, people believed that math was not capable of studying the material
world; then, Sir Isaac Newton appeared to change the paradigms that until then had persisted.

He demonstrated that the physical world could be studied by the application of mathematics; this
application of math resulted in a series of principles that not only became the basis for the field of
physics, but the basis for all science too.

His studies and techniques brought more and more scientific discoveries. His approach was
universal applying to everything that exists in the material world. Thanks to him, we are capable of
studying many things through math, from elemental particles, passing through atoms, particles and
cells to planets, galaxies and the universe.

Despite the advances made by science, some conservative people did not believed in this field
because they thought that it was against God wishes to obtain knowledge that was his only. Others,
because of science’s acknowledgement of only the material world and exclusion of the study of the
spiritual world, believed that science was an obstacle that did not allowed them to see the truth of
God; while some medieval and brutish people believed that science was a creation of the devil to
deviate them from the path of God.

Science with all the discoveries that has made improved the people’s lives. In a world without
science, human beings would attribute the simplest natural phenomena (like rain) to a divine being,
we would still believe that we are the center of the universe and that turtles or a titan keeps the
planet from falling. Human populations would be scarce, as there would not be cure to any diseases;
communication between people around the world would be non-existent, as vehicles (because of a
lack of physical laws) would not exist. Electricity would have never been applied to improve
persons’ lives by the creation of modern instruments.

If it wasn’t for the diffusion of science we would be all living like ignorant sheeps under the rule of
tyrannical leaders who employ religion to herd us (as there would be no democracy). Without
science humans would lead a sad, ignorant and meaningless existence.

Having said that, the transition from philosophy to science gave rise to much advancement in
various fields of knowledge including physics.

In physics one particular theory, Newton’s law of universal gravitation demonstrated the presence
of the force on gravity on everything around the universe; here is were the brilliance of this
particular theory lies.

This theory was born from a very particular accident (if it ever occurred) that took place during
Newton’s youth. According to popular stories, Newton came to conclude that after an apple fell to
his head, the apple was attracted to the ground, meaning gravity was acting on it.
Others say that Newton upon observing an apple about to fall began to think the following: The
apple is accelerated, since its velocity changes from zero as it is hanging on the tree and moves
toward the ground. Thus, by Newton's 2nd Law there must be a force that acts on the apple to cause
this acceleration. Let's call this force "gravity", and the associated acceleration the "acceleration due
to gravity". Then imagine the apple tree is twice as high. Again, we expect the apple to be
accelerated toward the ground, so this suggests that this force that we call gravity reaches to the top
of the tallest apple tree. Now came Newton's truly brilliant insight: if the force of gravity reaches to
the top of the highest tree, might it not reach even further; in particular, might it not reach all the
way to the orbit of the Moon! Then, the orbit of the Moon about the Earth could be a consequence
of the gravitational force, because the acceleration due to gravity could change the velocity of the
Moon in just such a way that it followed an orbit around the earth.

The importance of this theory lies in the fact that it proved many things: the gravitational force of
attraction of the earth binds all terrestrial objects to earth; the gravitational force of earth keeps the
atmosphere close to earth; proved that the moon revolves around the earth; the gravitational pull of
the sun on the planets keeps them revolving around the sun; the tides formed by the rising and
falling of water level in the ocean are due to the gravitational force of the sun and the moon on the
water.

Newton's law has since been superseded by Einstein's theory of general relativity, but it continues to
be used as an excellent approximation of the effects of gravity. Relativity is required only when
there is a need for extreme precision, or when dealing with very strong gravitational fields, such as
those found near extremely massive and dense objects, or at very close distances (such as Mercury's
orbit around the sun). This proves how the law became basic to future scientists who developed
their own theories based on the work of this early scientist.

This theory proved that humans were just beginning to use their infinite potential to complete
unravel and dissect the very fabric of reality.

I assert that despite science’s humble origins as a composite of a minimal amount of verdict facts
and vulgar knowledge, began to take force as time passed.

The knights of knowledge and reason, discovered that the only path, humans could take to obtain
knowledge of the observable universe was to move from a rationalist stance to an empirical stance.

As with every great movement that gains strength and power, eventually opposition comes, as
conservative groups who were incapable of reconciling their religious thoughts with scientific
discoveries; people whose minds were incapable of appreciating the majesty produced by human
thoughts decided that science was an obstruction that only repelled us from the grace of the
almighty God. One particular philosophy proved false these notions by stating, that the knowledge
we obtain is a sign of the love of God.

To conclude, we can say that science more than any other field of knowledge gave people the
chance to mold their world; despite the efforts of the oppressors, in the end science was capable of
liberating people’s minds, allowing them to perform something of which only human beings are
capable of thinking; thinking is the only path to uncover the truth of our reality