During the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans developed new approaches to and methods for looking at the natural world in what historians have called the Scientific Revolution. Aristotle's classical cosmology and Ptolemy's astronomical system came under increasing scrutiny from natural philosophers (later called scientists) such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. The philosophers Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes articulated comprehensive theories of inductive and deductive reasoning to give the emerging scientific method a sound foundation. Bacon urged the collection and analysis of data about the world and spurred the development of an international community of natural philosophers dedicated to the vast enterprise of what came to be called natural science. In medicine, the new approach to knowledge led physicians such as William Harvey to undertake observations that produced new explanations of anatomy and physiology and to challenge the traditional theory of health and disease (the four humors) espoused by Galen in the second century.
The articulation of natural laws, often expressed mathematically, became the goal of science. The unexpected encounter with the Western Hemisphere at the end of the 15th century further undermined knowledge derived from classical and biblical authorities. The explorations produced new knowledge of geography and the world's peoples through direct observation, and this seemed to give credence to new approaches to knowledge more generally. Yet while they developed inquiry-based epistemological systems, Europeans also continued to use traditional explanations of the natural world based on witchcraft, magic, alchemy, and astrology. Case study
Explain the development of the scientific method in the seventeenth century and the impact of scientific thinking on traditional sources of authority. |
How did the emergence of the new science alter the European view of knowledge and the cosmos?
Use five specific examples from the film as support. |