Thank Goodness for the Scientific Revolution
The scientific revolution played an enormous role in shaping the world that we live in today. The 17th century changed from relying on mysticism to individual thinking that paved the way for many new inventions. We should be grateful to the great thinkers of those days. WHY?? Think of electricity, Railways, phones, satellites, cars etc. And then think of your life without cell phones, a car, your favourite TV programs, malls, chocolates, microwave ovens, bicycles etc....
During the 1500s and 1600s, European thinkers began relying on their own reasoning rather than automatically accepting traditional beliefs. In their investigation of nature, they gradually develop the scientific methods. This was a way of finding scientific truth through experimenting and observations. They developed new instruments, such as the telescope and microscope to help them in their work. Over time, each discovery or invention led to others, creating an explosion of knowledge.
The advance of science transformed the understanding of the natural world. Scientists such as Galileo and Newton enabled Europeans to view the universe as a huge, orderly machine that worked according to definite laws that could be proved mathematically. These scientists also came to believe that people could also use reason to discover the natural laws of governing human behaviour. They claimed that once these laws were known, people could use the laws to improve their communities
Philosophers such as Hobbes and Locke had much to do with the way we vote today and democracy. During the 1700s, Europeans boasted that they had entered an Age of Enlightenment when the light of reason would free all people from the darkness of ignorance and superstition. France was apparently the leading centre of Enlightenment.
Through the printed word and at public gatherings, French thinkers claimed that science and reason could be used to promote progress in all areas of life. They were right. We do have so much to improve our lives by the foundation that they built. They prepared the way for people to take an active part in government and nationalism, the right of people to share a common culture to have their own nation. In some areas, people influenced by the new ideas rebelled against monarchs in the hope of creating better and more democratic societies. People were not led anymore but learned to make their own decisions. GREAT.
SOURCES : National Geographic, World book of knowledge, Webster encyclopaedias, Pixabay.