Revolutions In Thought Assesments by Colin Faherty

Heliocentric Theory

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-06 18:53:13 UTC

The Heliocentric Theory was a theory challenging the current status quo. Before this theory, many people had the common idea of the Earth being the center of the solar system, and everything revolved around it. In this era, it was the scientists vs the church. The church was protective of its beliefs and feared that these upcoming theories would disprove the church's beliefs, and credibility would be lost. Copernicus was not the first person to think of the sun as the center of the universe: "Copernicus was not the first to propose heliocentrism. In the third century BC, the Ionian astronomer Aristarchus of Samos had described not only the revolution of the Earth around the sun but also the daily rotation of the Earth itself." (Copernicus) Although Copernicus receives most of the credit for the heliocentric theory he built off of other ideas and summarized them all into one theory. This is important because it is the start of the revolution and why it kept going or sustained. This theory was important because it started a revolution in thought. This is when scientists challenged the status quo.

"Nicholas Copernicus." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Causes for Revolution in Thought

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-06 18:53:13 UTC

Evidence of Revolutions in Thought

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-06 18:53:13 UTC

Sustaining Revolutions in Thought - “Is there a way to prevent revolutions in thought from ending?”

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-06 18:53:13 UTC

Thesis

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-06 18:53:13 UTC

A successful revolution in thought is caused by scientists challenging the status quo, is sustained by building on previous knowledge and is evidenced by innovations in math and science.

Challenging Authority In Europe

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-06 19:30:44 UTC

In Europe, challenging authority played a big part in creating a revolution in thought. In this region, it was the scientists and thinkers challenging the beliefs of the church. This was a very demanding task because of the power the church held. Many scientists only published their theories until the very end of their lifetime. "Copernicus most likely delayed the publication of De revolutionibus out of fear of the Church's response, but also because he wished to refine his calculations." (Copernicus) Initially, this might've slowed down the start of a revolution in thought but once Copernicus's ideas got recognized many other scientists will shortly follow with their ideas and theories.

(1) - "Nicholas Copernicus." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Scientific Method

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-13 22:50:44 UTC

An example of scientists challenging authority in Europe is the creation of the scientific revolution by Francis Bacon. The sole purpose of the scientific method was to challenge the status quo and prove the hypothesis wrong. Francis Bacon was the founder of this process which contains observation, question, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion, and result. The scientific method was created in 1623, "It was in the 1623 publication De Augmentis Scientarium that Bacon began to formulate his new theories on the scientific method." (Bacon) And it is still in use today! It has been used in many big scientific innovations like DNA, antibodies, and more.

1 - Francis Bacon." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Innovation in Optics

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-14 04:06:01 UTC

There were many examples of scientific achievements in these revolutions. Many in Europe but also Islam was the leading producer in new technology and scientific endeavors. One is the study of optics. Al-Haytham, who was born in Iraq in 965 was one of the individuals who laid down the background pieces for the study of optics. Which later on was built off of and created even more ideas about optics. Al-Haytham was a mathematical scientist: ''He ranks with Archimedes, Kepler, and Newton as a great mathematical scientist,'' said Dr. Lindberg." (Overbye) He was very intelligent and used a process the process of experimenting (scientific method) to his advantage. "experimented with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and for the notion that science should be based on experiment as well as on philosophical arguments." (Overbye) He and Francis Bacon created a foundation of experimental processes that would further be used in many important discoveries.

Overbye - How Islam Won and Lost the Lead in Science

How building off of previous thoughts sustained revolutions.

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-14 04:40:20 UTC

There are many ways a revolution can be sustained, one being ideas and thoughts being built off by the next generation. We can see this throughout the whole European revolution and a key for this is because the thinkers in the older generations laid down key background pieces of information and provided methods to build off of information. One example of a scientist building off of former thoughts was Galileo building off and supporting the ideas of Copernicus to help support his idea and make them more accepted. Another example of scientists building off of each other is how Isaac Newton built off of Kepler and his initial thoughts and fascination with gravity. Which later impacted the 3 main laws about gravity that are crucial in our lives today. Many people in Europe were all for collaboration and working together to sustain the revolutions and theories. "If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants," Issac Newton. (European Scientific Revolution Slides) One reason why Isaac Newton was so successful was because of his ability to build prior knowledge.

How all this relates to a successful revolution in thought.

27fahertyc1_1 — 2023-12-14 04:49:40 UTC

All of these key factors lead to successful revolutions and help sustain a revolution for as long as can be. The key is everything has to build on everything there is no room to rewind. It is like a domino effect, causes led to inventions which led to these inventions being enhanced and clarified. Some new ideas came into play. Once courage was built up to go against the authority and their beliefs it created a whole new possibility of thinking. In all successful revolutions cannot go on forever, for them to succeed there must be bravery in challenging the known beliefs of the earth.