HIS109Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, Scientific Revolution, Scientific Method
Document Summary
Galileo galilei (1564-1642: copernicus" de revolutionibus (1543) Changed the relationship between man and nature. Instigated by: bacon (writing between 1620 and 1640) and descartes. Pre middle ages, people relied on the deductive method where we start with the first principles/assumptions and then apply logic to it. Bacon and descartes argued this system was backwards; truth and knowledge should be the conclusion not the starting point. This meant all the knowledge up to this point should be re-evaluated. Bacon was a politician but descartes was a philosopher and mathematician who believed in theoretical imperial observation. Apply quantified, objective evidence to everything so that we all understand we are talking about the same thing. Descartes wrote the discourse on method which gave the platform for the scientific method. He gave europe a new vehicle for gaining knowledge (not affiliated with the opinion of any church or king)
