HIST 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Analytic Geometry, Therefore I Am, René Descartes
Document Summary
Ideas have power threaten the status quo pursuit of ideas risky. Religious wars between catholics and protestants ended by 1648 left people. Disillusioned and repulsed sought protestantism and monarchy. Calvinists and commerce allowed middle class to seek profit and build economic foundations of a strong, centralized state. Scientific revolution though changes not rapid through painstaking experimentation. Geocentric theory (ptolemy) common consensus - placed earth at the center of the universe supported by catholic church (saw humanity as central focus of god"s creation) ^mathematical flaws with this theory nicolaus copernicus (1473-1543) propose sun was center of the universe (heliocentric theory) The sun is the center of the universe, so all the other planets, including the earth, revolve around it. On the movement of the earth (1543) - The common theory of geocentricity is not valid because it has not been mathematically proven - simply don"t know enough to assume the earth is center. Cicero - fifth century - the earth moved.