Lesson 3.

5: The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
1. Examine the events and impact of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment.
2. Show every contribution of the philosopher during the Scientific Revolution and
Enlightenment.

Materials and Equipment Needed

Module, Laptop/cellphone

Learning Activities (Activating Prior Knowledge)

Name the following photos by sorting their jumbled letters.

EHLIOCNETRIC IVEW
HELIOCENRIC VIEW

ETLECSPEO
TELESCOPE

WLA FO RGAVTIY
LAW OF GRAVITY
Learning Probe (Analysis)
Find out more about the persons in the photo and then fill out the table.

Personality Images Contribution

Galileo Galilei

Thomas Hobbes

Johannes Kepler

John Locke

Nicholas Copernicus

Isaac Newton
Learning Time (Acquire New Knowledge)
Scientific Revolution
Science in the Middle Ages was designed to help a person reach a better understanding
of God and not the world. A medieval scientist would have found it inconceivable to examine the
universe outside the realm of religion. During the Renaissance from the 1300s until the early
1500s, science was still considered a branch of religion, and scientific thought held that the
earth was a stationary object at the center of the universe.
As during 16th and 17th centuries, there was a significant shift in scientific philosophy.
Beginning with Copernicus, who taught that the earth revolved around the sun, Europeans began
to reject Aristotelian medieval scientific thought. Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton developed a
new concept of a universe based on natural laws, not a mysterious God.
The Scientific Revolution, is a new understanding of nature arose, displacing the Greek
paradigm that had dominated research for over 2,000 years. Science evolved into a separate
study from both philosophy and technology, and it started to be seen as having utilitarian
purposes. It would not be an exaggeration to claim that by the conclusion of this time, science
had supplanted Christianity as the focal point of European civilization. This is the beginning of
the era of experimental investigation because of their observation of the universe.
Thinkers of the Scientific Revolution
Table 1. Thinkers of the Scientific Revolution and their Contributions

Philosophers Contributions

An astronomer from Poland

identified with his heliocentric view of the
galaxy or believing that not the earth is
the center of the galaxy, but the sun and
the earth revolves around it.
This Heliocentric Theory that the sun
—and not the earth—was the center of the
universe contradicted contemporary
scientific thought and challenged the
traditional teachings of hundreds of
years. Copernicus’ book had enormous
scientific and religious consequences. By
Nicholas Copernicus characterizing the earth as just another
planet, he destroyed the impression that
the earthly world was different from the
heavenly world.
 Italian scientist and mathematician
who invented the telescope he used to
study space. Using the telescope, he
discovered the four moons of Jupiter, and
that the moon had a mountainous
surface, much like the earth. His
discovery destroyed an earlier notion that
planets were crystal spheres (the earth
was the center of the universe and
around it moved separate, transparent
crystal spheres: the moon, the sun, five
Galileo Galilei planets, and fixed stars), and challenged
the traditional belief in the unique
relationship between the earth and the
moon. Galileo’s evidence reinforced and
confirmed the theory of Copernicus
A German who published Brahe's
article discovered that the motion of a
planet in orbit accelerates as it
approaches the sun. He used his data to
support Brahe’s data and Copernicus’
idea that the planets move around the
sun in elliptical, not circular, orbits.
Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion
were based on mathematical
relationships and accurately predicted the
Johannes Kepler movements of planets in a sun-centered
universe.
A Danish scientist who proved that
the comet is not just an atmospheric
phenomenon, but that the comet is a
representation of the change in space.
He set the stage for the study of
modern astronomy by building an
observatory and collecting data for over
twenty years on the location of the stars
and planets. His greatest contribution
was this collection of data,
Tycho Brahe
An English mathematician who
discovered the law of gravity as an
explanation for the motion of the planets.
He proposed the Law of Universal
Gravitation. According to this law, every
body in the universe attracts every other
body in precise mathematical
relationships. Newton’s law
mathematically proved that the sun,
moon, earth, planets, and all other bodies
moved in accordance with the same
basic force of gravitation.
Isaac Newton Such proof showed that the
universe operated by rules that could be
explained through mathematics and that
a religious interpretation was not the sole
means of comprehending the forces of
nature.
An English politician and writer, who
advocated that new knowledge had to be
acquired through an inductive, or
experimental, reasoning process (using
specific examples to prove or draw a
conclusion from a general point) called
empiricism. Bacon rejected the medieval
view of knowledge based on tradition and
believed instead that it was necessary to
collect data, observe, and draw
Francis Bacon conclusions. This approach is the
foundation of the scientific method.
 A French philosopher and mathematician.
He explained the problem in science and
philosophy using mathematical methods.
He believed that, as in geometry, it is
necessary to use deductive reasoning
and logic to determine scientific laws
governing things.
He believed that it was necessary to
doubt everything that could be doubted.
Rene Descartes His famous quote—“Cogito ergo sum” (“I
think therefore I am”)—proved his belief in
his own existence and nothing else.
-
Age of Enlightenment – the great ‘Age of Reason’ – is defined as the period of rigorous
scientific, political, and philosophical discourse that characterized European society during the
‘long’ 18th century: from the late 17th century to the ending of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.
This was a period of huge change in thought and reason, which was ‘decisive in the making of
modernity’. Centuries of custom and tradition were brushed aside in favor of exploration,
individualism, tolerance, and scientific endeavor, which, in tandem with developments in
industry and politics, witnessed the emergence of the ‘modern world’.
The Enlightenment’s leaders believed that by using scientific methods, they could explain the
laws of society and human nature. It was an optimistic creed—armed with the proper methods
of discovering the laws of human nature, enlightened thinkers were convinced they could solve
all problems. They believed it was possible to create a better society and people and that
progress was inevitable. They were free from the restraints of religion and focused instead on
improving economic and social conditions.

Enlightenment-Era Philosophers
Table 3. Philosophers and its Contributions

Philosophers Contributions
 An English philosopher and
scientist were one of the key figures in
the political debates of the Enlightenment
period. Despite advocating the idea of
absolutism of the sovereign, he
developed some of the fundamentals of
European liberal thought.
Hobbes was the first modern
philosopher to articulate a detailed social
contract theory that appeared in his 1651
work Leviathan. In it, Hobbes set out his
Thomas Hobbes doctrine of the foundation of states and
legitimate governments and creating an
objective science of morality.
A French philosopher and writer of
the Age of Enlightenment. He believed
that as social inequalities develop, people
enter into a social contract agreeing to
surrender their individual rights to the
community and the general will, or the will
of the majority, in order to be free—thus
creating a government as a necessary
evil to carry out the general will. If the
government fails, people have the right to
replace it.
His Political Philosophy, particularly
his formulation of social contract theory
(or Contractarianism), strongly influenced
Jean Jacques Rosseau
the French Revolution and the
development of Liberal, Conservative and
Socialist theory.

The English philosopher and

political theorist laid much of the
groundwork for the Enlightenment and
made central contributions to the
 development of liberalism.
Locke also argued that if the
government failed to protect our natural
rights, then the people had the right to
replace the government. Locke's ideas
became very influential in developing
democratic ideas.
Locke’s ideas of consent of the
governed, a social contract, and the right
John Locke of revolution influenced the writing of the
United States’ Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution of the
United States. Locke’s ideas also laid the
foundation for the criticisms of absolute
government in France.

A French aristocrat who wanted to

limit royal absolutism. In his book, The
Spirit of Laws (1748), he urged that power
be separated among three branches of
government: executive, legislative, and
judicial. Each branch would check the
other branches, thus preventing
despotism and preserving freedom.
His theory of the separation of
Baron de Montesquieu powers greatly influenced the framers of
the United States Constitution.

A French Enlightenment writer,

historian, and philosopher famous for his
wit, his attacks on the established
Catholic Church, and his advocacy of
freedom of religion, freedom of
expression, and separation of church and
 state.
Francois Marie Arouet a.k.a Voltaire

A French philosopher who

published his writings and the ideas of
many Enlightened philosophers in his
Encyclopedia (1751). This 25-volume
collection of political and social critiques,
which included writers such as Voltaire
and Montesquieu, attacked abuses of the
French government, including religious
intolerance and unjust taxation.
The Encyclopedia was an example
of the eighteenth-century belief that all
knowledge could be organized in a
Denis Diderot systematic and scientific fashion. Diderot
hoped that this information would help
people to think and act rationally and
critically.

The French leader of the physiocrats

and a physician to Louis XV. He
supported a hands-off, or laissez-faire,
approach to the government’s
involvement in the economy.

François Quesnay
 A Scottish economist who outlined
the nucleus of the economic system that
came to be known as capitalism. Smith
believed in a laissez-faire approach to
business.
He argued that individuals should be
left to pursue their own economic gain.
The role of the state is to act as a
policeman who intervenes only when
necessary. Smith thought that the
invisible hand of supply, demand, and
Adam Smith competition would ensure that people
would act in the best interest of everyone.
In her book, “A Vindication of the
Rights of Women” Wollstonecraft was
demanding the basic rights and liberties
that the Enlightened male writers had
been advocating throughout the century.
She fought for women’s rights and
said that women should have the right to
vote, hold a position in government, and
the right to education.
Mary Wollstonecraft

Beethoven's reputation as an
Enlightenment thinker was achieved
primarily through the rededication of the
Third Symphony and served to emphasize
the political expressive potential of the
artist.

Ludwig Van Beethoven

 Mozart belonged to the later period
in the Enlightenment. He wrote and
performed musical pieces for middle-
class audiences, where he became an
independent contributor to the intellectual
lifestyle. This choice of artistic and
intellectual autonomy was a large part of
the Enlightenment; especially during the
second part of the seventeenth century.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

He is an Austrian composer who was

one of the most important figures in the
development of the Classical style in
music during the 18th century. He helped
establish the forms and styles for the
string quartet and the symphony.

Franz Joseph Hayden