Scientific Revolution And Political Ideas Essay, Research Paper

Scientific Revolution and Political Ideas

There are many people that did more than there share at finding out new scientific theories. Such as Copernicus, Columbus, Kepler, Galilei, Bacon, Descartes, Newton, Vesalius, Harvey, Hooke, Boyle, Priestley, A. Lavoisier, and M. Lavoisier are all people who helped with a scientific revolution. Yes, I know there are a lot of names but I will try to present most of their theories.

Copernicus thought that the earth was round and that it rotated on its axis as it revolved around the sun and that the sun stayed still at the center of the universe. Christopher Columbus also thought that the earth was rounded and he tried to prove it. He tried to sail from Europe and go all the way around the world and go to India. Even though he did not prove at that point that the earth was round he still risked his life and found the Americas for Europe. Johannes Kepler believed many of Copernicus theories but he also had some new theories about the universe. Kepler used his mathematical skills to find out that the planets move in an oval path, not as circles as Copernicus earlier believed. Kepler also found out that planets do not always move at the same speed. He figured out they move faster as they approach the sun and slower as they move away from it. Galileo Galilei also had his own theories about the universe. While exploring the universe he built his own telescope to observe the moons and stars. He discovered that the moons of Saturn, Jupiter, and Earth revolved around the planets. With knowing that information he was convinced that the Copernican theory about the earth revolving around the sun was correct. Then he figured out that it was possible that some planets did move around the sun. Galilei experimented with the motion of objects on earth. He designed a theory called inertia.

Francis Bacon and Rene` Descartes came up with a new scientific process called the scientific method. The scientific method consists of several steps. The scientist observes certain facts about things. The scientist tries to find a hypothesis to explain the observations. Then tests the hypothesis under all possible conditions and in every possible way to see whether it is true. If you repeat all the processes and you get the same result it is considered a scientific law. Scientific truth is never assumed it is deduced from observations and a series of thorough experiments.

Isaac Newton is the last of the scientific revolutionists I will write about. Isaac Newton was a below average student at Cambridge University. He went home when viruses at Cambridge broke out. When he went home he sat in the orchard at his father s farm and saw an apple fall to the ground. Watching the apple fall led him to the idea of gravity. Newton 20 years later wrote a book about gravity. The book stated his theory of universal gravitation. According to his theory the force of gravity not only prevents objects from falling off the earth, but it holds the whole solar system together.

The five people who started some political ideas in the 1600 s were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Hugo Grotius, and William Penn.

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke offered contrary statements about the government that England should adopt. John Locke based his theories on the idea of natural law. He believed that people in a state of nature are reasonable, and moral, and that they have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Thomas Hobbes also used the idea of natural law to argue that absolute monarchy was the best form of government. He thought that violence came naturally too human beings and that without an absolute monarchy, hell would break lose. Thomas Jefferson also believed John Locke ideas when he helped write the Declaration of Independence.

I commend Hugo Grotius for trying to unite the whole world under the same law. But you and I both know it is nearly impossible to have two countries to agree on anything, especially not the whole world on the same thing. William Penn of Pennsylvania believed in pacifism, which in other words trying to replace war and violence with peace. Penn recommended a gathering of nations committed to world peace.

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