The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment: New Intellectual Standards in the West

From the 15th through the 18th centuries, intellectual life in the West went through a dizzying series of changes, some contradictory. Renaissance thinkers and artists challenged medieval styles and standards, urging a great focus on humanity and things of this world. The Reformation, shortly on the heels of the Renaissance, argued for a return to religious authority but also shattered the unity of Western Christendom. Ultimately--as became clear by the later 17th century--the cutting edge of Western intellectual life was redefined away from religion and toward the growing authority of science. By science, in turn, Western intellectuals meant a set of rational operations, including both deductive reasoning and experiment, by which scientists could discover the clear-cut laws of nature. Religious authority was not directly attacked, but it was sidestepped in favor of a belief that humans could know what they needed to know by unaided reason. Knowledge itself could progress, rather than referring constantly to faith or tradition.

The documents that I would like you to read, written by leading figures in the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century and its aftermath, the 18th-century Enlightenment, describe the new intellectual framework. Isaac Newton, whose great discoveries in physics and mathematics brought together more than a century of work on planetary motion and the laws of gravity, shows how science and religion could be combined--but obviously on the terms of science (you can read an excerpt from his "View of the World" by clicking here). John Locke, also a 17th-century Englishman, sketches new principles of knowledge wherein reason has the crucial role (you can read read Locke's thoughts on "The Power of Reason by clicking here; please read pg. 12 paragraph 1, pg. 18 part 16, pg. 59 part 2, pg. 567 part 2, pg. 582 part 23, pg. 583 part 1 and 2, pg. 585 part 5, and pg. 588 part 10).

Locke and Enlightenment figures after him intended to apply rational principles and the idea of a harmonious, knowable nature to human society. Obviously, education had to change in order to develop the rational spark inherent in each child. Human institutions, such as criminal punishments, long based on outmoded religion and tradition, could be rethought, again to make the best of the fundamental reason and goodness in each person. Cesare Beccaria, an Italian Enlightenment writer, took the lead here (You can read excerpts from him on "Crimes and Punishments" by clicking here; please read from the very last sentence of pg. 119 through the end of the chapter on pg. 121. You can read excerpts from him on "Torture" by clicking here; please read the first 2 paragraphs of chapter XVI pgs. 58-59).

Science and the Enlightenment were not unchallenged in the Western world, but they did reshape previously dominant belief. Western intellectual life came to rest on assumptions radically different from those of a few centuries before. And there was more. The intellectual revolution reverberated in the wider culture of the West, as ordinary people picked up some of the same assumptions and began to challenge many traditions of popular culture. Finally, as the West spread its influence in the wider world, the baggage of the Age of Reason accompanied its journeys, challenging traditional culture in Asia and Africa. Here, too, the intellectual revolution that started in the West is still working in the world, though with varied results.

After you have read from the above documents, I would like for you all to think about and discuss the following: How did Newton seek to reconcile the idea of a scientifically discoverable nature with Christianity? What was new about his approach? How did Locke alter common Christian thinking about human nature? How would his ideas lead to growing emphasis on the importance of education? Would Locke and Newton have agreed about the importance of religion? How did Beccaria suggest a new approach to the punishment of criminals? Did his approach suggest the scientific and philosophical ideas pioneered earlier by people like Newton and Locke? Were the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, in fact, revolutionary compared with earlier Western culture? Would their implications be radical in the context of most other major cultures in the early modern world? Why, and to what extent, did European science begin to differ from science in other parts of the world from the 17th century onward? Your thoughts...