Intellectual Revolutions That Define Society

Intellectual Revolution
-Greek speculation about “Nature”
-Known as “Pre-Socratic” or “non-theological” or “first philosophy”
Three characteristics of this philosophy:
 The world is a natural whole
 There is natural ‘order’ (there are laws of nature)
 Humans can discover those laws

Copernican Revolution
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)
He is considered as one of the Renaissance men, particularly in the field of science.
Knowledge about the nature of the universe had been essentially unchanged since the great days
of Ancient Greece, some 1,500 years before Copernicus came on the scene (Gribbin, 2003). This
continued up to the Renaissance period. In one important way, Copernicus resembled the Greek
ancient philosophers or thinkers he did not do anything extensive such as observing heavenly
bodies or inviting people to test his ideas. His ideas were example of what is presently called as a
thought experiment. By the time he finished his doctorate degree, Copernicus had been
appointed as canon at Frombork Cathedral in Poland. Despite his duty as a canon, he had plenty
of time to sustain his interest in astronomy.
Copernicus’s idea and model of the universe was essentially complete in 1510.
Copernicus was a busy man. His duty as a canon and as a doctor affected his time to formally
publish his work and advance his career in astronomy. The publication of his book De
revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres) in 1543 is often
cited as the start of the scientific revolution. In this book, he wanted a model of the universe in
which everything moved around a single center at unvarying rates. Copernicus placed the Sun to
be centerpiece of the universe.
Copernicus is also a courageous man. Although the Copernican model makes a sense now,
during those times, it was judged to be heretic and therefore it was unacceptable idea to be taught
to Catholics. The Catholic Church banned the Copernican model and was ignored by Rome for
the rest of the 16th century.
  Astronomer and mathematician
 Adopted the ‘heliocentric model’, suggesting the idea that sun is the center of the solar
system
 Published an essay “On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres”

Darwinian Revolution
Charles Darwin
He is famous for his theory of evolution. He changed our concept of the world’s creation
and its evolution. Darwin is a genius who came from a line of intellectually gifted and wealthy
family (Johnson, 2012). He developed his interest in natural history during his time as a student
at Shrewsbury School. He went to the best schools but was observed to be a mediocre student.
He struggled in his study in medicine and ministry, which his father has imposed to him.
Darwin’s life soon changed when one of his professors recommended him to join a five-year
voyage through the HMS Beagle on the Islands of Galapagos.
Darwin published his book The Origin of Species in 1589. This book is considered to be
one of the most important works in scientific literature. Darwin collected many significant
materials in order to present his theory with overwhelming evidence. His book presented
evidence on how species evolved over time and presented traits and adaptation that differentiate
species.
His book The Descent of Man was so impressive yet very controversial. He
introduced the idea of all organic life, including human beings, under the realm of
evolutionary thinking. This replaced the dominant views of a religious or biblical design
that places human beings in a privileged position of having been created by God. Darwin’s
theory of evolution scientifically questioned this view.

Darwin’s accomplishments were so diverse that it is useful to distinguish two fields

to which he made major contributions: evolutionary biology and philosophy of science.
More than these works, what made Darwin truly remarkable was his courage to challenge
religious and unscientific ideas that are deemed to be prominent during those days. His
unorthodox way of pursuing science gave more value to evidence-based science. Darwin
provided different framework for doing scientific activities. It is a science marked by
observation and experiment.
Charles Darwin, Theory of Evolution
 Suggested that all organisms are related and have descended from a common ancestor
 Explains that complex creatures evolved naturally from simplistic ancestors over time
 Proposed the “natural selection”, organisms survived due to random genetic mutations
leading to the preservation of their descendants.
 “survival of the fittest”, the better adapted a species is, the more fitted it is to reproduce.
Freudian Revolution
(Sigmund Freud)
He is a famous figure in the field of psychology. He is a towering literary figure and a
very talented communicator who did his share to raise the consciousness of the civilized word in
psychological matters (Rosenfels, 1980).
Freud also made a significant contribution in the scientific world through the
development of an important observational method to gather reliable data to study human’s inner
life. This method is popularly known as the method of psychoanalysis. The scientific hypothesis
he formulated formed the essential fundamental version of this method. For Freud, this method
of psychoanalysis is a scientific way to study human mind and neurotic illness.
Freud is not a traditional thinker. His method of psychoanalysis was proven to be effective in
understanding some neurological conditions that were not understood by medicine at that time.
His method was unorthodox -focusing on human sexuality and the evil nature of man.
Freud was born in a much later period from the scientific revolution but his contribution to
knowledge can be seen in many aspects of human scene, including art, literature, philosophy,
politics, and psychotherapy. Whether he is more of a psychologist or a scientist is for people to
decide. The fact remains that Freudian ideas and theories are still considered nowadays as a great
inspiration to examine human mind and behavior in a more scientifically accepted way.
 Father of Psychoanalysis
 Believed that when people explain their behavior, they rarely give a true account of their
motivation, not because they are deliberately lying, but because they are more adept at
self-deception.
 Freud’s structural theory of personality emphasizes the role of unconscious psychological
conflicts in shaping behavior and personality.
 Allan Turing (1912-1954) provided a fundamental contribution to computer sciences by
refining the concepts of algorithm and computation.
 Turing Machine
 Turing Test

Mesoamerican civilization
Regions and cultural area in the Americas, extending to the countries in South America

 Cultivation of cacao, corn, beans, tomato, squash, and chili

 "Three sisters", the main food sources including beans, corn and squash
 Domestication of dos and turkey
 Cotton plants were used to make textiles, and rubber, trees were used to make rubber
balls for performance, games and ritual)
 Formed terraces along the mountain slope
 First to use irrigation technique
 Known to be the first to create the calendars
Asian Civilization
 World' s great early Asian Civilization: one from India and from China
 Civilization arose in the Indus Valley 4000 years ago
 People used weapon and utensils made of bronze and copper
 Shops are established around MohenjoDaro

Two World’s Known Religion:

1. Hinduism - Hinduism is based on the four sacred books, Vedas this holds the records of
Indian history and beliefs, which were written by the Aryan people.
- caste system: priest called Brahmans ranked the highest the
“untouchables” as lowest
2. Buddhism - Buddhism embraces followers who praise Buddha (The Enlighted One), in
the person of Siddharta Gautama (a wanderer who believed that human greed and
selfishness lead to human pain.

Asian Civilization
Confucianism is based on the teaching of Confucius.
 Emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships,
justice and sincerity
 Great wall of China was built to protect themselves from the invasions of "barbarians
"from other parts of Asia

Middle East Civilization

The home of the "Cradle of Civilization" many of the world' s oldest cultures and civilization
were seen.
Middle East Countries are dominantly occupied by Muslims. With the spread of Islam in
the 7th and 8th centuries, a period of Muslim scholarship, or what is called the Golden Age of
Islam lasted until the 13th century. The common language of Arabic, access to Greek texts from
the Byzantine Empire, and their proximity to India were contributory to intellectualization of the
Muslims and provided their scholars knowledge to create innovations and develop new ideas.
But contrary to the Greeks, Muslim scientists placed greater value on science experiments rather
than plain-thought experiments. This led to the development of the scientific method in the
Muslim world, and made significant improvements by using experiments to distinguish between
competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation.
Contributions of famous Muslim Scientists:
1. Ibn al-Haytham is regarded as the Father of Optics, especially for his empirical proof of the
intromission theory of light.
2. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi gave his name to concept the algorithm while the term
algebra is derived from al-jabr, the beginning of the title of one of his publications. What is now
known as the Arabic Numeral System originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians
did make several refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of decimal point
notation.
4. Jabir ibn Hayyan-considered to be the “Father of Chemistry”
5. Ibn Sina-pioneered the science of experimental medicine and was the first physician to
conduct clinical trials. His most notable works in medicine, the Book of Healing and The Canon
of Medicine, were used as standard medicinal texts in both the Muslim world and in Europe
during the 17th century. Among his many contributions are the discovery of the contagious
nature of infectious diseases and the introduction of clinical pharmacology.

The history started from the Earliest human settlements continuing through pre- and post-Islamic
Empires.
Developed the following:
1. First writing system in the World.
2. Potter ' s wheel, vehicular and mill wheel
3. First generalized governments and law codes
4. Foundation of astronomy and mathematics

African Civilization
Lineage and culture achievements include in the field of mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy,
agriculture and engineering, navigation and medicine.
 In math, they developed the Yoruba system- based on units of 20 instead of 10 and
required impressive amount of subtraction to identify different numbers
In astronomy, African Stonehenge was considered as remarkably accurate calendar.

Advances in Metallurgy and tool making

Steam engines Metal chisels and saws
copper and iron tools weapon (bronze)
nail glue
carbon steel
African Empire of Egypt developed diverse structural monuments along the Nile river
 Great pyramid of Giza
 Great sphinx of Giza
Used plants with salicylic acid for pain, kaplin for bacteria, and extracts to kill Gram positive
bacteria
Medicine in Africa is more advance than in Europe, which performed medicinal procedures:
 Vaccination
 Autopsy
 limb traction
 brokebone setting
 bullet removal
 skin grafting
 filling the dental cavities
 installation of false teeth
 anesthesia
 tissue cauterization
 brain surgery
Development of Science in Africa. Africa is blessed with natural and mineral resources.
Science also emerged in this part of the planet long before the Europeans colonized it. The
history of science and mathematics show that similar to other ancient civilizations, the early
civilizations in Africa are knowledge producers too.
Contributions:
1. The Ancient Egyptian civilization has contributed immensely and made significant advances
in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. For example, the development of
geometry was a product of necessity to preserve the layout and ownership of farmlands of the
Egyptians living along the Nile River.
2. Egypt was known to be a center of alchemy, which is known as the medieval forerunner of
chemistry. They tried to study human anatomy and pharmacology, and applied important.