The Scientific Revolution DBQ
Hayley Manges
Mr. Zlaket
AP European History (2)
17 November 2014
DBQ: The Scientific Revolution Imagine life as we know it without science. This may be hard to do, considering that scientific technology is now a perpetual symbol of modern-day life. Everything we see, everything we touch, and everything we ingest—all conceived of scientific research. But how did it come to be this way? Was it not only centuries ago that science began to surpass the authority of the church? Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, natural philosophers, now known as scientists, founded a new world view on science, which was previously based on the Bible and classic philosophers like Aristotle and Ptolemy. Both people connected their natural studies directly to God and the Bible, creating ideas like a geocentric earth. With time and new ideas, scientists managed to develope methods for creating and discovering things in nature, and with enough resources and patronage, were able to answer asked and unasked questions. Science, however, was not supported by everyone, and had to face many challenges to achieve the power it maintains in today’s world. Due to the strong authority that politics, religion, and common social order controlled in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, science was subjectively held in the hands of those who could utilize it or reject it. Religious authority typically rejected scientific ideas. In Document 12, Gottfried Leibniz stated in his book that he believed God “governs minds as a Prince governs his subjects”. The ideas that God puts forth in the Bible are that of truth—despite the science that strenuously prove it incorrect. Scientists had to keep their scientific studies and experiments secretive because much of what they proved contradicted Church teachings. In Document 1, Nicolaus Copernicus speaks to Pope Paul III in his 1543 book, On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres, asking for his support of the sciences, and telling him that the
Mr. Zlaket
AP European History (2)
17 November 2014
DBQ: The Scientific Revolution Imagine life as we know it without science. This may be hard to do, considering that scientific technology is now a perpetual symbol of modern-day life. Everything we see, everything we touch, and everything we ingest—all conceived of scientific research. But how did it come to be this way? Was it not only centuries ago that science began to surpass the authority of the church? Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, natural philosophers, now known as scientists, founded a new world view on science, which was previously based on the Bible and classic philosophers like Aristotle and Ptolemy. Both people connected their natural studies directly to God and the Bible, creating ideas like a geocentric earth. With time and new ideas, scientists managed to develope methods for creating and discovering things in nature, and with enough resources and patronage, were able to answer asked and unasked questions. Science, however, was not supported by everyone, and had to face many challenges to achieve the power it maintains in today’s world. Due to the strong authority that politics, religion, and common social order controlled in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, science was subjectively held in the hands of those who could utilize it or reject it. Religious authority typically rejected scientific ideas. In Document 12, Gottfried Leibniz stated in his book that he believed God “governs minds as a Prince governs his subjects”. The ideas that God puts forth in the Bible are that of truth—despite the science that strenuously prove it incorrect. Scientists had to keep their scientific studies and experiments secretive because much of what they proved contradicted Church teachings. In Document 1, Nicolaus Copernicus speaks to Pope Paul III in his 1543 book, On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres, asking for his support of the sciences, and telling him that the