Introduction
Historically, it is very significant that the Reformation which took place in the sixteenth century was closely followed by the Scientific Revolution that occurred in the seventeenth century. For instance, the reformation of the protestant church which was initiated by Martin Luther who was very critical as far as the issue of authority in the catholic church and their overall leader the pope is concerned.
He was really questioning the religious authority of the church and above all trying to establish a new source of authority in the church. He was not the only person during that time that had issues with authority. Other great men like Montaigne, Galileo, and Bacon had the same sentiments. They were trying to question the sources of the then existing traditional authority in that time as well as trying to come up with new sources of authority which somehow were very beneficial to the entire mankind especially in the scientific revolution (Biancamaria, 67).
Montaigne Contribution
Montaigne was one of the philosophers whose work has brought about a lot of changes in this modern world. It should be noted that he contributed a lot and issues of authority is one of the areas he is remembered for. As it was noted by (Biancamaria, 79), his work is known to have especially influenced changes among the French people and their culture. He brought about a great influence in the education world as well. He dealt with the authority bestowed upon man as being not worth. This is because; he was somehow not pleased by the fact that authority was given to man to exercise his freedom (Biancamaria, 77).
He was very critical about the conflict that existed between the catholic and the protestant churches all in the fight for freedom to rule religiously. He supported humanism but still believed so much in God. He was opposed to the moral and religious laws which existed at that time because he felt that they were causing pain to the native people. He felt that man should not be just trusted since what he decides just clicks in his mind.
He did not find any reason as to why man is considered better than animals. He was for instance very critical on the issue of making people confess as a result of exposing them to great torture. This man felt that such authority was not of any worth. Instead, he felt that an issue can not make anyone good if they confess for fear of torture. However, he defended Christianity in that their confession is never based on torture. He was however in favor of the education system that was based on abstract knowledge (Biancamaria, 150).
Galileo Contribution
Galileo was a philosopher who lived in the years between 1564 and 1642 and he really contributed to the world of science. He was basically concerned about the issues of astronomy. He was basically concerned about the issues of physics and he was really very critical of the contributions that were earlier made. According to (Finocchiaro, 29), his contributions on the issues of astronomy were contradicting to what the church believed. The authority in the church was in denial of the things he was talking about. As far as the church was concerned, it was the devil doing when he observed moving objects in the sky through the telescope.
Apart from this observation he made that was rejected by the church, he also challenged the authority on which some Ptolemaic universes were based. According to the work of (Finocchiaro, 68), this issue raised a debate on whose authority as far as the universe’s nature is concerned is to be considered true between his contribution and Ptolemy. It was his challenge that he paused on the authority of the church concerning the issue of the universe that brought him a lot of trouble. He was actually arrested for questioning the authority of the church. However, his contribution was later very important in relation to the evolution of science.
He was very critical of the authority of the church that was against the study of the universe simply because God was under control. His contribution, however, was very helpful even in today’s education since through what he said and done, the study of meteorology was made easier (Finocchiaro, 188). He felt that the authority of the church on the issues of astronomy was not relevant since much mystery about the sky needed to be revealed.
Bacon Contribution
This was one of the philosophers who lived in the period between the years 1561-1626. He was famous in that he believed that matters of truth can not just be unveiled only by paying attention to what the authority said or declared. He was very critical of the dispute that existed in England between the authorities of the church and the monarchies (Mcknight, 56). He was very dissatisfied with the way authority was imposed on criminals. He never approved the fact that one had to be tortured so as to let out their confession on a certain issue. Due to such issues England was actually torn between the authority in the church and the political authority.
At the time, Bacon was a believer as well as a politician. He actually felt that the then-existing omnipotent government did not have answers to the problems of the people. He was very opposed to the monopoly of decision-making and authority by the government at that time.
He was actually known for fighting for the rights of the poor people when the government set up the issues of tax to all. He was very much opposed to the authority given by the government on that issue claiming that the government was not always right. In this modern world, he is remembered for his contribution as far as the authority of the government is concerned (Mcknight, 190). He argued that government words should never be the actual final words due to some selfish interest. His contribution led to the evolvement of democracy. He also felt that there was a need for scientifically learned leaders.
Descartes Contribution
He was known for his philosophy of rationalism. He was very critical of the aspect of authority during that period and argued that everything said must also be very practical. He insisted that any sound judgment from anyone should come from the basis of mathematics (Desmond, 76). He felt that any authority must then be mathematically based. He felt that nothing that is not clear or distinct must be accepted as the truth, any problem must not be solved as a whole but into pieces, and then thoughts must be arranged so that simple ones are sorted out before taking care of the complex ones. He was very much convinced that God is the only true living thing.
By this, he was very much in unison with the authority in the church. He actually believed that the universe was created by God (Desmond, 200). He believed that the issues of morality were basically God-oriented. His work of philosophy was usually controlled by religion. He was also in support of the aspect of free-thinking all the time. He believed that every individual should exercise free thinking on different matters and should not just buy what the authority said or even what he or she read in books. His work really boosted the scientific revolution which is an area that demands a lot of individual free and independent thinking.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is very evident that the four philosophers were trying to question the sources of the then existing traditional authority in that time as well as trying to come up with new sources of authority which somehow were very beneficial to the entire mankind especially in the scientific revolution. Some were questioning the political authority while others were questioning the religious authority. Their work was very important in the revolution that took place in the education sector especially as far as science and mathematic are concerned. Also, there was a revolution in terms of governance due to the issue of democracy. They were trying to answer the question many people had on the issue of authority since it was an undermining and oppressing matter.
Works Cited
Biancamaria, Fontana. Montaigne’s politics: Authority and governance in the Essais. Amazon: Princeton University Press, 2008. 67, 77, 79, 150.
Desmond, Clarke. Descartes: A biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 76, 200.
Finocchiaro, Maurice. Retrying Galileo. Amazon: University of California pr, 2007. 29, 68, 188.
Mcknight, Stephen. The religious foundations of Francis bacon. Amazon: University of Missouri Press, 2006. 56, 190.