It is true that western civilization can in another term be called “scientific civilization.” The scientific revolution was first experienced in 1543 when Nicolas Copernicus first published ‘de revolutionibus orbium coelestium’ book, and later ‘De humans corporis fabric’ published by Andreas Vesalius.
Before the revolution, religion was the governing institution or the controller of the western states’ spheres. People used religion to explain the happenings of and within the universe by viewing the universe as godly beginning with nothing to do with scientific development.
Religion was the power tool that bided people with theocracy which made the church controlling everything that happened to reject every scientific thought that emerged. Any scientific innovation by somebody meant punishment to the involved individual(s).
However, the scientific revolution transformed people’s ways of perceiving things which made them divert their focus from religion. They started using scientific logic-based arguments to seek solutions to issues relating to life and death, world and universe.
They started using science to explain the world with no godly relation. Since then, the life of educated people in the western worlds has been greatly changed by the scientific revolution where the scientific works, as well as discoveries of scientists, emerged real innovation of the time.
This made the revolution become a phenomenon of the west as it took only 150 years to transform people’s way of thinking from theocratic way to scientific way incorporated with natural science and technology advancement.
This is a change that brought a significant impact on an aspect of people’s lives in fields of architecture, sculpture and painting among others. If Nicolas and Andreas feared religion punishment and ignored their discoveries, where would the world now be? (Spielvogel 2008).
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) made significant contributions to the scientific revolution.
He introduced a strong argument in science when he argued that the purpose of experiments should not only be based on eliminating ignorance and obtaining information, rather it should be a way of testing both the theory and the success of the used method of testing.
Also, he brought the fact that any phenomenon is as a result of axioms and basic phenomena combination and thus it should be explained mechanically. In this way, one can explain why a phenomenon occurs in a certain way and not the other.
For example, in demonstration of acceleration, using a body and a slanted board, integration of many disciplines can be applied. (Cohen 1994) notes that “They include; the idea of gravity, mass, distance, time, force, and chemical composition of the accelerating body all of which need to be simplified to their smallest element for the involved scientist to fully understand the item.”
Through this method one move away from focusing on a phenomenon as a whole but instead as a composition of many principles which need to be tested, hence providing a complete understanding of the subject involved.
Would experiment a phenomenon as a whole lead to an informed observation of its occurrence or would experimenting of a broken down phenomenon do? (Cohen 1994).
The 17th century saw two different faces of civilized France and England, in mainly political and economic perspectives. If I were there and had to choose the nation to live, I would undoubtedly choose England.
(Cohen 1994) say that “During this time, both Louis XIV and Elizabeth I ruled France and England respectively.” Despite that, they both brought brilliant flourishing in their nations; England was more successful than France.
The power different as applied in this nation was the core contributor to the differences in success as Louis LIX used dictatorship to have authority above everyone and all bodies in France. Despite his attempt of establishing a glorious France, he failed in creating strong government requirement.
In his regime, he established extreme absolutism and him much of the nation’s wealth when he built his Versailles palace. On the other hand, Elizabeth I was successful in establishing a glorious and strong government which had the most powerful army and great art knowledge.
Unlike Louis, Elizabeth never created a religious gap within the nation, and she was successful in establishing great art and literature in England. Also, Elizabeth ruled her nation successfully without incidences of unhealthy economic.
She also involved excellent advisor in critical decision making, and she adhered to the parliamentary government which enabled her to both rules well her people and satisfy the parliament at the same time.
It is just a question of; “to follow a dictator or a charismatic leader?” (Ross 2003).
Reference list
Cohen, H. F. (1994). The scientific revolution: a historiographical inquiry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ross, D. (2003). England and France (1400-1700). Compare and contrast how England and France developed between 1400-1700. Web.
Spielvogel, J. (2008). Western Civilization: since 1500. Boston: Cengage Learning.