Also, in 1695, Gottfried Leibniz, a German philosopher in his “New Stems of Nature” said “God governs mind...these very movements of matter being produced for the happiness of the good and the punishment if the evil”(D12). Leibniz’s purpose here is to say that things happen for a reason and that good acts will be rewarded and bad would be punished. As political, social, and religious factors affected the Scientific Revolution, the political and social ones try to help and encourage people to continue doing what they are doing. On a contrary, religious factors caused many conflicts for people for the scientific revolution. The Scientific Revolution made people doubt things that were customs, thoughts and ideas that were passed on from generations to generations which is a reason why they caused conflicts with religion.
The Enlightenment movement was vital for the success of the colonies. The colonists started to look to science to explain issues, they turned away from their religion, and they embarked on the journey of gaining knowledge that was crucial for their survival in America. Since the very start of time, there were countless misconceptions in the world. Many religious groups believed that there were “higher powers” that controlled what happened on earth and they looked to everything except science to answer the innumerable questions they had. However, in the 18th century many leaders came to power and started to reveal new thoughts and information to people and it started a movement called the Enlightenment.
• During the Enlightenment there was a Scientific Revolution • The enlightenment was also called the Age of Reason • The chaos of the Reformation and wars of religion had shaken a belief system that had been accepted by society in the Middle Ages • People began looking for natural law, the conditions that govern human behavior • Thinkers began to believe that the problems of society could be solved through reasoning • One of the first philosophers to search for the natural laws of government was England’s Thomas Hobbes. • He believed that people by nature were bad and needed strong government • He believed that people could avoid the nature of being bad by entering into a social contract • This was an agreement to give up individual freedom to live in an organized society
However, each movement had subtle differences in both their aims and their methods towards achieving their common goal of peace. The decade of the 60’s in America was marked with great social changes. The new “Baby Boomers” generation wanted to challenge ideas of society, challenge the way people thought and change their values. They detested the tedious monotony of their parents’ lives. They challenged the authority of the time, specifically their parents, the government and the older generations in general.
Martin Luther saw what the church leaders were during and he believed that is was wrong and they needed to change. Martin Luther also had a lot of ideas about what the church was doing wrong when it came to the way they were practicing they religion so he took his ideas and put them into motion. When he put his ideas into motion it was the start of the Reformation. After the Reformation the church changed the way that it performed and carried out tasks this was called the Counter Reformation and it took place after the Reformation happened. The Counter Reformation was how the church responded to Martin Luther’s ideas on the church’s behavior and on his ideas about what was the right way to practice Catholicism.
Initially, there was a war for better rights, better representation, and better treatment from the crown. In the Second Continental Congress, opinions changed due to many factors. The delegates felt the cost of the war was too great to settle for better rights when they weren’t guaranteed. Also, Thomas Paine changed the opinions of a common citizen through his writings. Thomas Paine used God and heaven to explain to the people that the taxing and tyrannic power is wrong (Doc.
As the Age of Renaissance began to emerge, the old systems of feudalism began to weaken (Wolfe 4). Some of the beliefs behind Renaissance individuals included the notion that it was time to break free from past theories (1). This included a more secular approach to the studies of life, rather than past theologies or religious upbringings (1). One of the major reasons that led to broader interests of earthly pleasures, was due to the problems that arose within the Roman Church (1). Renaissance scholars were encouraged by the corruptions of the church to explore different avenues than previous medieval scholastics (2).
The Protestant Reformation began with a movement made by a monk simply to criticize and challenge the actions of the Church. From the disapproval of selling indulgence to the demand of equality, multiple forces have sparked the inception of the Protestant Revolution. Martin Luther’s decision to take public stand against the Church was revolutionary to the society. A movement for religious reforms, known as the Protestant Reformation, was born. Luther’s beliefs were soon adopted by and appealed to every levels of society.
Emboldened by the revolution in physics commenced by Newtonian kinematics, Enlightenment thinkers argued that reason could free humankind from superstition and religious authoritarianism that had brought suffering and death to millions in religious wars. Also, the wide availability of knowledge was made possible through the production of encyclopedias, serving the Enlightenment cause of educating the human race. The age of Enlightenment is considered to have ended with the French Revolution, which had a violent aspect that discredited it in the eyes of many. Also, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who referred to Sapere aude! (Dare to know!)
The Scientific Revolution (1543-1688) consisted of thinkers who started to question the old “truths” about astronomy, chemistry, biology, and were now having a more secular outlook on the universe that did not solely revolve around God’s creation. This was also a time where the Catholic Church was doing its best to claim power over the people. However, people were no longer willing to accept all of the church’s ideas. The church still held the majority if power so thinkers who were brave enough to publically contradict the church were executed. As more thinkers started working together and hypothesis turned into undeniable facts, some secular ideas were accepted.