Rene Descartes and the scientific revolution - Research Paper Example

The Bible taught that the Earth was a special planet because God has deliberately set it at the center of the others; a clear sign of its importance to God. However, past the 16th Century, some scientists began challenging the existing way of thinking by replacing the past assumptions with new theories. This change in the European thought about the natural world is what is commonly referred to as the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was a foundation stone upon which Rene Descartes developed the scientific method approach.

The breakthroughs in the scientific revolution were championed by Copernicus who observed that the stars and all the planets revolved around the sun. The thoughts were sparked off by an ancient Greek idea that the sun was at the center of the universe. Copernicus indeed found this to be true after 25 years of studying planetary movements. Though revolutionary, the theory had a limitation in that it never explained why the planets behaved the way they did. Another problem was that it contradicted ancient studies and religious views.

For fear of persecution and possible ridicule, the scholar did not publish his findings until 1543; the year of his death. Despite his death, Copernicus’ ideals withstood the test of death and were a good foundation for other like-minded scientists. Brahe, an astronomer from Denmark, made careful and accurate records of the planets’ movements over many years. The scientist produced volumes of accurate data recorded from his personal observations. With his death imminent, it was left to his followers to make the mathematical inferences from the data.

Johannes Kepler, his assistant, studied the data and inferred that some mathematical laws governed the movements in the universe. According to Hellyer, (2003) Descartes’ findings disapproved the belief that the planets orbited in circular motions. In contrast,