Scientific Revolution Key Terms

Francis Bacon

English, thinker that helped to advance ways if gaining knowledge, politician and writer, direct observation free from preconceptions and prejudice from the past (inductive reasoning), experimental physiology adopted in Britain after his death, 1660 his followers created Royal Society

Empiricism

theory of inductive reasoning.

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

1543 (maybe), published by Nicolaus Copernicus, theorized that the sun was the center of the universe not the earth.

Principia Mathematica

1687, Isaac Newton, set forth the law of universal gravitation, synthesizing previous theories of motion and matter.

Rene Descartes

French, thinker, French Philosopher, saw a correspondence between geometry and algebra (geometric spatial figures could be expressed as algebraic expressions vice versa), used deductive reasoning to formulate the theory of Cartesian dualism

Cartesian Dualism

Descartes’s view that all of reality cold ultimately be reduced to mind and matter (physical and mental).

universal gravitation

Newton’s 3 laws of motion that proved motion on earth is different than motion in space, proved Aristotle’s beliefs wrong.

Royal Society of London

Made by followers of Bacon in 1660, met weekly to conduct experiments and discuss latest findings of scholars across Europe.