ssetert (eae) Intellectual Revolutions and Society This section reviews the intellectual revolutions that changed the way people perceive the influence of science on society in general. I: focuses on three of the most important intellectual revolutions in istory: Copernican, Darwinian, and Freudian. By discussing these intellectual revolutions in the context of science, technology, and society, the attention of students are drawn again toward the complex interplay of the various social contexts and the development of modern science. The section also engages students in a critical analysis of ongoing intellectual and scientific revolutions, which they may find chemselves to be part of. intended Learning Outcomes At the end of this section, the students should be able to: 1. identify the intellectual revolutions that shaped society across time; 2. explain how intellectual revolutions transformed the views of society about dominant scientific thought; and 3, research on other intellectual revolutions that advance modern science and scientific thinking. Diagnostics Instructions: On the space provided, write TRUE if the statement is correct or FALSE if it is not. 1. An intellectual revolution emerges as a result of the interaction of man and society. 2. Intellectual revolutions are necessary in, understanding how society is transformed by science and technology.36 | Generel Concepts and Historcal Developments 3. Intellectual revolutions are often met with huge support and general acceptance. * Intellectual revolutions shape science and technology and often spare society from its influence. 5. The Copernican Revolution introduced the concept of heliocentricism. 6. According to Copernicus, the Earth is at the center of the solar system. 7. The Darwinian Revolution changed the way people understood nature and evolution. ____8. Charles Darwin received huge support from the church. 9. Sigmund Freud introduced scientific approaches to understanding the human subconscious. 10. The Freudian Revolution was, in itself, controversial and met with resistance. In the study of the history of science and technology, another important area of interest involves the various intellectual revolutions across time. In this area, interest lies in how intellectual revolutions emerged as a result of the interaction of science and technology and of society. It covers how intellectual revolutions altered the way modern science was understood and approached. For this discussion, intellectual revolutions should not be confused. with the Greeks’ pre-Socratic speculations about the behavior of the universe. In science and technology, intellectual revolutions refer to the series of events that led to the emergence of modern science and the progress of scientific thinking across critical periods in history. Although there are many intellectual revolutions, this section focuses on three of the most important ones that altered the way humans view science and its impacts on society: the Copernican, Darwinian, and Freudian revolutions. In the words of French astronomer, mathematician, and freemason, Jean Sylvain Bailley (1976 in Cohen, 1976), these scientific revolutions involved a two-stage process of sweeping away the old and establishing the new. In understanding intellectual revolutions, it is worth noting that these revolutions are, in themselves, paradigm shifts. These shifts resulted from a renewed and enlightened understandingIntellectual Revolutions and Society | 37 of how the universe behaves and functions. They challenged long-held views about the nature of the universe. Thus, these revolutions were often met with huge resistance and controversy. Copernican Revolution Figure 22. Nicolaus Copernicus and his heliocentric model ‘The Copernican Revolution refers to the 16th-century paradigm shift named afier the Polish mathematician and astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus formulated the heliocentric model of the universe. At the time, the belief was that the Earth was the center of the Solar System based on the geocentric model of Ptolemy (ie., Ptolemaic model). Copernicus introduced the heliocentric model in a.40 page outline entitled Commentariolus. He formalized his model in the publication of his treatise, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (The Revolution of Celestial Spheres) in 1543. In his model, Copernicus repositioned the Earth from the center of the Solar System and introduced the idea that the Earth rotates on its own axis. The model illustrated the Earth, along with other heavenly bodies, to be rotating around the Sun. The idea that the Sun is at the center of the universe instead of the Earth proved to be unsettling to many when Copernicus first introduced his model. In fact, the heliocentric model was met with huge resistance, primarily from the Church, accusing Copernicus of heresy. At the time, the idea that it was not the Earth, and, by extension, not man, that was at the center of all creation was unthinkable. Copernicus faced persecution from the Church because of this. ee38 | General Concepts end Historical Developments Moreover) although far more sensible than the Ptolemaic model, which as early as the 13th century had been criticized for its shortcomings, the Copernican model also had multiple inadequacies that were later filled in by astronomers who participated in the revolution. Nonetheless, despite problems with the model and the persecution of the Church, the heliocentric model was soon accepted by other scientists of the time, most profoundly by Galileo Galilei. The contribution of the Copernican Revolution is far-reaching. It served as a catalyst to sway scientific thinking away from age- long views about the position of the Earth relative to an enlightened understanding of the universe. This marked the beginning of modern astronomy. Although very slowly, the heliocentric model eventually caught on among other astronomers who further refined the model and contributed to the recognition of heliocentrism. This was capped off by Isaac Newton’s work a century later. Thus, the Copernican Revolution marked a turning point in the study of cosmology and astronomy making it a truly important intellectual revolution. Darwinian Revolution ‘The English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, Charles Darwin, is credited for stirring another important intellectual revolution in the mid-19th century. His treatise on the science of evolution, On The Origin of Species, was published in 1859 and began a revolution that brought humanity to a new era of intellectual discovery. ‘The Darwinian Revolution benefitted from earlier intellectual revolutions especially those in the 16th and 17th centuries, such that it was guided by confidence in human reason’s ability to explain phenomena in the universe. For his part, Darwin gathered evidence pointing to what is now known as natural selection, an evolutionary process by which organisms, including humans, inherit, develop, and adapt traits that favored survival and reproduction. These traits are manifested in offsprings that are more fit and well-suited to the challenges of survival and reproduction.Intellectual Revolutions and Socely | 39 1. Geospiza magnirostris 2. Geospiza fortis 3. Geospiza parvula 4, Certhidea olivacea Finches from Galapagos Archipelago Figure 23. The beak of an ancestral species of Finches found in the Galapagos had evolved to be able to survive in acquiring different food sources. Darwin’s theory of evolution was, of course, met with resistance and considered to be controversial. Critics accused the theory of being either short in accounting for the broad and complex evolutionary process or dismissive of the idea that the functional design of organisms ‘was a manifestation of an omniscient God. The Darwinian Revolution can be likened to the Copernican Revolution in its demonstration of the power of the laws of nature in explaining biological phenomena of survival and reproduction. The place of the Darwinian Revolution in modern science cannot be underestimated. Through the Darwinian Revolution, the development of organisms and the origin of unique forms of life and humanity could be rationalized by a lawful system or an orderly process of change underpinned by laws of nature.General Concepts and Historical Developments Freudian Revolution Austrian neurologist, Sigmund Freud, is credited for stirring a 20th-century intellectual revolution named after him, the Freudian Revolution. Psychoanalysis as a school of thought in psychology is at the center of this revolution. Freud developed psychoanalysis—a scientific method of understanding inner and unconscious contflicts embedded within one’s personality, springing from free associations, dreams, and fantasies of the individual. Psychoanalysis immediately shot into controversy for it emphasized the existence of the unconcious where feelings, thoughts, urges, emotions, and memories are contained outside of one’s conscious mind. Psychoanalytic concepts of psychosexual development, libido, and ego were met with both support and resistance from many scholars. Freud suggested that humans are inherently pleasure-seeking individuals. These notions were particularly caught in the crossfire of whether Freud’s psychoanalysis fit in the scientific study of the brain and mind. Scientists working on a biological approach in studying human behavior criticized psychoanalysis for lack of vitality and bordering on being unscientific as a theory. Particularly, the notion that all humans are destined to exhibit Oedipusand Electra complexes (i.e., sexual desire towards the parent of the opposite sex and exclusion of the parent of the same sex) did not seem to be supported by empirical data. In the same vein, it appeared to critics that psychoanalysis, then, was more of an ideological stance than a scientific one. Amidst controversy, Freud’s psychoanalysis is widely credited for dominating psychotherapeutic practice in the early 20th century. Psychodynamic therapies that treat a myriad of psychological disorders still remain largely informed by Freud’s work on psychoanalysis.