MODULE 3

INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION THAT DEFINED SOCIETY

INTRODUCTION

This section reviews the intellectual revolutions that changed the way people
perceive the influence of science on society in general. It focuses on the most
intellectual revolutions in history: Copernican, Darwinian and Freudian. By discussing
this topic 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
themselves to be part of.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:
1. Identify the intellectual revolutions that shaped society’s across time;
2. Discuss how the ideas postulated by Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud changed
the way how humans see the world
3. Analyze how scientific revolution is done in various parts of the world like in
Latin America, East Asia, Middle East, and Africa

Human beings have undertaken scientific activities in order to understand how

the nature works. They have persistently studied physical and natural world to find
meaning and answers to their question. Over the years, society has been reformed by
new ideas of science. We learn more and more about global warming, outer space, and
technology. However, this pattern of gaining knowledge did not pick up significantly until
the Scientific Revolution. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the Scientific
Revolution started, which concerned the fields of astronomy, mechanics, and medicine.
These new scientists used math and observations strongly contradicting religious
thought at the time, which was dependent on the Aristotelian-Ptolemy theory.

Source: http://www.actforlibraries.org/difference-between-heliocentric-and-geocentric-models-of-the-universe/

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 The geocentric model of the universe was formulated by the Greek philosopher
Ptolemy around 140 AD. The sun, moon, planets and stars all revolved around the earth
in circular orbits. There were problems with this model because the planets do not move
on circular orbits and they wander among stars. Their speed varies, their orbits wobble,
and they occasionally reverse their direction of travel, what is known as "retrograde"
motion. At that time it was believed that planetary motion must be based on circles.
Plato had argued that heavenly bodies were governed by different laws than those that
governed the motion of objects on earth.

The Copernican Revolution

The view of geocentric universe could not answers irregularities of the movement
of the earth, until the early sixteenth century when the Polish astronomer, Nicolaus
Copernicus, develop a different model. According to him, the apparent movement of the
heavens was an illusion, caused by the movement of the observer. He went on to argue
that the wandering motion of the planets could be explained if they were orbiting the sun
rather than the earth. This led to heliocentric theory that the earth was itself just
another planet orbiting the sun.
Being a distinguished churchman, Copernicus knew how tenaciously it held
geocentric theory. In proposing heliocentric theory, he was not just challenging orthodox
science; he was challenging the established religious view of reality, which in those
days held even greater sway than the scientific view. So, fearing the wrath of the
church, he kept his ideas to himself for thirty years. Only as he was nearing death, he
finally decided to publish his book On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres ( this
is the start of scientific revolution) but it was immediately placed on the list of forbidden
books.
After eighty years, an Italian scientist Galileo Galilei took up an interest in
planetary motions. Utilizing the newly invented telescope, he found convincing evidence
in favor of the Copernican model. He saw that Venus had phases, just like the moon,
when only half, or just a crescent, of it would be lit, which is what would happen if Venus
orbited the sun. He also found that Jupiter had its own moons in orbit around it,
dispelling the idea that everything went around the earth. Under threat of torture, he was
forced to detest the absurd view that the earth moves around the sun. He was then put
under house-arrest so that he could be watched and remained there till his death.
A German mathematician, Johannes Kepler, put into place another key piece of
the puzzle. He formulated three major laws of planetary motion, conventionally
designated as follows: (1) the planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus;
(2) the time necessary to traverse any arc of a planetary orbit is proportional to the area
of the sector between the central body and that arc; and (3) there is an exact
relationship between the squares of the planets’ periodic times and the cubes of the
radii of their orbits.

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 Kepler himself did not call these discoveries “laws,” as
would become customary after Isaac Newton derived
his mathematical description of gravity for planetary
motion. He regarded them as celestial harmonies that
reflected God’s design for the universe.

Kepler and Newton’s discoveries turned Nicolaus

Copernicus’s Sun-centred system into a dynamic
universe, with the Sun actively pushing the planets
around in noncircular orbits.
https://earthsky.org/human-world/johannes-kepler-
birthday-dec-27-1571

Darwinian Revolution

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/18/charles-
darwin-victorian-mythmaker-review-an-wilson

Charles Robert Darwin, English naturalist popularized theory of evolution by

natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies. His theory sets
about explaining the progressive changes that occur within species down the
generations, as well as the formation of new species, when environmental pressures
have differential effects on the reproductive success of all individuals.

Darwin's observations

1. All species have such great potential fertility that their population size would
increase exponentially if all individuals will reproduce successfully.

2. Populations tend to remain stable in size, except for seasonal fluctuations.

3. Environmental resources for things such as food and shelter are limited.

4. Individuals of a population vary extensively in their characteristics which impacts

upon their own ability to survive and reproduce.

5. Much of this variation is genetic and is therefore heritable.

Inferences drawn from observations

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 1. Due to the limited resources, there is a struggle for existence among individuals -
often with only a fraction of offspring surviving through each generation to
reproduce successfully.

2. It is not a random process that determines which individuals will reproduce and
which will not, as it depends in part on the genetic / hereditary constitution of
those surviving individuals. Those individuals whose inherited characteristics
best suit them to that environment in which they live are likely to have more
offspring than those that are not so well adapted to the environment. This, by
definition, is natural selection.

3. The unequal ability between individuals to survive and reproduce will lead to
gradual evolution of the population, with favorable characteristics accumulating
over the generations through natural selection.

Natural selection shapes adaptations and differentiates between the reproductive

successes of individuals. Adaptations are anatomical structures, physiological
processes, or patterns of behavior that contribute to ancestral survival through the
unique suitability of those traits (Crawford, 1998).

Theory of Natural Selection

1. Natural selection is differential success in reproduction.

2. Natural selection occurs through an interaction between the environment and the
variability inherent among the individual organisms making up a population.

3. The product of natural selection in the adaptation of populations of organisms to

their environments.

Theory of Evolution

1. Evolution is not progressive - Evolution is not designed to produce the best

quality products, it only seeks to design adaptations 'that will do the job' most
efficiently and economically. Therefore, evolution used the 'mammal template'
throughout the development of all mammal species - eg. pentadactyl limbs,
mammary glands, spinal curvature, pelvis structure - and made the necessary
modifications to suit the niche that species lived in.

2. Evolution is not an argument for the status quo - Evolution does not dictate why
things are the way they are. It must be remembered that some of an animal’s
features may be by-products of the evolution of an unrelated adaptation.

3. Evolution provides constraints - What has gone before sets physical limits on
what we can do now. This is seen in the fact that we learn some things much

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 more readily than others. In this sense evolution has also constrained what
things we are able to perceive and attend to.
4. Evolution provides complexity from simplicity - Species that depend on each
other for food (predator - prey relationships) often enter into 'arms races', as they
try to outdo each other.

To understand the origin of whales, it's

necessary to have a basic understanding of
how natural selection works. Natural selection
can change a species in small ways, causing a
population to change color or size over the
course of several generations. This is called
"microevolution". Given enough time and
enough accumulated changes, natural
selection can create entirely new species,
known as "macroevolution." It can turn
dinosaurs into birds, amphibious mammals into
whales and the ancestors of apes into human.
Source:https://reason.kzoo.edu/
biology/courses/BIOL102/

Freudian Revolution

Source: https://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis.

His work and theories helped shape our views of childhood, personality, memory,
sexuality, and therapy. His ideas have become interwoven into the fabric of our culture,
with terms such as "Freudian slip", "repression", and "denial" appearing regularly in
everyday language.

One of his most enduring ideas is

the concept of the unconscious mind,
which is a reservoir of thoughts,
memories, and emotions that lie outside
the awareness of the conscious mind.

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 He also proposed that personality was
made up of three key elements, the id,
the ego, and the superego. Some other
important Freudian theories include his
concepts of life and death instincts, the
theory of psychosexual development,
and the mechanisms of defense. 
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/dennis43/lec-11-freudian-theory