INTELLECTUAL

REVOLUTIONS
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to :
• Explain the scientific theories behind the revolutions in science
• Discuss the impact of scientific revolutions to society’s worldview
• Name the prominent people behind the intellectual revolutions
• Identify Kuhn’s phases of scientific revolution
SCIENTIFIC THEORY AND LAWS
SCIENTIFIC THEORY - is a well-substantiated explanation and
serves as the foundation of the law or principle.
SCIENTIFIC LAW OR PRINCIPLE - are descriptions of
relationships between quantities.
Example:

The Kinetic Molecular Theory

- the kinetic molecular theory simply says that gas particles are in constant motion and
exhibit elastic collision.

Laws under the Kinetic Molecular Theory

Boyle’s Law - relationship between pressure and volume of an ideal gas
Charles’ Law - relationship between temperature and volume of an ideal gas
Law of Partial Pressure (Dalton’s Law) – relationship between partial and total
pressure of gases
THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

KUHN’S VIEW OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

- Development in leaps from one paradigm to
another ; from one theory to a new one
- It follows the following stages:
normal science – anomaly – crisis – incubation – new theory
 GEOCENTRISM TO HELIOCENTRISM
STAGES
1. Normal Science Geocentrism says that the earth is the center of the universe. All
observations of the heavenly bodies are explained in this theory.
2. Anomaly Galileo in 1610 discovered the moons of Jupiter. He observed
that the moons move around Jupiter and not around earth. He
also discovered that Venus has phases.
3. Crisis Galileo’s observations cannot be explained by geocentrism.
The Heliocentric theory is a better alternative.
4. Incubation Old planetary observations are modified to fit the heliocentrism
theory. Kepler’s idea of orbits was adopted.
5. New Theory Theory of gravitation by Newton
 PARADIGM SHIFT
Paradigms
1. Medieval Science Scholastic, faith centered, partly empirical

2. Modern Science Purely empirical, objective

 IMPACT OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

To Science
The scientific revolution paved the
way to modern science which
considers the universe as
measurable. Modern science
considers all physical phenomena
measurable and can be
represented by mathematics. The
universe is also viewed as
mechanical in nature and follows
the laws of physics.
To Society
In the social aspect, the scientific
revolution helped society embrace
the objective reality of the physical
world. It has drawn a clear boundary
between the realms of science and
religion.
 GALILEO’S CASE
Galileo’s support to the heliocentric theory (with his own discoveries of
Jupiter’s moons and the phases of Venus) heightened the value of
empirical data to science. The same however would be used against his
claims in the aspect of parallax. He could not present proof to such or
anyone else during that time. The persecution of Galileo by the Church
was more on personal reasons than scientific. To claim that Galileo or the
scientific revolution broke the dominance of the Church by that time is an
overstatement. During that time, the church’s influence was already on the
decline because of their own wrong doings ( corruption, power brokering,
abuses). It was just a mere coincidence that the scientific revolution was
happening then.
 THE CHURCH’S ACTIONS

• * In 1880, almost 300 years after

Galileo observed the moons of Jupiter
the Church finally acknowledged the
truthfulness of Heliocentrism.
• In 1991, the church admitted wrongful
judgment to Galileo. John Paul 2 said
the church had erred in condemning
Galileo.
 DARWINIAN REVOLUTION
• The Theory of Evolution was formulated
by Charles Darwin in 1859. It explained
that species came to be through natural
selection in which the most adaptable
species survived. Darwin's theory of
evolution was controversial because it
came out at a time when most of the
people believed the biblical story of
creation. Darwin, however mentioned
little of the human evolution in his book.
 IMPACT OF DARWINIAN REVOLUTION
To Science
The theory of evolution / natural
selection led to a new branch of
science called evolutionary
biology.
To Society
The theory of evolution did not
make a significant paradigm shift to
society. The people at that time
were free already to accept or reject
the theory. Even the Catholic church
declared in 1950 encyclical Humani
Generis that faith and evolution are
not in conflict.