The Tale of the Scientific Revolution

Once upon a time, there was a man named David Hume. He was a Scottish philosopher during the Scientific Revolution. Hume believed that miracles did not occur unless “the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavours to establish…”. He was skeptical that a miracle could happen in reality. His skepticism stemmed from his involvement and history with the ideas of the Scientific Revolution. Hume challenged many religious ideas on the basis that if they could not be experienced or tested, they did not exist.

This line of thinking was established during the Scientific Revolution. The Revolution changed many aspects of intellectual life. Scientists found a new way to look at the universe and everything in it. The Scientific Revolution only occurred due to three causes.

1.  Medieval intellect: Although many believe that the Middle Ages were a time of darkness, they set up the basis for intellectual thought. Universities were set up teaching a variety of subjects including philosophy. Science would eventually emerge from the field of philosophy and apply rational thinking to the world. Without these universities, science would not have emerged. 
2. The Renaissance: Many ideas and concepts from the Renaissance facilitated the Scientific Revolution. Diverse events such as humanism and the return to Greek math coupled with trade and new instruments lead to the Revolution. For instance, scientists fixed both longitude and latitude and invented new instruments in order to complete Renaissance caused trade. Additionally, the Renaissance stimulated progress on the scientific method. Two scientists lead to this modern scientific method. Francis Bacon provided the inductive thought. He believed in looking at tiny pieces and experiments and applying them to larger theories. He also formalized empiricism, which is the idea that everything comes from ones senses. Renee Descartes, however, believed in deductive reasoning. He took the general idea of a theory and applied it to specifics that took place in life. The combination of both inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning developed the scientific method. 

3. Religion: Protestantism and Catholicisms played important roles in the development of science. Some historians believe that Protestantism caused the scientific revolution. Protestants believed that it was important to think as an individual and come up with ones own ideas. They weren't suppose to just believe tradition because it was tradition. This was an important idea in science as well. Although Protestant thought was helpful to science, Protestantism as a religion was not. During the beginning of the Revolution, Protestant leaders were the biggest oppressors of Copernicus and scientific progress. Protestants in countries without close religious authority would eventually become more encouraging of science. Catholicism had the reverse relationship with science. They started out as the least oppressive of the religions but eventually became one of the most.