Age of enlightenment

The roots of modern sociology can be found in the work of the philosophers and scientists of the Great
Enlightenment, which had its origins in the scientific discoveries of the seventeenth century. That pivotal
century began with Galileo’s “heretical” proof that the earth was not the center of the universe; it ended
with the publication of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica. Newton is often credited with the
founding of modern science. He not only discovered the laws of gravity and motion but, in developing the
calculus, also provided later generations with the mathematical tools whereby further discoveries in all
the sciences could be made. Hard on the heels of this unprecedented progress in science and mathematics
came a theory of human progress that paved the way for a “science of humanity.” Francis Bacon in
England, Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal in France, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Germany were
among the philosophers who recognized the social importance of scientific discoveries. Their writings
emphasized the idea of progress guided by human reason and opposed the dominant notion that the
human condition was ordained by God and could not be improved through human actions (Bury, 1932;
Nisbet, 1969). Today we are used to inventions crowding one upon another. Between the childhood of our
grandparents and our own adulthood, society has undergone some major transformations: from agrarian
to industrial production; from rural settlements and small towns to large cities and expanding
metropolitan regions; from reliance on wood and coal as energy sources to dependence on electricity and
nuclear power; from typewriters to computers. But in the seventeenth century, people were used to far
more stability. Ways of life that had existed since the Middle Ages were not expected to change in a
generation. The rise of science transformed the social order. As was often said at the time, science “broke
the cake of custom.” New methods of navigation made it possible to explore and chart the world’s oceans
and continents. Applied to warfare, scientific knowledge enabled Europeans to conquer the peoples of
Africa, Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. In Europe, those conquests opened up new markets and
stimulated new patterns of trade that hastened the growth of some regions and cities and the decline of
others. The entire human world had entered a period of rapid social change that continues today and
shows no signs of ending.
The roots of modern sociology can be found in the work of the philosophers and scientists of the Great
Enlightenment, which had its origins in the scientific discoveries of the seventeenth century. That pivotal
century began with Galileo’s “heretical” proof that the earth was not the center of the universe; it ended
with the publication of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica. Newton is often credited with the
founding of modern science. He not only discovered the laws of gravity and motion but, in developing the
calculus, also provided later generations with the mathematical tools whereby further discoveries in all
the sciences could be made.

Akar sosiologi moden boleh didapati dalam karyaa ahli falsafah dan saintis Pencerahan Besar, yang
mempunyai asal-usulnya dalam penemuan saintifik abad ke-17