INTELLECTUAL

REVOLUTIONS
LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson: the students should be

able to:
• Discuss the paradigm shifts through history
• Explain how the Intellectual revolution changed
the way how humans see the world
• Describe the technological advancement that
happened in the information age
PARADIGM SHIFTS
IN HISTORY
WHAT IS A PARADIGM?
WHAT IS A PARADIGM?

• A typical example or pattern of something.

• A distinct set of concepts or thought patterns,
including theories, research methods, postulates,
and standards for what constitutes legitimate
contributions to a field.
WHAT IS A PARADIGM SHIFT?
WHAT IS A PARADIGM SHIFT?

• A fundamental change in approach or

underlying assumptions.
• A concept identified by the American physicist
and philosopher Thomas Kuhn
• A fundamental change in the basic concepts and
experimental practices of a scientific discipline.
Kuhn presented his notion of a paradigm shift in
his influential book The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions (1962).
 WHY ARE PARADIGM SHIFTS
IMPORTANT?

• Paradigm shift is another

expression for more significant
changes within belief systems.
• Within philosophy of
science this concept is
sometimes considered
important and is sometimes
given great attention within
education.
KUHN'S PARADIGM
 THOMAS SAMUEL KUHN

• Thomas Samuel Kuhn was an

American physicist, historian
and philosopher of science
whose controversial1962
book The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions was influential in
both academic and popular
circles.
 KUHN’S CYCLE

• A simple cycle of progress

described by Thomas Kuhn in
1962 in his seminal work The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
• Kuhn challenged the world's
current conception of science,
which was that it was a steady
progression of the
accumulation of new ideas.
KUHN’S PARADIGM

• Thomas Kuhn argued that science does not

evolve gradually towards truth.
• Science has a paradigm which remains constant
before going through a paradigm shift when
current theories can’t explain some phenomenon,
and someone proposes a new theory.
KUHN’S PARADIGM

• A scientific revolution occurs when: (i) the new

paradigm better explains the observations, and
offers a model that is closer to the objective,
external reality; and (ii) the new paradigm is
incommensurate with the old.
• For example, Lamarckian evolution was replaced
with Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural
selection.
HISTORICAL
EXAMPLES OF
PARADIGMS
SOCIETY AND ETHICS

• Slavery is acceptable to now slavery being

unacceptable
• Role of Children in Society - Child labor was,
now is not acceptable
• Male Superiority - Beating wives was, now is
not acceptable
SOCIETY AND ETHICS

• Reading and the Control over information -

Invention of the printing press (and other major
inventions) allowed for the elites control over
reading/writing to end.
• The Reformation - broke monopoly of Catholic
Church and Christian's "relationship" with God.
NATURAL SCIENCES

• Darwin’s theory of evolution

• Plate Tectonics - create a physical model of the
Earth's structure
• Albert Einstein’s space-time is not fixed or
objective --- subject to observer’s state of motion
relative to other object.
 HUMAN SCIENCES

• Psychology: Sigmund Freud

--- we are not fully in
control of our behavior ---
a subconscious part
operate
• Economics --- government
intervention in economy is
now accepted.
THE ARTS

• The Realist paradigm: the purpose of art is to

copy reality
• Shakespeare's impact on drama / theater
• Jazz & rock revolutionizing music
WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL
REVOLUTION?

• Refers to Greek speculation about the

"nature" in the period before Socrates (roughly
600 to 400 BCE).
• ”Pre-Socratic" or "non-theological" or
"first philosophy" – more on physics and
logic
• Showed how society was transformed by science
and technology
QUESTIONS

• What created day and night?

• What heavenly bodies are like stars, moons and
planets are?
• What was actually out there in the outer
space?
INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION

• There had been instances when advancements in

science and technology changed people’s
perceptions and beliefs. The developments during
this period showed how society was transformed
by science and technology.
• Brilliant minds responded to the call of the times
and created things that could make life easier for
the people.
COPERNICAN
REVOLUTION
 CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY

• Famous Greek
philosopher and
astronomer.
• Stated that the planets,
the sun and the moon
move in circular motion
around the earth
• Existence of days and
nights
GEOCENTRISM/GEOCENTRIC
MODEL

• A superseded
description of the
universe with earth
at the center.
• Under the
Geocentric model,
the Sun, Moon,
stars, and planets all
orbited Earth.
NICHOLAS COPERNICUS
REVOLUTIONARY ASTRONOMER

• Polish mathematician
and astronomer
• Developed his model
of a sun-centered
universe
• Explained the daily
and yearly motion of
the sun and stars in
the universe
HELIOCENTRISM/HELIOCENTRIC
MODEL

• The center of the

solar system is not
the earth but actually
the sun
• Started the birth of
modern astronomy
• Scientific revolution
• Transformation of
society’s thoughts and
beliefs
DARWINIAN
REVOLUTION
ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL
INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTIONS OF ITS
TIME
CHARLES DARWIN

• An English naturalist,
biologist and geologist.
• All life is related and has
descended from a common
ancestor: the birds and the
bananas, the fishes and the
flowers -- all related.
• Published his book, On the
Origin of Species.
• complex creatures evolve
from more simplistic
ancestors naturally over time
THEORY OF EVOLUTION

• Populations pass through

a process of natural
selection in which only
the fittest would survive.
• Organisms have the
ability to adapt to their
environment and would
gradually changed into
something that would
be more competitive to
survive – evolution.
FREUDIAN
REVOLUTION
SIGMUND FREUD

• He was the founding

Father of
Psychoanalysis, a
method for treating
mental illness and also a
theory which explains
human behavior.
 FREUD’S THEORY

• Freud developed the

psychoanalytic theory of
personality development,
which argued that
personality is formed
through conflicts among
three fundamental
structures of the human
mind: the id, ego, and
superego.

Conflict within the mind: According to Freud, the job of the ego is to
balance the aggressive/pleasure-seeking drives of the id with the
moral control of the superego.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

• Why do you think most intellectual ideas are

controversial?
• Why did the people accept these new
discoveries despite being contradictory to what
was widely accepted at that time?
• How do intellectual revolutions transform
societies?