STS: INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTIONS AND

SOCIETY

INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION  The Copernican Revolution is a16thcentury paradigm

In Science and Technology, intellectual revolutions
refer to series of events that led to the emergence of modern
science and more current scientific thinking across critical
periods in history.
INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION AS PARADIGM
SHIFTS
Intellectual revolutions can be considered paradigm
shifts resulting from a renewed and enlightened understanding
of how the universe behaves.
They challenged long held views about the nature of the
universe. Thus, these revolutions were more often than not
met with huge resistance and controversy, especially during
their onset.
JEAN SYLVAIN BGAILLEY’S TWO-STAGE
PROCESS
According to the French astronomer, mathematician, and
freemason, Jean Sylvain Bailley, these scientific revolutions
involved a two-stage process:
1. Sweeping away the old
shift by the Polish mathematician and astronomer,
Nicolaus Copernicus.
 He formulated the heliocentric model in the
publication of his paper, De Revolutionibus Orbium
Coelestium (The Revolution of the Celestial
Spheres ), in 1543.
 Challenged the previous belief that the Earth was the
center of the universe (geocentric model) proposed
by Claudius Ptolemy (Ptolemaic Model).
COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
 The idea that the sun is at the center of the universe
instead of the Earth was very unsettling to many
when Copernicus first introduced the concept.
 At that time, the heliocentric idea, and by extension,
that it is not man that was the center of all creation
was unthinkable.
 The Church opposed the idea and even accused
Copernicus of heresy which later on resulted to the
persecution of Copernicus.

COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
Establishing the new  Nonetheless, despite problems with the model and the
persecution of the Church, the heliocentric model
soon caught the interest of a lot of astronomers and
scientists, most profoundly by Galileo Galilei.

FOR THIS DISCUSSION, WE WILL FOCUS  The contribution of the Copernican Revolution
ON THE FOLLOWING marked a turning point in the study of cosmology and
astronomy, making it a truly important
intellectual revolution.

Copernican revoluti on DARWINIAN REVOLUTION

English naturalist, geologist, and biologist Charles
Darwin is credited for stirring another important scientific
D arw inian revoluti on revolution in the mid-19th century.

His treatise on the science of evolution, On The Origin of

Species, was published in 1859 and began a revolution that
Freud ian revolu ti on brought humanity to a new era of intellectual discovery.

 For his part, Darwin gathered evidence pointing to

what is now known as natural selection, an
evolutionary process by which organisms, including
humans, inherit, develop, and adapt traits that favored
survival and reproduction.
COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
STS: INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTIONS AND
SOCIETY

 Darwin’s theory of evolution was, of course, met

with resistance. Critics accused the theory of being
either short in accounting for the broad and complex
evolutionary process or that the functional design of
organisms was a manifestation of an omniscient God
that of a theory of evolution.

FREUDIAN REVOLUTION
In psychoanalysis, concepts, like psychosexual
development, libido and ego were introduced which met a lot
of resistances. Freud suggested that humans are inherently
pleasure-seeking individuals.

Scientists working on a biological approach of studying the

brain opposed this idea due to its lack of vitality and bordering
on being unscientific as a theory.

 The notion that all humans are destined toexhibit

Oedipus and Electra complexes, (i.e., sexual desire to
the opposite sex and exclusion of parent of the same
sex), seemed to not be supported by empirical data.

 Amidst the controversy, Freud’s Psychoanalysis is

widely given credit for dominating psychotherapeutic
practice from the early 20th century. Psychodynamic
therapies that treat a myriad of psychological
disorders remain still largely informed by Freud’s
work on Psychoanalysis.