INTELLECTUAL

REVOLUTIONS THAT
DEFINED SOCIETY
STS : CHAPTER 2
WHAT IS AN INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION?

• a period where paradigm shifts occurred and where scientific

beliefs that have been widely embraced and accepted by the
people were challenged and opposed.
• According to Wootton, as cited by McCarthy (2019) : it is the
“replacement of Aristotelian ethics and Christian morality by a
new type of decision making which may be termed
instrumental reasoning or cost-benefit analysis”
WESTERN SCIENCE

• Greeks were the first to explain

the world in terms of natural laws
rather than myths about gods and
heroes.
• They passed on the idea of the
value of math and experiment in Image source: greeka.com

science.
 Scientific Revolution was the golden age for people committed
to scholarly line in science yet it was also a deeply trying moment to
some individuals that led to their painful death or condemnation
from religious institutions who tried to preserve their faith, religion,
and theological views. Some rulers and religious leaders did not
accept many of the early works of scientists.
There were the Renaissance scholars who were uncovering other
Greek authors who contradicted Aristotle. This was unsettling, since these
scholars had a reverence for all ancient knowledge as being nearly infallible.
However, finding contradicting authorities forced the Renaissance scholars
to try to figure out which ones were right. When their findings showed that
neither theory was right, they had to think for themselves and find a new
theory that worked. This encouraged skepticism, freethinking, and
experimentation, all of which are essential parts of modern science.
 ARISTOTLE
• most influential figure in Western science until the 1600's
• Aristotle's theories made sense when taken in a logical order. Image from:literariness.org

• Problem: His theories relied very little on experiment

Constrictions for opposing his theories:
1. attacking one part of Aristotle's system involved attacking the
whole thing
2. the Church had grafted Aristotle's theories onto its theology, thus
making any attack on Aristotle an attack on the tradition and the
Church itself.
Aristotle
“the natural motion of the earth
as a whole, like that of its parts,
is towards the center of the
Universe: that is the reason why
it is now lying at the center.”

Picture Source/Optional reading material:

http://www1.kcn.ne.jp/~h-uchii/arist.space.html
REVOLUTIONS THAT DEFINED SOCIETY:
COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
Claudius Ptolemy (Astronomer and
Geographer in Alexandria, 2nd century AD)
• Stated that the planets, as well as the sun and the
moon, moved in a circular motion around the
Earth ~ “Geocentrism”
• The sun and the moon’s revolution explained the
existence of days and nights.
• His geocentric model was widely accepted by the
people and was one of the greatest discoveries of
that time
• The Christian church adopted many of its
assumptions like the idea that the Earth was the
center of all and that man was the most
important of God’s creation, with domineering
power over the Earth (central doctrine of
Christianity). Image source:atnf.csiro.au
Aristarchus of Samos
• Used eccentric trigonometric measurements to
calculate the relative distances of the sun and moon in
the 3rd century BC.
• He was able to find out that the sun was very large,
and this inspired him to suggest that the sun was a
more likely the pivot point for a movement of the
universe.

Nicole Oresme (French Philosopher)

• In his work, Book of the Heavens and the Earth (1377),
he demonstrated the lack of real proof that the Earth
was static and vehemently argued that there was no
reason to think that it was not in motion.
Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish Mathematician and
Astronomer, scholar working at the University of Padua in
northern Italy)
• Problem of Geocentrism: the paths of planetary orbits.
the heavens do not always appear to move in perfect,
uninterrupted circles as they sometimes seem to move
backwards (a.k.a. retrogradations). Astronomers account
for these irregularities by adding smaller circular orbits
(epicycles) that spun off the main orbits. By the 1500's, the
model of the universe had some 80 epicycles attached to
ten crystalline spheres (one for the moon, sun, each of the Source: nationalgeographic.com

five known planets, the totality of the stars, a sphere to

move the other spheres, and heaven).
• Copernicus' solution: By placing the sun at the center of
the universe and having the earth orbit it, he reduced the
unwieldy number of epicycles from 80 to 34.
• Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial
Worlds, published in 1543, laid the
foundations for a revolution in how
Europeans would view the world and its
place in the universe but this book was
banned on 1616.
• Copernicus' intention was not to create a
radically new theory, but to get back to even
older ideas by such Greeks as Plato and
Pythagoras who believed in a heliocentric
(sun centered) universe.
Tycho Brahe (Danish Astronomer, 1546-
1601)
• Planets revolved around the sun, but the
sun and the moon remained revolving
around the globe, “Geo-heliocentric System”
• using only the naked eye, tracked the entire
orbits of various stars and planets. Image source: britanica.com

• Brahe kept extensive records of his

observations, but did not really know what
to do with them.
Johannes Kepler (German Astronomer, 1571-1630)
• He was the first to successfully use math to define the workings of the
cosmos.
• He realized that Brahe's data showed the planetary orbits were not circular,
but elliptical.
• His analysis of the observations of Tycho Brahe (his mentor) enabled him to
introduce the Laws of Planetary Motion.
1. The path of the planets about the sun is elliptical in shape, with the
Image from:en.Wikipedia.org

center of the sun being located at one focus. (The Law of Ellipses)
2. An imaginary line drawn from the center of the sun to the center of the
planet sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time. (The Law of
Equal Areas)
3. The ratio of the squares of the periods of any two planets is equal to the
ratio of the cubes of their average distances from the sun. (The Law of
Harmonies)
Galileo Galilei (Italian Scientist)
• Using his telescope, Galileo saw the sun's
perfection marred by sunspots and the moon's
perfection marred by craters. He also saw four
moons orbiting Jupiter. In his book, The Starry
Messenger (1611), he reported these disturbing
findings and spread the news across Europe. Most
Source: Britannica.com
people could not understand Kepler's math, but
anyone could look through a telescope and see for
himself the moon's craters and Jupiter's moons.
• The Church tried to preserve the Aristotelian and
Ptolemaic view of the universe by clamping down
on Galileo and his book and made him promise not
to preach his views.
• In 1632, Galileo published his next book, Dialogue on the Great
World Systems, which technically did not preach the Copernican
theory (which Galileo believed in), but was only a dialogue
presenting both views "equally". Galileo got his point across by
having the advocate of the Church and Aristotelian view named
Simplicius (Simpleton). He was quickly faced with the Inquisition
and the threat of torture. Being an old man of 70, he recanted his
views. However, it was too late. Word was out, and the heliocentric
heresy was gaining new followers daily.
 Isaac Newton
• realized that the same force pulling the apples to earth was
keeping the moon in its orbit.
• to prove this mathematically, Newton had to invent calculus
Image source: britannica.com
for figuring out rates of motion and change.

The implications of Newton's theory of gravity can easily escape us, since
we now take it for granted that physical laws apply the same throughout the
universe. To the mentality of the 1600’s, which saw a clear distinction
between the laws governing the terrestrial and celestial elements, it was a
staggering revelation. His three laws of motion were simple, could be applied
everywhere, and could be used with calculus to solve any problems of motion
that came up.
 The printing of Newton's book, Principia Mathematica, in 1687
is often seen as the start of the Enlightenment (1687-1789). It was a
significant turning point in history, for, armed with the tools of
Newton's laws and calculus, scientists had an unprecedented faith in
their ability to understand, predict, and manipulate the laws of
nature for their own purposes. This sense of power popularized
science for other intellectuals and rulers in Europe, turning it into
virtual religion for some in the Enlightenment. Even the geometrically
trimmed shrubbery of Versailles offers testimony to that faith in our
power over nature. Not until this century has that faith been
seriously undermined or put into a more realistic perspective.
REVOLUTIONS THAT DEFINED SOCIETY:
DARWINIAN REVOLUTION
 CHARLES DARWIN
• he published “The Origin of Species” in 1859.
• he accumulated evidence demonstrating that organisms evolveImage source: britannica.com

and discovered the process, natural selection, by which they

evolve.
• he completed the Copernican revolution by drawing out for
biology the notion of nature as a lawful system of matter in
motion.
With this, scientific explanations, derived from natural laws,
dominated the world of nonliving matter, on the earth as well as in the
heavens.
 THE SUPERNATURAL
Supernatural explanations,
depending on the unfathomable
deeds of the Creator, accounted
for the origin and configuration of
living creatures—the most
diversified, complex, and
interesting realities of the world.
It was Darwin's genius to resolve
this conceptual schizophrenia.
WILLIAM PALEY IN HIS NATURAL THEOLOGY (1802)
elaborated the argument-from-design as forceful
demonstration of the existence of the Creator.
Image source: en.wikipedia.com

The functional design of the human eye, argued Paley, provided

conclusive evidence of an all-wise Creator.
1. It is consisted of a series of transparent lenses
2. There is a black cloth or canvas spread out behind these lenses so as
to receive the image formed by pencils of light transmitted through
them, and placed at the precise geometrical distance at which, and
at which alone, a distinct image could be formed.
3. a large nerve communicating between this membrane and the
brain."
THE BRIDGEWATER TREATISES

• published between 1833 and 1840

• written by eminent scientists and philosophers
• set forth "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God as manifested in the
Creation."
• for example: The structure and mechanisms of man's hand were cited as
incontrovertible evidence that the hand had been designed by the same
omniscient Power that had created the world.
REVOLUTIONS THAT DEFINED SOCIETY:
FREUDIAN REVOLUTION
 PRE-FREUDIAN REVOLUTION
Mental illness was almost universally considered 'organic‘ – it was
thought to come from some kind of deterioration or disease of the
brain.
Research on treating mental illness was primarily concerned with
discovering exactly which kinds of changes in the brain led to insanity.
Many diseases did not manifest obvious signs of physical difference
between healthy and diseased brains, but it was assumed that this was
simply because the techniques for finding the differences were not yet
sufficient.
Physical diseases of the brain cause mental illness, psychological
causes are ignored.
 SIGMUND FREUD

• born in 1856, in Moravian town of Freiberg, in the

Austrian Empire .
• Freud's most obvious impact was to change the way
society thought about and dealt with mental illness.
• He had the idea that people’s hidden thoughts and
feelings influence their behavior especially with
respect to the causes and treatment of dreams, etc.
• Together with Josef Breuer, another Jewish Image source: en.wikipedia.org

neurologist, published a series of case studies on their

patients called Studies on Hysteria.
 JEAN-MARTIN CHARCOT
• the famous French psychiatrist who influenced
Freud.
• he claimed that hysteria had primarily organic
causes, and that it had a regular, comprehensible
pattern of symptoms.
• Freud agreed that it had a regular,
comprehensible pattern of symptoms but
disagreed that it had only organic causes.
 PSYCHOANALYSIS
• is based on the concept that individuals are unaware of the many factors
that cause their behavior and emotions. These unconscious factors have
the potential to produce unhappiness, which in turn is expressed through
a score of distinguishable symptoms, including disturbing personality
traits, difficulty in relating to others, or disturbances in self-esteem or
general disposition.
• It had an enormous impact on the practice of psychiatry, particularly
within the United States, but today it is regarded by most sources as
almost entirely incorrect in its conception of the mind.
• Psychoanalysis in its many varieties appears to have little or no efficacy in
treating mental illness.
 WHY IS FREUD’S CONTRIBUTION STILL IMPORTANT?
1.Psychoanalysis has enormous historical significance: Mental illness
affects a large proportion of the population, either directly or
indirectly, so any curative scheme is widely accepted.
2.Freud gave people a new way of thinking about why they acted
the way they did. He created a whole new way of interpreting
behaviors: one could now claim that a person had motives,
desires, and beliefs–all buried in the unconscious–which they
knew nothing about but which nonetheless directly controlled and
motivated their conscious thought and behavior.
 IMPACT OF FREUDIAN REVOLUTION

• Psychology and psychiatry turned away from the search for organic
causes and toward the search for inner psychic conflicts and early
childhood traumas.
• The line between sane and insane was blurred: everyone,
according to Freud, had an Oedipal crisis, and everyone could
potentially become mentally ill.
 REVOLUTIONS THAT DEFINED SOCIETY:
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION IN
MESO-AMERICA
 MESO-AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

• Meso-America is the region from Mexico to Guatemala, Belize

and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.
• Mesoamerican civilization were isolated from the accumulated
scientific knowledge of Africa, Asia and Europe. It developed on
its own and became much more self-reliant.
• Maya civilization was the most advanced Mesoamerican
civilization.
 MAYA CIVILIZATION
• They used pictorial script called Maya hieroglyphs.
• They knew how to make paper and they created books on long
strips of paper folded in harmonica-style.
• Dresden Codex contains predictions of solar eclipses for centuries
and a table of predicted positions of Venus.
• the Maya made predictions by aligning stars with two objects that
were separated by a large distance.
• They developed the most accurate calendar ever designed.
• In architecture the Maya were the first to use pitched ceilings in
their buildings.
 THE AZTEC
• The Aztec had their own script and languages but they assimilated
all they could learn from Maya society.
• Their manuscripts describe how the Maya performed their
astronomical observations.
• They manufactured of rubber and used a rubber ball in the ball
game tlachtli
• Public latrines were found along all highways, and to prevent
pollution of Lake Texcoco canoes transported the sewage from
Tenochtitlán to the mainland every morning.
OTHER MESO-AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS

• cultivated crop plants such as corn (maize), papaya,

avocado and cocoa.
• several sculptures found at Meso-American sites in
1975, 1979 and 1983 and dating back to 2000 - 1500 BC
have clear magnetic properties, shaped as if it was used
to indicate direction. This suggests that the early Meso-
American civilizations knew about and used magnetism.
(Malmström, 1976, 1979)
REVOLUTIONS THAT DEFINED SOCIETY:
ASIAN SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION
 ASIA’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• The general conception is that many of the cutting-edge technological developments, and
to a lesser extent scientific advancements, emanate from Asia.
• Japan is probably the most notable country in Asia in terms of scientific and technological
achievement, particularly in terms of its electronics and automobile products.
• Other countries are also notable in other scientific fields such as chemical and physical
achievements.
• Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China produce 90% of the world’s digital gadgets.
• nations across Asia are becoming increasingly important to the global supply of digital
content and services.
• South Korea’s cultural popularity around the world has caused a number of startup’s to
emerge working within the digital and technology sectors, including website viki.com.
• Taiwan is focused on software and content development.
 MIDDLE EAST
• During the 3,000 years of urbanized life in Mesopotamia and Egypt tremendous
strides were made in various branches of science and technology.
• In Mesopotamia, greater progress was made in astronomy and mathematics. The
development of astronomy seems to have been greatly accelerated by that of
astrology, which took the lead among the quasi-sciences involved in divination.
• The Egyptians remained far behind the Babylonians in developing astronomy, but
are more advanced in medicine. Egyptians also took an early lead on engineering
and architecture, owing largely to the stress they laid on the construction of such
elaborate monuments as vast pyramids and temples of granite and sandstone.
Whereas, the Babylonians led in the development of such practical arts as
irrigation.
• Both sciences and pseudosciences spread from Egypt and Mesopotamia to
Phoenicia and Anatolia.
 MIDDLE EAST
• The Phoenicians in particular transmitted much of their knowledge
to the various lands of the Mediterranean, especially to the Greeks.
• A combination of excavated art forms as well as to Greek tradition,
prove the direction of movement is from Egypt to Syria, Phoenicia,
and Cyprus. Mesopotamian influence can be traced especially
through the partial borrowing of Babylonian science and divination
by the Hittites and later by the transmission of information through
Phoenicia.
• The greatest accomplishment of the ancient Middle East might be
the invention of the alphabet.
 MIDDLE EAST: DEVELOPMENT OF ALPHABET
• In the early Hyksos period (17th century BC) the Northwestern Semites living in Egypt
adapted hieroglyphic characters—in at least two slightly differing forms of letters—to their
own purposes.
• It is imitated in northern Syria, with the addition of two letters to designate vowels used
with the glottal catch.
• This alphabet spread rapidly and was in quite common use among the Northwestern
Semites (Canaanites, Hebrews, Aramaeans, and especially the Phoenicians) soon after its
invention.
• By the 9th century BC the Phoenicians were using it in the western Mediterranean, and the
Greeks and Phrygians adopted it in the 8th.
• The alphabet contributed vastly to the Greek cultural and literary revolution in the
immediately following period. And, from the Greeks it was transmitted to other Western
people.
 REVOLUTIONS THAT DEFINED SOCIETY:
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION IN
AFRICA
 AFRICAN CONTRIBUTIONS
• The applied sciences of agronomy, metallurgy, engineering and textile production, as
well as medicine, dominated the field of activity across Africa.
• In “Black Rice”, Judith Carnoy demonstrates the legacy of enslaved Africans to the
Americas in the sphere of rice cultivation.
• a variety of African plants were adopted in Asia, including coffee, the oil palm, fonio or
acha (digitaria exilis), African rice (oryza glabberima), and sorghum (sorghum bicolor).
• Africans also used plants for anesthetics or pain killers, analgesics for the control of
fever, antidotes to counter poisons, and anthelmints aimed at deworming.
• They were also knowledgeable in cardiovascular, gastro-intestinal, and dermatological
contexts. Some of these such as hoodia gordonii and combrettum caffrum are being
integrated within contemporary pharmaceutical systems (Emeagwali, n.d.).
• Africa’s areas of scientific investigation include the fields of astronomy, physics, and
mathematics.
 AFRICAN ASTRONOMY

• Malian has cosmological myths and their perceptions of the

structure of matter and the physical world.
• Dogon knowledge systems have also been explored in
terms of their perceptions on astronomy. The solar
calendar that we use today evolved from the Egyptian
calendar of twelve months, calibrated according to the day
on which the star Sirius rose on the horizon with the Sun.
 AFRICAN MATHEMATICS
• Nubian builders calculated the volumes of masonry and
building materials, as well as the slopes of pyramids, for
construction purposes.
• a Nubian engraving at Meroe, in ancient Sudan, dated to
the first century B.C.E., includes several lines, inclined at a
72-degree angle, running diagonally from the base of a
pyramid.
• the Nubians of Meroe constructed more pyramids than the
Egyptians, built steep, flat-topped pyramids.
 AFRICAN MEDICINE
• Among the common principles and procedures were hydrotherapy, heat
therapy, spinal manipulation, quarantine, bone-setting and surgery.
• Incantations and other psychotherapeutic devices sometimes accompanied
other techniques.
• The knowledge of specific medicinal plants was quite extensive in some
kingdoms, empires, and city states such as Aksum, and Borgu (in Hausaland).
• Borgu (in Hausaland) is also well known for orthopedics (bone-setting), as is
the case of Funtua in Northern Nigeria.
• Many traditional techniques are still utilized in some areas. Others have
undergone change over time, have been revived in more recent periods, or
have fallen into oblivion.
 AFRICAN METALLURGY
• Various types of metal products have been used ranging from gold, tin, silver, bronze,
brass, and iron/steel.
• The Sudanic empires of West Africa, Ethiopia and Sudan in the North and East, and the
kingdom of Monomotapa (Munhumutapa) in Southern Africa were the major producers of
gold.
• specific techniques and scientific principles included: excavation and ore identification;
separation of ore from non-ore bearing rock; smelting by the use of bellows and heated
furnaces; and smithing and further refinement.
• The use of multishaft and open-shaft systems facilitated circulation of air in intense
heating processes, while the bellows principle produced strong currents of air in a
chamber expanded to draw in or expel air through a valve.
• products: armor (as in some northern Nigerian city-states), jewelry (of gold, silver, iron,
copper and brass), cooking utensils, cloth dyeing, sculpture, and agricultural tools.
 AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE
• Builders integrated the concepts of the arch, the dome, and columns and aisles in their
constructions.
• underground vaults and passages, as well as the rock-hewn churches, of Axum are
matched in Nubia and Egypt with pyramids of various dimensions.
• Sahelian region, adobe, or dried clay, was preferred in the context of moulded contours, at
times integrated with overall moulded sculpture.
• Permanent scaffolding made of protruding planks characterized the Malian region.
• evaporative cooling was integrated into building design: mats were used as part of the
decor and also to be saturated repeatedly in order to cool the room.
• Derelict ruins from walled cities—such as Kano, Zazzau, and other city-states of Hausaland
in the central Sudanic region of West Africa—complement structures such as the rock--
hewn and moulded churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia or the Zimbabwe enclosures.
 REVOLUTIONS THAT DEFINED SOCIETY:
INFORMATION REVOLUTION
INFORMATION REVOLUTION
• is a period of change that describes current economic, social and
technological trends beyond the Industrial Revolution.
• was fueled by advances in semiconductor technology, particularly
the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET)
and the integrated circuit (IC) chip, leading to the Information Age
in the early 21st century (Lukasiak, 2010;; Orton, 2009).
• has led us to the age of the internet, where optical
communication networks play a key role in delivering massive
amounts of data.
IMPACTS OF INFORMATION REVOLUTION
• the explosive emergence of the Internet as a major
worldwide distribution channel for goods, for services,
and, surprisingly, for managerial and professional jobs
has changed economies, markets, and industry
structures; products and services and their flow,
consumer segmentation, consumer values, and
consumer behavior, jobs and labor markets.
• It also has an impact on societies and politics and, on the
way we see the world and ourselves in it.
Thank you!
REFERENCES
• This material is sourced primarily from the module “Science, technology, and Society” by Gonzales, Maalihan and Montalbo.
• Images are copied from the stated sources.
• Other references were sourced from the previous lecture notes with the following references:
Geron-Tegon, Antonette G., et al. (2018). Science, Technology and Society. Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House, Inc.
McNamara, Daniel J., et al. (2018). Science, Technology, and Society. Quezon City:C & E Publishing, Inc.
https://www.slideshare.net/GualbertoJrLantaya/intellectual-revolutions
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolaus-Copernicus/Copernicuss-astronomical-work
https://www.britannica.com/science/Keplers-laws-of-planetary-motion
https://www.slideshare.net/dorotheemabasa/intellectual-revolution-freud-and-darwin
http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/beystehner.html
https://www.sparknotes.com/biography/freud/summary/
http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/beystehner.html
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/psychodynamic-perspectives-on-personality/