Page 69 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

Since the Scientific Revolution overturned the authority in science not only of
the middle ages but of the ancient world—since it ended not only in the eclipse of
scholastic philosophy but in the destruction of Aristotelian physics—it outshines
everything since the rise of Christianity and reduces the Renaissance and Refor-
mation to the realm of mere episodes, mere internal displacements, within the sys-
tem of medieval Christendom. Since it changed the character of habitual mental
operations even in the conduct of the non-material sciences, while transforming
the whole diagram of the physical universe and the very texture of human life itself,
it looms so large as the real origin both of the modern world and of the modern
mentality that our customary periodization of European history has become an
anachronism and an encumbrance. 5

More recently, a prominent feminist scholar, Carolyn Merchant, saw the
same events as a disaster of unmitigated proportions: “The removal of animistic,
organic assumptions about the cosmos constituted the death of nature—the most
6
far-reaching effect of the Scientific Revolution.” She argured that because scien-
tists had redefined nature as a system of dead, inert particles moved by external
rather than inherent forces, their endorsement of the reductionistic framework
of the mechanical philosophy legitimized nature's manipulation and progressive
destruction. Power over nature was fully compatible with the values of scientists’
ultimate supporters—governments—especially the military establishment, com-
modifiers, and other ideologues and opportunists of various stripes. others won-
der if there have been many scientific revolutions, or perhaps none at all! 7
Most historians agree that since the seventeenth century, scientists have
attempted to complete the Baconian program, elevating the attainment of nat-
ural knowledge to the sine qua non of human achievement, and then wielding
this knowledge to gain power over and control of nature for the stated purpose
of improving the human condition, however narrowly defined, but often falling
short of this goal. This program, the opening wedge of a revolution articulated in
different ways by Galileo, Descartes, and others, was more than a new set of tech-
niques in the laboratory or the field. It was a revolution in thought that placed
humanity at the conceptual and willful center of the universe, redefined our rela-
tionship with the natural world, elevated the scientific method to the pinnacle
of truth recently vacated by the church fathers, and dealt a blow to apocalyptic
thinking. As the Enlightenment eroded belief in divine providence as a moving
force in history, the historiographic void was filled by the notion of progress, a
secular notion based on the development and application of human reason to
the challenges of understanding, prediction, and ultimately, control.

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