s the Renaissance for science and the late 1500's through the 1600's. Any attempt to assign exact dates is impossible in my opinion. There are historical events that can be identified as useful reference points.There was a scientific revolution of sorts in the high Middle Ages that in many ways rivaled the later scientific revolution in its sweeping changes, but all the cultural components were not in place. So the scientific revolution of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries did not produce a way of thinking about the world that closely resembles our own. You see, even in the high Middle Ages, Europeans believed that the center of all truth and experience was in God. The medieval's deeply distrusted human perception. Not only has human perception variable and untrustworthy, the material world itself was deceptive. Rather than a vehicle for truth, the material world was put in place to actively distract humans from the real task. Moreover, a revolution takes place over time while conditions are put in place which freeze in time the major identifiable events. Following this event, more changes are put into motion, continuing until somehow the activity of change becomes activity of stability.The Scientific Revolution is identified as the beginning of modern science in the early 17th century. The beginning and end points are still the subject of debate, but the events of the first few decades of the 17th century are identifiable and remarkable.The impact of the Scientific Revolution has been profound. Its most direct influence was on European intellectuals who created a movement that they called the Enlightenment. These intellectuals saw that most human beings lived in ignorance and superstition. They believed that people could emerge from this darkness if they used their minds properly. Their inspiration was Issac Newton. But would the pioneers of the Scientific Revolution celebrate the way that it has triumphed? Today,...
