The Period of the Renaissance

Abstract

There is a tendency now, particularly in the light of Kuhn’s ideas about “scientific revolutions,” to reduce this period to the so-called Copernican revolution, thereby relegating the discoveries of Tycho, Kepler, Galileo and other astronomers to the status of an appendix of those of Copernicus. At the very least, many scholars have limited their consideration of the progress of science between the triumph of Aristotelianism and the Newtonian enlightment to the achievements of these four men. As we have previously noted, however, this scheme is oversimplified. Indeed, a great movement of ideas was taking place, just as during the centuries prior and the centuries yet to come (Table 4.1). Our “four musketeers” were at one time young students. Later, they reached maturity and became teachers of a new generation of students. This era was characterized by a great continuity and a remarkable spirit of intellectual debate, quite comparable to the debates of our times, taking into account the slowness of travel and the primitive level communication systems. Patient and determined men exchanged much information all across Europe.