The “Scientific Revolution” wasn’t a revolution in the sense that enormous truths were unearthed. Although some information was learned during this time period, the “Revolution” acted as the catalyst for a new way of thinking: modern thought and processing. Information discovered during the years of the revolution seem to be obvious facts: The sun and the rest of the solar system does not revolve around the earth: the earth, as well as the other planets in the solar system revolve around the sun because it’s mass is greater than that of the other planets. As Dr. Cohen noted, the revolution was not entirely scientific, but rather, the revolution opened the gate to a pathway of modern scientific methods.
Having been dominated by theological reasoning for hundreds of years, philosophers and thinkers began not only asking questions, but instead, challenging questions that had previously been answered. As Cohen noted, during the time of the middle ages, it was generally accepted that there were only seven planets in the solar system. The reason why? Seven was a holy number and because God created the perfect universe, this was considered to be sufficient proof. Despite Galileo literally discovering an eight planet through his telescope, theological and untested evidence was considered to be ample evidence for the negation of this ungodly eighth planet. The revolution, however, changed this way of thinking: measurements, instruments, and the scientific method all contributed to the goal of challenging pre-though notions often based off of a theological prospective. The Revolution, while answering some questions, asked even more; answers to complex questions were not answered through a religious lens, but rather, universal truths would be unveiled throughout the collaboration of mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers in the future.
The scientific revolution, despite not being especially scientific, introduced a way of thinking and reasoning that would lead to the discovery of the greater knowledge of the universe. It was people like Bacon, whom, despite holding very questionable views at the time, were able to formulate new ways of thinking that would lead to greater truths. Although Sir Francis Bacon was not a scientist by any means (he believed the earth was flat), he developed a certain way of thinking: “thinking about thinking” as Cohen puts it. Led by the means of collaboration amongst fellow scientists, Bacon preached hypothesizing, testing, and comparing results with others. In this way, Bacon very much represented the Scientific Revolution. Although he did not truly answer the question of whether or not the Earth is flat, he paved the way for future people to conduct tests to determine whether the earth was in fact round, a universal question that would eventually become answered as a result of “the new way of thinking”.
By asking questions and challenging common beliefs, The Scientific Revolution’s greatest contribution to society was not the material information it supplied the general public with. Dr. Cohn continually stressed that “the most important factor of the Scientific Revolution was the metaphor”, the idea that thinking was revolutionized and changed to allow for the great scientific advancement in the coming ages.