SCIENCE ,TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY

MODULE 4: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY: INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION IN THE 17TH CENTURY

1st Semester
A.Y. 2021-2022
Course Code: SCITECH
Outline:
 The Age of Enlightenment (18th Century)
 Copernican Revolution
 Darwinian Revolution
 Freudian Revolution
 Information Age
 Mesoamerican Period (1200 B.C. - 3rd Century A.D.)
 Middle East (17th Century)
 African Revolution
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:
l. Define paradigm shift;
2.Articulate ways by which society is transformed by science and technology;
3.Trace the history of science and technology in different eras and civilization; and
4.Enumerate scientific and technological advancement made by people and some civilizations
of the seventeenth century.
Content

The world is in constant flux. Everything, including all the material things and ideas, may
change accordingly based on the facts which are an output of human curiosity. Seeking answers
to human questions added scientific facts, evidences, and concepts in the network of
knowledge understandable by man. It means that the more questions asked, the more
knowledgeable humans become.
In order for us to enumerate and understand the major shifts in the history of science
and technology, we must be familiar with the most important scientific events that changed
and shaped our society during the time of Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund
Freud. In addition, we have to study the intellectual changes in Mesoamerica, Middle East, and
Africa.

THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (18th Century)

The Age of Enlightenment is a period in Europe in the 18th century when many writers
and thinkers began to question established beliefs. These beliefs include the authority of kings
of the Church, in favors of reason and scientific proof. The idea developed that everyone was of
equal value and had equal rights.

Copernican Revolution
 The theories and ideas from ancient
thinkers about the natural world and the
universe laid a foundation of how we
understand astronomy today. Though there
is only a small number of extraordinary
thinkers during the time of antiquity, there
is always a divergence of theories and ideas
of philosophers during that time.

The fact that the Earth is not the center of the solar system is only one of the results of
scientific revolution. Mathematics was the common tool used by ancient astronomers to
explain the motion of celestial bodies and on the latter combined with actual observations that
provided enough evidences proving that the sun is the center of the solar system. The
remarkable contributions of the ancient astronomers to the development from Geocentric to
Heliocentric model Of the Universe is listed in the table below:

Table 4.1 Notable contributions of ancient astronomers to the development of the universe.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C., Greek) Proved that the earth is spherical.
Earth was at the center of the universe, i.e., sun, planets
and stars were located in sphere that revolved around
the earth.
Aristarchus ( 310-230 BC, Greek) The first to prose the idea that the sun was the center of
the universe.
Hipparchus (109-120 BC., Greek) Considered to be the greatest astronomer of ancient
times.
Measured earth’s distance to the moon.
Discovered the wobbling of the earth.
Claudius Ptolemy (85-165 A.D., Used Hipparchus observations to develop the Ptolemaic
Greek) System which describes the earth as the center of the
universe with sun, moon, planets and stars revolving
around it in a circular orbit.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543, Concluded that the sun and not the earth is the center of
Polish) the universe.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642, Supported Copernican model of the universe.
Italian)
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630, Formulated the three laws of Planetary Motion.
 German)

Darwinian Revolution

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) is a biologist who was famously known for his works
on evolution and the process of natural selection. He studied Divinity in Cambridge where he
met Adam Sedgwick (1785-1973) and the naturalist John Henslow (1796-1861) who brought
back his interest in biology and geology.

With the teaching of the church and the influence of Henslow, Darwin also rejected the
idea of Lamarck that acquired characteristics are inheritable. His faith altered after his five years
mapping expedition with the British Army in 1831 headed by Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy (1805-
1865) of the ship named H.M.S Beagle. He made observations on diversity of organisms, fossils,
comparison to South American organisms, comparison among the organisms in the Galapagos
Islands and adaptation which laid the foundation to develop his theory of evolution and natural
selection.

Evolution, as explained by Darwin, occurs by means of natural selection. In addition, natural

selection might occur because of the following reasons:

a. Overproduction and variation-some species produce many offspring out not all of these
young will survive. It means that not all of the offspring do not have the characteristics to
survive in the environment.
b. Competition and selection-competition may or may not be direct but the idea is always
on the survival of organism. The organisms that survived more likely reproduce which transfer
their characteristics to their offspring.

c. Environmental change-the environment will not adjust for the organism but rather it is
always the organism that will change to adapt to the environment.

Freudian Revolution
Sigmund Freud (1856—1939) explained
how human mind works and cure its mild
mental illness. He call this method
psychoanalysis and its main goal is to make
unconscious conscious. He also developed
topographical and structural model of the
mind to basically explain the sources of
human behavior.

The Topographical Model of the Mind

According to the topographical model Freud, the mind is divided into three regions. These are
the subconscious, preconscious, and conscious mind.

a. Conscious mind -consists of thoughts that focus on the present state of the mind.
b. Preconscious mind -consists of what can be retrieved from the memory.
c. Subconscious mind -consists of primitive desires, wishes or impulse which is mediated
by the preconscious mind

The Structural Model of the Mind

The structural model of Freud elaborates his topographical model which preconscious mind is
then divided into superego, ego and id.
a. Ego-drives a socially acceptable way to satisfy the demands of id as it operates the
conscious and unconscious mind.
b. Id-comprises Eros, the life or survival instinct of man and Thanatos the death or
destructive instinct of man.
c. Super-ego-operates based on the principles of morality that drive man to become
socially responsible and behave in an acceptable manner. It basically means that super-ego
drives a man to follow the rules and resolves the conflict between the ego and the id.
INFORMATION AGE

People view communication as one of the most important tools in understanding

society. Communication is defined as the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or
behaviors to express or exchange information or to express ideas, thoughts, feelings etc., to
someone else. It took a lot of time for communication to prosper and develop to what is being
used today. Along with the development of technology, the impacts of distance, location, and
time were eradicated.
Most of us believe that the beginning of the Information Age is the time when computer were
made available to people since computer is the greatest tool used to access the world wide
web. Information Age, according to Alberts and Papp (1997) in their paper entitled The
Information Age: An Anthology on Its Impact and Consequences, is divided into three modern
information revolution: First Modern information Revolution, Second Modern Information
Revolution and Third Modern Information Revolution.

These are the most important events during the modern information revolution:
First Modern Information Revolution (Mid -century)
The invention of telegraph by Samuel Morse (179) -1872).
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) patented the first telephone.
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) proved the feasibility of radio communications,
i.e. sending and receiving of radio signals.

Second Modern Information Revolution (Mid-20th century)

Lee DeForest (1873-1961) Early generation computers were made available to everyone.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1926-1931) Television as one of the best communication tools.
Sergci Korolev (1957) Artificial satellites were built and linked the world.
Claude E. Shannon (1916-2001) quantified information and measured it in bits.

Third Modern Information Revolution (1980's)

The third modem information is labeled as "knowledge revolution." This period is only about
the development of communication-related technologies that improved society.

Mesoamerican Period

(1200 B.C.-3rd Century A.D.)

The term Mesoamerica comes from the Greek word mesos meaning "in the middle." This
period is characterized by the following civilizations:

Olmecs (1500 B.C.-400 B.C.)

The top of the society are priests and nobles who lived in ceremonial centers.
 Normal people lived in farming villages volcanic rocks around the elites.
 Carved colossal heads from volcanic rocks as portraits of rulers.
 Invented calendar and carved hieroglyphic writing into stone.
 The mother culture of Mesoamerica.

Mayans (300 B.C.-YOO A.D.)

Developed methods of farming such as shifting agriculture and raised bed farming.
 Organized into city-state without political unity but bounded a economically
 Developed numbering system including place value and the concept of zero.
 Developed hieroglyphic form of writing that were used for recording astronomical
observations, rituals and religious matter but was burnt during the invasion of Spanish
conquerors.
 Developed a solar calendar with 365 days and ritual calendar with 260 days.

Aztecs (12th-15th Century)

 Built chinampas or "floating gardens" to plant crops.
 Built empire which has a ruler with his council consisting of nobles, priest and military
leaders.
 Developed a calendar with 365 days and a ritual calendar with 260 days.
  Believed that illness is a punishment from the gods but still uses herbs and medicine for
treatments.

Middle East (17th Century)

Middle East is a term used to describe a geographic location that extends from Egypt to
Afghanistan where Islam arose. Islam, however is a religion of right actions, rules and laws that
began in the 7th century and follows the teachings of Muhammad who was believed by
Muslims as the messenger of God. Islam is also an Arabic word meaning "submission to God."
Islamic rules are symbolized by five obligatory acts the five pillars of Islam: Witness (Shahada),
Worship (Salat), Fasting (Sawm), Tithing (Zakat), and Pilgrimage (Hajj). If the Roman Catholic
Church has the "Bible," Islam on the other hand, also has its holy book called Qur'an ('Koran').

Seemingly different to other ancient civilizations like Europe, Islam as religion plays an
important role not only in Arab ways of living but also in the advancement of science. The
pursuit of knowledge is included in the teachings of prophet Muhammad. These practicality of
Islam and openness to embracing knowledge resulted to some advancement in the field of
geography, medicine, and mathematics

Contributions to Geography

 Salat prayers require knowledge in geography to know the direction of Qublah, i.e., the
direction that should be faced when Muslims pray.
 In 1166, Al Idrisi produced very accurate maps including a world map that has
continents, mountains, rivers and famous cities.
 Al-Muqdishi, a geographer, also produced an accurate colored map.
 Muslims are great navigators for the expedition’s footer countries. Ferdinand Magellan
and Christopher Columbus imported Muslim navigators.
Contributions to Mathematics
 Muslims invented symbols to express an unknown quantity.
 Made use of zero and decimal system.
  Muhammad ibn Müsä al-Khwärizmi (early 9th century), one of the first directors of the
House of Wisdom, introduced algebra in solving equation.
Medical Contributions
 Arabs made use of human cadaver to study and understand its anatomy and physiology.
 Abü-'Ali al-Husayn ibn-Abdalläh Ibn-Sinä or Avicenna (ca. 970-1037) wrote an
encyclopedia of medical knowledge. This work was translated into Latin and was used as
a textbook in Europe up to seventieth century.
 Abü Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyyä al-Räzi (854-925 CE) spearheaded the construction
of the first Islamic Bimaristans (hospital).

African Revolution
Africans like other Eastern civilizations are pioneers of some advancement in science and
technology. They worked independently without any influence of European science. Some
remarkable works of Africans were in the field of mathematics, metallurgy, architecture and
engineering, astronomy, medicine, and navigation. The remarkable contributions of Africans
are the following:
 Africans made use of the first method of counting.
 The modern concepts of mathematics that is globally accepted and used today in high
schools was first developed in Africa.
 Used advanced techniques for furnace that made it fuel efficient which was 200 to
4000C hotter compared to 16000C-furnace used by the Romans.
 Created the building of Zimbabwe and the 11 interconnected rock-hewn churches of
Lalibela in Echiopia which are considered as wonders of the world.
 Observations on Sirius and B by Dogon people.
 Cushitic people used their knowledge of stars and constellations to calculate and
establish an accurate calendar.
 Pioneered some medical practices like installation of false teeth, filling of dental cavities,
broken bone setting, bone traction, vaccination, brain surgery, skin grafting, and
autopsy.
 Made use of plants like the bark of salix capensis as source of aspirin, kaopectate for
treating diarrhea and Rauwolfia vomitoria as source of reserpine for hypertension and
snakebite.
 Built boats in varying sizes with the largest that can carry a load of 80 tons

Learning Tasks:
A. Name one technological tool every area of discipline. Fill in the columns of the table. ( 20
pts)
 Areas of Discipline Technological Tools Influences to Society
1. Geography
2. Medicine
3. Information
technology
4. Psychology
5. Anthropology

B. Essay. Answer the question below.

1. Expound the meaning of paradigm shift in science and technology during the
industrial revolution in the 17th century. ( 20 pts)