Republic of the Philippines

COTABATO FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Katipunan, Arakan, Cotabato
Telefax: (064) 288-1343
Email Address: [email protected]; Website: www.cfcst.edu.ph

Lesson III

Intellectual Revolutions and Society

Introduction

This lesson reviews the intellectual revolutions that changed the way people perceive the
influence of science on society in general. It focuses on three of the most important intellectual
revolutions in history: Copernican, Darwinian, and Freudian. By discussing these intellectual revolutions
in the context of science, technology and society, the attention of students is drawn again toward the
complex interplay of the various social contexts and the development of modern science. The section also
engages students in a critical analysis of ongoing intellectual and scientific revolutions, which they may
find themselves to be part of.

Desired Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section, the student should be able to:

1. Identify the intellectual revolutions that shaped society across time;

2. Explain how intellectual revolutions transformed the view of society about dominant scientific
thought; and
3. Research on other intellectual revolutions that advance modern science and scientific thinking.

CONTENT FOCUS

In the study of the history of science and technology, another important area of interest involves
the various intellectual revolutions across time. In this area, interest lies in how intellectual revolutions
emerged as a result of the interaction of science and technology and of society. It covers how intellectual
revolutions altered the way modern science was understood and approached.

For this discussion, intellectual revolutions should not be confused with the Greek’s pre-Socratic
speculations about the behaviour of the universe. In science and technology, intellectual revolutions refer
to the series of events that led to the emergence of modern science and the progress of scientific thinking
across critical periods in history. Although there are many intellectual revolutions, this section focuses on
three of the most important ones that altered the way humans view science and tis impacts on society: the
Copernican, Darwinian, and Freudian revolutions. In the words of French astronomer, mathematician, and
freemason, Jean Sylvain Bailley (1976 in Cohen, 1976), these scientific revolutions involved a two-stage
process of sweeping away the old and establishing the new.

In understanding intellectual revolutions, it is worth noting that these revolutions are, in

themselves, paradigm shifts. These shifts resulted from a renewed and enlightened understanding of how
the universe behaves and functions. They challenged long-held views about the nature of the universe.
Thus, these revolutions were often met with huge resistance and controversy.
 Republic of the Philippines
COTABATO FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Katipunan, Arakan, Cotabato
Telefax: (064) 288-1343
Email Address: [email protected]; Website: www.cfcst.edu.ph

Copernican Revolution

The Copernican Revolution refers to the 16 th-century paradigm shift named after the Polish
mathematician and astronomer, Nicolas Copernicus. Copernicus formulated the heliocentric model of
the universe. At the time, the belief was that the Earth was the center of the Solar System based on the
geocentric model of Ptolemy (i.e., Ptolemaic model).

Copernicus introduced the heliocentric model in a 40-page outline entitled Commentariolus. He

formalized his model in the publication of his treatise, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (The
Revolution of Celestial Spheres) in 1943. In his model, Copernicus repositioned the Earth from the center
of the Solar System and introduced the idea that the Earth rotates on its own axis. The model illustrated
the Earth, along with other heavenly bodies, to be rotation around the Sun.

The idea that the Sun is at the center of the universe instead of the Earth proved to be unsettling
to m any when Copernicus first introduced his model. In fact, the heliocentric model was met with huge
resistance, primarily form the Church, accusing Copernicus of heresy. At the time, the idea that it was not
the Earth, and, by extension, not man, that was at the center of all creation was unthinkable. Copernicus
faced persecution from the Church because of this.

Moreover, although far more sensible than the Ptolemaic model, which as early as the 13 th
century had been criticized for its shortcomings, the Copernican model also had multiple inadequacies
that were later filled in by astronomers who participated in the revolution. Nonetheless, despite problems
with the model and the persecution of the Church, the heliocentric model was soon accepted by other
scientists of the time, most profoundly by Galileo Galilei.

The contribution of the Copernican Revolution is far-reaching. It served as a catalyst to sway

scientific thinking away from age-long views about the position of the Earth relative to an enlightened
understanding of the universe. This marked the beginning of modern astronomy. Although very slowly,
the heliocentric model eventually caught on among other astronomers who further refined the model and
contributed to the recognition of heliocentrism. This was capped off by Isaac Newton’s work a century
later. Thus, the Copernican Revolution marked a turning point in the study of cosmology and astronomy
making it a truly important intellectual revolution.

Darwinian Revolution

The English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, Charles Darwin, is credited for stirring another
important intellectual revolution in the mid-19 th century. His treatise on the science of evolution, On the
Origin of Species, was published in 1859 and began a revolution that brought humanity to a new era of
intellectual discovery.

The Darwinian Revolution benefitted from earlier intellectual revolutions especially those in the
16th and 17th centuries, such that it was guided by confidence in human reason’s ability to explain
phenomena in the universe. For his part, Darwin gathered evidence pointing to what is now known as
natural selection, an evolutionary process by which organisms, including humans, inherit, develop, and
 Republic of the Philippines
COTABATO FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Katipunan, Arakan, Cotabato
Telefax: (064) 288-1343
Email Address: [email protected]; Website: www.cfcst.edu.ph

adapt traits that favoured survival and reproduction. These traits are manifested in off springs that are
more fit and well-suited to the challenges of survival and reproduction.

Darwin’s theory of evolution was, of course, met with resistance and considered to be
controversial. Critics accused the theory of being either short in accounting for the broad and complex
evolutionary process or dismissive of the idea that the functional design of organisms was a manifestation
of an omniscient God. The Darwinian Revolution can be likened to the Copernican Revolution in its
demonstration of the power of the laws of nature in explaining biological phenomena of survival and
reproduction.

The place of the Darwinian Revolution in modern science cannot be underestimated. Through the
Darwinian Revolution, the development of organisms and the origin of unique forms of life and humanity
could be rationalized by a lawful system or an orderly process of change underpinned by laws of nature.

Freudian Revolution

Austrian neurologist, Sigmund Freud, is credited for stirring a 20 th-century intellectual

revolution named after him, the Freudian Revolution. Psychoanalysis as a school of thought in
psychology Is at the center of this revolution. Freud developed psychoanalysis—a scientific method of
understanding inner and unconscious conflicts embedded within one’s personality, springing from free
associations, dreams, and fantasies of the individual. Psychoanalysis immediately shot into controversy
for it emphasized the existence of the unconscious where feelings, thoughts, urges, emotions, and
memories are contained outside of one’s conscious mind. Psychoanalytic concepts of psychosexual
development libido, and ego were met with both support and resistance from many scholars. Freud
suggested that humans are inherently pleasure-seeking individuals. These notions were particularly
caught in the crossfire of whether Freud’s psychoanalysis fit in the scientific study of the brain and mind.

Scientists working on a biological approach in studying human behaviour criticized

psychoanalysis for lack of vitality and bordering on being unscientific as a theory. Particularly, the notion
that all humans are destined to exhibit Oedipus and Electra complexes (i.e.; sexual desire towards the
parent of the opposite sex and exclusion of the parent of the same sex) did not seem to be supported by
empirical data. In the same vein, it appeared to critics that psychoanalysis, then, was more of an
ideological stance than a scientific one.

Amidst controversy, Freud’s psychoanalysis is widely credited for domination psychotherapeutic

practice in the early 20 th century. Psychodynamic therapies that treat a myriad of psychological disorders
still remain largely informed by Freud’s work on psychoanalysis.
 Republic of the Philippines
COTABATO FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Katipunan, Arakan, Cotabato
Telefax: (064) 288-1343
Email Address: [email protected]; Website: www.cfcst.edu.ph