Science in the Early Modern Era

Along with the advancement of religion, a new ideology arose, science. Religion was the default answer to life's questions. One big question was, why is there a massive plague (Black Death)? One who was religious in the early modern would say it's because the people have done something to displease God therefore, God is punishing with a plague (Strayer 750). However, there were a subset of people who were not satisfied with such an answer. They went searching elsewhere, into science. Religion could only answer the spiritual questions but for the rational mind, people went to science. Before modern day science came to be, if one was not religious, they would seek answers from philosophers. Philosophers were educated people however they did not have the answers to everything. This is when the Scientific Revolution came. The Scientific Revolution, like Christianity, started in Europe and spread to Asia and the Americas. The big difference between science and religion is scientists drew from other cultures and religions. Religion claims to be the sole answer to everything. The idea of science faced opposition because it was seen as going against God. It jeopardized Catholic religious authority because people began to question their answers, challenged them, and turned to science instead (Strayer 742). Skeptism of religion is what lead to this Scientific Revolution. It conincided with the Enlightenment movement. The Enlightenment is for oneself alone to question and find their own answers to their questions. This movement also gave rise to new thinkers who asked questions. Scientists and thinkers of the Enlightenment were similar in their thirsts for knowledge. However they differed because some Enlightenment thinkers still fell back to religion for answers whereas scientists didn't. Despite the differences, both movements were able to progress in peace. Without the Enlightenment or the Scientific Revolution, we would not have concrete answers to life's questions. For example, without science or the enlightenment, William Harvey would not have learned circulation of blood and heart function therefore we would not have modern medicine to understand abnormalities in the circulatory system (Strayer 743). Many thinkers have come from these movements. Despite the opposition they faced, we now have modern day science and we owe that to the brave individuals who dared to question the norm.