ABSTRACT
Copernicus was intent on saving the phenomena, on explaining apparently irregular motions in the heavens with some combination of uniform circular motions. During much of the 1950s and 1960s, historians generally understood the Scientific Revolution to have been an episode of profound intellectual transformation comparable in magnitude to the rise of Christianity. Aristotelian physics could lead to truths necessary to philosophy but contradictory to dogmas of the Christian faith, and in 1270 the Bishop of Paris condemned several propositions derived from the teachings of Aristotle, including the eternity of the world and the necessary control of terrestrial events by celestial bodies. Medieval Aristotelian commentaries would contribute to the acceptance of Copernican astronomy, with its inherent need for a new physics to replace Aristotle’s. The Scientific Revolution was, arguably, most important event in Western history. The example set by Newton in discovering the natural laws that govern the physical world soon was felt in other intellectual domains, including economics and politics.
