ABSTRACT
The medieval world view was severely damaged by two revolu tions: the Copernican Revolution in astronomy ( 1 543) and the Cartesian Revolution in philosophy ( 1637). "The Copernican Revolution, " as pointed out by Thomas S. Kuhn, "was a revolu tion in ideas, a transformation in man's conception of the uni verse and of his own relation to it. Again and again this history of Renaissance thought has been proclaimed an epochal turning point in the intellectual development of Western man. ' ' 1 In other words, the Copernican Revolution paved the way for the concep tion of the mechanical world view.