Copernicus, Galileo and Newton – the great names are familiar to almost all educated people around the world. The scientific revolution began with the publication of Copernicus and was completed with the publication of Newton. A series of events ushered in the era of modern science as we are today.
Modern science is generally considered to have its roots in classical antiquity, which was preserved and advanced in the Middle Ages. The scientific method is considered a hallmark of modern science; and was established during the scientific revolution. This common opinion is correct as it is based on facts. But the fundamental cause of the scientific revolution has not been identified. For example, why did the revolution occur in that period? Why did you accelerate so quickly? Why did it happen in Europe? What factors led to the development of scientific methods?
Although publication is paramount in science, people often focus on what the texts describe. Since we consider the written language as the core of science, we look from another perspective, focusing our discussion on the texts themselves, which establish scientific minds. Below we provide a description of the basis and causes of the scientific revolution in terms of scripts.
1. Greek alphabet: the origin of scientific minds.
The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Its readability is comparable to the Cyrillic script, not much less readable than the Latin alphabet. It is the first true alphabet, separating vowels and consonants, exhibiting true sequentiality and clarity. It is good from the beginning to the third aspect, as defined in the document “scientific strength of writing systems: the aspects”. Thus, the Greek alphabet had the potential to establish science on the scale of the modern period. However, because text production and storage were inefficient in ancient Greece, the texts that people read and published were small in volume. Textual minds were not formed in the general population. As a result, texts in classical antiquity were primarily for recording, communicating non-textual minds.
Still, a small number of people began to analyze texts since they possessed a large number of texts, such as Aristotle and Archimedes. They wrote and edited writings. His writings exhibited analytical and logical properties, backed by the legibility of the Greek alphabet. But the extant texts they relied on might not have been verified, and much of their thoughts might have come from describing their own unproven experience. As a result, much of his writing is descriptive and mentalistic.[1]. Nonetheless, the texts began an analytic tradition and provided an intellectual framework and rich resources from which subsequent generations studied and derived new theories.
2. The impact of printing
It is known that printing plays a key role in the dissemination and communication of knowledge. We consider that the printing press plays a more fundamental role and was the cause of the scientific revolution.
the middle ages
Before the Middle Ages, the Chinese had invented both paper and printing technology. That is perhaps the key factor that led Eastern civilization to surpass Western civilization. Arabic and Chinese sciences advanced in the Middle Ages, but the successive and growing publications achieved by Latin Europe during the scientific revolution were lacking. The growth of Islamic and Chinese economies, sciences and technologies did not result in modern science due to relatively unreadable writing systems, which did not result in rigorous and analytical minds. The textual foundation was difficult to establish. Also, in this period, printing technology was not very efficient.
His discoveries and inventions were learned by Europeans and integrated into Europe.
Printing and dissemination of Latin texts
The Renaissance coincided with the development of the printing press in Europe. From the fifteenth century, the printing press greatly accelerated the spread of texts. Books became easy to access. The abundance of texts led to the independence of texts from non-texts. People spent more time reading and writing. Constant mental processing of texts led to the formation of scientific minds. Participation in scientific activities increased. Intellectual activities changed from non-text-focused to text-focused. Due to the visual reliability and readability of Latin texts (texts written in the Latin script), modern science developed rapidly from new publications based on existing ones.
Due to their proliferation, texts became more closely associated with reality and relied on more, starting from the vagueness of the philosophical tradition.
Furthermore, printed texts are often more readable than handwritten texts.
Other literate societies lagged behind the Latin world.
Any script can be printed just as quickly on the same printer. But non-Latin script societies generally lagged significantly behind the Latin world in science and technology. This is mainly due to the illegibility of their writing systems. Modern science is based on Latinized minds, not machine-generated materials. Many people went on to use the Latin script to learn from the Europeans and compete with them. That continued to this day.
3. Accumulation of Latin texts from existing works
In ancient times, due to the limited ability to produce and store texts, most works are lost or incomplete. Many works are of uncertain authority. Many were derived from non-textual thoughts, thus not based on earlier texts. Many were rediscovered after hundreds of years. As a result, the written works do not have a solid foundation and are subject to new interpretations.
A key feature of modern science is that it draws extensively on and references existing work. One of the key activities of modern science is publication. Published works are reviewed by all. Authorship is clear and the original texts are preserved and easily accessible for study. Whether a conclusion or theory is correct or incorrect, it is clearly written, providing resources and foundations for future research. There is a clear lineage in the publications of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton.
Innovative theories can be as simple as a few formulas and diagrams. However, extensive texts are referenced and reviewed for accuracy of conclusions. In addition, extensive texts are written for explanation and proof. It could take an entire book to prove a simple conclusion.
4. The scientific method was firmly based on the spread of Latin texts
The causes of the scientific revolution are commonly attributed to mathematical description, experimentation, observation, etc., collectively called scientific methods. In fact, all aspects of scientific methods had been practiced long before the scientific revolution. What made the scientific revolution different was the extensive use and permanent establishment of scientific methods. There should be something to support such rapid development.
The assumptions and theories are, in fact, textual explanations of the phenomena. Observations and experimentations need to have a textual basis to be carried out. While scientists in ancient times also made observations and conducted experiments, their method was not systematic, standardized, or known to many. Few people conducted experiments due to the scarcity of manuscripts and low literacy. With the spread of print, one person’s hypotheses and experiments could soon be shared and replicated by others. The arguments were then confirmed, revised, or rejected. Many scientists made reference to the experiments of others without performing them themselves. The spread of Latin publications led to the establishment, standardization, and popularization of the scientific method.
Similar explanations also account for the establishment of the mathematical tradition in science. Mathematical descriptions were incorporated, supported and popularized by the spread of Latin texts.
5. Entry of texts in everyday life, expansion of science in branches
Another feature of modern science is the building of scientific minds in ordinary people. The greatness of classical mechanics lies in its applicability to everyday life, wherever there is force, motion, and gravity. With the spread of texts, more and more people are equipped with scientific minds to analyze their encounters and experiences. When more people learn existing articles, books, and theories, they gain knowledge and make new discoveries that emerge faster. Today, virtually every aspect of life, including diet, sleep, work, sports, is subject to and based on scientific research.
The legibility of the Latin alphabet dictates that new theories should not be confused with existing ones. The accumulation of textual knowledge expanded rigorously. Existing fields were better defined, while new fields were established for previously intact areas. Textual knowledge in one area within a field can become so immense that a subfield is established. Vocabularies were developed in each field and subfield. Science expanded into new branches and fields. Many are applied sciences. Technologies and engineering became more sophisticated by following scientific texts.
The dissemination of texts led to the democratization of knowledge. The progress of science depends more and more on the general population, although some geniuses could take fundamental steps.
6. Contemporary information explosion
The appearance of the world had changed a lot since the 17th century. People’s lives have improved a lot due to industrial and technological advances. If judged by the non-texts, the world today is undoubtedly fundamentally a true civilization, while the societies of the seventeenth century were primitive. However, the nature of modern science remained unchanged: investigation, processing and accumulation of Latin texts in association with the non-textual world.
The advancement of information and communication technologies has made the dissemination of information instantaneous. The electronic transmission of information through computers, smartphones and the Internet is much faster than through printed materials. The proliferation of Latin texts has entered an even more rapid era.
7. Close
The scientific revolution is a turning point from a non-text based world to a text based one, made possible by the proliferation of Latin texts. Scientific methods are established on the rigor and order determined by Latin texts. Not only modern science, but almost all areas of modernity, is a direct result of the spread of Latinized texts and minds.
8.References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_printing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Revolution
Herbert Butterfield (1957). The origins of modern science, 1300-1800. G.Bell and Sons Ltd.
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Modern+science
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[1] For the definition of descriptive and mentalistic texts, see my previous article “A New Definition of Science: The Textual Basis That Represents the Real World.”
