Causal Factors of the Scientific Revolution

            One cause of the Scientific Revolution was the impact of realist and naturalist approaches of artists during the Renaissance setting the standard for the study of natural phenomena. During the Renaissance, there the humanist belief in humans' merit and ability gave rise to a focus on understanding reality. The Age of Exploration witnessed the influx of specimens into Europe from the newly opened and explored New World. Simultaneously, artists of the Renaissance produced highly detailed drawings of these plants through Renaissance secular curiosity. Impacted by the examples of how people examined natural objects, Andreas Vesalius was spurred to start dissecting bodies so that he could, like the Artists of the Renaissance, study the specimen in more detail. He adopted the mindset that one could get the most accurate and undisputed facts from seeing the truth for himself rather than traditionally read the works of Galen. With this initial mindset, Vesalius went on to make unprecedented observations on human anatomy through dissection which formed the foundation of modern biology. Additionally, Vesalius instituted a hands-on style of instruction and insisted that his students also see the truth for themselves. Vesalius's new mindsets towards the discovery of knowledge constituted the change from Gnosticism to Empiricism. The change from unquestionable acceptance of medieval facts to the application of empiricism and rationalism laid the foundation for other scientists not only in terms of the unprecedented scientific knowledge, but also the new mindsets towards examining the natural world. .
             The rediscovery of Greeko-Roman ideas led to questioning of the ideas held during the middle ages. The humanist interest in both the belief in human ability to find the truth plus the return to classical texts led people in the era of the SR to discover the existence of scientific research before the Middle Ages.