Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe.
All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and.
the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts,.
as they say, 'with both eyes open'. .
"Copernicus from "De Revolutionibus Coelestibus".
1600's The Century of Genius.
Prior to the 17th century, western thought still believed in Greek scriptures. This led to a tyrannical hierarchy. This was very feasible in those days because the people were not to question authority. All of this was about to change when the Scientific Revolution came without any warning. .
People began thinking on their own and speaking their minds. This eventually in extreme cases had these people shunned from society. One of the first to speak his mind was Nicolaus Copernicus. This man argued to society and to the church that all of the planets, including the earth, orbited around the sun. After Copernicus's death, a young astronomer and mathematician, Jonannes Kepler, began studies to support and improve Copernicus's theories. Kepler's writings impressed a man by the name of Tycho Brache, who was a Danish astronomer. Brache was so impressed that he appointed Kepler as the court mathematician in the Holy Roman Empire in 1601. This was one of the first men accepted in to society as a free thinker against the monarchy. .
Rene Descartes was a French philosopher writing many essays and one of the most influential thinkers of this time. Descartes began a theory of knowledge, also known as epistemology. This is also when he realizes that everything in reality can be broken down into mathematics, or an axiom. These axioms began to become the only key to proving what was known as "truth- in those days.
The growth of tolerance really began when King Louis XIV of France canceled the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This began to persuade influential thinkers to support toleration.
