CHAPTER 2 - Intellectual Revolution

WHAT IS AN
INTELLECTUAL
REVOLUTION?
• The term "Intellectual Revolution" is used to
refer to Greek speculation about "nature" in the
period before Socrates (roughly 600 to 400
BCE).
• Hence, the alternative, technical terms are “pre-
Socratic" "non-theological" or "first philosophy".
Bear in mind that the "philosophy" in question
has little to do with ethics, and much more to do
with what we would call physics or logic.
Three Characteristic features of this form of
Speculation.
• First, the world is a natural whole (that is,
supernatural forces do not make things 'happen').
• Second, there is a natural 'order' (that is, there are
'laws of nature').
• Third, humans can 'discover' those laws.
It is the period where paradigm shifts
occurred. It is where the scientific beliefs
that have been widely embraced and
accepted by the people were challenged
and opposed.
In the 6th century, Ptolemy introduced the
geocentric model which described the
absolute perception of the universe with
the earth as its center which was thought
to be true by most of the people at the
time.
Thales, ca. 585 BCE, argued that the primary
substance was 'water' perhaps observing that water
can be observed in liquid, gas, or solid form.
Whether he believed everything was truly based
on water or whether he used water as an analogy,
is not quite clear. Consider, too, that the use of
water as a primary substance is not far removed
from the primary substance of many creation
myths. Here is what Aristotle says:
"Most of the first philosophers thought that principles in
the form of matter were the only principles of all things:
for the original source of all existing things, that from
which thinking first comes into being and into which it is
finally destroyed, the substance persisting but changing in
its qualities, this they declare is the element and first
principle of existing things, and for this reason, they
consider that there is no absolute coming-to-be or passing
away, on the ground that such a nature is always preserved
for there must be some natural substance, either one or
more than one, from which the other things come-into-
being, while it is preserved.
Over the number, however, and the form of this kind of
principle they do not all agree; but Thales, the founder
of this type of philosophy, says that it is water (and
therefore declared that the earth is on water), perhaps
taking this supposition from seeing the nurture of all
things to be moist, and the warm itself coming-to-be
from this and living by this--taking the supposition both
from this and from the seeds of all things having a moist
nature, water being the natural principle of moist
things."
Xenophanes, another 6 -century
th
Ionian from the town of Colophon,

went in a different direction,
applying the logical methods of the
Ionians to understanding the Greek
gods. Here are three fragments of his
thinking:
"One god, greatest among gods and men,
in no way similar to mortals either in the
body or in thought…always he remains in
the same place, moving not at all; nor is it
fitting for him to go to different places at
different times, but without toil he
moves all things by the thought of his
mind."
It was also Heraclitus who
defined this entity with his term
"Logos" or 'rational principle'. He
writes:
"Of the Logos which is as I describe it men always
prove to be uncomprehending, both before they have
heard it and when once they have heard it. For although
all things happen according to this Logos men are like
people of no experience, even when they experience
such words and deeds as I explain, when I distinguish
each thing according to its constitutions and declare
how it is; but the rest of men fail to notice what they do
after they wake up just as the forget what the do when
asleep.
Parmenides and his disciple, Zeno,
argue the contrary of Heraclitus; namely that
motion/change is logically impossible.
Something either "is" or "is not", typically called
"being" and "non-being". If "being" changes, it
can only become "non-being", but that is
impossible.
One way only is left to be spoken of, that it is; and on
this way are full many signs that what is uncreated and
imperishable, for it is entire, immovable, and without
end. It was not in the past, nor shall it be, since it is
now, all at once, one, continuous; for what creation will
you seek for it? How and whence did it grow: Nor shall
I allow you to say or to think "from that which is not";
for it is not to be said or thought it is not. And what
need would have driven it to grow, starting from
nothing? Thus, it must either completely be or be not.
Pythagoras and his followers perceived that
the ultimate reality (arché) was not
something material, but number (we might
translate that to mean that any natural
phenomenon might be described
mathematically).
"Ten is the very nature of number. All Greeks and all
barbarians alike count up to ten, and having reached ten,
revert again to the unit. And again, Pythagoras maintains,
the power of the number ten lies in the number four, the
tetrad. This is the reason: if one starts at the unit and adds
the successive numbers up to four, one will make up the
number ten; and if one exceeds the tetrad, one will exceed
ten, too. If, that is, one take the unit, adds two, then three
and then four, one will make up the number ten. So the
number by the unit resides in the number ten, but
potentially in the number four.
The Copernican Revolution
• Nicholas Copernicus-
1473-1543
• The shift from geocentric to heliocentric slowly
happened through the contributions of different
persons.
• Tycho Brahe’s careful
observation of the star,
Cassiopeia
• Johannes Kepler said that
all planets move in elliptical
orbits and the Sun is at the
center.
• Galileo Galilei developed
his own telescope and
observed Venus.
• Sir Isaac Newton
• Law of Gravitation
• 3 Laws of Motion
• Inertia
• Acceleration
• Action-Reaction
•It influences conceptual changes in
cosmology, religion, physics, and
philosophy. It changes the belief of
the people about the placement of
the earth.
The Darwinian Revolution
• Charles Darwin 1809 – 1882

• This has had a great impact on how people
approach Biology forever. This revolution
provided a different than the “Theory of
Creation”.
• The Darwinian revolution started when
Charles Darwin published his book “On
the Origin of Species” in 1859 which
emphasizes that humans are the result of
an evolution.
•The Theory describes how organisms
change over time as a result of changes
in heritable physical or behavioral traits.
•The changes that allow an organism to
better adapt to its environment can help
it survive and have more offspring.
The Theory of Evolution has two (2) main
points:
1. All life on earth is connected and related to
each other.
2. This diversity of life came about because of
the modifications in populations that were
driven by natural selection.
The Freudian Revolution
• Sigmund Freud
•Freud described that the brain can
be segmented into compartments.
•Freudian revolution may be viewed
as the discovery of a way of locating
in the mind objective entities that
can be studied like physical things.
The Information Revolution
•Alan Turing’s
•Allan Turing’s machine introduced the
idea thinking and being conscious
could be attributed to nonhuman
entities.
• The information
revolution started
from the Sumerian
pictographs.
• The invention of Gutenberg’s
printing press in 1455
• The use of typewriter and telegraph.
• Today, these technologies are widespread which
become easier with the help of the internet.
Meso-American
•It has contributed a lot of ideas or
discoveries for Archaeology. The
temples and pyramids left a lot about of
architecture that leads us to study more
of it.
• The Aztecs had established
a great military force.
• The chinampa of the Aztecs
used a small rectangular area
of fertile land to grow crops
on the shallow lake beds.
• The use of rubber is
documented in the Maya
ball game called pitz.
• They also used cocoa beans
as a currency.
• The Maya developed an
accurate calendar.
• The Quipos are used by
the Incan for
bookkeeping.
• The mita system was invented
by the Inca. It is a labor
service that lakes form
in road and bridge
construction, in cultivation
(maize or corn) and
textile production.
Middle East
• The revolutions in the Middle East were a

product of the development and growth of
individual nationalism, and imperialism, for the
efforts to westernize and modernize Middle
Eastern societies, and to push the declining
power of the Ottoman Empire in the Arab region.
• The Arab applied the
Roman’s principles and
improve the watermill
known as noria.
•The Middle East is known for its
machine design and improvement for
irrigation, industrial work, and war. The
windmill and watermill are used for
crushing sugarcanes, grinding grain, and
pumping water.
• The book of Badic al-
Zaman ibn al-Razaz al-
Jazari described candle
and water clocks, water
vessels, fountains, automata,
and water-raising devices.
• The book written by
Taqi al-Din ibn Maruf
al-Rashid al Dinrasshqi
explain steam power
and a blueprint of a
six-piston pump.
African
• The fight against colonialism and
imperialism in Africa.
• Africa is known for the production of kola
nuts and coffee in Ethiopia Kola nuts
stimulant is mostly found in West Africa and
is the basis of the popular cola drink.
• Coffee was developed as a
consumable drink that
spread to Arabia and then
throughout the world.
•Africa used plants with salicylic
acid for pain (aspirin) and for
diarrhea (Kaopectate).
•They also highly advanced in
medicine such as operating
autopsies and caesarian.
•The technology involved
experimentation in drainage,
construction of polders,
desalination, and irrigation.
Evidence in 1978 suggests that
they already mastered making
steel.
Asian Revolution
•The revolution itself taught Asian
countries about freedom and
independent nationhood along with
improvement brought by it
internally.
• Traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and herbal
medicine were practiced.
The four (4) Great Inventions of ancient China include
the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing.
Other discoveries include alchemy which is a
Taoist chemistry.
REFERENCES:
https://prezi.com/2ak2vqch_apz/intellectual-revolutions/
https://www.slideshare.net/rey_john_rey/intellectual-revolutions-that-
defined-society
https://klio.uoregon.edu/tx/gr/presoctx.htm

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WHAT IS AN

Ionian from the town of Colophon,

• Charles Darwin 1809 – 1882

• The revolutions in the Middle East were a

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