The Mystery of Modern Science

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how magic and religion have always seemed to be at odds with the scientific community and how ironically enough they were major contributors to the motivation and means behind the Scientific Revolution. It looks at how many of the leaders of discovery in that time were heavily influenced by religious matters and how men like Descartes, Newton and Galileo saw their work as evidence of God?s infinite wisdom. It examines the specific circumstances surrounding scientific discovery in the 1600s and the natural philosophers themselves and evaluates the influence of these factors on methodology and motivation.

From the Paper:

"Magic was redefined as well. The new interest that began the Scientific Revolution was due in part to a desire for more practical convenience. Mechanism and alchemy came directly from magic and the occult, but according to our present definition of magic, this fact is blurred. We tend to view the mystical, demonic, or spiritual side of magic as the whole, but in truth, scientists took the physical, known use of magic and renamed it SCIENCE. At one time, using an herb or a mineral solution to cure a physical ailment was considered natural magic. To use one thing in nature to affect another, to study their interaction closely, and to derive conclusions from this intimate knowledge of the natural power of things, was an early form of the Scientific Method. This method was taken directly from natural magicians."

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