Intellectual Revolutions in Society

• Intellectual revolutions have defined society through paradigm shifts and contributions from world civilizations.
• Some of the intellectual revolutions that shifted paradigms include the Copernican, Darwinian, Freudian, and Information Revolutions.
• Some of the world civilizations that contrast to these revolutions include Mesoamerican, Middle East, African, and Asian Civilizations.

What is Intellectual Revolution?

• The term "Intellectual Revolution" refers to Greek speculation about "nature" before Socrates, roughly 600 to 400 BCE.
• "Pre Socratic," "non-theological," and "first philosophy" are alternative terms for intellectual revolution.
• It is the period where paradigm shifts happened where embraced scientific beliefs were challenged and opposed.
• Three characteristics are: the world is a natural 'whole', there is natural 'order', and humans can discover those laws.
• Significant intellectuals include Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Charles Darwin (1809-1882), and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).

Copernican Revolution

• This revolution caused a paradigm shift in astronomy.
• There was a shift to a heliocentric understanding of the universe centered around the sun from a geocentric, Earth-centered perspective.

Geocentric Model

• Aristotle and Claudius Ptolemy, an Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer, introduced the geocentric model in the 6th Century.
• The Earth was understood as the universe's center, remaining stationary with planets, the sun, and stars revolving around it.
• The circle and sphere were considered "perfect" shapes, so all celestial motions followed circular paths.
• Natural motion meant planets and stars orbited Earth at a uniform speed.

Heliocentric Model

• In the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus explained the retrograde motion of planets by replacing the geocentric model with a heliocentric one.
• Heliocentric model proved that the sun is the solar system's center.
• Retrograde motion is a visual effect when Earth passes a slower outer planet, making it appear to move backward against background stars.
• Retrograde motion occurs when the sun, Earth, and another planet align, with the planet described as at "opposition," opposite the sun.
• Apparent retrograde motion arises from the Earth's perspective as nothing changes in a planet’s motion, it is a natural effect.

Darwinian Revolution

• Evolution is a process by which organisms change over time due to heritable physical or behavioral trait changes.
• Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution states that animals evolve through natural selection in order to ensure "survival of the fittest".
• Organisms are related and descended from a common ancestor according to Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
• Variation within a population helps different species survive and animals that reproduce become better adapted.
• Random genetic mutations within an organism's genetic code aide survival.
• The most resilient species are not the strongest, but the most responsive to change.

Freudian Revolution

• The Freudian revolution helped discover a way of locating objective entities in the mind that can be studied like physical things.
• Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis and influential 20th-century thinker, developed psychoanalysis to understand human behavior, especially neurological conditions.
• Freud believed that mental illness results from nurture, not nature, and theorized that a person's motivation dictates their behaviour.
• The human mind has three aspects that influence behavior including:
  • Id: instincts
  • Ego: reality
  • Superego: morality
• The ID consists of unconscious psychic energy that satisfies basic urges, needs, and desires.
• The EGO is the conscious mind (rational self) which decides on action to take for positive means based on what is believed is the right thing to do, and one's awareness of reality.
• The SUPEREGO consists of internalized ideals acquired from parents and society.
• The SUPEREGO suppresses the urges of the ID, trying to make the Ego behave morally instead of unrealistically.

Information Revolution

• This revolution has accompanied mankind's history, beginning as early as 3000 BC with Sumerian pictographs.
• Change is reflected both in the way of living and how selves are perceived.
• Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1455.
• Charles Babbage worked on the Analytical Engine in the early 1830s.
• The first telephone was invented during the 1870s.
• During World War II, Alan Turing refined algorithms and computation using a Turing Machine.
• Turing test contributed to the possibility of developing a conscious and thinking machine for Artificial Intelligence.

Mesoamerican Civilization

• The Mesoamerican civilization existed in the region and cultural area in the Americas.
• The civilization made agricultural contributions from as early as 7000 BC.
• There was a transition from hunter-gatherer tribal groupings to agricultural villages.
• The main food sources were beans, corn, and squash (the "three sisters"); rotational crops and slash-and-burn techniques aided in soil nutrition.
• Cacao was used as trade currency and in rituals.
• Cotton and rubber trees were used for textile production (vibrant colors) and rubber balls for ritualistic games.
• Chinampas were created and plots of mud and soil were placed on top layers of thick water vegetation.
• Irrigation techniques were introduced.
• Calendars like the civil Haab and Tzolkin were created.

Asian Civilization

• Asia bore two of the world's early civilizations: India and China.
• About 4000 years ago, civilization arose in the Indus River valley.
• People used bronze and copper weapons and utensils.
• Two world religions originated in Asia: Hinduism and Buddhism.
• Hinduism is based on the Vedas, believed to be written by Aryan people; people were divided into a caste system; priests called Brahmans were ranked highest, with the "untouchables" as the lowest.
• Buddhism praises Buddha (meaning "The Enlightened One"), or Siddharta Gautama (believed human greed and selfishness cause human pain).
• Confucianism developed along the Huang Ho River in Northern China, based on the teachings of Confucius.
• The Great Wall of China was built to protect against invasions of "barbarians" from other parts of Asia.

Middle East Civilization

• The Middle East is considered the "Cradle of Civilization" and seen as the world's oldest civilization.
• The Middle East civilizations first practiced intensive year-round agriculture and currency-mediated trade, as opposed to bartering.
• The first writing system came from the Middle East.
• The Middle East laid the foundation for astronomy and mathematics.
• The first generalized government and law codes came from the Middle East.
• Clay cylinder seals were invented which had little pictures of objects that could be recorded and early writings evolved from pictures baked on clay tablets.

African Civilization

• Some historians considered Africans as nothing more than savages whose only contributions were farming and slavery.
• Lineage and culture of achievements emerged at least 40,000 years ago in Africa.
• Modern mathematical concepts, like a counting method, were developed.
• People in present-day Zaire and Yoruba (now Nigeria) developed a numeration system 8,000 years ago that was lauded for being abstract.
• African Stonehenge was constructed around 300 BC in present-day Kenya as a remarkably accurate calendar.
• The Dogon people of Mali discovered Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moon, the spiral structure of the Milky Way, and Sirius Star's orbit.
• Great architectural monuments constructed along the Nile include the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx of Giza.
• Great cities like in Zimbabwe and Mozambique had a massive stone complex and huge castle-like compounds.
• The Empire of Mali in the 13th century boasted impressive cities, including grand palaces, mosques, and universities in Timbuktu.
• In medicine, some practices were the use of plants with salicylic acid for pain, kaolin for diarrhea, and extracts that confirmed to kill Gram-Positive bacteria.
• Other plants had anticancer properties that caused abortions and treated malaria.
• Some ancient African medical procedures were: vaccination, autopsy, limb traction and broken bone setting, bullet removal, brain surgery, skin grafting, filling of dental cavities, the installation of false teeth, anesthesia, and tissue cauterization.