Ideas and Identity Essay - Modern Worldview, History and Analysis

This essay explores the evolution of the modern worldview, focusing on the shifts in ideas and identity from the 15th to the 17th centuries. It examines the emergence of the autonomous human being, the questioning of authority, and the rise of scientific thought. The essay highlights the impact of the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution on the cultural hegemony of the Catholic Church, the replacement of dogmatic revelation with verifiable theories, and the shift from a geocentric to a mechanistic understanding of the universe. It also discusses the views of key figures like Newton, Galileo, Descartes, and Bacon, and how these ideas contributed to the democratic and industrial revolutions. The essay further analyzes the influence of Darwin's theory of evolution and the rise of rationalism and empiricism in shaping contemporary epistemology, ultimately arguing that science has replaced religion as a primary authority in understanding the world.

Running head: IDEAS AND IDENTITY
Ideas and identity
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

1IDEAS AND IDENTITY
In the given topic, it can be seen that the author has argued about the foundations of
modern world view. In the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, there was an emergence of
modern and autonomous human being who was conscious about his own self. This special
creature was curious about the world and confident about his own judgments1. The author had
also mentioned about the skeptical of orthodoxies and the rebellious nature against the authority
is liable for his own idea and actions. They are more committed to a bigger future and proud of
their own self. They are also conscious of their distinctness from nature and very much aware of
their artistic and creative power. This arrival of the modern mind as deep rooted in the rebellion
against the traditional authorities took hold of the three distinct forms- the Renaissance, the
Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. Arrival of these three forms gave rise to the cultural
hegemony of the Catholic Church2.
On the contrary, no monolithic structure of belief held any civilization or science as
the mankind’s empirical and rational liberation which appeals to the common sense and a
strong reality that can be touched and weighed by them. The verifiable theories that are
texted and discussed in this topic replaced the dogmatic revelation hierarchy that was implied by
the church. The straight and valid data of the natural senses, the theoretical and systematic
methods of the age old belief of the rising and setting of the sun and rotation of the earth was
later analyzed through reasoning, calculation and other technologically advanced observation.
There is certain invalidity in the points raised by the author of this book. The process was
now open and established a new form in the society. Not only the earth but also the human
are now moving out of the finite, infinite, static, hierarchical universe in to new and
unknown territories.
1 Tarnas, Richard. Foundations of the modern world view.
2 Mao, Wenbo. Modern cryptography: theory and practice. Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, 2003.

2IDEAS AND IDENTITY
The strengths lie in the foundation and direction that the modern mind had been
largely established. It is high time, to summarize few of the key factors of the modern world
view as it was done earlier in the classical Greek and Christian era. It is required to define the
focus of the human beings for extension of the analysis3. The views of Newton, Galileo,
Descartes and Bacon are specifically relevant in the given scenario. A negotiation between the
medieval Christian creator God and the modern mechanical cosmos between the human mind
and spiritual principle of the worldly objective is a topic of argument here. The democratic and
industrial revolution and the rise of the Western culture can be brought forward to build
technological, economic, social and political platform. It was again affirmed and stated in its
own cultural sovereignty. The theory of Darwin regarding evolution brought the origin of
nature’s species and human within the boundary of modern outlook and natural science4.
It can be counter argued that science has replaced religion as a scholar authority.
Human motive and empirical inspection has replaced the theological doctrine and the
scriptural revelation as the prime means for comprehending the universe. The two basis of
contemporary epistemology, i.e. rationalism and empiricism gradually produced the apparent
metaphysical elements. The heavenly bodies had moved to the same natural and mechanical
forces which are composed of the same material and substances similar to those found in the
earth. With the decline in geocentric cosmos and the rise in mechanistic paradigm, astronomy
was ultimately severed from astrology. With contrast and comparison, both the ancient and
medieval world views, the heavenly bodies of the modern universe did not have any symbolic
significance. The text was useful in providing the relevant information.
3 Tarnas, Richard. Foundations of the modern world view.
4 Gamst, Frederick C. "Foundations of social theory." Anthropology of Work Review 12, no. 3 (1991): 19-25.

3IDEAS AND IDENTITY

4IDEAS AND IDENTITY
Reference
Doll Jr, William E. "Foundations for a post‐modern curriculum." Journal of Curriculum
Studies 21, no. 3 (1989): 243-253.
Gamst, Frederick C. "Foundations of social theory." Anthropology of Work Review 12, no. 3
(1991): 19-25.
Mao, Wenbo. Modern cryptography: theory and practice. Prentice Hall Professional Technical
Reference, 2003.
Tarnas, Richard. Foundations of the modern world view.