What factors contributed to the new way of thinking about the universe during the Scientific Age?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Sufficient challenge to the existing traditional thinking of the church had already been raised during the Renaissance. The introduction of works other than those of Aristotle made it clear that there were other possible explanations for the workings of the universe. Another shift was in the very means by which natural science was studied in the Scientific Age: science was no longer the province of one catchall philosopher in the university setting, but the study of dedicated mathematicians and independent scholars who participated in an intellectual community. Many had the support of princely patrons, in an echo of Renaissance patronage of humanism. There was also a new proof that these abstract ideas could be put to useful purposes, such as when mathematicians helped solve problems of land reclamation or canal building. This practical application fit in with the humanist tradition of embracing useful knowledge.