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In 1347 William of Ockham passed away. It was a pre-cursur too what was to follow. The new trade-routes had brought
an unwelcome guest. The black plague. By 1350 a third of the European population had died from this pestilence.
The next 100 years was a period of turmoil. The question on everyones mind, why had God turned their back on the
people? Was this to be the end of time?
As society emerged from the desolation, the children of the plague began to question the church. It was during
this time Wycliff translates the bible into the English language. In 1358, "Simple Jack" had led the French Peasantry in an
uprising against the nobility. Revolution was in the air.
In 1412 Joan of Arc rallied the armies of France, to fight the British invaders. Meanwhile the great schism had split
the papacy in half. No longer were the crusades concerned with the city of Jerusalem, they were sent to eliminate the heretics
in Bohemia.
At the height of turmoil, in 1452, a young weapons engineer was born, by the name of Leonardo da Vinci. The rennaiscance
was in full motion. Three years later, Gutenburg published the Bible for the first time. No longer could the papacy control
the monopoly on scripture. The war of ideas was born into the western world.
In the years that followed, the printing press found a new utilization. One not unlike the blogs found on
today's internet. Pamplets were circultated to the people, progating one agenda, or another.
In Spain, Ferdinand II and Isabella of Castile married, in the attempt to create to unite The kingdoms
of Castile and Aragon, under the Catholic church. In 1474, to further this end, the Spanish Inquisition was initiated.
Anti-semitism had risen in Spain, who at the time, was attempting to rid the land of the Moslem population. The
Jewish population was included in this mass torture and execution, as well as the heretical teachings of the emerging protestant
sect.
By 1492 the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada was completed, and thus the last of the Moslem strongholds in Spain
had been eliminated. In the same year the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile expulsed the Jews from what was to be the united
Kingdom of Spain.
In the same year, a young navigator made his way to the new empires court, and recieved approval for a new
expedition. Shortly there-after Colombus set sail for the Americas. Ironically, though supported by the bastion of the papal
empire, this voyage would lead to the downfall of the neo-platonistic ideals upon which the church rested its authority.
In 1517 a young Priest by the name of Martin Luther posted the 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenburg.
This document challenged the authority of the Pope on the nature of pennance, and the usefulness of indulgences. This sparked
the debate that would result in the reformation, the Lutheran church, and the Anabaptist traditions within in Christianity.
It was in 1543 however, that the scientific revolution entered into the war of ideas. Copernicus published, in
his dying year, a new discovery, one that was to be considered to the first great insult of mankind.
He questioned, In light of the discovery of Colombus, wouldn't it make more sense, if the world were round,
and orbited the sun? With the application of Ockhams razor, we could eliminate all the contradictions found within the ptolmaic
system.
Not long after, Galileo, who's father had performed many experiments with the lute as a musician, and math theorist,
had long instilled into his child the Pythagorean theory of harmony and music. This led Galileo to boldy proclaim, that mathematics,
and not Aristotle's logic, were the basis of nature. He summed this up with the statement "The language of God is mathematics."
The foundation of the church was at last to stand on trial, its prosecuting attorney, the scientific method.
Aristottle claimed that if two objects were dropped from an equal distance, logically the heavier item would
land first. It made sense, why would someone bother to question it?
Galileo did just that. In the great legend that follows the man, he dropped two items of different mass from the
tower of Pisa, and found they both landed at the same time. Acceleration therefore was not generated by mass, another force
was in play.
Though charged with heresy, and forced to recant his ideas, and even placed under arrest while his books
were burned, it was of no avail.
The people had decided in favor of the scientific method.
In 1637 Descarte had published the cartesian coordinate statement, followed by the riddle. What is it that I can
know to be true? From this he follows, can I tell for sure the world around me is not just some dream? I cannot. What I do
know is that I percieve it, therefore The entity that is I must have existence.
This led to the infamous statement Cogito ergo Sum, (I think, therefore I am)
In the meanwhile, another implication of this new method of reasoning was taking form. If the mandate of authority
was to be taken from the church, then where did the final authority rest.
To Locke, the assumption was that every individual was endowed with the ability to reason. Included in this was
the ability to choose right from wrong, so the actions of man in the state of nature are bound by the self evident laws of
nature.
Within reasonable limits, then, individuals are free to pursue their own "life, health, liberty, and possessions."
From this Locke imagined an original state of nature in which individuals rely upon their own strength, then described
our escape from this primitive state by entering into a social contract under which the state provides
protective services to its citizens.
The challenge to the aristocracy had at last been made. A new era was on the horizon.
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