How did Galileo's investigation of nature's laws differ from the people of his time?
1 Answer
Galileo like others involved in the Scientific Revolution used experiments and inductive reasoning to understand nature's laws.
Explanation:
The people before the scientific revolution did not do experiments. The science was based on observations alone. The type of reasoning was deductive based on unquestioned assumptions. The Science of the ancients were regarded as almost infallible. Science like the religion of the time in Italy was based on authority not critical independent thought.
Galileo did experiments to check his theories. He used scientific instruments like the telescope to gain more understanding, instead of deductive thinking. Galileo did not blindly accept the conclusions of authority. This got him into trouble with the authorities. His thinking was inductive. He gathered as much information from his experiments and observations and then drew his conclusions.
Others in his time like Coperincus and Bacon were also using the new scientific methods but they were in a minority.
