In my Eng 101 class (I'm doing a program through my high school in which you go to community college for part of the day) we are discussing various theories about human origins. For the quarter we are to write 3 essays. The first essay was on creation stories, e.g. Abrahamic, Hindu, Babylonian, etc. The second, which was assigned today, is on the scientific revolution.
The readings we did for the scientific revolution include Lucretius's De Rerum Natura and some stuff by Descartes. Here is the basic assignment for the paper:
What do you think of the Scientific Revolution? Was it a good or bad thing for humanity? What long and short term effects did it have?
Now, I know, mainly from reading Tom Woods' work on the Catholic Church that, contrary to popular belief, the Middle Ages were not a time of superstition and the suppression of science.
What I'm wondering is if anyone here knows of other sources I should look at for my paper? I know this isn't a history forum, but the people here are obviously quite smart, so I'm sure you guys know a bit about the scientific revolution.
thanks
Francis Bacon (his views on "the political dangers of scientific progress" - at JSTOR, the advancement of learning, and his essay Daedelus), Rousseau (First Discourse = on the Arts and Sciences)
Try Discovery of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane, she has whole chapters on the Saracens and their contribution (if not origination) of the Enlightenment period in Europe.
It's a major shame that most people have no clue either who the Saracens are or the Bizantines, considering that virtually everything we think of as modern and Western came from there.