During the European Dark Ages there was no coherent system of scientific or philosophical thought. Throughout Western civilization, theological doctrine and dogma replaced the rational and logical inquiry of the ancient Greek scholars. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, however, the rediscovery of Aristotle's (384-322 B.C.) philosophy, as preserved by Arabic scholars, renewed interest in the development of logic and scientific inquiry. The critical writings of St. Thomas Aquinas (1227-1274), Roger Bacon (c. 1214-1292) and William Ockham (also spelled Occam, c. 1285-c. 1349) regarding Aristotelian ideas ultimately laid the intellectual foundations for the seventeenth century scientific revolution by de-emphasizing the primacy of understanding based upon scriptural revelation or authority.

Background

Although the origins of astronomy and cosmology (the study of the origin, structure, and evolution of the universe) predate the human written record, by the height of ancient Greek civilization...