... in which they reported their findings. Complementary to this was the Aristotelian view of the world. Aristotle advocated a naturalistic approach to the world. Objects in nature had a purpose for living - a spirit that typifies their behaviour. For example, plants were thought to grow upwards to be closer to God and the elements (air, water, fire and earth) find their 'natural place' in the cosmos. These examples seem alien to our culture; to contemporary philosophers these beliefs were not challenged because no point of reference existed to oppose these ideals. To the protagonists of the Scientific Revolution, there was no logic to the authority possessed by these pre-conceived ideals. They held that observable fact holds the key to scientific knowledge. One such scientist was the Italian, Galileo Galilei . In the early 1600's, Galileo took observations of the sun and noticed spots on the surface: imperfections. He interpreted his observations ...

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