Why this matters for the unit

The Scientific Revolution did two things that made the Enlightenment possible. First, it established a method: knowledge could be tested, evidence could overturn authority, and the natural world followed discoverable laws. Second, it created a precedent: if Aristotle and Ptolemy could be wrong about the cosmos, perhaps the Church could be wrong about salvation and the king could be wrong about governance. The Enlightenment took the method and the precedent and applied them to politics.