Abstract
Scientific rationality evolved branching in different conflictual directions. This chapter focuses on the coevolution of Empiricism and Rationalism from the late Renaissance through the Enlightenment. This process framed the Scientific Revolution as a shift in worldview characterized by growing individualism, the consequent vindication of freedom of thought, systematic mathematization of science, and an increasing link between science and technology. Leonardo was an emblematic precursor of this new synthesis, embodying the fusion of art, philosophy, science, and technology. The revival of the heliocentric hypothesis by Copernicus, rooted in Pythagorean thought, and its refinement by Kepler using Tycho Brahe’s improved empirical data are presented as key steps. Bacon’s foundations of Empiricism, emphasized the crucial role of induction from empirical evidence. He also warned against ‘idols’ distorting the mind. Galileo and Huygens further advanced the mathematization of science, integrating systematic experimentation with mathematics and technology. Newton’s Principia represents a culmination of this evolutionary process, unifying celestial and terrestrial mechanics through universal gravitation. The resurgence of Rationalism, led by Descartes’s analytic geometry, and Leibniz’s emphasis on logic and innate intellectual structures, provided a constructive counterpoint to Empiricism. Finally, Hume’s radical Empiricism, criticizing induction and causality, exposed the limits of both traditions, paving the way for the Kantian synthesis.