The universe viewed through a telescope looked different, and this difference in itself played into the Protestant argument that received truths may be fallible. In fact, the notion of truth outside empirical evidence became unsteady:

For most thinkers in the decades following Galileo's observations with the telescope, the concern was not so much for the need of a new system of physics as it was for a new system of the world. Gone forever was the concept that the earth has a fixed spot in the center of the universe, for it was now conceived to be in motion…gone also was the comforting thought that the earth is unique (Cohen 79)

However, while the telescope was transforming ideas about the shape of the cosmos and the relationship between science and faith, the microscope essentially remained a toy through much of the early modern era. If anything, the revelation of the...
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