1. What does Burke mean when he says that the universe changes for us when our knowledge changes?

When Burke said "the universe changes for us when our knowledge changes", he was talking about the idea that when humans learn more and more things, we start to see patterns and examples all around us in nature. Since you view the world according to your knowledge, once you change your knowledge than you are essentially changing the universe. For example, Galileo Galilei discovered that the Earth is not the center of the universe and much more about astronomy. The church, at that time, was furious that he would claim that the Earth was not in the center; however, once more and more people spoke out against the church, out knowledge changed and we believed that we orbit around the sun. After this breakthrough, humans began to view the world differently, and discovered that a lot of what the church has told them can be explained with science and that the universe is not just our galaxy.

Sources: Class Notes: 8/25/14 Video: The Day the Universe Changed; It Started with the Greeks [1] [2]

By Samuel Faraguna