Within the context of the Renaissance/reformation please address these issues (800-1000 words). It may be helpful to refer directly to the work of Bruno, Descartes and Galileo in addressing the questions below:

Does the "scientific revolution" of the Renaissance represent genuine "intellectual" progress or instead does it simply mirror changes in social, political or cultural thinking of that time? Be sure to cite some evidence that scientific thinking is either independent or dependent on the cultural biases of the time.

Moveover, again within this time period, is science a "neutral" endeavor that takes place in a philosophical, social and cultural vacuum or is scientific thinking shaped (or even dominated) by philosophical, social and cultural perspectives?

Note: there is no "right" answer to these questions but we are asking you to think critically about these issues and backup what you write by documentating what was actually occurring in this time period, keeping in mind that you could always get burned at the stake ...