Mental or Physical: That is the question

Industrial Revolution Essay


The Industrial revolution was a time of change, as all revolutions are. The Industrial revolution marked a change in how people do business and make goods all over the world. What would the world be without the engine. Without factories products would be in short supply and probably quite expensive. With this knowledge it tells you that the industrial revolution had to be a physical change not a mental change. Without machines there would have not been a revolution. If it were mental then these great minds would have been just thinking of these machines and not putting them to good use and creating machines that would revolutionize the world.
The main point that needs to be stressed is that the industrial revolution was made by the inventions of the time. Some of the inventions of the time were the spinning jenny, the water loom, and the steam engine. The big new invention was the steam engine. The steam engine alone could have caused the industrial revolution. Many sources state in one way or another that it was the machines that did the revolutionizing and not the ideas of the time. Merriam Webster states that the industrial revolution was "a rapid major change in an economy (as in England in the late 18th century) marked by the general introduction of power-driven machinery or by an important change in the prevailing types and methods of use of such machines". Also In the book, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, the authors goes on to explain what the three major "substitutions" of the revolution. They were, the substitution of machines for human skill, the substitution of inanimate for animate sources of power (the major machine was the engine), and the use of new and more abundant raw materials. These substitutions increased productivity and in turn created more income for the working man.
Yes some people may argue that it was the ideas that led to the inventions which in turn led to the revolution but, the cause of arevolution has to be direct yet the ideas were indirect and is a very small cause. It is somewhat grasping at straws. These people that invented these revolutionizing inventions were not some great philosophers or even inventors. They invented them to make their way of life easier and their businesses more productive. Take Thomas Newcomen, he was an ironmonger ( a retailer of iron goods), not some rich big shot yet he has been called the father of the industrial revolution for the introduction of the first steam power plant. That just goes to show you that it does not take a inventor to invent something great.

Abstract

The basis of my paper is that it was more of a physical revolution when it comes to the industrial revolution. It was actually the inventions that formed the revolution and not the ideas or even the people. I have used many sources in my paper including Merriam Webster, The wealth and Poverty of Nations written by David S. Landes, and also some information from wikipedia.