Coffee in the Age of Reason The Greeks made mistakes, but European thinkers did not start questioning old ideas of Greek philosophy until the early 17th century (pg. 133). Francis Bacon led the denunciation of the Greek philosophic influence in Europe (pg. 134). He wanted to destroy the structure of human knowledge and re-build it on new foundations, by testing and challenging everything that was known. The religious wars of the Reformation cleared the way for the Scientific Revolution. This flurry of rational inquiry spread into Western countries …show more content…
141-142). During this same time, London was coming out as the central part of a very successful commercial empire (pg. 142). Business men began to embrace the coffeehouses that provided them with a convenient and respectable public place to meet and do business. This ensured the coffeehouses’ popularity during and after the Restoration, they appealed to many and matched the city’s mood perfectly (pg. 142). They were so appealing that men were spending all of their time in the coffeehouses (women were prohibited), that many were worried that “the whole race was in danger of extinction” (pg. 144). King Charles II wanted to “put down and suppress” the coffeehouses, which led to people in London protesting. Coffeehouses has become the center for social, commercial, and political life, if any European businessman wanted to know about the latest news all they had to do was walk into a coffeehouse. (pg. 145;