Top tip my father gave me was to put command where you’d slightly pause, if reading it outloud.

Your piece:

He was, like many great thinkers, a child of his time: a few decades before, Copernicus came to the conclusion that the universe didn’t revolve around the earth, but that the earth actually circled around the sun and later, Newton came up with laws that explained the workings of the universe. Both of these developments marked a major shift of world view, and with this state of mind, Kant came to the conclusion that as autonomous, conscious beings, we can become moral beings through reason.

Tweaked version:

He was, like many great thinkers, a child of his time: A few decades before, Copernicus came to the conclusion that the universe didn’t revolve around the earth, but the earth actually circled around the sun and, later, Newton came up with laws that explained the workings of the universe. Both of these developments marked a major shift of world view and, with this state of mind, Kant came to the conclusion that as autonomous, conscious beings we can become moral beings through reason.

Try reading those aloud - it’s a subtle, but important, difference that can really throw a reader off.

Shortening the sentences would also help:

He was, like many great thinkers, a child of his time. A few decades before, Copernicus came to the conclusion that the universe didn’t revolve around the earth, but the earth actually circled around the sun. Later, Newton came up with laws that explained the workings of the universe.

That keeps each sentence more focused on the individual being discussed.