Document 998561

SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION: 1500 - 1700
Scientific investigation; Take an idea and test it.
A search for what we can know for sure.
Science threatened religious teachings as the source
for people to get the unexpected explained.
ENLIGHTENMENT: 1700 - 1800
Revolution in studying human behavior using Reason and the
Scientific Method.
To use “reason” to explain aspects of life:
Government
God
Economics
Reality
Reason
Decisions based on fact and logic, not myth, emotion,
bigotry, prejudice (An absence of intolerance, bigotry,
prejudice in one’s thinking.)
Nature:
Original state of something or natural tendency
Happiness: Could be achieved by living by nature’s laws
Progress: Society could improve by using a scientific approach
Liberty: To be free from undue control of; religion, speech,
thought, trade, travel, pursuit of happiness
Social Contract
People agreeing to give up liberty to gain security. To
accept government control.
Absolute Monarch
A king with no limit to his power.
Divine Right of Kings
The concept that Royal power came
from God and should not be
questioned.
Popular Sovereignty
The idea that people should
have a say in government
Benevolent Dictator
Absolute ruler whose actions are based on
the best interests of his/her people
Also called the “Age of Reason”
Period of Western history (1700s) when thinkers called for the
use of reason in analyzing and improving society.
The Enlightenment brought together the ideas of the
Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution. Renaissance
artists and writers adopted a more secular outlook on life
rather than the spiritual outlook of the Middle Ages. The
ideas of the Scientific Revolution created scientific
philosophies for seeking the truth. All of these are the
basis for the Enlightenment.
Isaac Newton
Newton is referred to both as the last scientist of the
Scientific Revolution, as well as the first great
thinker of the Enlightenment. He created
Differential and Integral Calculus to study objects
in motion and help him with the “apple thing.” He
finalized the laws of motion and defined gravity
(all objects have a natural attraction that varies with
mass and the distance of the objects.
What’s left of Newton’s apple tree
Rene Descartes
(day-Kart)
Created Analytical Geometry
(Algebra +Geometry)
Asked the question: What can I know for sure?
I doubt everything, except that I doubt.
I Doubt; Therefore I Am
. . . . Famous quote
“I Think; Therefore I Am.”
What else can I know for sure? (He also
offered a proof of God’s existence)
Philosophes were thinkers of the early
1700s who tried to use reason to explain
all aspects of life.
Their key ideas include: Reason, Nature,
Happiness, Progress, and Liberty
Enlightenment thinkers thought that like laws in
natural science, there were laws governing human
society. Laws of nature (natural laws) give people
rights of life, liberty and property. Men can build a
fair society based on reason (rationality). They
challenged the theory of "Divine Right of Kings."
Voltaire
(pen name for Francois Marie Arouet)
Candide – (1758) most famous book
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will
defend to the death your right to say it.”
Promoted Reason and free speech
Attacked absolute monarchs
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract (1762)
“Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains”
King's power comes from people, not by God. The
government represents the "general will" of people.
Baron de Montesquieu
On the Spirit of the Laws (1748)
“Power should be a check to power”
A good government should be divided into 3
branches: executive, legislature and judiciary –
branches should check the power of one another
SEPARATION OF POWERS
Cesare Beccaria
Denounced abuses of justice
regarding treatment, especially
torture of those accused or crimes
Mary Wollestonecraft
Advocated education for women
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in
which she argues that women are not naturally
inferior to men, but appear to be only because
they lack education. She suggests that both men
and women should be treated as rational beings
and imagines a social order founded on reason.
Mother of Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley,
author of Frankenstein
Denis Diderot
The first Encyclopedia
The work comprised 35 volumes, with
71,818 articles, and 3,129 illustrations.
It presented the achievements of human
learning in a single work. Besides
offering a summary of information on all
theoretical knowledge, it also challenged
the authority of the Catholic Church.
Candide – (1758) most
famous book
“I disapprove of what you
say, but I will defend to the
death your right to say it.”
Promoted Reason and free
speech
Attacked absolute monarchs
Denounced abuses of justice
regarding treatment, especially
torture of those accused or crimes
On the Spirit of the Laws (1748)
“Power should be a check to
power”
A good government should be
divided into 3 branches: executive,
legislature and judiciary – branches
should check the power of one
another
 SEPARATION OF POWERS
The Social Contract
(1762)
“Man is born free, yet
everywhere he is in chains”
King's power comes from
people, not by God. The
government represents the
"general will" of people.
Advocated education for women
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
(1792), in which she argues that women are
not naturally inferior to men, but appear to
be only because they lack education. She
suggests that both men and women should be
treated as rational beings and imagines a
social order founded on reason.
Mother of Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley,
author of Frankenstein