Final - Week 11 - The Scientific Revolution and Enlightment Flashcards
Geocentric :
placing Earth at the center of the universe
Heliocentric perspective:
(sun-centered) placing the Sun at the center of the universe
Nicolaus Copernicus:
Copernicus believed in a heliocentric, or sun-centered,
model of the universe. He believed that the Sun, not Earth, was at the center of the universe. The planets, including Earth, revolved around the Sun.
Johannes Kepler:
used detailed astronomical data to create laws of planetary motion. His observations confirmed that the Sun was at the center of the universe. He also discovered that the orbits of the planets around the Sun were not circular, as Copernicus had thought. Instead, the
orbits were elliptical (egg-shaped).
Galileo Galilei:
was the first European to make regular observations of the heavens with a telescope. He discovered mountains on the Moon, four moons revolving around Jupiter, and sunspots. His observations indicated that heavenly bodies were not pure orbs of light, but were composed of material substance like Earth. After Galileo published his discoveries in The Starry Messenger in 1610, the Catholic Church ordered him to abandon the Copernican system. The new system threatened the Church’s view of the universe and seemed to contradict the Bible. In spite of the Church’s position, by the 1630s and 1640s, most astronomers had come to accept the heliocentric model. However, the problem of explaining motion in the universe had not been solved.
Rene Descartes:
The Scientific Revolution strongly influenced the Western view of man. This is especially evident in the work of the seventeenth-century French philosopher René Descartes. The starting point for Descartes was doubt. In his most famous work, Discourse on Method, Descartes decided to set aside everything that he had learned and to begin again. One fact seemed to him to be beyond doubt—his own existence. From his first principle—“I think, therefore I am”—Descartes used his reason to arrive at a second principle, the separation of mind and matter. He argued that because “the mind cannot be doubted but the body and material world can, the two must be radically different.” Descartes’s idea that mind and matter were completely separate allowed scientists to view matter as something that was totally detached from themselves and that could be investigated by reason. Descartes has been called the father of modern rationalism. This system of thought is based on the belief that reason is the chief source of knowledge.
Isaac Newton:
is considered the greatest genius of the Scientific Revolution. His major work, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, is also known as Principia (the first word of its Latin title). In the Principia, Newton defined the three laws of motion that govern both the planetary bodies and objects on Earth. The universal law of gravitation explains why the planetary bodies do not go off in straight lines but continue in elliptical orbits around the Sun. The law states that every object in the universe is attracted to every other object by a force called gravity. Newton’s laws created a new picture of the universe. It was now seen as a huge machine that worked according to natural laws.
Enlightenment:
was an eighteenth-century philosophical movement of intellectuals who were impressed with the achievements of the Scientific Revolution. They hoped that by using the scientific method, they could make progress toward a better society. Words such as reason, natural law, hope, and progress were common words to the thinkers of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was especially influenced by the ideas of Isaac Newton and John Locke. To Newton, the physical world and everything in it was a giant machine. Because Newton had discovered natural laws that governed the physical world, the intellectuals of the Enlightenment thought they could discover the natural laws that governed human society.
Thomas Hobbes:
Thomas Hobbes wrote a political work called Leviathan. It was published in 1651. Hobbes was alarmed by the revolutionary upheavals in England. His work tried to deal with the problem of disorder. He believed that humans were guided not by reason and moral ideals, but by a ruthless struggle for self-preservation. He believed that people made a social contract and agreed to form a state to save themselves from destroying one another. Hobbes called the state “that great Leviathan to which we owe our peace and defense.” People in the state agreed to be governed by an absolute ruler who possessed unlimited power. Hobbes believed that absolute power was necessary to preserve order in society.
John Locke:
John Locke wrote a political work in 1690 called Two Treatises of Government. Locke did not believe in the absolute rule of one person. He believed that before society was organized, humans lived in a state of equality and freedom, not a state of war. He believed that humans had certain natural rights (rights with which they were born). These included rights to life, liberty, and property. He believed that people agreed to establish a government to ensure the protection of their rights. The contract between people and government involved mutual obligations. Government would protect the rights of people, and people would act reasonably toward government. If a government broke the contract, people could form a new government. Locke’s ideas can be found in the American Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Baron de Montesquieu:
Montesquieu’s most famous work, The Spirit of the Laws, was published in 1748. This work was a study of governments. Montesquieu tried to use the scientific method to find the natural laws that govern the social and political relationships of human beings. He identified three basic kinds of governments: republics, despotism, and monarchies. In his study of the English monarchy, he identified three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The government functioned through a separation of powers. In this separation, the three branches limit and control each other in a system of checks and balances. By preventing any one person or group from gaining too much power, this system provides the greatest freedom and security for the state. Montesquieu’s work was translated into English and influenced the U.S. Constitution.
Voltaire:
The greatest figure of the Enlightenment was François-Marie Arouet, known simply as Voltaire. He wrote many pamphlets, novels, plays, letters, essays, and histories, which brought him both fame and wealth. He was especially well known for his criticism of Christianity and his strong belief in religious tolerance. He believed in deism, an eighteen-century religious philosophy based on reason and natural law. Deism was built on the idea of the Newtonian worldmachine. In the Deists’ view, a mechanic (God) had created the universe. The universe was like a clock. God had created it, set it in motion, and allowed it to run without his interference, according to its own natural laws.
Denis Diderot:
Denis Diderot was a writer who studied and read in many subjects and languages. His most famous contribution to the Enlightenment was his Encyclopedia. This was a 28-volume collection of knowledge that he edited. The purpose of the Encyclopedia was to “change the general way of thinking.” Many of its articles attacked religious superstition and supported religious toleration. Other articles called for social, legal, and political improvements that could lead to a more tolerant and humane society. The Encyclopedia was sold to doctors, clergymen, teachers, and lawyers, and helped to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: :
By the late 1760s, there was a new generation of philosophes. The most famous was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind, Rousseau argued that people had adopted laws and government in order to protect their property. In the process, they had become enslaved by government. In another work, The Social Contract, Rousseau explained his concept of the social contract.
Mary Wollstonecraft:
Mary Wollstonecraft is often viewed as the founder of the movement for women’s rights. In her book, AVindication of the Rights of Women, Wollstonecraft identified two problems with the views of many Enlightenment thinkers. She argued that if government based on the arbitrary power of monarchs was wrong, the power of men over women was equally wrong. She also argued that the Enlightenment was based on the idea of reason in all human beings. Because women have reason, they are entitled to the same rights as men.
