Unit 4 Scientific, Philosophical, and Political Developments Flashcards
Enlightenment
European intellectual movement in the 18th century that applied new methods of rational thinking and the scientific method to social and human institutions
Aristotle
Believed Earth was at the center of the universe (geocentric model of the universe)
Causes of the Scientific Revolution
I. Universities
II. Renessaince
III. Printing Press
Nicolaus Copernicus
Put forth the heliocentric model of the universe (the sun was at the enter and the planets revolved around it)
Johannes Kepler
I. Planets orbit the sun not in perfect circles but rather in ellipses
II. Planets move faster when closer to the sun and slower when farther away
III. Time a planet takes to orbit the sun is exactly related to its distance from the sun
Isaac Newton
Law of Universal Gravitation; Gravity is what kept all the planets revolving in relation to one another
Galen
Humoral Theory; Body was composed of four substances: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm
Paracelsus
Believed chemical imbalances caused disease
William Harvey
Discovered that the circulatory system was an integrated whole
Empiricism
The pursuit of knowledge through inductive reason
Philosophe
French word for philosophers
The Spirit of Laws
In this book, Montesquieu argued that separating power into multiple branches of government so that each branch could check the other was the only way to avoid tyranny and encourage equality
Voltaire
Criticism of the social and religious institutions of France
Denis Diderot
Responsible for cataloging the new Enlightenment worldview in the Encyclopedia
Salon
Private meetings held in opulent houses where the intellegencia openly discussed and debated new ideas
Coffeehouses
Where the general public could discuss ideas of the day
Second Treatise on Civil Gov.
Written by John Locke; Expressed that people were born with rights to life, liberty, and property, and those rights were granted by the creator
The Social Contract
Book by Rousseau; He argued that the power to govern was in the hands of the people
The Wealth of Nations
Book by Adam Smith; Attacked the mercantilist policies of European nations and argued that people should make economic decisions based on the law of supply and demand
Physiocrats
French economic thinkers
Robert Jacques Turgot
Advocated for laissez faire economics in France and argued that the gov. should have a minimal role in economics
Deism
There is a God, but that God is uninvolved in human affairs (like a clockmaker who put all the gears of the universe together, wound it up, and let it tick away)
Skepticism
David Hume - Since God or the creation of the universe cannot be interpreted through the senses, then they’re not legitimate articles of knowledge
Atheism
The belief that no God exists
Pietism
Led by Nicolas Von Zizendorf and taught that true religious experience was not just about belonging to a church but rather, was bound up in the mystical personal religion experience
Baron de Montesquieu
Father of separation of powers and checks and balances
Michel de Montaigne
Adopted a practice of profound introspection
Jean Bodin
Developed a theory of absolute sovereignty; He argued that the state’s paramount duty is to maintain order
Thomas Hobbes
In Leviathan, he argued that any form of gov. might act as an all-powerful sovereign
Cartisians
Followers of Descartes
Nature
State of being untouched by human agency
Inductive Reasoning
Amassing evidence from many discrete observations to draw general conclusions (Bacon)
Deductive Reasoning
Proceeding logically from one known certainty to another (Descartes)
Baconian
Bacon followers
