Thinkers
This man came up Capitalism, and thought the government should stay out of much of people's lives
Adam Smith
Who was Nicolaus Copernicus?
Discovered Heliocentrism and disproved Ptolemy's Geocentrism (earth is center of universe)
What aspects of life were affected from the enlightenment?
government, law, politics, women's rights, etc.
What is Philosophy?
the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, mainly in an academic way.
This person was an early fighter for women's rights and thought that since women had reason they were equal to men.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Who was Galileo Galilei?
First person to use telescope and discovered planets were made up of actual material matter...not heavenly bodies.
What are natural rights?
Rights that each person is born with, and should inherently have (life, liberty, property)
What does heliocentric mean?
The sun is the center of the universe, not the earth
This man believed in natural rights, and that people are molded by their environments.
John Locke
What was Francis Bacon's biggest contribution and what is that?
The Scientific method
What are Separation of Powers?
The idea that different parts of government have different powers, and have a system of checks and balances keeping any parts from getting too strong. (like our country's branches of government)
What is the Scientific Method?
A systematic procedure for collecting and analyzing evidence
Developed the idea of Separation of Powers, with different government branches.
Montesquieu
What did Isaac Newton do?
Brought previous ideas together with Universal Law of Gravitation
What is Deism?
A religion built on reason, god created the world but then left it to run its course.
Explains gravity, the force that makes every object in the universe attracted to every other object
This man was a deist, and believed in religious tolerance
Voltaire
What was Rene Descartes' biggest contribution?
Rationalism
What is Laissez-Faire?
"let the people do as they want," government should not interrupt or concern itself with its economy.
What is Rationalism?
Separates the mind from the matter, meaning that we use reason instead of feelings to analyze things