people
Martin Luther
German monk who challenged the Catholic Church’s practices (notably indulgences), sparking the Protestant Reformation with his 95 Theses (1517).
Voltaire
French Enlightenment writer; championed freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and criticized tyranny.
Divine Providence
Belief that God governs the world with purpose and care. Enlightenment thinkers often debated or reinterpreted this idea.
The Leviathan
Hobbes’s work defending absolute authority to prevent chaos, based on his view of the state of nature as "nasty, brutish, and short."
Thomas hobbs
English philosopher; argued humans are naturally selfish and violent; advocated for strong monarchy in The Leviathan(1651).
Deduction
Reasoning from general principles to specific conclusions (e.g., mathematics, Descartes).
Skeptic
Someone who doubts accepted knowledge or authority; skeptics fueled scientific inquiry and philosophical questioning.
Voltaire
French Enlightenment writer; championed freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and criticized tyranny.
John Locke
English philosopher; argued for natural rights (life, liberty, property) and limited government; influential in liberalism and democracy.
induction
Reasoning from specific observations to broader generalizations or laws (e.g., scientific experimentation, Francis Bacon).
Liberalism
Political philosophy emphasizing individual rights, freedom, equality, and limited government
Printing Press
Invented by Johannes Gutenberg (mid-15th c.); enabled rapid spread of Reformation and Enlightenment ideas through pamphlets, books, and newspapers.
Denis Diderot
French philosopher; chief editor of the Encyclopédie, which spread Enlightenment knowledge across Europe.
State of Nature
A philosophical idea of human life before government; used by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau to justify political systems.
Indulgence
A pardon sold by the Catholic Church that supposedly reduced punishment for sins; Luther opposed this as corrupt.
René Descartes
French philosopher/mathematician, father of modern philosophy; emphasized deduction, reason, and doubt
Social Contract
Agreement between individuals and government (or among people themselves) on how society should be organized and governed.
Protestant Reformation
Religious movement that split Western Christianity into Catholic and Protestant branches, emphasizing faith, scripture, and personal conscience over Church authority.