Scientific Revolution
This invention by Gutenberg in the 1400s helped spread new scientific and Enlightenment ideas.
What is the Printing Press?
He discovered the laws of motion and gravity.
Who is Isaac Newton?
Montesquieu contributed to Enlightenment political thought by advocating this system to prevent tyranny in government.
What is the separation of powers?
This philosopher argued for natural rights: life, liberty, and property.
Who is John Locke?
This 17th-century intellectual movement emphasized reason, observation, and the scientific method, laying the groundwork for Enlightenment thinking.
What is the Scientific Revolution?
The revival of what kind of learning (hint: based on Greek and Roman texts) encouraged Europeans to question established knowledge?
What is classical or humanist learning?
Provided observational evidence for heliocentrism with his telescope, discovering Jupiter’s moons, phases of Venus, sunspots, and the moon’s surface features.
Who is Galileo?
This Scottish economist and philosopher argued in The Wealth of Nations that free markets, rather than government control, lead to economic progress.
Who is Adam Smith?
He believed in separation of powers: executive, legislative, judicial.
Who is Montesquieu?
This 1762 work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that governments should exist based on the collective will of the people, balancing individual freedom with the common good.
What is The Social Contract?
Northern European countries became centers of scientific research in part because they were less constrained by this institution than southern countries.
What is the Church / Catholic Church authority?
He proposed a heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the universe.
Who is Copernicus?
This astronomer carefully recorded the positions of stars and planets, providing the data that Kepler used to develop his laws of planetary motion.
Who is Tycho Brahe?
He fought for freedom of speech and religion.
Who is Voltaire?
The Enlightenment’s belief that people could solve problems by reasoning rather than tradition or religious authority is summarized by this term.
What is the use of reason or rational inquiry?
The combination of experimental observation and mathematical deduction, promoted by thinkers like Bacon and Descartes, arose from dissatisfaction with reliance on these sources.
What are traditional authorities / ancient writers / Church doctrine?
Advocated deductive reasoning and logical principles; emphasized that mathematics could explain nature; famous for “I think, therefore I am."
Who is Rene Descartes?
The idea that knowledge should be derived from experience and observation, rather than tradition or faith, is called this.
What is empiricism?
He believed people are naturally cruel and selfish and need a strong ruler.
Who is Thomas Hobbes?
This Enlightenment principle focused on the rights of the individual and the belief that humans could shape their own societies.
What are individual rights or personal freedom?
Countries like England, the Dutch Republic, and France were economically ahead and receptive to science. This long-term process made religion more a matter of private conscience.
What is secularization?
Developed the geocentric model of the universe (Earth-centered), using circular orbits and epicycles to explain planetary motion.
Who is Ptolemy?
He formulated three laws of planetary motion, showing that planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun.
Who is Johannes Kepler?
He wrote The Social Contract and believed in the general will of the people.
Who is Jean-Jacques Rousseau?
The Enlightenment’s challenge to this type of authority helped reduce the power of kings and religious institutions in favor of reason and progress.
What is traditional or absolute power?