Scientific Revolution
This theory said Earth was the center of the universe.
Geocentric theory
This period encouraged people to use reason and logic to understand the world.
The Enlightenment
This English thinker believed people were naturally selfish.
Thomas Hobbes
This system gave monarchs total control over their countries.
Absolutism
This invention helped spread new ideas by making reading more accessible.
Printing press
This theory said Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun.
Heliocentric theory
Enlightenment scholars were also known by this name, meaning thinkers who wanted to improve society.
Philosophers
This English thinker believed government should protect life, liberty, and property.
John Locke
This idea claimed that God had chosen a monarch to rule.
Divine Right
This scientist used an early telescope to support the heliocentric theory.
Galileo Galilei
This scientist proposed the heliocentric theory.
Nicolaus Copernicus
This French thinker advocated for freedom of speech and religious freedom.
Voltaire
This Swiss thinker developed the idea of the social contract.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This French thinker believed government powers should be divided into three branches.
Baron de Montesquieu
This invention allowed scientists to see very small objects, while another allowed them to study distant objects.
Microscope and telescope
This scientist developed ideas about gravity and created three laws of motion.
Isaac Newton
This English woman argued that women should have greater equality and educational opportunities.
Mary Wollstonecraft
This thinker believed people needed a strong government because without it society would become chaotic.
Thomas Hobbes
According to Montesquieu, these three branches of government should check one another.
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
Explain how the Scientific Revolution helped Enlightenment thinkers begin questioning traditional authority.
The Scientific Revolution encouraged people to question traditional authorities and beliefs; their findings during this era proved that the monarchy and the church were wrong.
Explain how the Scientific Revolution changed the way Europeans studied the natural world.
It encouraged people to question traditional beliefs and use observation, experimentation, and the scientific method to study the natural world.
Explain why the Enlightenment challenged the traditional power of kings and queens.
Enlightenment thinkers used reason and logic to question absolutism and the idea that monarchs had an unquestionable right to rule.
Compare Hobbes and Locke: How did their beliefs about human nature lead them to different ideas about government?
Hobbes believed people were naturally selfish and needed strong government to maintain order; Locke believed people were born good and that government should protect their natural rights.
Explain how Locke's ideas about natural rights could be used to challenge an absolute monarch.
Locke argued that people have natural rights—life, liberty, and property—and government exists to protect those rights.
A government gives one ruler complete power. Drawing on Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu, explain which thinker would be most likely to oppose this system and why.
Montesquieu would oppose concentrating power in a single ruler because he believed that government power should be divided among branches, with checks and balances.