People & Beliefs
This was the Catholic Church’s model before the Scientific Revolution: the Earth at the center and everything else moving in perfect circles.
Geocentric model: Earth at center; sun, moon, and planets orbit Earth in perfect circles.
The large reference work compiled in the Enlightenment that spread ideas and got its editor in trouble (and briefly jailed).
Diderot’s Encyclopedia
After the Scientific Revolution, people increasingly thought nature behaved like a __________
Machine-like (orderly).
What were Enlightenment thinkers often called?
Philosophes
The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment ideas most often benefited which social group?
Wealthy, well-off (typically white males).
The scientist who insisted the Sun, not the Earth, was at the center and was later tried for heresy.
Galileo Galilei
The political document quoted: “We hold these truths to be self-evident...” — name the document.
Declaration of Independence.
Name one major change in common ideas about the world that resulted from the Scientific Revolution
The world was no longer assumed to be centered on Earth and made of only four elements; people began to question traditional authorities and old explanations.
Many Enlightenment thinkers supported free trade. What is free trade?
Free trade: trade between countries without heavy taxes, tariffs, or government restrictions.
Give one example of an idea that spread from Enlightenment thought that affected government.
Representative government / consent of the governed / freedom of speech and press.
This belief about how human life changes over generations existed before the Scientific Revolution: life would most likely __________
Life might get better or worse, without a consistent expectation of improvement.
Which 18th-century publication helped spread ideas about representative government, freedom of speech, and the consent of the governed? (name the work or describe its effect)
Diderot’s Encyclopedia spread Enlightenment ideas about representative government, freedom of speech, and consent of the governed.
Scientific discoveries of the time were largely limited to a small class of people; name that class.
It was limited to wealthy, well-educated (typically white) males because of social barriers to education and participation.
Why was Diderot’s Encyclopedia controversial? Give one main reason.
It challenged Church and royal authority by spreading Enlightenment ideas that encouraged reason and questioning of established power.
Explain how Enlightenment ideas could both promote liberty and still support systems like colonialism or slavery.
Enlightenment thinkers promoted liberty and reason, which supported limits on absolute monarchy and freer governments. At the same time, many of the same thinkers held biased views about non-Europeans, women, and the poor, so their ideas could be used to argue for political rights for some groups while justifying domination of others.
Many Enlightenment thinkers (philosophes) described their role as bringing what to a world of superstition and abuse of power?
The “light of reason.”
Match the idea: “Separation of powers among branches of government” — which Enlightenment thinker’s ideas most directly inspired this principle?
Baron de Montesquieu (separation of powers).
How did the Scientific Revolution change the relationship between observation/experiment and previous authorities (like ancient texts or the Church).
The Scientific Revolution emphasized observation and experiment over simply accepting ancient texts or the Church's explanations; knowledge gained through testing replaced unquestioned authority.
Many Enlightenment thinkers had limited views about who deserved full political rights. Name two groups they often considered less entitled.
Women and people from colonies/conquered territories, people of color (also working people and children).
The U.S. Constitution excerpt mentions three separate powers (or branches of government). List those three powers.
Legislative, Executive, Judicial.
Explain briefly how some scientific attempts to classify humans during and after the Scientific Revolution were used politically.
Scientists’ classifications of humans by skin color were used to justify slavery and colonialism and to claim some groups were inferior; such “scientific” categories reinforced racial hierarchies.
Identify the approximate time period of the Enlightenment and name who typically “drove” the movement
Late 17th to late 18th centuries; led by thinkers, writers, artists, political leaders, and “ordinary” people (typically well-off white men among them).
Describe one way the Scientific Revolution contributed to harmful social hierarchies.
Attempts to classify humans by race (skin color) were used to justify slavery and colonialism and to rationalize unequal treatment.
Who were the “rebels” pushing the Enlightenment to become more radical, according to the assessment?
A multinational, multiracial working class meeting in port cities and ships across the Atlantic.
How did economics (like support for free trade) link to Enlightenment political ideas?
Free trade fit with Enlightenment ideas valuing individual choice, economic freedom, and less government interference. Supporting free trade often favored merchants and the wealthy who benefited from international markets, connecting economic liberalism with political ideas about limiting government control.