Philosophers
Discussed the benefits of separation of powers in a government.
Montesquieu
Person responsible for the social contract theory.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
First to propose that the sun was the center of the universe.
Nicolaus Copernicus
Model of the universe that places the Earth at the center.
Ptolemaic System
The search for a process to create gold out of less valuable metals. Also a search for the "elixir of life."
Alchemy
Wrote a book called Common Sense.
Thomas Paine
First astronomer to find mountains on the moon and spots on the sun.
Reason, not experiences, are the basis of knowledge.
Rationalism
Believed that the only reason women appear to be less than men is due to a lack of education.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Claimed that humans are naturally in conflict. We create societies to create peace.
Thomas Hobbes
British empiricist. Believed that ethics are based on emotion, not moral principles.
David Hume
Presents the Universal Law of Gravity.
Isaac Newton
Experiences and what a person can observe are the basis of knowledge.
Empiricism
Key to unlocking more scientific discoveries in the Scientific Revolution.
Mathematics
French philosopher who saw the world in materialist terms. Especially interested in the life sciences and how they impact traditional ideas.
Denis Diderot
"I think, therefore I am."
Rene Descartes
Creates a model of the universe with the Earth at the center. Lived around 100 A.D.
Ptolemy
Concept that a society agrees to be governed by the general will because it is what is best for everyone in the society.
Social Contract
Scientist that performed experiments on liquids under pressure.
Blaise Pascal
French philosopher that took on the Catholic Church. Helps popularize the ideas of Deism.
Voltaire
Laid out the basic principles of capitalism. Argued against the ideas of mercantilism.
Adam Smith
Uses mathematics to propose that the planets move in an elliptical pattern around the sun.
Johannes Kepler
Belief that there is a supreme being, but that supreme being does not interact with humans.
Deism
Ancient Greek that lived in Sicily whose studies in simple machines inspired scientists in the Scientific Revolution.
Archimedes