Name That Thinker, Part 1
The plague kept him home from his school
But this Cambridge grad was no fool:
When an apple fell down
And bumped on his crown,
He came up with the gravity rule!
Who is Isaac Newton?
Descartes suggested you could do this to everything except your own existence
What is doubt?
People's ability to question, analyze, and reach conclusions
What is reason?
On politics he would write much
Under a false name he took which was Dutch;
He said rights were great,
That minds were a blank slate,
And that all that we learn is through touch.
Who is John Locke?
John Locke argued all humans had these at birth, including life, liberty and property
What are natural rights?
In nature is brutish and short.
He then would condone
An all-powerful throne
Unrestricted by Parliament's court.
Who is Thomas Hobbes?
What are the Laws of Motion?
Someone who takes a negative perspective; the opposite of an optimist
What is a pessimist?
His main points are borrowed from Locke,
But that's surely no reason to mock
This American mind
Whose writings defined
Declarations as much more than talk.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
What is tabula rasa?
A Frenchman in wintery gloom
Sat alone in a nice quiet room
Doubting all that he saw,
Except one single law:
I cogito, ergo I sum!
Who is René Descartes?
Hobbes argued that humans are this way by nature
What is selfish?
What is a pseudonym?
The Letters aren't Persian, of course;
For his goal they could have been Norse!
But through this disguise
The baron criticized
How France could fall from bad into worse.
Who is Montesquieu?
Montesquieu argued that this keeps government from gaining too much control
What is the separation of powers?
"Men aren't angels", this thinker would write,
"And therefore they will sometimes fight;
"To prevent all-out war,
"We need systems--what's more,
"We need government to keep ourselves right!"
Who is James Madison?
This field of mathematics focuses on the study of change
What is calculus?
A representative
What is a delegate?
Young François Marie Arouet
Had a great many things he could say
About monarchs and laws
And all of their flaws,
So to prison they sent him away.
Who is Voltaire?
According to Locke and later thinkers like Jefferson, governments derive their power from this agreement
What is the consent of the governed? (Alt: What is the social contract?)
This Scottish economist's thoughts
On things that are sold and then bought
Would define industry
Up to our century:
You might say we owe him a lot!
Who is Adam Smith?
Descartes is considered the father of the modern era of this discipline
What is philosophy?
Members of a religious body, such as priests, bishops, and deacons in the Catholic Church
What are clergy?
A blunt philosophical Scot
Had a rather unsettling thought:
There is no causality,
Nor any morality--
You can't use an "is" for an "ought"!
Who is David Hume?
The idea that humans learn through their experiences and their senses, rather than being born with innate ideas
What is empiricism?