Shiny Bright
1637 AD - 1789 AD (Death of Louis XIV to the Outbreak of the French Revolution). An era where individual rights, Reason, and science were emphasized over tradition and authority.
The Enlightenment
1596 - 1650 AD. A French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher, famous for the words “Cogito, Ergo Sum.” Laid the foundation for Rationalism, invented Cartesian Coordinate Geometry, and served in the Dutch Army during the 30 Years War.
Renes Descarte
1571 - 1630 AD. A German astronomer, mathematician, and natural philosopher. Developed the laws of planetary motion, describing the orbits of planets around the Sun.
Johannes Kepler
1694 - 1778 AD. A French philosopher, historian, satirist, and writer. Best known for his criticism of Christianity, slavery, absolutism, and for his advocacy of free speech and the separation of Church and State.
Voltaire
The Scientific Theory that the Sun is the center of the Universe (later amended to the Solar System)
Heliocentrism
1588 - 1679 AD. An English philosopher. Best known for writing Leviathan and Social Contract Theory. Advocated for strong centralized government to provide safety and security for its people.
Thomas Hobbes
1561 - 1626 AD. An English mathematician, philosopher, and statesman, famous for the words “Tabula Rasa”. Considered the father of Empiricism and laid the foundation for the Scientific Method.
Francis Bacon
1473 - 1543 AD. A Polish born German astronomer and mathematician. Created the theory of Heliocentrism in an attempt to simplify the formulas regarding the orbits of heavenly bodies.
Nicholas Copernicus
1723 - 1790 AD. A Scottish economist and philosopher. Known as the father of Capitalism from his book A Wealth of Nations.
Adam Smith
The Scientific Theory that the Earth is the center of the Universe
Geocentrism
1632 - 1704 AD. An English philosopher. Considered the father of Liberalism. Advocated for Natural Rights (Life, Liberty, Property), and that governments were meant to protect them.
John Locke
A form of monarchy in which the sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by constitutions, legislatures or other checks on their authority.
Absolute Monarchy
A form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. They are bound to exercise powers and authorities within limits prescribed by an established legal framework.
Constitutional Monarchy
Describes the way of life that existed before humans organized themselves into societies or civilizations.
The State of Nature
1564 - 1642 AD. An Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer. Invented the telescope and discovered the moons of Jupiter. Studied gravity, speed, and velocity, laying the foundation for Newton. Championed Heliocentrism, and was arrested for it.
Galileo Galilei
Describe the book Optics
Published in English in 1704 by Isaac Newton.
The treatise analyzes the fundamental nature of light by refraction with prisms and lenses
The diffraction of light,
The behavior of color mixtures with spectral lights.
Describe Rationalism
The position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge, instead of through faith, tradition, or sensory experience. Defined also as a methodology in which truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive
Also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange. The Revolution confirmed the primacy of Parliament over the Crown in both England and Scotland.
The Glorious Revolution
Louis XIV ‘The Sun King’
King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. Known for his wars of expansion, extravagant spending, and defining role as an Absolute Monarch.
Name 3 things that Isaac Newton is famous for
Invented calculus
Discovered the formula for gravity
The Laws of Motion
Proved Heliocentrism
The Theory of Color
Describe Social Contracts
The philosophy that individuals have consented to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority (of the ruler, or to the decision of a majority) in exchange for protection of their remaining rights or maintenance of the social order.
Published in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes,the work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government. It is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of Social Contract Theory. Written during the English Civil War (1642–1651), it argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign, arguing that all social disorder could be avoided only by a strong, undivided government.
Leviathan
King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. Tried to build Sweden into a great European power by conquering eastern and central Europe, was eventually defeated by Peter the Great and forced into exile in the Ottoman Empire. Returned to find Denmark invading Norway, and was killed in battle.
Charles XII of Sweden
1700–1721, a war between a coalition led by Peter the Great of the Tsardom of Russia against Charles XII of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Resulted in the defeat of Sweden and the rise of Russia as a great European power.
The Great Northern War
Describe Natural Rights
Rights that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government, and so are universal, fundamental and inalienable (they cannot be repealed by human laws).
Describe the English Bill of Rights 1689
An act of Parliament in 1689 that set out certain basic civil rights.The Bill set out a constitutional requirement for the Crown to seek the consent of the people as represented in Parliament, set limits on the powers of the monarch, and established the rights of Parliament. It also listed individual rights, such as no cruel and unusual punishment and the right not to pay taxes levied without the approval of Parliament.
The First attacks absolute monarchy, while the Second outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on Natural Rights and Social Contract Theory. The book is a key foundational text in the theory of liberalism.
Two Treatises of Government
Who were Mary and William Stewart d’Orange ?
The Dutch/German monarchs that replaced James II/VII (England/Scotland) as the King and Queen of England. Gave their assent to the English Bill of Rights and confirmed England’s Constitution.
The first “Emperor” of Russia (Imperator, not Tsar), 1682-1725. Led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernized, and based on radical Enlightenment.
Peter the Great
English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Calvinist.
Puritans