Science and the Enlightenment
What three key values defined the Enlightenment?
Reason, Optimism, and Individual Rights
Who was Voltaire, and what did he represent in the Enlightenment?
A writer, deist, and advocate of reason and tolerance, who popularized Enlightenment ideas and critiqued dogma.
What economic and demographic changes defined European urbanization (1500–1800)?
Population growth, rise of mercantile cities like Venice and Amsterdam, and expansion of trade and industry.
What does “courageous use of reason” mean in the Enlightenment context?
Having the intellectual bravery to think for oneself and challenge inherited authority.
What long-term Enlightenment influence helped spark the French Revolution?
Belief in reason, equality, and individual liberty challenging divine-right monarchy.
What is methodological skepticism, and which thinker used it?
The practice of doubting uncertain ideas to find true knowledge, used by René Descartes.
What philosophical idea did Voltaire mock in Candide?
Leibniz’s optimism—the belief that this is “the best of all possible worlds.”
What was the significance of the Dutch Golden Age in shaping modern culture?
It fostered religious tolerance, economic prosperity, and a flourishing of art and science supported by a merchant class.
According to Enlightenment thought, what is the foundation of human rights?
Natural law and reason, which grant all humans inherent dignity and equality.
What was the purpose of the Tennis Court Oath?
The Third Estate swore not to disband until they created a new French constitution.
How did the Enlightenment’s “mechanical worldview” transform how people understood nature?
Nature was viewed as a machine governed by physical laws, not divine will, inspiring scientific and industrial progress
How did the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 influence Candide?
It showed that blind optimism ignored human suffering, inspiring Voltaire’s satire on faith in reason and progress.
What does Descartes’ phrase “Cogito ergo sum” reveal about the “modern self”?
It defines identity through rational thought and self-awareness rather than divine order or social role.
How did Enlightenment thinkers redefine the role of faith and religion?
They shifted from faith-based explanations to rational inquiry, seeing God as a deistic designer, not an intervening ruler.
What event on July 14, 1789 symbolized the Revolution’s outbreak?
The Storming of the Bastille, marking the people’s revolt against royal authority.
What did Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica demonstrate about the universe?
That the universe operates by predictable mathematical laws of motion and gravity—proof of an orderly cosmos
What is the purpose of satire in Enlightenment literature?
To expose flaws in human reason, authority, and hypocrisy through humor, exaggeration, and irony.
How did Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson embody Enlightenment modernity?
It represented the empirical mindset—“to see for myself”—linking science, observation, and self-reflection.
How did Mary Wollstonecraft argue for women’s equality?
By insisting that education and virtue, not beauty or submission, should define women’s worth.
What did the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen assert?
That liberty, equality, and fraternity are universal rights rooted in Enlightenment reason.
How did empiricism and rationalism both influence Enlightenment science?
Empiricism emphasized observation and experiment; rationalism emphasized reason and innate logic—together forming modern scientific method.
How does Candide illustrate the Enlightenment’s “ascendency of reason” and its dangers?
It shows that while reason can critique superstition, rationalism without empathy can lead to arrogance and moral blindness.
What are the four defining traits of the “modern self”?
Inwardly focused, self-aware, self-determining, and expressive, showing autonomy over inherited belief.
What Enlightenment debates did thinkers like Paley, Hume, and Wesley represent?
The tension between faith and reason—Paley defended natural theology, Hume questioned it, and Wesley sought balance between the two.
How did the Revolution embody both the triumph and tragedy of Enlightenment ideals?
It used reason to demand justice, but reason without restraint led to violence and the Reign of Terror.