The Scientific Revolution&The Enlightenment
World History: Europe
Background
What did the Renaissance do?
The Renaissance sparked interest and curiosity about manythings, allowing people to start to think for themselves
What did European Exploration do?
New lands, people, and animals opened the idea that therewere new truths to be discovered. New research and newequipment were developed and people looked more carefully atthe world around them
What did the Reformation question?
The Reformation led people to question and challenge theoriginal views of God, the church, and salvation
Background
Scientific Revolution
A new way of thinking about the natural world based uponcareful observation and a willingness to questionsaccepted beliefs
The Enlightenment
A new intellectual movement that stressed reason andthought and the power of individuals to solve problems
This is also known as the Age of Reason
The ScientificRevolution
The Scientific Revolution (1500-1700CE)
The Scientific Revolution was a new way of thinkingabout the natural world
Based on:
Careful observation of nature
A willingness to question widely accepted beliefs
Reason and logic
Result the expansion of scientific knowledge
Geocentric Theory vs.Heliocentric Theory
Geocentric:
Idea came from Aristotle, explained by Ptolemy
God put the Earth at the center of the universe
Heliocentric:
Copernicus studied planetary movements andconcluded that the sun was at the center andplanets/stars revolved around it
Johannes Kepler planets move in elliptical orbitsaround the sun
Galileo Galilei
Astronomer, built his own telescope
Published Starry Messenger his findings supportedCopernicus’ ideas
Published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief WorldSystems his works angered the church
Put on trial by the church in 1633
Under torture, he agreed the ideas of Copernicus werefalse
Spent the rest of his life under house arrest
The Scientific Method
A logical procedure forgathering and testing ideas
Begins with a problem orquestion arising from anobservation
Advanced by Francis Baconand Rene Descartes
Isaac Newton
Came up with the Lawof Universal Gravitation(law of gravity)
Wrote TheMathematicalPrinciples of NaturalPhilosophy one of thegreatest scientificbooks ever written
The Scientific RevolutionSpreads
Scientific Instruments
Microscope (bacteria, blood cells), mercury barometer,thermometer (Fahrenheit and Celsius)
Medicine and the Human Body
On the Structure of the Human Body (human anatomy book),smallpox vaccine
Chemistry
Robert Boyle is considered the founder of modern chemistry
Boyle’s Law explains how volume, temperature, andpressure of gas affect each other
The Scientific RevolutionSpreads
The ideas of reason and order soon spread fromscience to other areas of study
Philosophers and scholars began to rethink long-standing ideas
Focus on rights and liberties of ordinary citizens
This challenged the relationship between governmentand its people, with many results
The Enlightenment
Background
The Enlightenment
A new intellectual movement that stressed reason andthought and the power of individuals to solve problems
A result of the ideas from the Scientific Revolution
Sought new insights on government, religion,economics, and education
The Start of theEnlightenment
Started from some key ideas put forth by twoEnglish political thinkers of the 1600s:
Thomas Hobbes Social Contract
John Locke Natural Rights
Both wrote about government and humannature but each had very differentconclusions!!
Thomas Hobbes –Social Contract
Wrote The Leviathan (1651)
Influenced by the English Civil War
He believed:
All humans were naturally selfish and wicked (acted intheir own self-interest)
Countries needed a ruler with total power to keep thecitizens under control
They needed a social contact an agreement in whichthe people hand over their rights to a strong ruler and inexchange they gain law and order
John Locke – Natural Rights
Wrote Two Treatises on Government
People have the ability to reason and to make gooddecisions if given the proper information
All people are born free with three natural rights life,liberty, and property
Governments should exist to protect these rights
Governments should be formed with the approval (consent)of the people
People, not god, should choose leaders
Philosophes - France
Believed people could apply reason to allaspects of life
Five core beliefs:
1.Reason
2.Nature
3.Happiness
4.Progress
5.Liberty
Voltaire – French Philosophe
French writer – wrote over70 books
Used his writing to fight fortolerance, reason, freedomof religious belief, andfreedom of speech
Believed in the separationof church and state
Baron de Montesquieu –Separation of Powers
French political thinker, wrote The Spirit of Laws
A monarchy with limited power makes a country stableand secure
Developed the idea of “separation of powers”
Government should be divided or spread out amongdifferent branches of government so no one individual orgroup has too much power and as a result threatensliberty
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Wrote The Social Contract
Swiss philosopher
Direct Democracy—where people vote in person tomake all laws—was the way to protect individualfreedom
Government should be a contract between rulers and thepeople
Cesare Beccaria
Wrote On Crimes and Punishments
Felt that many parts of the justice system were unfair:
Torture
Secret trials
Harsh sentences
Corrupt judges
His book called for punishments designed to preservesecurity and order
Mary Wollstonecraft –Women’s Rights
Enlightenment thinkers had many traditional views onwomen – limited education, focus on home life,inequality in marriage, ect.
She wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Women should have an education because it’s the keyto gaining equality
Urged women to enter into male dominated fields suchas medicine and politics
Adam Smith - Economics
Scottish moral philosopher and economist, father of“modern economics”
Most famous work is The Inquiry into the Nature andCauses of the Wealth of Nations
Collection/study of what builds a nation’s wealth
Discusses division of labor, productivity, and freemarkets
Legacy of the Enlightenment
Enlightenment thinkers encouraged reform but werenot active revolutionaries
However, their ideas inspired future revolutions
Three Long-Term Effects on Western Civilization
1.Belief in Progress
2.A More Secular Outlook
3.Importance of the Individual
Effects on Society
Religion
Political Theory
Economic Theory
Education
Psychological Theory
Gender Theory
An Important Note As WeMove Forward!
Most Enlightened thinkers opposed democracy
Supported some level of autocratic rule but…
The benefits were supposed to be for the people
NOT for personal power but for the welfare of the people
THIS DID NOT ALWAYS WORK AS IT SHOULD!
An Important Note As WeMove Forward!
When “enlightened rulers” didn’t take care of thepeople…enlightened thinkers realized there had to be away to create change
The concept of revolution was validated as alegitimate means to produce social and political change