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Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment

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Medieval View of Science

  • Bible decided what was true or false
    • Few challenged this
  • Geocentric Theory→ Earth was immovable and at the center of the universe
    • Idea came from Aristotle

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Scientific Revolution

  • Scholars publishing works that challenge the ideas of ancient thinkers and the church
  • New way of thinking about the natural world
  • Based on careful observation and willingness to question accepted beliefs

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Climate for Challenge

  • Explorers traveling to unknown lands
  • Invention of printing press spreads challenging ideas
  • Fueled scientific research
  • Limit of classical world’s knowledge was discovered

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Heliocentrism

  • Copernicus’s theory
    • Sun is center of universe, everything revolves around it
  • Scholars and clergy reject idea because it contradicts religious beliefs

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Galileo

  • Built on Copernicus’s ideas
  • Noted imperfections in the galaxy
    • Shattered Aristotle’s theory that moon and stars were perfect and pure
  • Conflict occurred between him and the Church because his findings went against Church teachings
    • Church warned him
    • He refused to relent, went on trial
    • Signed a forced confession
    • Lived rest of life in exile and under house arrest

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Scientific Method

  • Logical procedure for gathering and testing ideas

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Bacon and Descartes

  • Bacon believed practicality improved people’s lives
    • Believed medieval scholars for relying too heavily on conclusions on ancient thinkers
  • Descartes believed everything should be doubted until proven by reason

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Isaac Newton

  • Most important scientific writer of all time
  • Law of Gravitation linked motion in the heavens with motion on earth
  • Believed God was creator of universe and set everything into motion

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Enlightenment

  • People are reevaluating old notions about more than just science
  • A new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of the individual to solve problems
  • Also known as “The Age of Reason”

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Hobbes’s Social Contract

  • In order to escape a bleak life, you have to hand over your rights to a strong ruler
  • Social contract:
    • Ruler needs total control
    • People act in their own self-interest
    • Government is absolute monarchy
    • Can impose order and demand obedience

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John Locke

  • Positive view of human nature
  • People could learn from experience and improve themselves
  • Natural ability to govern their own affairs and look after welfare of society
  • Criticized absolute monarchy
  • Purpose of government is to protect life, liberty, and property
  • Government from the consent of the people

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Philosophes

  • Paris, France was the center of movement
  • Philosophes→ people can apply reason to all aspects of life
    • Reason: truth is discovered through it
    • Nature: good and reasonable
    • Happiness: seek well-being on earth, not in afterlife
    • Progress: humankind can improve
    • Liberty: people have basic human rights

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Voltaire

  • Fought for tolerance, reason, freedom of religious beliefs, and freedom of speech
  • Ideas made him an enemy of the French court; he was exiled twice
  • “I do not agree with a word you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

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Montesquieu

  • Devoted to idea of political liberty
  • Believed in separation of powers and different branches in government
  • “Power, should be to check power.”

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Rousseau

  • Committed to idea of individual freedom
  • The only good government is one that is free formed by the people and guided by the will of society
  • All people are equal and titles of nobility should not exist
  • “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”

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Beccaria

  • Laws existed to preserve social order, not to avenge criminals
  • Didn’t believe in torture
  • The punishment should fit the crime
  • Governments should seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people

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Mary Wollstonecraft

  • Women need education to be virtuous and useful
  • Urged women to enter male-dominated fields of medicine and politics

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Legacy of the Enlightenment

  • Challenged long-held ideas about society
  • Encouraged reform, but not revolutionaries
  • Inspired American and French Revolutions
  • Belief in progress
  • A more secular outlook
  • Importance of the individual

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Magnet summary

  • The Green Bay Packers are a team in the NFC bracket of the NFL and are the best team in the league. Their quarterback and leader of the team is Aaron Rogers. Mike McCarthy is the coach of this phenomenal team. Clay Matthews is the most popular player and the leader on defense. The Packers won the Superbowl this year for the first time since they were champions in 1997.

Green Bay Packers

Aaron Rogers

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Mike McCarthy

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Clay Matthews

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Superbowl Champions

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Classwork

  • Create TWO magnet summaries about the Scientific Revolution or the Enlightenment.
  • SR→ Must define or describe all phrases
    • Geocentric Theory
    • Heliocentric Theory
    • Galileo Galilei
    • Scientific Method
    • Isaac Newton
    • Old Science vs. New Science
  • Enlightenment→ Must define or describe all phrases
    • Social Contract
    • Philosophes
    • Voltaire
    • Montesquieu
    • Rousseau
    • Mary Wollstonecraft

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