- Hist H114 Exam 2.02 Enlightenment, Scientific Revolution, Adam Smith, John Wesley

"Encyclopedia"

The Encyclopedia was created in large part by Denis Diderot. It contained over 70,000 essays and 3,000 illustrations in 28 volumes. Due to Diderot's atheism, the Encyclopedia was not permitted, so he had to go to Catherine the Great's Russia to print it.

Copernicus

1473-1543 Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center. The publication of Copernicus' book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death in 1543, is considered a major event in the history of science. It began the Copernican Revolution and contributed importantly to the scientific revolution.

Sir Francis Bacon

1561-1626 Sir Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist, and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. After his death, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. He was a heavy supporter of empiricism based on the senses, suggesting people figure out patterns among examples of a phenomenon, studying these examples to learn what actually happens. He supported inductive reasoning: getting a general principle based on instances.

Galileo Galilei

1564-1642 Galileo was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy",[4] the "father of modern physics",[5] the "father of science",[5] and "the Father of Modern Science". Galileo's championing of heliocentrism was controversial within his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system.[7] He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism due to the absence of an observed stellar parallax.[7] The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was false and contrary to scripture, placing works advocating the Copernican system on the index of banned books and forbidding Galileo from advocating heliocentrism.[7][8] Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII, thus alienating not only the Pope but also the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point.[7] He was tried by the Holy Office, then found "vehemently suspect of heresy", was forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.[9][10] It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he wrote one of his finest works, Two New Sciences, in which he summarised the work he had done some forty years earlier, on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.[11][12]

Johannes Kepler

1571-1630 Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his laws of planetary motion, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy. These works also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation. Kepler claimed that planets moved on elipses, not circles.

René Descartes

1596-1650 Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer who spent most of his life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed The Father of Modern Philosophy, and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings,[6][7] which are studied closely to this day. In particular, his Meditations on First Philosophy continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments. Descartes' influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian coordinate system — allowing reference to a point in space as a set of numbers, and allowing algebraic equations to be expressed as geometric shapes in a two-dimensional coordinate system (and conversely, shapes to be described as equations) — was named after him. Descartes supported rationalism, the method of learning that opposed empiricism that believed in landing on conclusions based on thinking through the scenario instead of relying on observable evidence (because sometimes observations can be false). He also supported deductive reasoning, which is the process of reasoning from one or more general statements (premises) to reach a logically certain conclusion.

Enlightenment

16- and 1700s The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was a cultural movement of intellectuals beginning in late 17th-century Europe emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition.[1] Its purpose was to reform society using reason, to challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and to advance knowledge through the scientific method. It promoted scientific thought, skepticism, and intellectual interchange.[2] The Enlightenment was a revolution in human thought. This new way of thinking was that rational thought begins with clearly stated principles, uses correct logic to arrive at conclusions, tests the conclusions against evidence, and then revises the principles in the light of the evidence. Originating in the 1600s, it was sparked by philosophers Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Pierre Bayle, VOltaire, and physicist Isaac Newton. Ruling princes often endorsed and fostered these figures and even attempted to apply their ideas of government in what was known as enlightened absolutism. The Scientific Revolution is closely tied to the Enlightenment, as its discoveries overturned many traditional concepts and introduced new perspectives on nature and man's place within it.

John Locke

1632-1704 John Locke was an English philosopher regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thnkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism." Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries.

Sir Isaac Newton

1642-1727 Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), first published in 1687, laid the foundations for classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics and shares credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the invention of infinitesimal calculus. He went to Cambridge and became a professor there at age 27 and helped organize the Roayl Academy of Sciences. Newton's theories were seen as him having read the mind of God, as he had - according to Christians - discovered a principle He had used to make things.

Montesquieu

1689-1755 Montesquieu was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Age of Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He did more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon,[1] and may have been partly responsible for the popularization of the terms feudalism and Byzantine Empire. He argued taht while institutions may differ, all governments do the same pruposes: legislative, executive, and judicial. He said that separating these roels would be albe to prevent tyranny because they could check each others' powers.

Voltaire

1694-1778 Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer, a philosophe, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.

John Wesley

1703-1791 John Wesly was the son of an Anglican clergyman who wanted John to preach. Following this, John went to Oxford but didn't fit in beacuse its atmosphere wasn't particularly Christian. There, he formed the "Holy CLub" with other men. Fellow Oxford students ridiculed them, calling them "methodists." Wesley felt a religious experience upon hearing a Lutheran sermon. He tried to implement it into the CHurhc of England but failed. He was persuaded by George Whitefield to engage in itenerant preaching, which is to preach in the countryside where the people are. His Methodism grew and established Sunday schools, how to observe the Sabbath, and was anti-slavery.

David Hume

1711-1776 David Hume, the "father of modern skepticism," was considered the Great Skeptic and was an agnostic. He argued that there is no absolute truth, only likelihoods and also said that causal relationships are not real, that they only come from a person's thoughts. Hume is often grouped with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others as a British Empiricist.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1712-1778 Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological, and educational thought. Rousseau argued on behalf of a return to nature (that human beings become evil through exposure to corruption; what is natural is good). The best human beings in his opinion are those closest to nature (e.g. "the honorable savage").

Denis Diderot

1713-1784 Denis Diderot was an atheist who worked on the Encuclopedia. He was what is called a materialist, which is a philosophy that believes taht matter is the only thing that exists, meaning nothing supernatural exists. Due to his atheism, "Encyclopedia" was no longer permitted, so he took refuge to publish it in Russia under Catherine the Great.

Adam Smith

1723-1790 Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment,[1] Smith is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith is cited as the "father of modern economics" and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today.

The two methods of learning during the Scientific Revolution

Empericism: learning based on phenomena observable with the senses Rationalism: learning based on reasoning things out in the person's mind, as the sense can fade away and misperceive