Enlightened thinkers

• Enlightenment


  A time period in the 1700s when there were huge changes in the way people viewed government
• Absolute monarchs


  • Kings who had absolute power over the people they ruled
  • Believed their power came from divine right (God)
• Divine right of kings


  The belief that kings got their absolute power from God
• Thomas Hobbes


  • Believed people are evil and selfish, so they need absolute monarchs to rule over them
• John Locke


  • Believed people are born with natural rights (life, liberty, property)
  • Said the role of government is to protect these natural rights
• Montesquieu


  • Believed in separation of powers in government (executive, legislative, judicial)
  • Powers should be balanced and check each other
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau


  • Believed government is a social contract between the people and the government
  • If government violates the contract, people have a right to form a new government
• Voltaire


  • Believed in religious freedom and separation of church and state
• Enlightenment thinkers' ideas


  Led to revolutions around the world, including the American Revolution and the French Revolution
• The Scientific Revolution takes place in Europe

  16th, 17th, and 18th centuries
• Scientific Revolution


  • Movement away from asking the church or relying on ancient Rome or Greece, primarily Aristotle
  • People begin to emphasize the idea of reason and scientific observation to find answers about nature and the way things work
• Before the Scientific Revolution, people would go to the church to get answers about nature, life, and how things work, and the church would often default to the Bible or ancient Rome/Greece
• During the Scientific Revolution, people began to look for answers to questions about nature through reason and scientific observation, rather than through the church
• Heliocentric theory


  Theory that the Sun, rather than the Earth, is the center of our solar system, and the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun
• Geocentric theory


  Theory that the Earth is the center of the solar system and the Sun revolves around the Earth
• The geocentric theory was logical because from the Earth, it appears that the Sun revolves around the Earth
• Copernicus


  • Polish man who introduced the heliocentric theory through scientific observation and reason, rather than relying on accepted beliefs
• Kepler


  • Discovered that the planets move in ellipses, not perfect circles, as they revolve around the Sun
• Galileo


  • Invented a telescope that allowed him to observe and provide evidence for the heliocentric theory
• Isaac Newton


  • Developed the theory of universal gravity, showing that the same laws of gravity apply both on Earth and in space
• William Harvey


  • Discovered that the heart acts as a pump to circulate blood through the body, revolutionizing the understanding of the human body
• The Scientific Revolution led to a greater emphasis on reason and the systematic observation of nature through the scientific method, rather than relying on the church or accepted beliefs
• The Scientific Revolution resulted in a huge expansion of scientific knowledge, including new understandings of the solar system, physics, and biology