Huy Lam

World Studies
3rd Period
November 8th, 2007
Chapter #24, pages 663-674

I.The Scientific Revolution

1.ScientificRevolution – the process in which new views and

understanding of the universe and of scientific knowledge were
recognized.

2.New scientific discoveries challenged religion.

3.Rationality – the state of having a reason.

II.Nicolaus Copernicus

1.Nicolaus Copernicus – Polish astronomer.

a)1543 – Published ‘On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres’,

a book that progressed the understanding of the universe.

2.Ptolemy

a)Wrote ‘Almagest’.

b)His system assumed Earth as the center of the universe, the layer
past that contained the moon, another sun, and the layer beyond
that contained the realms of God and the angels. This system was
used before Nicolaus’ was introduced.

c)There were many errors in his system, mainly involving

movement of the universe.

3.Nicolaus challenged Ptolemy by proposing the idea that the Earth moved
around the sun, explaining or clearing up the errors of the Ptolemaic
system.

III.Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler

1.Tycho Brahe

a)Believed that the sun and moon revolves around the Earth and
that other planets revolve around the sun.

b)Constructed the most accurate tables of observations for

centuries.

2.Johannes Kepler – a German astronomer.

 a)Took possession of the tables after Tycho’s death.

b)Influenced by Renaissance Neoplatonist who honored the sun.

c)Published ‘On the Motion of Mars’.

IV.Galileo Galilei

1.Galileo Galilei – an Italian scientist.

a)First used a telescope to look at the skies. Challenged many

religious beliefs.

b)Published Dialogues on the Two Chief Systems of the World’.

c)Believed that the smallest atom behaved with the same

mathematical precision as the largest heavenly sphere.

V.Francis Bacon

1.Francis
Bacon – regarded as the father of empiricism and of
experimentation in science.

a)Published ‘The Advancement of Learning’, the ‘Novum

Organum’, and the ‘New Atlantis’.

b)Believed that most truths were already discovered, that they only
required explanation.

c)Believed that people dwelled too much on the past and wouldn’t
accept change.

d)Said people needed to change and discover new things.

VI.Isaac Newton

1.Isaac Newton

a)Published ‘The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy’

(Latin title = ‘Principia Mathematica’).

b)Believed that everything in the universe affected each other

through gravity.

2.By now, the Scientific Revolution showed people law and regularity in
the world. Physic was used to explain things and put an end to many
superstitions.

VII.John Locke
1.John Locke

a)Three most famous works – ‘Essay Concerning Human

Understanding’, ‘Two Treaties of Government’, and ‘Letter
Concerning Toleration’.

(1)In ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’, Locke

says that at birth, the mind is blank. From there, any
experiences will provoke knowledge. He also says that
humans can alter their own destiny, and that it doesn’t take
God to plan out the future for one’s life.

(2)In ‘Two Treaties of Government’, Locke says rulers are

not absolute in their powers. He says that human beings are
the images and properties of God, so no one should harm or
disturb another’s property. Believes that if a monarch
violated the trust given to him, he could be overthrown.

(3)In ‘Letter on Toleration’, Locke says that each person

was responsible for his own religious salvation.
II.The Enlightenment

1.Philosophes – the early exponents of the Enlightenment.

a)Honored, they convinced Europeans that change was a good

idea.

II.Voltaire

1.FrancoisMario Arouet (Voltaire) – the earliest and most influential

philosophe.

a)Arrested and briefly imprisoned in French for offending the

authorities with his writings.

b)Published ‘Letters on the English’ and ‘Elements of the

Philosophy of Newton’.

c)Most famous work – ‘Candide’. In this work, he attacked war,

religious persecution, and what he regarded as unwarranted
optimism about the human condition.

d)Believed the human race should improve.

e)Said the phrase ‘crush the infamous thing’.

III.The Encyclopedia

1.Encyclopedia – one of the greatest monuments of the Enlightenment.

a)Represented a collective plea for freedom of expression. Also, it

provided important information on manufacturing, canal building,
ship construction, and improved agriculture.

2.DenisDiderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert – helped produce the first

volumes of the Encyclopedia.

3.Encyclopedists – those associated with the Enclyclopedia.

III.The Enlightenment and Religion

1.The philosophes were against the church.

a)The two had different ideas about human sins.

II.Deism

1.Deism – a movement of people who believed that God must be rational.

Cling to anything describing a rational order.
 2.‘ChristianityNot Mysterious’ – written by John Toland. Indicates the
general tenor of the religious outlook of Deism.

III.Toleration

1.JeanCalas – executed Huguenot who murdered his son to prevent him

from converting to Roman Catholicism.

2.Treatise on Tolerance – published by Voltaire.

3.Gotthold Lessing – wrote ‘Nathan the Wise’ as a plea for toleration not
only of different Christian sects but also of religious faiths other than
Christianity.

IV.The Enlightenment and Society

I.Adam Smith

1.Adam Smith – wrote ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations’. Wants capitalism (supporting personal economical
growth).

a)This book was the most important Enlightenment exposition of

economics.

b)Challenged the concept of scarce goods and resources that lay

behind mercantilism and the policies of the guilds.

2.Wanted the mercantile system of England to be abolished.

3.Smith is regarded as the founder of ‘laissez-faire’, a phrase which means

‘let-do’, referring to how the government should only play a limited role
in commerce.

4.‘TheWealth of Nations’ – Smith’s book, which was complex and

addressed the issue of the government and their role on commerce.

II.Montesquieu and the Spirit of the Laws

1.Baronde Montesquieu (Charles Louis de Secondat – wrote ‘The Spirit of

the Laws’.

a)‘The Spirit of the Laws’ – exhibits the internal tensions of the

Enlightenment.
 2.Parlements – judicial courts dominated by aristocrats like himself.

3.One of his most influential ideas was division of power, where the
government was split into three branches, with two always checking and
balancing the power of the other.

III.Rousseau

1.Jean-Jacques Rousseau – an isolated genius who was never comfortable

with other philosophes.

a)‘Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences’ –

Rousseau’s book in which he said that civilization and
enlightenment had corrupted human nature.

b)‘Discourse on the Origin of Inequality’ – Rousseau’s book in

which he blamed much of the evil in the world on misdistribution
of property.

c)‘The Social Contract’ – an abstract book by Rousseau which is

compared to Montesquieu’s ‘The Spirit of the Laws’. Outlines the
political structure that he believed would overcome the evils of
contemporary politics and society.

d)Wanted an environment where people could act morally.

e)Suggested a civic religion based on deism.

IV.Women in the Thought and Practice of the Enlightenment

1.Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin, Julie de Lespinasse, and Claudine de Tenein –

gave the philosophes access to useful social and political contacts and a
receptive environment for their ideas.

2.Marquise de Pompadour – the mistress of Louis XV.

a)Played a key role in overcoming the circulation of works

attacking the philosophes.

b)Helped block the circulation of works attacking the philosophes.

3.Women at this time still didn’t have that wide of a range of power in the
society.

4.Montesquieu believed that women shouldn’t be trampled over, but he

also didn’t state that they deserved as much power as men

5.Diderot and d’Alembert believed that women were inferior.

 6.Rosseau wrote ‘Émile’, in which he declared that women should be
educated for a position subordinate to men.

7.Mary Wollstonecrafe wrote ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’, in

which she fought against Rousseau by saying that women should be
allowed the rights of men.

8.Salon– a meeting of intellectual discussion. Usually upper-class women

would open their doors for such events.

V.Enlightened Absolutism

a)Goals: military dominance, strengthening of absolute control,

giving people some of what they want in exchange for praise,
obedience, and volunteer work.

b)Catherine II read the works of the philosophes and used their

writings to base her ruling off of.

c)The search for new revenues and for more political support for
their rule led monarchs to make “enlightened” reforms.

II.Joseph II of Austria

1.Joseph II of Austria – the son of Maria Theresa.

a)Described as “an imperial puritan and a good deal of a prig.”

b)October 1781 – Joseph extended freedom of worship to

Lutherans, Calvinists, and the Greek Orthodox.

c)1781-1789 – Joseph relieved the Jews of certain taxes and signs

of personal degradation and gave them the right of private worship.

d)Dissolved the traditional Roman Catholic seminaries, which he

believed taught priests too great a loyalty to the papacy and too
little concern for their future parishioners.

(1)He had put eight general seminaries that emphasized

parish duties.
 e)Joseph gave peasants more rights such as more control over their
marriage. Also, he made it easier for them to receive land by
convincing landlords to change the lease,

2.Josephinism – the ecclesiastical policies of Joseph II.

III.Catherine the Great of Russia

1.Catherine II – born a German princess.

a)Became ruler when she approved of the murder of Peter III, her
husband.

b)‘Instructions’ – written by Catherine. Contains ideas drawn from

the political writings of the philosophes.

c)Charter of the Nobility – issued by Catherine in 1785.

Guaranteed many noble rights and privileges.

2.Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji – gave Russia a direct outlet on the Black

Sea, free navigation rights in its waters, and free access through the
Bosphorus.

IV.The Partition of Poland

1.First
Partition of Poland – an agreement between Frederick the Great and
Russia and Austria.

a)In it, the three agreed that they would abandon the Danubian
provinces in return for a large chunk of Polish territory with almost
2 million inhabitants.

2.Two more partitions, one in 1793 and one in 1795. They remove Poland
from the map of Europe until 1919.

VI.In World Perspective

I.The Enlightenment Heritage

1.Today, many traces of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment still

remain.

2.The philosophes influenced the present by presenting social and political

reforms.