Who am I?

Galileo

I found evidence that not all heavenly bodies moved around the Earth, when I discovered that Jupiter had four moons circling it.

Kepler

I confirmed the planets moved around the Sun, but not in perfect circles as was originally believed. They went around the Sun in an ellipse (oval).

Copernicus

I believed that the Sun was the center of the universe and all other heavenly bodies moved around it.

Newton

I discovered the law of gravity and I used science to show that the universe was orderly and worked by natural laws that science and math could describe and explain.

Locke

I said that people are not born good or evil but as a tabula rasa and we are shaped by our experiences.

Hobbes

I'm not in your text but I wrote that people are too individualistic to work together. We are jealous, greedy, and prone to evil. We need a strong leader to keep us in check.

Montesquieu

I argued that England's government with its 3 separate branches is the most stable as each branch limits the other.

Voltaire

I was a champion of free speech and religious tolerance. Like many others I espoused deism; the theory of God as a world builder or divine clockmaker.

Smith

I argued that government should not interfere in the economy leaving people to pursue their own economic self-interest. One of the founders of the laissez-faire capitalism.

Diderot

I wasn't an original thinker like so many on this list. However, I spread their ideas by publishing their works (and dozens of others) in my 28 volume Encyclopedia.

Rousseau

I knew that society and religion corrupted us with laws and rules that move us away from a 'state of nature.' Society must be governed by the wishes of the people (general will). By the way, women should practice being obedient and nurturing. Keeping their husbands happy is their most important job.

Wollstonecraft

Women should be freed from the arbitrary power of men by means of education, economic freedom, and participation in political life.