The Enlightenment and Revolutions

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key scientists, philosophers, laws, and intellectual movements of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment from Chapter 8.

Scientific Revolution

A historic transformation in thought where thinkers determined that the universe could be understood through natural causes rather than solely traditional religious or ancient doctrines.

Pre-Revolution Scientific Authority

The three traditional sources of scientific knowledge prior to the Scientific Revolution: the Bible, Aristotle, and Ptolemy.

The Ptolemaic System

A geocentric model developed by second-century astronomer Ptolemy asserting that the Earth is fixed at the middle of the universe while all other bodies orbit around it, aligning with the Christian belief in God's image-bearers at the center.

Geo-centrism

The astronomical model placing the Earth fixed at the center of the universe, with all celestial bodies spinning around it.

Nicolaus Copernicus

A mathematician who argued against the geocentric model by proposing helio-centrism, asserting that the Earth revolved around the sun.

Helio-centrism

The cosmological model proposing that the sun, rather than the Earth, is at the center of the revolving planets.

Johannes Kepler

An astronomer and mathematician who determined that planetary orbits are elliptical (oval-shaped) rather than circular.

Galileo Galilei

An astronomer who used a telescope to observe planets, confirming the theories of Copernicus and Kepler, but was forced by the Catholic Church under threat of torture to publicly deny his claims.

Sir Isaac Newton

A Cambridge University professor and author of Principia who formulated the 3 Laws of Motion, the Universal Law of Gravitation, and calculus.

Universal Law of Gravitation

Newton's physical law establishing that everything in the universe is attracted to other objects through gravity, explaining why there is motion in the universe.

Blaise Pascal

A scientist and mathematician who invented the syringe and the hydraulic press and developed the principle governing fluid pressure.

Pascal's Law

The scientific principle stating that any pressure applied to a liquid will be evenly distributed throughout the fluid.

Robert Boyle

A pioneer of modern chemistry who studied vacuum pumps, demonstrated fire's requirement of air, and formulated Boyle's Law.

Boyle's Law

The gas law stating that the volume of a gas depends directly on the pressure applied to it.

René Descartes

A French philosopher known for the Concept of Doubt, the famous declaration 'I think, therefore I am', and founding modern rationalism.

Rationalism

The philosophical belief that human reason is the primary source of knowledge and that matter can be thoroughly investigated with reason.

Francis Bacon

The English philosopher and statesman who formulated and popularized the systematic scientific method.

Scientific Method

A systematic, evidence-based procedure for inquiry consisting of five steps: Ask a Question, Research, Develop a Hypothesis, Experiment, and Analyze and Revise.

The Enlightenment

An 18th-century intellectual movement that applied systems of rational thought from the Scientific Revolution to human society, including politics, religion, and ethics.

Key Traits of the Enlightenment

The three foundational values that guided Enlightenment thought: Reason, Progress, and Skepticism.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's philosophical proposition that every person begins life as a 'blank slate' and that experiences in society fill that slate over time.

Newton's Societal Worldview

The philosophical idea that because the world behaves like an understandable machine governed by natural laws, humanity can similarly discover universal laws governing society.

Baron de Montesquieu

Full name Charles-Louis Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu; a French philosopher who studied English law and advocated for a three-branched government balanced through checks and balances.

Voltaire

Full name François-Marie Arouet; a prominent French Enlightenment thinker who criticized Christianity and advocated for Deism.

Deism

A religious philosophy asserting that God acts like a Clockmaker who created and set up the universe (the clock) and now lets it run purely on its own without intervention.

Social Contract (Rousseau)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's political theory holding that society must be governed by the overall general will of the community and that individual desires do not take precedence.

Mary Wollstonecraft

An Enlightenment writer who argued that because all human beings possess reason, men and women ought to be educated in the exact same manner.

John Wesley

A former Anglican minister who experienced the 'gift of God's grace', traveled across England preaching God's radical grace, and founded the Methodist Church.