History Test 5/6/26

The Plague

the plague is a deadly bacterial infection spread across Europe

Martin Luther

The central figure of the Protestant Reformation. Luther believes that the bible is the main authority for faith, people are saved by faith in God, and individuals can have a direct relationship with God. He doesn’t agree with serfs that want more freedom/rights because that would undermine feudalism.

Protestantism

A branch of Christianity where it is believed that the bible is the main authority for faith, people are saved by faith in God, and individuals can have a direct relationship with God.

The Reformation

A movement to reform the Catholic Church

The Enlightenment

The spread of belief in reason and of universal rights and laws.

The “New Science”

The laws of the universe can be observed through nature. Knowledge can be tested through the scientific method. Knowledge can be collected and organized through universal systems.

the Philosophes

Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Hobbes, and Adam Smith.

Geneva

a city guided by enlightenment values

Clockmaker God

A metaphor that God has a distant role. Humankind requires no intervention and the world opperates according to universal laws.

Universal Laws (in science and in politics)

Gravity and inertia (momentum)

Laissez-Faire Economics

The idea that businesses and people can make their own decisions about buying, selling, and producing goods without government interference; essentially free market capitalism

Adam Smith

An enlightenment thinker who believed when people are free to make economic choices, it can benefit society as a whole. He is also famous for his idea of “the invisible hand”.

the “Invisible Hand”

Metaphor for “the market”. A force pulling people to make rational economic decisions without intending to do so.

Thomas Hobbes

A philosopher that wrote the Leviathan and believes that you cannot overthrow the Leviathan.

Leviathan

a book that Thomas Hobbes wrote to express his opinions on politics

the “State of Nature”

Life before the government. Hobbes describes it as a “state of war” without judicial authority while Locke believes people are born with the rights of life, liberty, and property. However there is no judicial authority to guarantee those rights.

Political Revolution

Locke believed you can overthrow the judicial authority while Hobbes believed only in the Leviathan and that you cant overthrow it.

Martin Luther,  “A Treatise on Christian Liberty”

1520

Adam Smith “The Wealth of Nations”

1776

Thomas Hobbes, “Leviathan”

1651

John Locke, “Of Civil Government”

1690