Unit 2 (2020) Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment

John Locke

wrote Two Treatises of Government; Enlightenment thinker who believed people could learn and improve their natural state; he argued that the best government had the "consent of the governed," such as a democracy; he also believed that it was right to overthrow a government that does not protect people's natural rights (life, liberty, property); his ideas were the basis for much of the US Declaration of Independence

Thomas Hobbes

wrote Leviathan; Enlightenment thinker who argued that all people were born bad and, therefore, an absolute monarch was the best government to keep people in order

natural rights

rights that all people are born with; John Locke said they were " life, liberty, and property"

reason

logic

self-determination

the right of people to choose their own form of government (as opposed to absolute control by a monarch)

natural laws

laws that govern human nature

Adam Smith

economic theorist; wrote The Wealth of Nations; believed laissez-faire capitalism was the best economic system

laissez-faire

"let do;" meaning that the government should let the people make economic decisions without interference

Scientific Revolution

the era of scientific thought in Europe during which careful observation of the natural world was made, and accepted beliefs were questioned; basis of much of today's scientific knowledge; led to the Enlightenment

scientific method

A series of steps followed to solve problems including collecting data, formulating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, and stating conclusions; this eventually replaced the scientific thought based on superstition or Church teachings

main topics of Enlightenment philosophes' writings/focus of the Enlightenment

human nature, social contract, best (most logical) kind of government, legal changes, natural rights

geocentric vs heliocentric

earth-centered (not correct) vs sun-centered (correct) view of the solar system