AP Euro: Unit 4 Terms/People

Copernicus

Heliocentric theory

Galileo

Observation/experimentation, created telescope (was not the first to use it), discovered moons of Jupiter (supported heliocentric model)

Newton

Laws of motion, calculus, universal gravitation, optics

Galen

Four humors (inaccurate), however made groundbreaking anatomical discoveries

Paracelsus

Use of minerals/chemicals in medicine

Andreas Vesalius

Founder of modern anatomy

Francis Bacon

Envisioned scientific civilization as a society driven by systematic, empirical methods (knowledge gained through observation/experimentation, not ancient authority)

Rene Descartes

Philosophy (advocated for scientific explanation) + mathematics (analytic geometry, Cartesian coordinate system)

“I think, therefore I am”

Johannes Kepler

Three laws of planetary motion (describe how planets orbit the Sun in ellipses) + Foundational work in optics

Locke

Influenced modern political thought with his ideas on natural rights, the social contract, and limited government.

Rousseau

His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment and later on, the French Revolution. Social contract theory = legitimate government must represent general will of the people + civilization corrupts naturally good human

Mary Wollstonecraft

Advocate for women’s rights, arguing that women are not naturally inferior to men/apparent inferiority is due to a lack of education

Voltaire

Advocacy of civil liberties like freedom of speech and religion, criticism of Christianity and slavery

Diderot

Contributed to intellectual and cultural landscape by promoting reason and skepticism while critiquing traditional authority. Also helped found the Encyclopédie

Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws

Argued for a constitutional government with a separation of powers into legislative, executive, and judicial branches to protect liberty

Cesare Beccaria’s “On Crimes and Punishments”

Argued for a rational and humane approach to criminal justice (advocated for punishment to serve as a deterrent, not torture, death penalty, etc.)

Marquis de Condorcet

Systematically applied mathematics in the social sciences

Coffeehouses

Served as public spaces for intellectual exchange, debate, and the spread of new ideas

Lending Libraries

Helped spread Enlightenment ideas (renting books=increased literacy rates, social/intellectual centers, democratization of knowledge)

Newspapers

Tool for spreading Enlightenment ideas by providing a medium for intellectual and political discourse

The Encyclopedie

Work by Denis Diderot: Promoted reason, scientific inquiry, and critical thinking

Physiocrats

French economists who believed that the economy’s wealth came solely from agriculture

David Hume

Radical empiricism, philosophical skepticism, critiques of religion, moral philosophy (moral distinctions not based on reason alone, but arise from sentiments of approval or disapproval)

Baron d’Holbach

Developed secular moral and political philosophy (against Christianity)

Natural philosophy

Study of physical universe and its fundamental principles (disciplines like physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry) and was based on observation, reasoning

Empiricism

Knowledge is acquired through sensory experience and observation

Rationalism

Reason is the primary source of knowledge

Enlightened absolutism

Absolute monarchs used their power to enact reforms based on Enlightenment ideas (promoting education, religious tolerance, legal changes), while still maintaining their full authority